Elder brother of Orpheus, son of Calliope and Oeagrus — or nominally of Apollo — whom Heracles slew at Thebes with a blow of the lyre when Linus tried to teach him music.1
Apollodorus pairs Linus with Orpheus in Calliope's Pierian brood: she bore to Oeagrus, or nominally to Apollo, a son Linus, whom Heracles slew, and another son Orpheus, who practised minstrelsy and by his songs moved stones and trees.2⚖
This Linus was a brother of Orpheus who came to Thebes and became a Theban. Heracles learned to play the lyre from him; when struck by his teacher, the hero flew into a rage and slew Linus with the instrument. Tried for murder, Heracles quoted Rhadamanthys' law that whoever defends himself against an aggressor is blameless, and was acquitted.3
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