Belus was the son of
Poseidon and
Libya or of
Zeus and
Lybee (i.e. Libya). He may also be
Busiris, son of Libya, ruler of Egypt, killed by
Heracles, although Heracles was born many generations after Belus since he was a great-grandchild of
Perseus; see Argive genealogy below.
Apollodorus also claims that
Agenor was Belus's twin brother. Belus ruled in
Egypt, and Agenor ruled over
Sidon and
Tyre in
Phoenicia. The wife of Belus has been named as
Achiroe, daughter of the river-god
Nilus. Her sons
Aegyptus and
Danaus were twins. Later Aegyptus ruled over Egypt and
Arabia, and Danaus ruled over
Libya. Apollodorus says that it was
Euripides who added
Cepheus and
Phineus as additional sons of Belus. In the
Hesiodic
Catalogue of Women, Belus was also the father of a daughter named
Thronia on whom Hermaon, i.e.
Hermes, fathered
Arabus, presumably the eponym of
Arabia. According to
Pherecydes of Athens, Belus also had a daughter named
Damno who married Agenor (Belus's brother, her uncle) and bore to him
Phoenix and two daughters named
Isaie, and
Melia, these becoming wives respectively to sons of Belus (their cousins) Aegyptus and Danaus. Yet another source says that the daughter of Belus who married Agenor was named
Antiope. Some sources make Belus the father of
Lamia while
Antoninus mentions him as the father of
Thias (father of
Smyrna) by the
nymph Orithyia.
Nonnus makes Belus the father of five sons, namely Phineus, Phoenix, Agenor (identified as the father of
Cadmus), Aegyptus, and Danaus, though Nonnus elsewhere makes Phineus to be Cadmus's brother. Nonnus has Cadmus identify Belus as "the Libyan Zeus" and refer to the "new voice of Zeus Asbystes", meaning the oracle of Zeus
Ammon at Asbystes. == Mythology ==