Teleon

In Greek mythology, Teleon (Ancient Greek: Τελέων, gen. Τελέοντος) may refer to the following two distinct characters:[1]

  • Teleon, also called Geleon (Γελέων),[2] the Athenian son of Ion, eponym of the Ionians, and brother of Aegicoreus, Argades and Hoples. The earlier four tribes of Athens: Teleontes (Teleonites)/ Geleontes, Aegicoreis, Argadeis (Ergadeis) and Hopletes (Hoplites) were named after him and his siblings.[3][4] Later on, Teleon fathered Butes, one of the Argonauts,[5] by his naiad-wife Zeuxippe, daughter of the river god Eridanos.[6]
  • Teleon, the Locrian father of Eribotes, another Argonaut. Apollonius describes Teleon as "virtuous" (ἀγαθός),[7] but beyond that, no information on this figure is available.
  1. ^ Apollonius Rhodius, 1.72 & 95 with scholia ad, 1.95
  2. ^ Herodotus, 5.66.2; Euripides, Ion 1579
  3. ^ Herodotus, 5.66.2; Euripides, Ion 1575-1581; Pollux, 8.109
  4. ^ Compare with Strabo, 8.7.1 (p. 383) where “. . .At first Ion divided the people into four tribes, but later into four occupations: four he designated as farmers, others as artisans, others as sacred officers, and a fourth group as the guards.” while Plutarch, Solon 23.4 states the “. . . four tribes were originally named, not from the sons of Ion, but from the classes into which occupations were divided; thus the warriors were called Hoplitai, the craftsmen Ergadeis; and of the remaining two, the farmers were called Geleontes, the shepherds and herdsmen Aigikoreis.”
  5. ^ Apollodorus, 1.9.16
  6. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14
  7. ^ Apollonius Rhodius, 1.96