Sky was the first who ruled over the whole world.According
to Hesiod (Hes. Th. 126ff.), Sky
（Uranus） was a son of Earth （Gaia）, but afterwards
lay with his own mother and had by her Cronus, the giants, the Cyclopes, and so forth.
As to the marriage of Sky and Earth, see the fragment of Eur. Chrys., quoted by
Sextus Empiricus, Bekker p. 751 (Nauck TGF(2), p. 633, Leipsig, 1889); Lucretius i.250ff., ii.991ff.;
Verg. G. 2.325ff. The myth of such a marriage is
widespread among the lower races. See E. B. Tylor, Primitive
Culture （London, 1873）, i.321ff., ii.370ff. For
example, the Ewe people of Togo-land, in West Africa, think that the Earth is the wife
of the Sky, and that their marriage takes place in the rainy season, when the rain
causes the seeds to sprout and bear fruit. These fruits they regard as the children of
Mother Earth, who in their opinion is the mother also of men and of gods, see J.
Spieth, Die Ewe-Stämme （Berlin, 1906）, pp.
464, 548. In the regions of the Senegal and the Niger it is
believed that the Sky-god and the Earth-goddess are the parents of the principal spirits
who dispense life and death, weal and woe, among mankind. See Maurice Delafosse,
Haut-Sénégal-Niger (Paris, 1912),
iii.173ff. Similarly the Manggerai, a people of West Flores, in the Indian
Archipelago, personify Sky and Earth as husband and wife; the consummation of their
marriage is manifested in the rain, which fertilizes Mother
Earth, so that she gives birth to her children, the produce of the fields
and the fruits of the trees. The sky is called langīt; it
is the male power: the earth is called alang; it is the female
power. Together they form a divine couple, called Moerī
Kraèng. See H. B. Stapel, “Het Manggeraische Volk
（West Flores）,” Tijdschrift voor Indische
Taal-Landen Volkenkunde, lvi. （Batavia and the Hague,
1914）, p. 163. And having wedded Earth, he begat first the
Hundred-handed, as they are named: Briareus, Gyes, Cottus, who were unsurpassed in size
and might, each of them having a hundred hands and fifty heads.Compare Hes. Th. 147ff. Instead of Gyes, some
MSS. of Hesiod read Gyges, and this form of the name is supported by the Scholiast
on Plat. Laws 7, 795c. Compare Ovid, Fasti
iv.593; Hor. Carm. 2.17.14, iii.4.69, with
the commentators.
After these, Earth bore him the Cyclopes, to
wit, Arges, Steropes, Brontes,Compare Hes. Th. 139ff. of
whom each had one eye on his forehead. But them Sky bound and cast into Tartarus, a gloomy
place in Hades as far distant from earth as earth is distant from the sky.Compare Hes. Th. 617ff. and for
the description of Tartarus, Hes. Th. 717ff. According to
Hesiod, a brazen anvil would take nine days and nights to fall from heaven to earth, and
nine days and nights to fall from earth to Tartarus.
And again he begat children by Earth, to wit, the Titans
as they are named: Ocean, Coeus, Hyperion, Crius, Iapetus, and, youngest of all, Cronus;
also daughters, the Titanides as they are called: Tethys, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe,
Dione, Thia.Compare Hes. Th.
132ff. who agrees in describing Cronus as the youngest of the brood. As Zeus, who
succeeded his father Cronus on the heavenly throne, was likewise the youngest of his
family （Hes. Th. 453ff.）, we may
conjecture that among the ancient Greeks or their ancestors inheritance was at one time
regulated by the custom of ultimogeniture or the succession of the youngest, as to which
see Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.429ff. In the secluded
highlands of Arcadia, where ancient customs and
traditions lingered long, King Lycaon is said to have been succeeded by his youngest
son. See Apollod. 3.8.1.
But Earth, grieved at the destruction of her children, who had been cast into Tartarus,
persuaded the Titans to attack their father and gave Cronus an adamantine sickle. And
they, all but Ocean, attacked him, and Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw them
into the sea; and from the drops of the flowing blood were born Furies, to wit, Alecto,
Tisiphone, and Megaera.Compare Hes.
Th. 156-190. Here Apollodorus follows Hesiod, according to whom the Furies
sprang, not from the genitals of Sky which were thrown into the sea, but from the drops
of his blood which fell on Earth and impregnated her. The sickle with which Cronus did
the deed is said to have been flung by him into the sea at Cape Drepanum in Achaia （Paus.
