Great-hearted son of Antiphates in the Melampodid house, Oicles fathered Amphiaraus — the seer Zeus and Apollo loved — and died at Troy guarding Heracles' ships when Laomedon sallied against the besiegers.1
Homer traces the Argive seer-line through him. Melampus of Pylos, after his trials among the cattle of Phylacus and his share of Argos, begot Antiphates and Mantius; Antiphates in turn begot great-hearted Oicles, and Oicles begot Amphiaraus the rouser of the host. From Mantius' branch came Polypheides, whom Apollo made prophet after Amphiaraus was gone.2
Apollodorus names him plainly as the father of Amphiaraus when the Seven were mustered and when the seer shrank from the expedition, foreseeing death for all but Adrastus. The same author sends him once more to Troy: when Heracles sailed against Ilium with noble volunteers, Oicles guarded the ships while the hero assaulted the city, and Laomedon marched down and slew him in battle.3
After the Epigoni, his name still anchored the house. Alcmaeon, maddened for killing his mother Eriphyle, first fled to Oicles in Arcadia before going on to Phegeus at Psophis — a sign that the grandfather's line still offered refuge when the curse of matricide closed in.4
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story