King and eponymous lord of Oechalia, the paradigmatic master archer of old, who strove even with the immortals at the bow.1
In the earliest tradition Eurytus is the lord whose name his city bears: in the Catalogue of Ships, "Oechalia, city of Oechalian Eurytus," sends its contingent under the sons of Asclepius, and it was journeying out of Oechalia, from the house of Eurytus the Oechalian, that the Thracian singer Thamyris was met and maimed by the Muses for his boast.2
He was reckoned among the teachers of Heracles, the one who taught him to shoot with the bow; Apollodorus adds that Heracles, having first learned the art of archery from Eurytus, then received his bow and arrows from Apollo.3
After his labours, Heracles learned that Eurytus, prince of Oechalia, had offered the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to whoever could vanquish him and his sons in archery. Heracles came and outshot them, yet did not get the bride: for though Iphitus, the eldest son, urged that Iole be given him, Eurytus and the others refused, fearing that Heracles, should he get children, would slay them as he had slain his earlier offspring.4
The cheated rivalry turned lethal. Mustering an army of Arcadians, Melians from Trachis, and Epicnemidian Locrians, Heracles marched against Oechalia to punish Eurytus, slew him and his sons, took the city, and carried off Iole — the spark of Deianira's jealousy, the poisoned robe, and the pyre on Mount Oeta.5
A separate Homeric strand keeps Eurytus apart from the Heracles saga: in the Odyssey, Odysseus will not vie in archery with the men of old, with Heracles or with Eurytus of Oechalia, "who strove even with the immortals." Eurytus died soon and untouched by old age, for Apollo waxed wroth and slew him because he had challenged the god to a contest with the bow.6
Apollonius gives the gift behind the challenge: Eurytus the ruthless, father of the Oechalian warders Iphitus and Clytius, was the man to whom the Far-shooter Apollo gave his bow — yet he had no joy of the gift, for of his own choice he strove even with the giver.7
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story
