4. The rest of this fable, however, entirely loses its symbolical character; viz., the manner in which the birth of several Doric heroes is connected with the taking of Ephyra; who, though out of the confines of history, are nevertheless to be considered as real individuals. In the first place, Hercules is stated to have begotten Tlepolemus on Astyocheia, whom, according to Homer, he carried away from Ephyra, on the river Sellecis, after having destroyed many cities;(1760) Antiphus and Pheidippus also were said to have come from Ephyra in Thesprotia, the sons of Thessalus, and grandsons of Hercules, to whom the noblest families of Thessaly, as well as the Heraclidæ of Cos, referred their origin;(1761) the latter, however, according to another and later tradition, sprang from the union of Hercules and the daughter of Eurypylus in Cos itself.(1762) The origin of this intricate fable appears to be as follows: There were in the ancient country of the Dorians some noble families which referred their origin to the conquest of Ephyra; and these were designated by the names of Tlepolemus, Antiphus, and Pheidippus; those families went with the other Dorians to Peloponnesus, and passed through Argos and Epidaurus to Rhodes and Cos, where they partly new-modelled their original family legends. Now it was always admitted that the Thessalian people came also from Ephyra and Thesprotia; and when it settled among the Greeks, and sought to participate in their traditions, it was natural that Hercules, the conqueror of Ephyra, should be placed at the head of its genealogies.