''This article is about the person from Greek mythology. For other uses, go to Autolycus (disambiguation).

In Greek mythology, Autolycus (Greek: Αυτόλυκος) was the son of Chione and Hermes. Married to Laertes of Ithaca, he was father of Anticlea and several sons, of whom only Aesimus is named.

Autolycus was a renowned thief (skills passed down from his father, the God of Thieves) and wrestler (which he taught to Hercules). Autolycus stole the cattle of Eurytus and the helmet that his grandson, Odysseus, eventually wore during the Trojan War. Autolycus was one of the Argonauts.

A comic thief in Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale boasts that he is named after Autolycus and, like him, is "a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles".

Sources

• Apollodorus. Bibliotheke I, ix, 16; II, iv, 9; vi, 2;
• Ovid. Metamorphoses XI, 301-17; Homer. Iliad X, 265-271;
• Homer. Odyssey XI, 84-6; XIX,395-566.

Argonauts

Автолик | Autolycus | Autolycos (mythologie) | Autolycus (mythologie) | Автолик | Autolykos | Автолік