Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Oebalus 1.

by William Smith

OE'BALUS (Οἴβαλος). 1. A son of Cynortas, and husband of Gorgophone, by whom he became the father of Tyndareos, Peirene, and Arene, was king of Sparta, where he was afterwards honoured with an heroum (Paus. iii. 1. § 3, 15. § 7, ii. 2. § 3, iv. 2. § 3). According to others he was a son of Perieres and a grandson of Cynortas, and was married to the nymph Bateia, by whom he had several children (Apollod. iii. 10. § 4; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 447). The patronymic Oebalides is not only applied to his descendants, but to the Spartans generally, and hence it occurs as an epithet or surname of Hyacinthus, Castor, Pollux and Helena (Ov. Ib. 590, Fast. v. 705, Her. xvi. 126.) [L. S.]