King Endymion fathered three sons, Paeon, Epeius, and Aetolus, and a daughter, Eurykyda. When his sons were young men, Endymion ordered a footrace to decide which of the three would inherit the throne. The only contestants were to be his sons; the winner would be ruler of Elis after
Below: French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594—1665) painted this version of the Endymion myth, but he substituted Diana for Selene.
Above: This Roman relief sculpture of Endymion sleeping, from the first century CE, is typical of depictions of the handsome youth. Endymion is asleep, and by his side is a dog either howling at the moon (Selene) or pining for the hunts he will miss because Endymion will never wake.
Endymion’s death. According to legend, this was the first footrace held at Olympia, which lies in Elis, where the original Olympic Games were held.
Epeius won the race and was proclaimed the heir.
Paeon, angry at having lost, left the Peloponnese and traveled through mainland Greece, eventually settling in an area north of Macedonia that he named Paeonia. Aetolus remained in Elis and became king when Epeius died. His reign was shortlived, however, because he was exiled for having killed another king. Aetolus journeyed until, like his brother Paeon, he too founded a new kingdom on mainland Greece:Aetolia, near the Achelous River.
Eleios, the son of Eurykada, succeeded Aetolus as king of Elis, and it is said that the people of the kingdom were called Eleans in honor of him. Greek writer Pausanias (143—176 CE) noted that the Eleans kept a tomb of Endymion in Olympia at the starting place of the sprinters. The people of Herakleia, however, claimed that Endymion had left Elis and traveled to Mount Latmos, where he was buried. The people there worshiped him as a local hero.
As for the mythological fate of King Endymion, one version claims that he was invited to Mount Olympus by Zeus. There he fell in love with Hera, Zeus’s wife. When he tried to make love to her, Zeus grew so angry that he banished Endymion to the underworld.
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