7.23.4）. The barbarous story of the mutilation of the divine father by
his divine son shocked the moral sense of later ages. See Plat. Rep. 2, 377e-378a; Plat. Euthyph.
5e-6a; Cicero, De natura deorum ii.24.63ff.
Andrew Lang interpreted the story with some probability as one of a worldwide class of
myths intended to explain the separation of Earth and Sky. See Andrew Lang,
Custom and Myth （London, 1884）, pp. 45ff.,
and as to myths of the forcible separation of Sky and Earth, see E. B. Tylor,
Primitive Culture, i.322ff. And, having dethroned their
father, they brought up their brethren who had been hurled down to Tartarus,
and committed the sovereignty to Cronus.
But he again bound and shut them up in Tartarus, and wedded his sister Rhea; and since
both Earth and Sky foretold him that he would be dethroned by his own son, he used to
swallow his offspring at birth. His firstborn Hestia he swallowed, then Demeter and Hera,
and after them Pluto and Poseidon.Compare Hes. Th. 453-467ff.
Enraged at this, Rhea repaired to Crete, when she was big with Zeus, and brought him forth
in a cave of Dicte.According to Hesiod, Rhea gave birth to
Zeus in Crete, and the infant god was hidden in
a cave of Mount Aegeum (Hes. Th. 468-480). Diod.
5.70 mentions the legend that Zeus was born at Dicte in Crete, and that the god afterwards founded a city on the
site. But according to Diodorus, or his authorities, the child was brought up in a cave
on Mount Ida. The ancients were not agreed as
to whether the infant god had been reared on Mount
Ida or Mount Dicte. Apollodorus declares for Dicte, and he is supported by
Verg. G. 4.153, Serv. Verg.
A. 3.104, and the Vatican Mythographers (Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 34, 79, First Vatican Mythographer 104; Second Vatican
Mythographer 16). On the other hand the claim of Mount Ida is favoured by
Callimachus, Hymn i.51; Ovid Fasti
4.207; and Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iv.784. The
wavering of tradition on this point is indicated by Apollodorus, who, while he calls the
mountain Dicte, names one of the god's nurses Ida. She gave him to the Curetes
and to the nymphs Adrastia and Ida, daughters of Melisseus, to nurse. So these nymphs fed the child on the milk of Amalthea;As to the nurture of Zeus by the nymphs, see Callimachus,
Hymn 1.46ff.; Diod. 5.70.2ff.; Ovid, Fasti v.111ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 139; Hyginus, Ast. ii.13; Serv. Verg. A. 3.104; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. iv.784; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 34, 79
(First Vatican Mythographer 104; Second Vatican Mythographer 16). According to
Callimachus, Amalthea was a goat. Aratus also reported, if he did not believe, the story
that the supreme god had been suckled by a goat （Strab.
8.7.5）, and this would seem to have been the common opinion
（Diod. 5.70.3; Hyginus, Ast. ii.13; Second
Vatican Mythographer 16）. According to one account, his nurse Amalthea
hung him in his cradle on a tree “in order that he might be found neither in
heaven nor on earth nor in the sea” （Hyginus, Fab.
139）. Melisseus, the father of his nurses Adrastia and Ida, is said to
have been a Cretan king （Hyginus, Ast. ii.13）; but his
name is probably due to an attempt to rationalize the story that the infant Zeus was fed
by bees. See Virgil, Geo. 1.149ff. with the note of Serv. Verg. G. 1.153; First Vatican Mythographer 104;
Second Vatican Mythographer 16. and the Curetes in arms guarded the babe in the cave, clashing their spears on their shields in order that Cronus
might not hear the child's voice.As to the Curetes in their
capacity of guardians of the infant Zeus, see Callimachus, Hymn i.52ff.;
Strab. 10.3.11; Diod. 5.70, 2-4;
Lucretius ii.633-639; Verg. G. 3.150ff.;
Ovid, Fasti iv.207ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 139; Serv. Verg. A. 3.104; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. iv.784; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 34, 79
(First Vatican Mythographer 104; Second Vatican Mythographer 16). The story of
the way in which they protected the divine infant from his inhuman parent by clashing
their weapons may reflect a real custom, by the observance of which human parents
endeavoured to guard their infants against the assaults of demons. See
Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, iii.472ff. But
Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes and gave it to Cronus to swallow, as if it were
the newborn child.As to the trick by which Rhea saved Zeus
from the maw of his father Cronus, see Hes. Th. 485ff.;
Paus. 8.36.3; 9.2.7; 9.41.6; 10.24.6; Ovid,
Fasti iv.199-206; Hyginus, Fab. 139; Serv. Verg. A. 3.104; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb.
