Salmoneus⚖
Aeolid who came from Thessaly and founded a city in Elis — a parallel foundation tale, not Pausanias' Endymion stemma — before Zeus blasted him for counterfeiting thunder.1
Aethlius⚖
In the Elean account the first to rule the land, son of Zeus and Protogeneia daughter of Deucalion, and father of Endymion — though some say he was a son of Aeolus instead.2
Endymion
Son of Aethlius who deposed Clymenus and set his sons a footrace at Olympia with the kingdom for the prize; Epeius won and the people were first called Epeans.3
Epeius
Son of Endymion who won the Olympic footrace for the throne; in his reign Oenomaus was lord of Pisa. Pausanias says he married Anaxiroe and begat a daughter Hyrmina but no male issue — distinct from the Trojan craftsman Epeius son of Panopeus.4
Oenomaus
King of Pisa concurrent with Epeius' Epean reign; raced Hippodamia's suitors until Pelops, with Myrtilus' treachery, won the chariot contest. Pausanias makes him son of Alxion — poets proclaim Ares his father.5
Pelops⚖
Succeeded to Oenomaus' kingdom at Pisa, taking Pisa and bordering Olympia and separating them from the land of Epeius. About a generation later he held the Olympic games more splendidly than any predecessor.6
Aetolus
Son of Endymion who remained after the footrace and came to the Epean throne when Epeius died; convicted of unintentional homicide for running over Apis at Azan's games, he fled the Peloponnese and gave his name to Aetolia. Distinct from Oxylus' later son Aetolus, who never reigned.7
Eleius
When Aetolus fled, the kingdom of the Epeans fell to Eleius son of Eurycyda daughter of Endymion — and, believe the tale who will, of Poseidon — who gave the inhabitants their present name of Eleans. Not the later Eleius under whom the Dorian Return assembled.8
Augeas
Son of Eleius and king of Elis, master of cattle so vast that dung choked his land — the king whose broken bargain with Heracles over the cleansing bred the war that remade his house.9
Phyleus⚖
Son of Augeas whom Heracles restored after the war — Apollodorus has Augeas slain; Pausanias has Heracles spare Augeas and give Elis to Phyleus out of respect, after which Phyleus returned to Dulichium once he had organized the realm.10
Agasthenes & Amphimachus & Thalpius
When Phyleus had returned to Dulichium and Augeas died at an advanced age, Pausanias says the kingdom of Elis devolved jointly on Agasthenes son of Augeas and on Amphimachus and Thalpius of Actor's line.11
Polyxenus
Son of Agasthenes who led ten Epeian ships to Troy; Pausanias says he came home safe and begat a son Amphimachus — named for the Actorid Amphimachus who fell there.12
Amphimachus
Son of Polyxenus — not the Actorid Amphimachus (`amphimachus-epeian`) who died at Troy. Pausanias places him in the post-Troy Elean stem before his son Eleius.13
Eleius
Son of Amphimachus son of Polyxenus; king in Elis when the Dorian army under the sons of Aristomachus assembled for the Return. Distinct from the earlier eponym Eleius (`eleius-elis`).14
Oxylus
Aetolian guide of the Heraclids who received Elis as his reward; after Pyraechmes the slinger defeated the Elean archer Degmenus, Oxylus got the kingdom, settled Aetolian colonists among the Epeans, and kept up the hero-cult of Augeas.15
Laias
Son of Oxylus on whom the kingdom devolved; Pausanias says his descendants did not reign and passes them by — later Iphitus of Oxylus' line renews the Olympic games.16
⁂
the spine ignites as you read · the reign index on the card follows your place · starred rulers link to their codices
HER SKY
a mini-galaxy of 34 dwellers
MYTHS SET HERE
2 tales walk these walls
ON THE MAP
in Elis — Peloponnese
Coordinates: Pleiades gazetteer, CC BY · place 570612