When the
Cithaeronian lion was harassing the king of Thespius, the latter asked Heracles to kill the lion.[4] The son of
Zeus hunted it for fifty days and finally slayed the beast. The Thespian king entertained him as a guest in a brilliant fashion during that span of time, making Heracles drunk and slept unwittingly with each of his fifty daughters, including Heliconis. The hero having thought that his bed-fellow was always the same. Thespius intended this to happen because he strongly desired that all his daughters should have children by Heracles.[5] In another version of the myth, the latter had an intercourse with Heliconis and her siblings for one week,[6] seven laid with Heracles each night.[7]
In some accounts, Heracles bedded in a single night[8] with Heliconis and her sisters, except for one who refused to have a connection with him. The hero, thinking that he had been insulted, condemned her to remain a virgin all her life, serving him as his priest.[9]
Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.
Online version at theio.com