ABSTRACT
A king of Calydon, the son of Portheus and Euryte. His wife Althaea, daughter of Thestius, bore him a number of children, including Meleager. When Dionysus came to Calydon, Oeneus hospitably allowed him to sleep with Althaea, and the result of their union was Deianira, who married Heracles. Dionysus repaid Oeneus with the gift of viticulture and, according to some accounts, named wine (Greek oinos) after him. It was also said that Ares was the father of Meleager. Oeneus entertained Bellerophon and Alcmaeon and may have given a refuge to Agamemnon and Menelaus during their exile. Oeneus was pious as well as hospitable. Nevertheless one year he failed to include Artemis in his harvest sacrifices; and in consequence the goddess sent a monstrous boar to ravage Calydon-the beast which Meleager, in company with a noble band of warriors, eventually killed. After the hunt, there broke out a fierce quarrel as a result of which his mother Althaea, in her anger over his part in the slaying of her brothers Toxeus and Plexippus, caused his death. Then, in her grief, she killed herself.