iv.784; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 34, 79 (First
Vatican Mythographer 104; Second Vatican Mythographer 16). The very stone which
Cronus swallowed and afterwards spewed out was shown at Delphi down to the second century of our era; oil was daily poured on it,
and on festival days unspun wool was laid on it （Paus.
10.24.6）. We read that, on the birth of Zeus's elder brother Poseidon,
his mother Rhea saved the baby in like manner by giving his father Cronus a foal to
swallow, which the deity seems to have found more digestible than the stone, for he is
not said to have spat it out again （Paus.
8.8.2）. Phalaris, the notorious tyrant of Agrigentum, dedicated in the sanctuary of Lindian Athena in Rhodes a bowl which was enriched with a relief
representing Cronus in the act of receiving his children at the hand of Rhea and
swallowing them. An inscription on the bowl set forth that it was a present from the
famous artist Daedalus to the Sicilian king Cocalus. These things we learn from a long
inscription which was found in recent years at Lindus: it contains an inventory of the treasures preserved in the temple
of Athena, together with historical notes upon them. See Chr. Blinkenberg,
La Chronique du temple Lindien （Copenhagen, 1912）,
p. 332 （Académie Royale des Sciences et des Lettres de Danemark,
Extrait du Bulletin de l'annèe 1912, No. 5-6）.
But when Zeus was full-grown, he took Metis,
daughter of Ocean, to help him, and she gave Cronus a drug to swallow, which forced him to
disgorge first the stone and then the children whom he had swallowed,As to the disgorging of his offspring by Cronus, see Hes. Th. 493ff., who, however, says nothing about the agency of
Metis in administering an emetic, but attributes the
stratagem to Earth （Gaia）. and with their aid Zeus waged the
war against Cronus and the Titans.As to the war of Zeus on
the Titans, see Hes. Th. 617ff.; Hor. Carm. 3.4.42ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
118. They fought for ten years, and Earth prophesied victoryThe most ancient oracle at Delphi was said to be that of Earth; in her office of prophetess the
goddess was there succeeded by Themis, who was afterwards displaced by Apollo. See Aesch. Eum. 1ff.; Paus.
10.5.5ff. It is said that of old there was an oracle of Earth at Olympia, but it no longer existed in the second
century of our era. See Paus. 5.14.10. At Aegira in Achaia the oracles of Earth were delivered in a subterranean cave by a
priestess, who had previously drunk bull's blood as a means of inspiration. See
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxviii.147; compare Paus.
7.25.13. In the later days of antiquity the oracle of Earth at Delphi was explained by some philosophers on
rationalistic principles: they supposed that the priestess was thrown into the prophetic
trance by natural exhalations from the ground, and they explained the decadence of the
oracle in their own time by the gradual cessation of the exhalations. The theory is
scouted by Cicero. See Plut. De defectu oraculorum 40ff.; Cicero, De
divinatione i.19.38, i.36.79, ii.57.117. A similar theory is still held by
wizards in Loango, on the west coast of
Africa; hence in order to receive the
inspiration they descend into an artificial pit or natural hollow and remain there for
some time, absorbing the blessed influence, just as the Greek priestesses for a similar
purpose descended into the oracular caverns at Aegira and Delphi. See
Die Loango Expedition, iii.2, von Dr. E. Pechuel Loesche
（Stuttgart, 1907）, p. 441. As to the oracular cavern at
Delphi and the inspiring exhalations which
were supposed to emanate from it, see Diod. 16.26; Strabo 9.3.5; Paus. 10.5.7;
Justin xxiv.6.6-9. That the Pythian priestess descended into the cavern
to give the oracles appears from an expression of Plutarch （De defectu
oraculorum, 51, kate/bh me\n ei)s to\
mantei=on）. As to the oracles of Earth in antiquity, see A.
Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans l'Antiquité,
ii.251ff.; L. R. Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States,
iii.8ff. to Zeus if he should have as allies those who had been hurled
down to Tartarus. So he slew their jailoress Campe, and loosed their bonds. And the
Cyclopes then gave Zeus thunder and lightning and a thunderbolt,Compare Hes. Th. 501-506ff. and on Pluto
they bestowed a helmet and on Poseidon a trident. Armed with these weapons the gods
overcame the Titans, shut them up in Tartarus, and appointed the Hundred-handers their
guards;Compare Hes. Th.
717ff. but they themselves cast lots for the sovereignty, and to Zeus was
allotted the dominion of the sky, to Poseidon the dominion of the sea, and to Pluto the
dominion in Hades.Compare Hom.
Il. 15.187ff.; Plat. Gorg. 523a.
Now to the Titans were born offspring: to Ocean and Tethys were born Oceanids, to wit,
Asia, Styx, Electra, Doris,
Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis;Compare Hes. Th. 346-366, who
mentions all the Oceanids named by Apollodorus except Amphitrite, who was a Nereid. See
Apollod. 1.2.7; Hes. Th.
243. to Coeus and Phoebe were born Asteria and
Latona;As to the offspring
of Coeus and Phoebe, see Hes. Th. 404ff. to
Hyperion and Thia were born Dawn, Sun, and
Moon;As to the offspring of Hyperion and
Thia, see Hes. Th. 371ff. to Crius and Eurybia,
daughter of Sea （ Pontus）, were
born Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses;As to the offspring of Crius and Eurybia, see Hes. Th. 375ff.
to Iapetus and
Asia was born Atlas, who has the sky on his shoulders, and Prometheus, and
Epimetheus, and Menoetius, he whom Zeus in the battle with the Titans smote with a
thunderbolt and hurled down to Tartarus.As to the offspring
of Iapetus and Asia, see Hes. Th. 507-520ff.
And to Cronus and Philyra was born Chiron, a centaur of
double form;It is said that Cronus assumed the shape of a
horse when he consorted with Philyra, and that, we are told, was why Chiron was born a
centaur, half-man, half-horse. See Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.554. and to Dawn and Astraeus were born winds and stars;As to the offspring of Dawn and Astraeus, see Hes. Th. 378ff. to Perses and Asteria was born
Hecate;As to this parentage of Hecate, see Hes. Th. 409ff. But the ancients were not agreed on the
subject. See the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.467. He tells us that
according to the Orphic hymns, Hecate was a daughter of Deo; according to Bacchylides, a
daughter of Night; according to Musaeus, a daughter of Zeus and Asteria; and according
to Pherecydes, a daughter of Aristaeus. and to
Pallas and Styx were born Victory,
Dominion, Emulation, and Violence.For this brood of
abstractions, the offspring of Styx and
Pallas, see Hes. Th.
383ff.; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed. Bunte.
But Zeus caused oaths to be sworn by the water of
Styx, which flows from a rock in Hades,
bestowing this honor on her because she and her children had fought on his side against
the Titans.Compare Hes. Th.
389-403ff. As to the oath by the water of
Styx, see further Hes. Th. 775ff.; compare
Hom. Il. 15.37ff., Hom. Od.
5.186; HH Apoll. 86ff.
And to Sea （ Pontus） and Earth
were born Phorcus, Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto.As to the offspring of Sea （
Pontus, conceived as masculine） and Earth （conceived as
feminine）, see Hes. Th. 233ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. p. 28, ed. Bunte. Now to Thaumas and Electra were born Iris and the
Harpies, Aello and Ocypete;As to the offspring of Thaumas
and Electra, see Hes. Th. 265ff. and to Phorcus and
Ceto were born the Phorcides and Gorgons,As to the
parentage of the Phorcides and Gorgons, see Hes. Th.
270ff.; Hyginus, Fab. p. 29, ed. Bunte. As to the monsters
themselves, see Apollod. 2.4.2ff. of whom we
shall speak when we treat of Perseus. To Nereus and
Doris were born the Nereids,For lists of Nereids, see Hom. Il. 18.38-49; Hes. Th.
