Telephus

• A king of Mysia, son of Hercules and the nymph Auge. He was wounded before Troy by the spear of Achilles, but was afterwards oured by its rust, Ov. M. 12, 112; 13, 171; id. Tr. 5, 2, 15; Hor. A. P. 96; 140; id. Epod. 17, 8; Hyg. Fab. 101; Plin. 34, 15, 45, § 152; 25, 5, 19, § 42.—
• II A contemporary and friend of Horace, Hor. C. 3, 19, 26; 1, 13, 1; 4, 11, 21.

(Τήλεφος). The son of Heracles and Augé, the daughter of King Aleus of Tegea, and priestess of Athené. As soon as he was born he was exposed by his grandfather, who was angry because his daughter had broken the vows of her office. In some accounts she was set adrift, like Danaë, with her child and cast on the Mysian coast. In other versions of the story Telephus was reared by a hind (ἔλαφος), and educated by King Corythus in Arcadia. On reaching manhood, he consulted the Delphic Oracle to learn his parentage, and was ordered to go to King Teuthras in Mysia (Apollod. iii.9.1; Diod. iv. 33; Hyg. Fab. 100). He there found his mother, and succeeded Teuthras on the throne of Mysia. He married Laodicé or Astyoché, a daughter of Priam; and he attempted to prevent the Greeks from landing on the coast of Mysia. Dionysus, however, caused him to stumble over a vine, whereupon he was wounded by Achilles (Pind. Ol. ix. 112; Isth. v. 52; viii. 109; Pausan. x. 28; Dict. Cret. ii. 3). Being informed by an oracle that the wound could only be cured by “the wounder,” Telephus repaired to the Grecian camp; and as the Greeks had likewise learned from an oracle that without the aid of Telephus they could not reach Troy, Achilles cured Telephus by means of the rust of the spear by which he had been wounded (Dict. Cret. ii. 10; Hor. Epod. xvii. 8; Ov. Met. xii. 112; Rem. Am. 47). Telephus, in return, pointed out to the Greeks the road which they ought to take. According to one story, Telephus, in order to induce the Greeks to help him, went to Argos, and suatching Orestes from his cradle threatened to kill him unless Agamemnon would persuade Achilles to heal the wound.