Linus

Demigod son of Apollo (by the Muse Calliope per Apollod. 1.3.2; or by Psamathe of Argos per Paus. 1.43.7; or by Urania per the Theban Amphimarus-variant); the canonical-Greek inventor of melody, rhythm, and dirges. Music-teacher of Heracles, Orpheus, Thamyras, and Musaeus per Diod. 3.67. Killed by Heracles with his own lyre after rebuking the pupil for errors in the music-lesson per Apollod. 2.4.9 — the canonical-Greek over-strong-pupil-killing-the-tutor narrative, preserved iconographically on the Pistoxenos Painter Attic kylix c. 480 BCE. Heracles tried under a law of Rhadamanthys allowing self-defense and acquitted. The Linus-song lament-genre eponymously attached to him appears canonically in Iliad 18.570 — the boy on Hephaestus's shield-of-Achilles "singing of beautiful Linus." Brother of Orpheus per the canonical Apollodoran tradition, though some recensions make Orpheus great-grandson rather than brother. The Argive cult-tradition (Conon Narr. 19; Paus. 1.43.7) preserves the alternative Psamathe-mother and dog-killing-as-child variant; the Theban tradition (Paus. 9.29.6) preserves the killing-by-Apollo-for-musical-rivalry variant. Multiple recensions; canonical figures of all three.

Parentage

• Apollo

Domains

• music
• lament

Powers

• Invented melody and rhythm
• Taught music and the lyre to gods' heroes

Relations

• sibling: Idmon
• sibling: Tenes
• father: Apollo
• killed by: Heracles

Sources

• Homer, Iliad 18.569-572 (the canonical-Homeric Linus-song attestation on Hephaestus's shield-of-Achilles)
• Hesiod, fr. cited at Diogenes Laertius proem 4
• Apollodorus, Library 1.3.2, 2.4.9
• Pausanias 1.43.7, 2.19.7-8, 9.29.6-9
• Conon, Narrationes 19
• Diodorus Siculus 3.66-67
• Theocritus, Idyll 24.103-110
• Pistoxenos Painter Attic red-figure kylix c. 480 BCE (Munich Antikensammlungen 2646; Heracles-Linus music-lesson scene)