Telephus
Son of Heracles and Auge, king of Mysia, who was wounded by Achilles and could only be healed by the same spear.
The Legend of Telephus
The weapon that wounded him was the only thing that could heal him — Achilles's spear contained its own antidote. Telephus fought the Greeks when they mistakenly invaded Mysia thinking it was Troy. Achilles wounded him with his Pelian ash spear, and the wound would not close. An oracle told Telephus that the wounder must be the healer. He traveled to the Greek camp disguised as a beggar and threatened to kill the infant Orestes unless Achilles helped. Odysseus realized the oracle meant the spear itself, not Achilles — rust from the weapon was applied and the wound healed. In gratitude, Telephus guided the fleet to Troy.
Parents
Heracles, Auge
Children
Eurypylus
Symbols
Fun Fact
The principle that the wounder must heal became a homeopathic concept — similia similibus curantur.
Explore Further
Machaon
🗡 heromedicine
Son of Asclepius and chief surgeon of the Greek army at Troy, killed by Eurypylus son of Telephus.
Philoctetes
🗡 heroArcher abandoned on Lemnos
Philoctetes inherited Heracles' bow and was essential to Troy's fall, yet the Greeks abandoned him for ten years because of a festering wound.
Philoctetes and the Bow
🗡 heroarchery, suffering
The hero who possessed Heracles' bow without which Troy could not fall, abandoned on Lemnos for ten years due to his festering wound.
Diomedes
🗡 heroKing of Argos who wounded gods
Diomedes was the only mortal in the Iliad to wound two Olympian gods in a single day.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Asclepius
🗡 heroGod of medicine and healing
The legendary physician who could cure any illness and even raise the dead. Son of Apollo, his skill in medicine was so great that Zeus struck him down to preserve the natural order.
Amphiaraus
🗡 heroThe prophet who foresaw his own death at Thebes
A warrior-prophet who knew the Seven Against Thebes would fail but marched to his death anyway, swallowed by the earth.
Iolaus
🗡 heroNephew and companion of Heracles
Iolaus was Heracles' beloved nephew and charioteer who helped him slay the Hydra by cauterising the stumps — the essential companion to the greatest hero.
Achilles
🗡 heroGreatest warrior of the Trojan War
The greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the River Styx as an infant — except for the heel by which his mother held him.
Amphiaraus
🗡 heroSeer-warrior swallowed by earth
Amphiaraus was a warrior-prophet who foresaw his death in the Seven Against Thebes but marched anyway, bound by his wife's betrayal.
Diomedes
🗡 heroThe hero who wounded two Olympian gods in a single day
The king of Argos who fought at Troy with such ferocity that he wounded both Aphrodite and Ares — becoming one of the only mortals to injure gods.
Oedipus
🗡 heroKing who fulfilled the prophecy of killing his father and marrying his mother
The tragic king of Thebes who unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, fulfilling a prophecy he had spent his life trying to avoid.