240-264ff.; HH Dem. 417-423; Verg. G. 4.334-344; Hyginus, Fab. pp. 28ff., ed. Bunte.
whose names are Cymothoe, Spio, Glauconome, Nausithoe, Halie, Erato, Sao, Amphitrite,
Eunice, Thetis, Eulimene, Agave, Eudore, Doto,
Pherusa, Galatea, Actaea, Pontomedusa, Hippothoe, Lysianassa, Cymo, Eione, Halimede,
Plexaure, Eucrante, Proto, Calypso, Panope, Cranto, Neomeris, Hipponoe, Ianira, Polynome,
Autonoe, Melite, Dione, Nesaea, Dero, Evagore, Psamathe, Eumolpe, Ione, Dynamene, Ceto,
and Limnoria.
Now Zeus wedded Hera and begat Hebe, Ilithyia, and Ares,As
to the offspring of Zeus and Hera, see Hom. Il. 5.889ff.
（Ares）, Hom. Il. 11.270ff.
（Ilithyia）, Hom. Od. 11.603ff.
（Hebe）; Hes. Th. 921ff. According to
Hesiod, Hera was the last consort whom Zeus took to himself; his first wife was
Metis, and his second Themis （Hes. Th. 886; Hes. Th. 901;
Hes. Th. 921）. but he had intercourse
with many women, both mortals and immortals. By Themis, daughter of Sky, he had daughters,
the Seasons, to wit, Peace, Order, and Justice; also the Fates, to wit,
Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropus;For the daughters of Zeus and Themis, see Hes. Th.
901ff. by Dione he had Aphrodite;As to Dione, mother of Aphrodite, see Hom. Il.
5.370ff.; Eur. Hel. 1098; Hyginus, Fab.
p. 30, ed. Bunte. Hesiod represents Aphrodite as born of the sea-foam which
gathered round the severed genitals of Sky （Uranus）. See Hes. Th. 188ff. by Eurynome, daughter of Ocean, he had
the Graces, to wit, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia;As to
the parentage of the Graces, see Hes. Th. 907ff.; Paus. 9.35.5; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed.
Bunte. by Styx he had
Persephone;According to the usual account, the mother of
Persephone was not Styx but Demeter. See Hes. Th. 912ff.; HH Dem. 1ff.; Paus. 8.37.9; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed.
Bunte. and by Memory （ Mnemosyne） he had the Muses, first
Calliope, then Clio, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato,
Terpsichore, Urania, Thalia, and Polymnia.As to the names and parentage of the Muses, see Hes. Th. 915ff.
Now Calliope bore to Oeagrus or, nominally, to Apollo, a son Linus,Accounts differ as to the parentage of Linus. According to one, he was a son
of Apollo by the Muse Urania （Hyginus, Fab. 161）;
according to another, he was a son of Apollo by Psamathe, daughter of Crotopus
（Paus. 2.19.8）; according to another,
he was a son of Apollo by Aethusa, daughter of Poseidon （Contest
314 according to another, he was a son of Magnes by the Muse Clio
（Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 831）. whom
Hercules slew; and another son, Orpheus,That Orpheus was a son of Oeagrus by the Muse Calliope is
affirmed also by Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.23ff.; Conon 45;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 831; the author of Contest
314; Hyginus, Fab. 14; and Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini.
ed. G. H. Bode, i. pp. 26, 90 （First and Second Vatican
Mythographers）. The same view was held by Asclepiades, but some said
that his mother was the Muse Polymnia （Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.23）. Pausanias roundly denied that the musician's mother was the
Muse Calliope （Paus. 9.30.4）. That his
father was Oeagrus is mentioned also by Plat. Sym.179d,
Diod. 4.25.2, and Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. 7, p. 63, ed.
Potter. As to the power of Orpheus to move stones and trees by his singing, see
Eur. Ba. 561ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.26ff.;
Diod. 4.25.2; Eratosthenes, Cat. 24; Conon 45;
Hor. Carm. 1.12.7ff.; Seneca, Herakles
Oetaeus 1036ff.; Seneca, Herakles Furens 572ff. who
practised minstrelsy and by his songs moved stones and trees. And when his wife Eurydice
died, bitten by a snake, he went down to Hades, being fain to bring her up,As to the descent of Orpheus to hell to fetch up Eurydice,
compare Paus. 9.30.6; Conon 45; Verg. G. 4.454ff.; Ov. Met.
10.8ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 164; Seneca, Herakles Furens
569ff.; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1061ff.; Lactantius Placidus
on Statius, Theb. viii.59, 60; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed.
