TYRSENUS IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY

Tyrsenus was a Lydian famous for emigrating from Asia Minor to Italy. Tyrsenus, who is also known as Tyrrhenus, was also famously a son of Heracles. 

​Tyrsenus Son of Heracles

​Most commonly, Tyrsenus is named as a son of the Greek demi-god Heracles, and Omphale, Queen of Lydia. Heracles was undertaking a year of forced servitude to Omphale, following the death of Iphitus.  This parentage means that Tyrsenus was brother to Agelaus.

Some though, tell of Tyrsenus being a son of Atys, King of Lydia, and Callithea; whilst a few call him the son of Telephus, a King of Mysia. 

​Tyrsenus Departs from Lydia

​When of age, Tyrsenus was said to have departed from Lydia with a large number of followers; this departure was perhaps driven by a famine which had taken hold in Lydia. Tyrsenus and the Lydians would board a fleet of ships at Smyrna.

Tyrsenus would travel from Asia Minor and would eventually settle in the land that would become Italy, settling in an area near to the Umbrians; a land which would now include modern Tuscany, Campania and Latium. 

The followers of Tyrsenus no longer called themselves Lydians, for now they called themselves Tyrrhenians, in honour of the man who led them to their new home, and the land they settled was named Tyrrhenia. The land, and the people would late become more famous as Etruria and the Etruscans. 

In the story of Aeneas, an Etruscan ally of the Trojan hero, was named Tyrrnhenus, although as to whether this was the same man is unclear. 

Later in antiquity, the name of the Tyrrhenians was associated with sea-faring pirates, although in this time, not all Tyrrhenians were Etruscans.

​Tyrsenus and the Trumpet

​Ancient sources claim that Tyrsenus was the inventor the of the trumpet. 

Some tell of Tyrsenus having a son named Hegeleus, a man who would teach the Dorians how to play his father’s invention. 

Contents

Colin Quartermain - Tyrsenus - 6th April 2026