Alcaeus (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Alcaeus or Alkaios was the name of a number of different people:
 * Alcaeus, a son of Perseus and Andromeda, and married to Hipponome, the daughter of Menoeceus of Thebes, by whom he became the father of Amphitryon and Anaxo.  According to Pausanias his wife's name was Laonome, a daughter of the Arcadian Guneus, or Lysidice, a daughter of Pelops.
 * Alcaeus, the original name of Heracles (according to Diodorus Siculus), which was given to him on account of his descent from Alcaeus, the son of Perseus mentioned above.
 * Alcaeus, a son of Heracles by a female slave of Jardanus, from whom the dynasty of the Heraclids in Lydia were believed to be descended. Diodorus Siculus writes that this son of Heracles is named "Cleolaus".
 * Alcaeus, a general of Rhadamanthus, according to Diodorus Siculus, who presented him with the island of Paros. Apollodorus relates that he was a son of Androgeus (the son of Minos and Pasiphaë) and brother of Sthenelus, and that when Heracles, on his expedition to fetch the girdle of Ares, which was in the possession of the queen of the Amazons, arrived at Paros, some of his companions were slain by the sons of Minos.  Heracles, in his anger, slew all the descendants of Minos except Alcaeus and Sthenelus, whom he took with him, and to whom he afterwards gave the island of Thasus as their home.