ABSTRACT
King Proitos of Tiryns is a primeval king, comparable with Naxos the original king of Naxos or Eurypylos the original king of Kyrene. Traditions are often about origins and this is where the first king can be found. Far beyond the reach of genuine history, the king's function is to inhabit the times of legend, to do initial deeds of founding and inventing, and to commence the history of the nation. Proitos, whose very name conjures up Greek words for 'before' and 'first', founded Tiryns. Proitos's son Megapenthes was king in Tiryns after him, before he obliged genealogists by swapping kingdoms with Perseus. Bacchylides tells the story of the Proitids at some length in a victory ode which he composed for the winnner of the wrestling contest at Delphi-a boy from Metapontion. If the Proitids are the daughters of the King of Tiryns, then all applications of the myth to sites outside the territory of Tiryns will be secondary.
