Hyllus
(
Ὕλλος). The son of Heracles and Deïanira, and
husband of Iolé. When he and the rest of the children of Heracles, at their
father's death, were pursued everywhere by the enmity of Eurystheus, they at last found
succour from Theseus, or his son Demophon. When Eurystheus drew near with his army to compel
the Athenians to give them up, Macaria, daughter of Heracles, freely offered herself up as a
sacrifice for her brethren, who, aided by the Athenians, defeated the enemy, Eurystheus being
slain as a fugitive by Hyllus himself. Having withdrawn from Attica to Thessaly, Hyllus was
adopted by the Dorian prince Aegimius, whom Heracles had once assisted in the war between the
Lapithae and the Dryopes, under promise of his abdication of the royal power, together with a
third part of the kingdom. Thus the rule over the Dorians passed to him and his descendants.
When commanded by the Delphic oracle to attempt to conquer the kingdom of Eurystheus
immediately after “the third fruit,” he endeavoured after the lapse of
three years to invade the Peloponnesus by way of the Isthmus. He was, however, repulsed by
Atreus, the successor of Eurystheus, and fell in single combat with Echemus, king of Tegea. It
was in the “third generation” after him that the sons of his grandson
Aristomachus—viz. Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus—at last conquered
the Peloponnesus, which was then under the rule of Tisamenus, son of Orestes. See
Heraclidae.