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...

, Copreus (Κοπρεύς) was King Eurystheus

Eurystheus

In Greek mythology, Eurystheus was king of Tiryns, one of three Mycenaean strongholds in the Argolid, although other authors including Homer and Euripides cast him as ruler of Argos: Sthenelus was his father and the "victorious horsewoman" Nicippe his mother, and he was a grandson of the hero...

' herald. He announced Heracles

Heracles

Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...

' Twelve Labors. Copreus was said to be a son of Pelops

Pelops

In Greek mythology, Pelops , was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. He was the founder of the House of Atreus through his son of that name....

 and Hippodameia. He was a fugitive from Elis

Elis

Elis, or Eleia is an ancient district that corresponds with the modern Elis peripheral unit...

 where he had killed a man called Iphitus, but Eurystheus purified him of the murder. He had a son named Periphetes

Periphetes

Periphetes is the name of several characters from Greek mythology.The most prominent Periphetes, also known as Corynetes or the Club-Bearer, was a son of Hephaestus and Anticleia. Like his father, he was lame in one leg with only one eye as a Cyclopes would have...

, who features briefly in the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

as a well-loved warrior speared by Hector

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...

 or killed by Teucer

Teucer

In Greek mythology Teucer, also Teucrus or Teucris , was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax, in the Trojan War and is the legendary founder of the city Salamis on Cyprus...

. By contrast, Copreus is disparaged by Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

:

So of a sire much baser an excellent son was begotten

better in prowess of every sort, on his feet and in battle

His name is usually translated as 'dung man', or something equally unflattering. However, the name 'Copreus' may originally have had more positive connotations, meaning 'grazier' or 'man of the land', and been associated with the ownership of cattle rather than just their dung (κόπρος).