Idŏmĕneus

, succeeded his father Deucalion on the throne of Crete, and accompanied the Greeks to the Trojan war, with a fleet of 90 ships. During this celebrated war he rendered himself famous by his valour, and slaughtered many of the enemy. At his return he made a vow to Neptune in a dangerous tempest, that if he escaped from the fury of the seas and storms, he would offer to the god whatever living creature first presented itself to his eye on the Cretan shore. This was no other than his own son, who came to congratulate his father upon his safe return. Idomeneus performed his promise to the god, and the inhumanity and rashne of his sacrifice rendered him so odious in the eyes of his subjects, that he left Crete, and migrated in quest of a settlement. He came to Italy, and founded a city on the coast of Calabria, which he called Salentum. He died in an extreme old age, after he had had the satisfaction of seeing his new kingdom flourish, and his subjects happy. According to the Greek scholiast of Lycophron, li. 1217 , Idomeneus, during his absence in the Trojan war, entrusted the management of his kingdom to Leucos, to whom he promised his daughter Clisithere in marriage at his return. Leucos at first governed with moderation; but he was persuaded by Nauplius king of Eubœa to put to death Meda the wife of his master, with her daughter Clisithere, and to seize the kingdom. After these violent measures, he strengthened himself on the throne of Crete; and Idomeneus, at his return, found it impo ible to expel the usurper. Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 13 , li. 358 .— Hyginus , fable 92.— Homer , Iliad , bk. 11 , . ; Ody ey , bk. 19 .— Pausanias , bk. 5 , ch. 25 .— Virgil , Æneid , bk. 3 , li. 122 .――A son of Priam.――A Greek historian of Lampsacus, in the age of Epicurus. He wrote a history of Samothrace, the life of So crates, .