Amphitryon

The sons of Pterelaos came to Mycenae with Taphios and demanded the kingdom that had belonged to their maternal grandfather, Mestor. Electryon refused their claim. They drove away his cattle, and the sons of Electryon pursued them. The two groups fought, and all the combatants were killed except Licymnios, who was still a child, and Everes, who had been guarding the ships. The Taphians who escaped sailed away with the cattle and left them with Polyxenos, king of the Eleans. Amphitryon ransomed the animals from Polyxenos and brought them back to Mycenae.

Electryon planned an expedition against the Teleboans to avenge his sons. He entrusted his kingdom to Amphitryon and gave him Alcmene, making him swear that he would respect her virginity until Electryon returned. While Amphitryon was receiving the cattle, he struck Electryon dead. Sthenelos then took power in Mycenae and expelled Amphitryon and Alcmene. Their expulsion led Amphitryon to begin his life in exile at Thebes.

Amphitryon went there with Alcmene and Licymnios. Creon purified him, and Amphitryon gave Creon’s sister, Perimede, to Licymnios as his wife. Alcmene said that she would marry Amphitryon after he had avenged the deaths of her brothers. He promised to do so and asked Creon to help him prepare a campaign against the Teleboans.

Creon agreed to join the expedition if Amphitryon first freed the Cadmeia from a savage vixen that was devastating the land. It was fated that no one could catch the animal. Each month, the Thebans exposed the son of one of their citizens to it, since otherwise it would have carried off many of them. Amphitryon therefore went to Athens and persuaded Cephalos, son of Deioneus, to help him, offering him a share of the plunder from the Teleboan campaign. Amphitryon remained among the Thebans with Alcmene while he pursued these conditions for her marriage and the planned expedition.