Alcathous of Elis Aetolia, and when his brother Callipolis hastened to carry the sad tidings to his father, he found him engaged in offering a sacrifice to Apollo, and thinking it unfit to offer sacrifices at such a moment, he snatched away the wood from the altar. Alcathous imagining this to be an act of deliberate sacrilege, killed his son on the spot with a piece of wood. The acropolis of Megara was called by a name derived from that of Alcathous. Alcathous was grandfather of the hero Ajax, via his daughter Periboea, who married Telamon, and of Iolaus, nephew and charioteer of
Mythological king that the king's health is often symbolic of the health of the kingdom or society: For example, a sick king means a weakened and vulnerable society, a healthy king means a healthy society, an emotionally or physically distant king means the society is in danger. Also, the installation of kings at the New Year was believed to renew the cosmos: "The king becomes in a manner responsible for the stability, the fecundity and the prosperity of the entire Cosmos." (Eliade 1963:41) Mythological king A mythological king is an archetype in mythology. A king is considered a "mythological king" if he