Oxylus was exiled from Aetolia on account of unintentional homicide; his victim was either his own brother Therimus or a certain Alcidocus, son of Scopius. In his wanderings, he met
Temenus, son of
Aristomachus, on a road. Temenus had been told by an
oracle to look out for a man with three eyes, and since Oxylus was riding a horse or mule with one eye, he matched that description. Oxylus then, as the
oracle had recommended, accompanied Temenus and his brother,
Cresphontes, in their invasion of the
Peloponnese. He advised them to invade the Peloponnese by ship, sailing from
Naupactus to
Molycrium. For his aid, Oxylus asked to be given
Elis, a fertile land, as his own. Since Oxylus suspected that the Dorians would not give Elis to him, when they saw how fertile it was, he led them through
Arcadia and not Elis. Nevertheless,
Pausanias says that he did have to fight over the land with the Dorian
Dius. The latter proposed that each side chose a single soldier to represent his army. Degmenus, an archer, fought for Dius and Pyraechmes, a slinger, for Oxylus; the latter won, and Oxylus received Elis as his domain.
Strabo tells the same story, but says that the opponent was the native
Epeans.
Polyaenus calls the archer Aeschines rather than Degmenus. After gaining control of Elis, Oxylus settled Aetolians there and allowed Dius to settle with special rights. Pausanias says that Oxylus allowed the Epeans to stay too and maintained the existing cults; Strabo says that he drove the Epeans out. In accordance with a prophecy of the oracle, he brought in Agorius, great-grandson of
Orestes and thus a descendant of
Pelops, as a co-founder. The land became prosperous under him. The Dorians swore an oath never to invade Elis, which Strabo presents as a precursor of the
Olympic truce and the reason why Elis had no city walls. This truce lasted until the time of
Pheidon of Argos. == Descendants ==