In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Acarnan (Ἀκαρνάν; genitive Ἀκαρνᾶνος), one of the Epigones, was a son of Alcmaeon and Callirrhoe

Callirrhoe (naiad)

In Greek mythology, Callirrhoe was a naiad. She was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. She had three husbands, Chrysaor, Neilus and Poseidon. She was one of the three ancestors of the Tyrians, along with Abarbarea and Drosera...

, and brother of Amphoterus

Amphoterus

Amphoterus or Amphoteros may refer to:*Amphoterus son of Alcmaeon by Callirrhoe, and brother of Acarnan*Amphoterus a Trojan of this name occurs Homer Il. xvi. 415.*Amphoterus of Alexander the Great...

. Their father was murdered by Phegeus

Phegeus

Phegeus was a Greek mythological king who offered succor and his daughter, Arsinoe , to Alcmaeon, who was fleeing from the Erinyes. Alcmaeon left his mother's, Eriphyle's, jewelry and clothing with him and then returned for it later in order to please the river god Achelous and have his daughter,...

 (or, in some sources, his sons Agenor

Agenor, son of Phegeus

Agenor was a son of Phegeus, king of Psophis, in Arcadia. He was brother of Pronous and Arsinoe, who was married to, and later abandoned by, the Argive Alcmaeon...

 and Pronous), when they were yet very young, and Calirrhoe prayed to Zeus

Zeus

In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...

 to make her sons grow quickly, that they might be able to avenge the death of their father. The prayer was granted, and Acarnan with his brother slew Phegeus, his wife, and his two sons. The inhabitants of Psophis

Psophis

Psophis was an ancient Greek city in the northwest end of Arcadia, bounded on the north by Arcadia, and on the west by Elis.-City name and mythology:...

, where the sons had been slain, pursued the murderers as far as Tegea

Tegea

Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Tripoli, of which it is a municipal unit. Its seat was the village Stadio....

, where however they were received and rescued. At the request of Achelous

Achelous

In Greek mythology, Achelous was the patron deity of the "silver-swirling" Achelous River, which is the largest river of Greece, and thus the chief of all river deities, every river having its own river spirit. His name is pre-Greek, its meaning unknown...

 they carried the necklace

Necklace of Harmonia

The Necklace of Harmonia was a fabled object in Greek mythology that, according to legend, brought great misfortune to all of its wearers or owners, who were primarily queens and princesses of the ill-fated House of Thebes...

 and peplos

Peplos

A peplos is a body-lengthGreek garment worn by women before 500 BC. The peplos is a tubular cloth folded inside-out from the top about halfway down, altering what was the top of the tube to the waist and the bottom of the tube to ankle-length. The garment is then gathered about the waist and the...

 of Harmonia to Delphi

Delphi

Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...

, and from thence they went to Epirus

Epirus

The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...

, where Acarnan founded the state called after him Acarnania

Acarnania

Acarnania is a region of west-central Greece that lies along the Ionian Sea, west of Aetolia, with the Achelous River for a boundary, and north of the gulf of Calydon, which is the entrance to the Gulf of Corinth. Today it forms the western part of the prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania. The capital...

.