Telegonus
- son of Ulysses and Circe, who, when he came to Ithaca, killed his father without knowing him; on his return he founded Tusculum, Hyg. Fab. 127; Hor. C. 3, 29, 8; Prop. 2, 32 (3, 30), 4; Ov. F. 3, 92; 4, 71; Stat. S. 1, 3, 83; Sil. 7, 692; 12, 535; Hyg. Fab. 127.—As an appellative: Tēlĕgŏni, ōrum, the amatory poems of Ovid, so called because his misfortunes arose from them, Ov. Tr. 1, 1, 114.
(Τηλέγονος). The son of Odysseus and Circé. At his mother's command he set out to find his father. Landing on the coast of Ithaca, he began to plunder the fields, and Odysseus came out armed against him. Telegonus did not recognize his father, and mortally wounded him with the spine of a sting-ray which Circé had given him to serve as the barb of his lance. When he learned that the wounded man was his father, he took the body home with him, accompanied by Telemachus and Penelopé, and subsequently married the latter. He was supposed to be the founder of Tusculum (Hor. Carm. iii. 29, 8) and Praenesté, near Rome (Plut. Parall. Min. 41; Propert. ii. 32, 4). The legend of Telegonus was the theme of the Telegonea by the Cyclic poet Eugammon of Cyrené. The strange manner in which Odysseus met his death is also mentioned in Oppian (Halieut. ii. 497). Roman tradition ascribed to Telegonus a daughter Mamilia, the legendary ancestor of the Mamilii.
- marries Io: Apollod. 2.1.3
- killed by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.9
- Apollod. E.7.16
- sails in search of Odysseus: Apollod. E.7.34
- comes to Ithaca and kills Odysseus unwittingly: Apollod. E.7.34
- conveys the corpse and Penelope to Circe: Apollod. E.7.37
- marries Penelope: Apollod. E.7.37
- sent with Penelope to the Islands of the Blest: Apollod. E.7.37