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...

, Anaxagoras was a king of 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...

 and son of either Megapenthes

Megapenthes

In Greek mythology, Megapénthês is a name that refers to:* A son of Proetus. He exchanged kingdoms with his cousin Perseus, whom he killed much later. He was the father of Argeus and possibly Anaxagoras...

 or his son Argeus

Argeus (king of Argos)

Argeus was a mythological king of Argos in Ancient Greece, the son of Megapenthes, and possibly the father of Anaxagoras....

. The prince, Anaxagoras' son, suffered from a strange malady and the king offered a reward for anybody that could heal him. Melampus

Melampus

In Greek mythology, Melampus, or Melampous , was a legendary soothsayer and healer, originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos. He was the introducer of the worship of Dionysus, according to Herodotus, who asserted that his powers as a seer were derived from the Egyptians and that he could understand...

, a local seer, killed an ox and talked to the vulture

Vulture

Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...

s that came to eat the corpse. They said that the last time they had had such a feast was when the king made a sacrifice. They told Melampus that the prince had been frightened of the big, bloody knife and the king tossed it aside to calm the child. It had hit a tree and injured a hamadryad

Hamadryad

Hamadryads are Greek mythological beings that live in trees. They are a particular type of dryad, which in turn are a particular type of nymph. Hamadryads are born bonded to a particular tree. Some believe that hamadryads are the actual tree, while normal dryads are simply the entities, or...

, who cursed the prince with the sickness. The hamadryad told Melampus that the boy would be healed if the knife was taken out of the trunk of the tree and boiled, then the rusty water that resulted drunk by the prince. Melampus followed her directions and demanded two thirds of the kingdom for himself, and one third for his brother, Bias

Bias (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Bias was a brother of Melampus who received one third of Argos . Bias married his cousin Pero and had one child, Talaus, with her. When Pero died he remarried Iphianassa, daughter of Proetus, after Melampus had cured her from madness. He received one third of Proetus's kingdom...

. The king ultimately agreed. When the women of Argos were driven mad by Dionysus, in the reign of Anaxagoras, Melampus

Melampus

In Greek mythology, Melampus, or Melampous , was a legendary soothsayer and healer, originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos. He was the introducer of the worship of Dionysus, according to Herodotus, who asserted that his powers as a seer were derived from the Egyptians and that he could understand...

 was brought in to cure them, but demanded a third of the kingdom as payment. The king refused, but the women became wilder than ever, and he was forced to seek out Melampus again, who this time demanded both a third for himself and another third for his brother Bias

Bias (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Bias was a brother of Melampus who received one third of Argos . Bias married his cousin Pero and had one child, Talaus, with her. When Pero died he remarried Iphianassa, daughter of Proetus, after Melampus had cured her from madness. He received one third of Proetus's kingdom...

. Sometimes, this story is told not of Anaxagoras, but of his grandfather, Proetus

Proetus

Proetus was a mythical king of Argos and Tiryns. His father Abas, son of the last surviving and died Danaid Hypermnestra, had ruled over Argos and married Ocalea. However, Proetus quarreled continually with his twin brother Acrisius, inventing shields or bucklers in the process...

. Anaxagoras was succeeded by his son Alector

Alector

Alector refers to more than one person in classical myth and history:*Alector, the father of Leitus, himself one of the Argonauts. Homer calls him "Alectryon", and Diodorus "Electryon"....

. His house lasted longer than those of Bias and Melampus, and eventually the kingdom was reunited under its last member, Cyanippus.