Bode, i. pp. 26ff. 90 (First Vatican Mythographer 76; Second Vatican Mythographer
44). That Eurydice was killed by the bite of a snake on which she had
accidentally trodden is mentioned by Virgil,
Ovid, Hyginus, and the Vatican
Mythographers. and he persuaded
Pluto to send her up. The god promised to do so, if on the way Orpheus would
not turn round until he should be come to his own house. But he disobeyed and turning
round beheld his wife; so she turned back. Orpheus also invented the mysteries of
Dionysus,On Orpheus as a founder of mysteries, compare
Eur. Rh. 943ff.; Arist.
Frogs 1032; Plat. Prot. 369d; Plat. Rep. 2.365e-366a; Dem. 25.11;
Diod. 1.23, Diod. 1.96.2-6, Diod. 3.65.6,
Diod. 4.25.3, Diod. 5.77.3; Paus.
2.30.2, Paus. 9.30.4, Paus. 10.7.2; Plut. Frag. 84 （Plutarch, Didot ed., v. p.
55）. According to Diod. 1.23, the mysteries of Dionysus
which Orpheus instituted in Greece were copied
by him from the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris. The view that the mysteries of Dionysus
were based on those of Osiris has been maintained in recent years by the very able and
learned French scholar, Monsieur Paul Foucart. See his treatise, Le culte
de Dionysos en Attique （Paris, 1904）, pp. 8ff.;
Foucart, Les mystères d' Eleusis （Paris,
1914）, pp. 1ff., 445ff. and having been torn in pieces by the
MaenadsAs to the death of Orpheus at the hands of the
Maenads or the Thracian women, see Paus. 9.30.5;
Conon 45; Eratosthenes, Cat. 24; Verg. G. 4.520ff.; Ov. Met. 11.1ff. Usually the
women are said to have been offended by the widower's constancy to the memory of his
late wife, and by his indifference to their charms and endearments. But Eratosthenes, or
rather the writer who took that name, puts a different complexion on the story. He says
that Orpheus did not honour Dionysus, but esteemed the sun the greatest of the gods, and
used to rise very early every day in order to see the sunrise from the top of Mount
Pangaeum. This angered Dionysus, and he stirred up the Bassarids or Bacchanals to rend
the bard limb from limb. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy on the subject called the Bassarids
or Bassarae. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), （Leipsig, 1889）, pp.
9ff. he is buried in Pieria.
Clio fell in love with Pierus, son of Magnes, in
consequence of the wrath of Aphrodite, whom she had twitted with her love of Adonis; and
having met him she bore him a son Hyacinth, for whom Thamyris, the son of Philammon and a
nymph Argiope, conceived a passion, he being the first to become enamored of males. But
afterwards Apollo loved Hyacinth and killed him involuntarily by the cast of a quoit.As to the death of Hyacinth, killed by the cast of Apollo's
quoit, see Nicander, Ther. 901ff.; Paus.
3.19.4ff.; Lucian, Dial. Deorum xiv.; Philostratus, Im.
i.23(24); Palaephatus, De incredib. 47; Ov. Met. 10.162ff.; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 3.63;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iv.223; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 37, 135ff. （ First Vatican Mythographer
117; Second Vatican Mythographer 181）. The usual story ran that Apollo
and the West Wind, or, according to others, the
North Wind, were rivals for the affection of
Hyacinth; that Hyacinth preferred Apollo, and that the jealous
West Wind took his revenge by blowing a blast which
diverted the quoit thrown by Apollo, so that it struck Hyacinth on the head and killed
him. From the blood of the slain youth sprang the hyacinth, inscribed with letters which
commemorated his tragic death; though the ancients were not at one in the reading of
them. Some, like Ovid, read in them the
exclamation AI AI, that is, “Alas, alas!” Others, like the Second
Vatican Mythographer, fancied that they could detect in the dark lines of the flower the
first Greek letter （*u） of Hyacinth's
name. And Thamyris, who excelled in beauty and in minstrelsy, engaged
in a musical contest with the Muses, the agreement being that, if he won, he should enjoy
them all, but that if he should be vanquished he should be bereft of what they would. So
the Muses got the better of him and bereft him both of his eyes and of his
minstrelsy.This account of Thamyris and his contest with
the Muses is repeated almost verbally by Zenobius, Cent. iv.27, and by a
Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.595. As to the bard's rivalry
with the Muses, and the blindness they inflicted on him, see Hom. Il. 2.594-600; compare Eur. Rh. 915ff.;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 60 (First Vatican
Mythographer 197). The story of the punishment of Thamyris in hell was told in
the epic poem The Minyad, attributed to Prodicus the Phocaean
（Paus. 4.33.7）. In the great picture
of the underworld painted by Polygnotus at Delphi, the blind musician was portrayed sitting with long flowing locks
and a broken lyre at his feet （Paus.
