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...

, Oeneus, or Oineus (Οἰνεύς) was a Calydon

Calydon

Calydon was an ancient Greek city in Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus. According to Greek mythology, the city took its name from its founder Calydon, son of Aetolus. Close to the city stood Mount Zygos, the slopes of which provided the setting for the hunt of the Calydonian...

ian king, son of Porthaon

Porthaon

In Greek mythology, Porthaon , sometimes referred to as Parthaon or Portheus, was the king of Calydon, husband of Euryte and father of Oeneus, Agrius, Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus and Sterope, also of the Argonaut Laocoön by an unnamed female servant, or by Euryte too...

 and Euryte, husband of Althaea and father of Deianeira

Deianira

Deïanira or Dejanira is a figure in Greek mythology, best-known for being Heracles' third wife and, in the late Classical story, unwittingly killing him with the Shirt of Nessus...

, Meleager

Meleager

In Greek mythology, Meleager was a hero venerated in his temenos at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer....

, Toxeus

Toxeus

In Greek mythology, the name Toxeus refers to:*A son of Thestius, brother of Althaea, who participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. He was angry that the prize of the boar's hide had been given to a woman by his nephew Meleager, who then killed him in the ensuing argument.*A son of Oineus...

, Clymenus

Clymenus

In Greek mythology, Clymenus may refer to any number of individuals:*Clymenus was the father of Eurydice.*Clymenus was the son of King Oeneus of Calydon and Althaea. He was killed while battling the Curetes....

, Periphas

Periphas

Periphas in Greek mythology may refer to:1. One of the sons of Aegyptus. He married Actaea, daughter of Danaus.2. A son of Oeneus....

, Agelaus, Thyreus (or Phereus or Pheres), Gorge

Gorge (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the name Gorge may refer to:*Gorge, a daughter of Oeneus and Althaea, and wife of Andraemon. Artemis changed her sisters into birds because of their constant mourning over the death of their brother Meleager, but spared Gorge and her sister Deianeira...

, Eurymede, Mothone, Perimede

Perimede (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the name Perimede refers to:*A daughter of Oeneus, mother of Astypalaea and Europe by Phoenix .*Sister of Amphitryon and wife of Licymnius....

 and Melanippe

Melanippe

In Greek mythology, Melanippe referred to several different people.* Daughter of the Centaur Chiron. Also known as Hippe or Euippe. She bore a daughter to Aeolus, Melanippe or Arne...

 (although Meleager's and Deianeira's fathers could also have been Ares

Ares

Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...

 and Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

 respectively). Oeneus was also the father of Tydeus

Tydeus

In Greek mythology, Tydeus was an Aeolian hero of the generation before the Trojan War. He was one of the Seven Against Thebes and was mortally wounded by Melanippus before the walls of the city. The goddess Athena had planned to make him immortal but refused after Tydeus in a rage devoured the...

 by Periboea

Periboea

In Greek mythology, nine people shared the name Periboea .#Periboea was the daughter of either King Cychreus of Salamis or of Alcathous, her mother in the latter case being either Pyrgo or Evaechme, daughter of Megareus. She married Telamon and became and mother of Ajax...

, daughter of Hipponous, though Tydeus was exiled from Aetolia and appears in myths concerning Argos

Argos

Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

. He introduced winemaking to Aetolia

Aetolia

Aetolia is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern prefecture of Aetolia-Acarnania.-Geography:...

, which he learned from Dionysus

Dionysus

Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...

.

He sent Meleager out to find heroes to kill the Calydonian Boar

Calydonian Boar

The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male...

, which was ravaging Calydon because Oeneus had forgotten to honor Artemis

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

 at the harvest ceremonies. So began the Calydonian Hunt during which the boar was killed by Atalanta

Atalanta

Atalanta is a character in Greek mythology.-Legend:Atalanta was the daughter of Iasus , a Boeotian or an Arcadian princess . She is often described as a goddess. Apollodorus is the only one who gives an account of Atalanta’s birth and upbringing...

 and Meleager. However, an argument began as to who should take the boar's skin as a prise: Meleager gave it to Atalanta, but two of his maternal uncles, sons of Thestius

Thestius

In Greek mythology, Thestius was the son of either Ares and Demonice, or Agenor and Epicasta. He was the father of Iphicles with Leucippe, or Deidameia, daughter of Perieres, or else with Eurythemis, daughter of Cleoboea and mother of his other children, Althaea, Eurypylus, Evippus, Hypermnestra,...

, wanted the trophy for themselves, claiming that it belonged to them by the right of birth if Meleager did not want it. Meleager, in rage, killed them, which resulted in a war between the Calydonians and the Curetes

Curetes (tribe)

Homer, in the Iliad, mentions the Curetes as a legendary people who took part in the quarrel over the Calydonian Boar. Strabo mentioned that the Curetes were assigned multiple identities and places of origin . However, he clarified the identity of the Curetes and regarded them solely as Aetolians...

, in which all of Oeneus' sons, including Meleager, fell.

The sons of Oeneus' brother Agrius

Agrius

Agrius or Agrios , in Greek mythology, is a name that may refer to:*A son of Parthaon, king of Calydon in Aetolia, and Euryte; he was the brother of Oeneus , Alcathous, Melas, Leucopeus, and Sterope. He was father of six sons, including Melanippus and Thersites, who overthrew Oeneus and gave the...

 deposed him but Diomedes

Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all...

, his grandson through Tydeus, put Oeneus back on the Calydonian throne (or the throne passed to Andraemon

Andraemon

In Greek mythology the name Andraemon, or Andraimôn may refer to:*Son of Oxylus and husband of Dryope.*Father of Oxylus and grandfather of the precedent....

, husband of Gorge, due to Oeneus' old age). Oeneus either died of natural causes or was killed by the surviving sons of Agrius who laid an ambush against him while Diomedes was transporting him to Peloponessus. He was buried in Argos

Argos

Argos is a city and a former municipality in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Argos-Mykines, of which it is a municipal unit. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour...

by Diomedes, and a town was named Oenoe after him.