Thespius was a legendary founder and king of Thespiae

Thespiae

Thespiae was an ancient Greek city in Boeotia. It stood on level ground commanded by the low range of hills which runs eastward from the foot of Mount Helicon to Thebes, near modern Thespies.-History:...

, 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:...

. His life account is considered part of 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...

.

Life account

He was reportedly son of Erechtheus

Erechtheus

Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic king of Athens, the re-founder of the polis and a double at Athens for Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus"...

, King of Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, and Praxithea

Praxithea

- Wife of Erichthonius :Praxithea was a Naiad nymph. According to Apollodorus Praxithea married Erichthonius of Athens and by him had a son named Pandion I...

. His maternal grandparents were Phrasimus and Diogenia, the daughter of the river god Cephissus

Cephissus (Athenian plain)

Cephissus , Kifissós) or Cephisus Kifisos), a river flowing through the Athenian plain.In his summary of Greek mythology Apollodorus declares that Erechtheus' wife Praxithea was daughter of Phrasimus by Diogenia daughter of Cephissus.This river is found in the western part of the...

. He married Megamede, daughter of Arneus. They supposedly had fifty daughters together, although Thespius may have fathered some of the daughters from unnamed mistresses with Megamede being their stepmother. All his daughters came of marrying age but Thespius seems to have sought no husband for them; he instead desired grandchildren from the hero 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...

. When Heracles was assigned to kill a lion (not to be confused with the Nemean Lion

Nemean Lion

The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack...

), Thespius offered his fifty daughters as a prize. The hunt for the lion lasted fifty days, and during each night of the hunt Heracles slept with each of the fifty daughters, who in turn each gave birth to one son. Alternate sources claim that Heracles slept with the daughters in a single night. In this version, only forty-nine slept with the hero, with the fiftieth being destined to serve as a virgin priestess of a temple to Heracles, as a punishment for her refusal to sleep with him. In another version there were fifty-one grandsons of Thespius, of which forty colonized the island of Sardinia

Sardinia

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...

. The daughters are often referred to as the Thespiades, also being the subject of an 1853 painting by Gustave Moreau

Gustave Moreau

Gustave Moreau was a French Symbolist painter whose main emphasis was the illustration of biblical and mythological figures. As a painter of literary ideas, Moreau appealed to the imaginations of some Symbolist writers and artists.- Biography :Moreau was born in Paris. His father, Louis Jean Marie...

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Daughters and grandchildren

The Bibliotheca

Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)

The Bibliotheca , in three books, provides a comprehensive summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends, "the most valuable mythographical work that has come down from ancient times," Aubrey Diller observed, whose "stultifying purpose" was neatly expressed in the epigram noted by...

 of Pseudo-Apollodorus lists the following daughters and grandchildren. The grandchildren were all Heracleidae

Heracleidae

In Greek mythology, the Heracleidae or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles , especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira Other Heracleidae included Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus...

 in the wider sense of the term.

• Aeschreis. Mother of Leucones.
• Aglaia or Aeglaea. Mother of Antiades.
• Anthea. Unknown child.
• Anthippe. Mother of Hippodromus.
• Antiope. Mother of Alopius.
• Argele. Mother of Cleolaus.
• Asopis. Mother of Mentor.
• Calametis. Mother of Astybies.
• Certhe. Mother of Iobes.
• Chryseis. Mother of Onesippus.
• Clytippe. Mother of Eurycapys.
• Elachia. Mother of Buleus.
• Eone. Mother of Amestrius.
• Epilais. Mother of Astyanax.
• Erato. Mother of Dynastes.
• Euboea. Mother of Olympus
  Olympus (musician)
  Olympus is the name of to two ancient Greek musicians, one mythical who lived before the Trojan war, and one apparently real, who lived in the 7th century BC. Both musicians were connected with the auletic music, which had its origin in Phrygia...
  
   and grandmother of Marsyas
  Marsyas
  In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double flute that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life...
  
  .
• Eubote. Mother of Eurypylus.
• Eurybia. Mother of Polylaus.
• Euryce (Euryte?). Mother of Teleutagoras.
• Eurypyle. Mother of Archedicus.
• Eurytele. Mother of Leucippus.
• Exole. Mother of Erythras.
• Heliconis. Mother of Phalias.
• Hesychia. Mother of Oestrobles.
• Hippo. Mother of Capylus.
• Hippocrate. Mother of Hippozygus.
• Iphis. Mother of Celeustanor.
• Laothoe. Mother of Antiphus.
• Lyse. Mother of Eumedes.
• Lysidice. Mother of Teles.
• Lysippe. Mother of Erasippus.
• Marse. Mother of Bucolus.
• Meline. Mother of Laomedon.
• Menippis. Mother of Entelides.
• Nice. Mother of Nicodromus.
• Nicippe. Mother of Antimachus.
• Olympusa. Mother of Halocrates.
• Oria. Mother of Laomenes.
• Panope. Mother of Threpsippas.
• Patro. Mother of Archemachus.
• Phyleis. Mother of Tigasis.
• Praxithea. Mother of Nephus.
• Procris. Mother of Antileon and Hippeus.
• Pyrippe. Mother of Patroclus.
• Stratonice. Mother of Atromus.
• Terpsicrate. Mother of Euryopes.
• Tiphyse. Mother of Lyncaeus.
• Toxicrate. Mother of Lycurgus.
• Xanthis. Mother of Homolippus.
• An unnamed daughter. Mother of Creon.