HYLLUS (son of Heracles and Deianira)

After the funeral, he voluntarily left Trachis with his companions to seek refuge in other cities.³ He later traveled to Delphi to ask the god how the group should return to their ancestral lands, interpreting the oracle’s command to wait for the third crop as three years.⁴ After waiting the designated time, he led the army of Heracles back to the Peloponnese, attempting to organize the return of the Heraclids.⁴

During this campaign, Hyllus commanded a large army that included Athenian allies, though he advised against risking the force in a direct battle against the returning exiles.^5,6 He proposed a single combat between himself and the best Peloponnesian champion to decide the fate of the land, stating that if he lost, the Argive could keep his ancestral honours and home.^6,7 When the Argive captain refused to fight, Hyllus withdrew to his own ranks, and the Peloponnesians defeated his forces in a subsequent battle.^7,4 In the heat of the conflict, he killed Eurystheus when the latter’s chariot was wrecked, and he delivered the severed head to Alcmene.^8,3

Hyllus’s relationship with his mother Deianira was fraught with tension, as he accused her of killing his father and falsely claiming the title of mother due to her actions.^9,10 When Deianira died by her own hand after missing her aim with an intended charm, Hyllus informed his father of her death and the nature of the love-charm based on the advice of the centaur Nessus.^11,12 Following his father’s command, he took Iole, the daughter of Eurytus, as his wife, and he also took Alcmene into his bed and affections, impregnating her with a noble child.^13,14,4,15

The final fate of Hyllus was sealed in a single combat duel that decided the fate of the land, where he was killed by the Tegean Echemus, son of Aeropus.^16,7,17,18 In his final moments, he criticized the gods for allowing such suffering to occur and requested forgiveness, while instructing a maiden to leave the house after witnessing the death.¹⁹ His legacy endures in the names of his children, Cleodaeus and Evaechme, and his siblings, Macaria, Ctesippus, and Glenus, who remained connected to the mythic history of the Heraclids.