10.30.8）.
Euterpe had by the river Strymon a son Rhesus, whom
Diomedes slew at Troy;As to the death of Rhesus, see Hom. Il.
10.474ff.; compare Conon 4. It is the subject of Euripides's tragedy
Rhesus; see particularly verses Eur. Rh.
756ff. Euripides represents Rhesus as a son of the river Strymon by one of the
Muses （ Eur. Rh. 279, Eur.
Rh. 915ff.）, but he does not name the particular Muse who bore
him. but some say his mother was Calliope. Thalia had by Apollo the
Corybantes;Very discrepant accounts were given of the
parentage of the Corybantes. Some said that they were sons of the Sun by Athena; others
that their parents were Zeus and the Muse Calliope; others that their father was Cronus.
See Strab. 10.3.19. According to another account, their
mother was the Mother of the Gods, who settled them in Samothrace, or the Holy Isle, as the name Samothrace was believed to signify. The name of the father of the
Corybantes was kept a secret from the profane vulgar, but was revealed to the initiated
at the Samothracian mysteries. See Diod. 3.55.8ff. and Melpomene had
by Achelous the Sirens, of whom we shall speak in treating of
Ulysses.As to the Sirens, see Apollod. E.7.18ff. Elsewhere （Apollod. 1.7.10） Apollodorus mentions the view
that the mother of the Sirens was Sterope.
Hera gave birth to Hephaestus without intercourse with the other sex,Compare Hes. Th. 927ff.; Lucian, De
sacrificiis 6. So Juno is said to have conceived Mars by the help of the
goddess Flora and without intercourse with
Jupiter （Ovid, Fasti v.229ff.）. The belief
in the possible impregnation of women without sexual intercourse appears to have been
common, if not universal, among men at a certain stage of social evolution, and it is
still held by many savages. See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed.
i.92ff.; Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, ii.204,
notes; A. et G. Grandidier, Ethnographie de Madagascar, ii.
（Paris, 1914）, pp. 245ff. The subject is fully discussed by
Mr. E. S. Hartland in his Primitive Paternity （London,
1909-1910）. but according to Homer he was one of her
children by Zeus.Compare Hom. Il.
1.571ff., Hom. Il. 1.577ff. In these lines
Hephaestus plainly recognizes Hera as his mother, but it is not equally clear that he
recognizes Zeus as his father; the epithet “father” which he applies
to him may refer to the god's general paternity in relation to gods and men. Him
Zeus cast out of heaven, because he came to the rescue of Hera in her bonds.See Hom. Il. 1.590ff.
For when Hercules had taken Troy and was at sea,
Hera sent a storm after him; so Zeus hung her from Olympus.See Hom.
Il. 15.18ff., where Zeus is said to have tied two anvils to the feet of Hera
when he hung her out of heaven. Compare Apollod. 2.7.1;
Nonnus, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci （Brunswick, 1843）,
Appendix Narrationum, xxix, 1, pp. 371ff. Hephaestus fell on Lemnos and was lamed of his legs,The significance of lameness in myth and ritual is obscure. The Yorubas of
West Africa say that Shankpanna, the god of smallpox, is lame and limps along with the
aid of a stick, one of his legs being withered. See A. B. Ellis, The
Yoruba-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa （London,
1894）, p. 73. The Ekoi of Southern Nigeria relate how the first fire
on earth was stolen from heaven by a boy, whom the Creator （Obassi
Osaw） punished with lameness for the theft. See P. Amaury Talbot,
In the Shadow of the Bush （London, 1912）, pp.
370ff. This lame boy seems to play the part of a good fairy in Ekoi tales, and
he is occasionally represented in a “stilt play” by an actor who has
a short stilt bound round his right leg and limps like a cripple. See P. Amaury
Talbot, op. cit. pp. 58, 285. Among the Edo of Benin “custom enjoined that once a year a lame man should be
dragged around the city, and then as far as a place on the Enyai road, called Adaneha.
