Xanthos (), son of Ptolemy, was the king of Thebes, the 16thAn universal history: The ancient part, Volume 6 (Google Books) T. Osborne, 1747 retrieved 13:16 9.10.11 and final monarch that ruled the city. from page numbered sixty eight, The Rights of War and Peace, in Three Books: Wherein Are Explained, the Law of Nature and Nations, and the Principal Points Relating to Government written Hugo Grotius, Jean Barbeyrac – retrieved 9.10.11 He was possibly king only temporarily, being shown at times as the king of the Boeotians, the King of the Thebians.
According to legend, Xanthos waged war against Athens and challenged its king Thymoetes of Attica to a duel. Thymoetes sent Melanthus page 432 A history of Greece, Volume 1 (Google Books) Connop Thirlwall in his place, who managed to defeat Xanthos through deceit. As Xanthos and Melanthus approached one another on the battlefield, Melanthus complained to his adversary that the duel was unfair, since there was a second man in a black goat skin (identified with Dionysus) behind him. As Xanthos turned his back to look at the supposed man that was with him, Melanthus killed Xanthos with his blade, ending the war and becoming the new King of Athens.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Apaturia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 160. Another version of events by Pausanias, states that it was Melanthus' father Andropompus who killed Xanthos.
This victory was celebrated by all Ionian cities, except for Ephesus and Colophon, in the festival of Apaturia.Scholiast on Aristophanes, Acharnians, 146.
Notes
References Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.