IPHICLES (son of Amphitryon)

In the nursery, the accounts of his infancy highlight his vulnerability when serpents were placed in his bed to test which child was truly Amphitryon’s son.^4,5 Alcmene held the pale, dry-eyed boy in her bosom as he trembled with fear, having placed him there after the servants witnessed Heracles with the serpents.⁶ She bathed and fed the ten-month-old with milk, and later placed both brothers in a bronze buckler to help them sleep, while Iphicles was nurtured by the waters of Dirke.^7,8

As an adult, Iphicles owned a herd of cattle that grazed in the area of Phylace, and he released a captured seer from prison after a full year had passed, only after the man explained all the oracles of heaven.⁹ Iphicles married Pyrrha, and Creon gave his younger daughter to him as a wife, though he already had a son named Iolaus by Automedusa before this union.^3,10 Tragedy struck when two of his children were killed by a mad Heracles.¹¹

Iphicles joined the great Calydonian boar hunt, coming from Thebes to assemble with other heroes in that legendary pursuit.¹² When Eurystheus ordered Heracles, Alcmene, Iphicles, and Iolaus to depart from Tiryns, he went into exile with them.¹³ His fate in battle varied among accounts, with some saying he died fighting Cepheus and his sons, while others claim he fell later from a wound sustained in an earlier fight.^14,15 He was wounded by the sons of Actor during a battle against the Eleans, or died fighting alongside Heracles against the sons of Hippocoön, depending on the source.^15,13

Carried to Pheneus in a fainting state by his relatives, Iphicles was nursed by Buphagus and his wife Promne.¹⁵ Promne buried him after his death, and a tomb now stands on a hill near the stadium in Pheneus, where the people still perform sacrifices to him as a hero.^15,16 In one account, he was laid in a shield taken from the fallen Pterelaus, a final honor reflecting his martial nature.⁷ He lay helpless on the earth like a weak old man until a passerby lifted him up by the hand, and he is described as a deceased husband causing grief to his wife.^1,3