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...

, Hyrieus was the son of Alcyone

Alcyone (Pleiades)

Alcyone in Greek mythology is the name of one of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione or, more rarely, Aethra. She attracted the attention of the god Poseidon and bore him several children, variously named in the sources: Hyrieus, Lycus, Hyperenor, and Aethusa; Hyperes and Anthas;...

 and Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

, brother of Hyperenor and Aethusa

Aethusa

Aethusa was in Greek mythology a daughter of Poseidon and Alcyone, who was beloved by Apollo, and bore to him Eleuther.The word aethusa was used as an epithet for a portico that was open to the sun, that is, Apollo....

. By the nymph Clonia, he became the father of Nycteus

Nycteus

In Greek mythology, Nycteus was a king of Thebes. His rule began after the death of Polydorus, and ended when he was succeeded by his brother Lycus.-Genealogy:...

 and Lycus

Lycus

Lycus or Lykos , a common name for Greek rivers, seems to have originated in the impression made upon the mind of the beholder by a torrent rushing down the side of a hill, which suggested the idea of a wolf rushing at its prey.Lycus or Lykos may refer to:* Lycus , several people in Greek...

.. One source calls him father of Crinacus. Most accounts speak of him as a king, although Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

 and Nonnus

Nonnus

Nonnus of Panopolis , was a Greek epic poet. He was a native of Panopolis in the Egyptian Thebaid, and probably lived at the end of the 4th or early 5th century....

 portray him as a poor peasant.

Hyrieus was the eponym

Eponym

An eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...

 of Hyria in Boeotia

Boeotia

Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

, where he dwelt and where Orion (see below) was born; some sources though place him either in Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 or on Chios

Chios

Chios is the fifth largest of the Greek islands, situated in the Aegean Sea, seven kilometres off the Asia Minor coast. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. The island is noted for its strong merchant shipping community, its unique mastic gum and its medieval villages...

. He was said to have expelled Euonymus

Euonymus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Euonymus was the son of Gaia by either Uranus or Cephissus. He was the eponym of the deme Euonymeia, Attica, whereas his daughter Aulis gave her name to the city Aulis, Boeotia....

 from the temple of Apollo

Apollo

Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

.

Hyrieus hired Trophonius

Trophonius

Trophonius or Trophonios was a Greek hero or daimon or god - it was never certain which one - with a rich mythological tradition and an oracular cult at Lebadaea in Boeotia....

 and Agamedes

Agamedes

In Greek mythology, Agamedes was a son of Erginus . He was father of Cercyon by Epicaste, who also brought to him a stepson, Trophonius, who was by some believed to be a son of Apollo. According to others, Agamedes was a son of Apollo and Epicaste, or of Zeus and Iocaste, and father of Trophonius...

 to build a treasure

Treasure

Treasure is a concentration of riches, often one which is considered lost or forgotten until being rediscovered...

 chamber for him but they also built a secret entrance

Secret passage

Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...

 to it, so that the treasury was easily accessible by removing just one stone from the outside. Using the secret entrance, they would come and steal some of Hyrieus' possessions. He was dumbfounded at discovering that his fortune was diminishing while the locks and seals remained intact; to catch the thief, he laid a snare. Agamedes was trapped in it; Trophonius cut off his brother's head so that Hyrieus would never know the thief's identity, and himself disappeared in a chasm of the earth.

According to later sources, Hyrieus was also the father of Orion

Orion (mythology)

Orion was a giant huntsman in Greek mythology whom Zeus placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion....

. Some speak of him as Orion's natural father; others relate that he was childless and a widower and became (technically) adoptive father of Orion via the following circumstances. He was visited by 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...

 and Hermes

Hermes

Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...

 (some add Poseidon), who, to express gratitude for his hospitality, promised him to fulfill a wish of his; he said that he wanted children. The gods filled a sacrificial bull's hide with their urine (or sperm), then told Hyrieus to bury it. Nine months later, Hyrieus found a newborn baby boy inside and named him Orion; Roman authors thought of the Latin word urina "urine" as an etymon for Orion's name (though actually his name is obviously not of Latin origin). Nonnus, on account of this story, refers to Orion as "having three fathers" and to Gaea

Gaia (mythology)

Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...

(Earth) as his mother.