In Greek mythology, Nicostratus was a son of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Sources disagree whether his mother was Helen or a slave woman. Hesiod and the epic poet Cinaethon knew him; Pausanias makes him and Megapenthes illegitimate sons who, according to the Rhodians, drove Helen from Sparta while Orestes still wandered.
Adapted from Wikipedia, "Nicostratus (mythology)" · CC BY-SA 4.0
I.Family
Although Homer's Odyssey names Hermione as the only child of Menelaus and Helen, other sources mention a son Nicostratus. Apollodorus reports that Menelaus had by Helen a daughter Hermione and, according to some, a son Nicostratus. A scholium on Sophocles' Electra quotes Hesiod: Helen bore Hermione to Menelaus, and last of all Nicostratus, scion of Ares.
According to Pausanias, Nicostratus and Megapenthes were sons of Menelaus by a slave; because they were illegitimate, Agamemnon's son Orestes succeeded Menelaus as king of Sparta. One account says the Lacedaemonians worshipped Nicostratus and Aithiolas, two sons of Helen.
II.Mythology
According to the Rhodians, when Orestes was still wandering under the Erinyes after killing Clytemnestra, Nicostratus and Megapenthes drove Helen out; she found refuge on Rhodes with Polyxo.
Pausanias records that Nicostratus and Megapenthes were depicted riding a single horse on the sixth-century BC throne of Apollo at Amyclae, designed by Bathycles of Magnesia.