He was a son of Antimachus, and husband of Hyrnetho, the daughter of Temenus the Heracleide, by whom he became the father of Antimenes, Xanthippus, Argeius, and Orsobia.
When Temenus, in the division of Peloponnesos, had obtained Argos as his share, he bestowed all his affections upon daughter Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes.
According to the Bibliotheca, after the death of Temenus, the army, abhorring the parricides, declared Deiphontes and Hyrnetho his rightful successors.
His brothers-in-law, however, who begrudged him the possession of their sister Hyrnetho, went to Epidaurus, and tried to persuade her to leave her husband; and when this attempt failed, they carried her off by force.
His son Meltas, impatient of such restraint, endeavored, when it was too late, to restore it to its ancient dignity; but the people were by that time grown so powerful and headstrong, that, as soon as they found out his design, they put an effectual stop to it, and an end to kingly power, reducing the government into a democracy, and condemning their unhappy prince to death.