Rivalry of twins Proetus and Acrisius quarreled continually ever since they still were in the womb that they even carried on with the rivalry into their adult years, inventing shields or
bucklers in the process. In one tradition, the conflict was reiterated when Proetus seduced Acrisius's daughter (and his own niece)
Danae. Proetus started out as king of Argos, and held the throne for about seventeen years, but Acrisius defeated him in the war and exiled him. Proetus then fled to King
Jobates (Iobates) or Amphianax in
Lycia, and married his daughter Antea or
Stheneboea. Jobates, thereupon, attempted to restore Proetus to his kingdom by armed force. After the war had gone on for a while the kingdom was divided in two. Acrisius then shared his kingdom with his brother, surrendering to him Tiryns and the eastern half of Argolis, i.e. the Heraeum, Midea and the coast of Argolis. Tiryns was said to be fortified by the Cyclopes.
Bellerophon When
Bellerophon came to Proetus to be purified of a murder which he had committed, the wife of Proetus fell in love with him, and invited him to come to her: but, as Bellerophon refused to comply with her desire, she charged him before Proetus with having made improper proposals to her. Proetus then sent Bellerophon to Iobates in Lycia, with a letter in which Iobates was desired to murder Bellerophon. Iobates challenged Bellerophon to several seemingly impossible tasks which Bellerophon did complete.
Madness of the Proetides When Proetus's daughters arrived at the age of maturity, they were stricken with madness, the cause of which is differently stated by different authors; some say that it was a punishment inflicted upon them by
Dionysus, because they had despised his worship. Others have assumed the troubles arose by
Hera, because they presumed to be more beautiful than the goddess, or perhaps because they had stolen some of the gold off her statue. In this state of madness they wandered through Peloponnesus. and Melampus, having chosen the most robust among the young men, gave chase to the mad women, amid shouting and dancing, and drove them as far as Sicyon. During this pursuit, Iphinoe, one of the daughters of Proetus, died, but the two others were cured by Melampus by means of purifications, and were then married to Melampus and Bias. There was a tradition that Proetus had founded a sanctuary of Hera, between
Sicyon and Titane, and one of
Apollo at Sicyon. The place where the cure was effected upon his daughters is not the same in all traditions, some mentioning the well Anigros, others the well Cleitor in
Arcadia, or
Lusi in Arcadia. Some even state that the Proetides were cured by
Asclepius or that they were cured in the
Cave of the Lakes. This story is sometimes attributed to
Anaxagoras.
Other tales In one account, Proetus had yet another daughter,
Nyctaea, who fled from her own father's attempts of violation and was changed by
Athena into an owl; her story is a variant for that of
Nyctimene. According to Ovid, Proetus ended up changed into stone by
Perseus, the grandson of Acrisius (who had eventually got expelled by Proetus), upon being made by him to see the head of
Medusa. Later Proetus's son, Megapenthes, exchanged kingdoms with Perseus. == Argive genealogy ==