Megapenthes is a name that means 'great sorrow', from megas, 'great' and penthos, 'grief. It was the name of, among others, the son of
Proëtus and
Stheneboea, and the bastard son of
Menelaüs and his slavegirl
Pieris (or Tere'is). For Proëtus' son the name could be taken as referring to the sorrow occasioned to their father by the madness of Megapenthes' sisters.
