Tyro

Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus in Greek mythology and the wife of Cretheus. She was the mother of the twins Pelias and Neleus by Poseidon, and of Aeson, Pheres and Amythaon by Cretheus. Homer meets her first among the women of the past in the underworld.

Family of Tyro

Tyro was the daughter of Salmoneus and Alcidice. Salmoneus was an arrogant king who claimed to be Zeus, took the god’s sacrifices for himself, and imitated thunder and lightning by dragging dried hides and bronze kettles behind his chariot and throwing lighted torches at the sky; Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt and destroyed the city he had founded in Elis (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.7). Tyro was brought up by Cretheus, the brother of Salmoneus, whom she later married (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8, 1.9.11). She was therefore the niece and wife of the same man.

In the Odyssey Tyro is the first of the women whom Odysseus sees when he reaches the house of Hades; she says that she is the daughter of noble Salmoneus and wife of Cretheus, son of Aeolus (Homer, Odyssey 11.235–237). Antinous, one of the suitors, also names her among the famous women of the past (Odyssey 2.120).

Tyro and Poseidon

Tyro fell in love with the river Enipeus, the fairest of all rivers, and often walked beside its beautiful streams; in Apollodorus she went to the water and uttered her plaint to it (Odyssey 11.238–240; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8). Poseidon took on the shape of the river god and lay with her where the river meets the sea, while a dark wave stood around them like a mountain and hid the god and the mortal woman. When he was done, he told her to go home and keep silent, to bring up the children she would bear in a year’s time, and he told her his name: Poseidon (Odyssey 11.241–253; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8).

Tyro gave birth to twin sons, Pelias and Neleus, who both became strong servants of Zeus. Pelias lived in broad Iolcus, rich in flocks, and Neleus in sandy Pylos (Odyssey 11.254–257).

The Exposure of the Twins

According to Apollodorus, Tyro gave birth in secret and exposed the twins. As the babies lay abandoned, a mare belonging to passing horsekeepers kicked one of them with her hoof and left a livid mark on his face. The horsekeeper took up both children and reared them, and he called the one with the mark Pelias (from pelion, “livid”) and the other Neleus (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8).

When the twins were grown up, they discovered their mother and killed their stepmother Sidero, who had ill-treated her. Sidero was the second wife of Salmoneus, whom he married after Alcidice died, and she treated Tyro unkindly, as a stepmother would (Diodorus Siculus 4.68.2). She took refuge in the precinct of Hera, but Pelias cut her down on the very altar, and he afterwards treated Hera with contempt (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.8). Afterwards the brothers quarrelled; Neleus was banished and founded Pylos in Messene, while Pelias lived in Thessaly (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.9).

Tyro and Cretheus

Tyro bore Cretheus three sons, Aeson, Pheres and Amythaon (Odyssey 11.258–259; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.11). Cretheus founded Iolcus (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.11).

• Aeson became the father of Jason, with Polymede, the daughter of Autolycus (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16)
• Pheres founded Pherae in Thessaly and was the father of Admetus and Lycurgus (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.14)
• Amythaon lived in Pylos and was the father of Bias and Melampus (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.11)

Through Neleus, Tyro was also the grandmother of Nestor, who alone of the sons of Neleus was spared when Heracles attacked Pylos (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.9).

Tyro Sources

Homer, Odyssey 11.235–259 and 2.120; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.7–9, 1.9.11, 1.9.14, 1.9.16; Diodorus Siculus 4.68.1–3.

See Also: Cretheus, Pelias, Aeson, Poseidon, Enipeus, Sidero, Neleus, Nestor, Jason