Busiris

In Greek mythology, Busiris (Ancient Greek: Βούσιρις) was a fictional Egyptian king of the central Delta who was killed by Heracles. Biography Isocrates, in his witty declamation Busiris, recounts "the false tale of Heracles and Busiris" (11.30–11.40), which was a comic subject represented almost entirely in the repertory of early 5th century BC Athenian vase-painters: the theme has a narrow narrative range, according to Niall Livingstone: Heracles being led to sacrifice; his escape; the killing of Busiris; the rout of his entourage. In Isocrates' rhetorical use of a theme that he considers unworthy of serious treatment, the villainous king of Egypt named Busiris, a son of Poseidon and Libya or Lysianassa, was the ancient founder of Egyptian civilization, with an imagined "model constitution" that Isocrates sets up as a parodic contrast to the Republic by Plato. Otherwise, Busiris's mother was Anippe, daughter of the river-god Nilus. The monstrous Busiris sacrificed all visitors to his gods. Heracles defied Busiris, broke out of his shackles at the last minute, and killed him. In Diodorus Siculus, Busiris appears as the founder of the line of kings at Thebes, which historically would have been the 11th Dynasty.