This was probably a ceremony of purification.” See W. N. Thomas,
Anthropological Report on the speaking peoples of Nigeria, Part 1.
（London, 1910）, p. 35. In a race called “the King's
Race,” which used to be run by lads on Good Friday or Easter Saturday in some
parts of the Mark of Brandenburg, the winner
was called “the King,” and the last to come in was called
“the Lame Carpenter.” One of the Carpenter's legs was bandaged with
splints as if it were broken, and he had to hobble along on a crutch. Thus he was led
from house to house by his comrades, who collected eggs to bake a cake. See A.
Kuhn, Märkische Sagen und Marchen （Berlin,
1843）, pp. 323ff. but Thetis saved him.As to the fall of Hephaestus on Lemnos, see Hom. Il. 1.590ff.;
Lucian, De sacrificiis 6. The association of the fire-god with Lemnos is supposed to have been suggested by a volcano
called Moschylus, which has disappeared—perhaps submerged in the sea. See
H. F. Tozer, The Islands of the Aegean, pp. 269ff.;
Jebb on Soph. Ph. 800, with the Appendix, pp. 243-245. According to
another account, Hephaestus fell, not on Lemnos, but into the sea, where he was saved by Thetis. See Hom. Il. 18.394ff.
Zeus had intercourse with Metis, who turned into
many shapes in order to avoid his embraces. When she was with child, Zeus, taking time by
the forelock, swallowed her, because Earth said that, after giving birth to the
maiden who was then in her womb, Metis would bear
a son who should be the lord of heaven. From fear of that Zeus swallowed her.See Hes. Th. 886-900, Hes. Th. 929g-929p; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 23d.
Hesiod says that Zeus acted on the advice or warning of Earth and Sky. The Scholiast on
Hesiod, quoted by Goettling and Paley in their commentaries, says that Metis had the
power of turning herself into any shape she pleased. And when the time came for
the birth to take place, Prometheus or, as others say, Hephaestus, smote the head of Zeus
with an axe, and Athena, fully armed, leaped up from the top of his head at the river
Triton.Compare the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 1.195, who cites the first book of Apollodorus as his authority.
According to the usual account, followed by the vase-painters, it was Hephaestus who
cleft the head of Zeus with an axe and so delivered Athena. See Pind. O. 7.35(65); Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 23d. According to
Euripides （Eur. Ion 454ff.）, the
delivery was effected by Prometheus; but according to others it was Palamaon or Hermes
who split the head of the supreme god and so allowed Athena to leap forth. See the
Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.35(65).
Of the daughters of Coeus, Asteria in the likeness of a quail flung herself into the sea
in order to escape the amorous advances of Zeus, and a city was formerly called after her
Asteria, but afterwards it was named Delos.Compare Callimachus, Hymn to
Delos 36ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 401; Hyginus,
Fab. 53; Serv. Verg. A. 3.73; Lactantius
Placidus on Statius, Theb. iv.795; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini,
ed. Bode, i. pp. 13, 79ff.; (First Vatican Mythographer 37; Second Vatican
Mythographer 17). But Latona
for her intrigue with Zeus was hunted by Hera over the whole earth, till she came to
Delos and brought forth first Artemis, by the
help of whose midwifery she afterwards gave birth to Apollo.As to the birth of Apollo and Artemis, see the HH Apoll.
14ff.; Pind. On Delos, p. 560, ed. Sandys; Hyginus, Fab.
140; and the writers cited in the preceding note. The usual tradition was that
Latona gave birth both to Artemis and to
Apollo in Delos, which formerly had been called
Asteria or Ortygia. But the author of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo
distinguishes Ortygia from Delos, and says
that, while Apollo was born in Delos, Artemis
was born in Ortygia. Thus distinguished from Delos, the island of Ortygia is probably to be identified, as Strabo
thought, with Rhenia, an uninhabited island a little way from Delos, where were the graves of the Delians; for no dead
body might be buried or burnt in Delos
（Strab. 10.5.5）. Not only so, but it
was not even lawful either to be born or to die in Delos; expectant mothers and dying folk were ferried across to Rhenia,
there to give birth or to die. However, Rhenia is so near the sacred isle that when
Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, dedicated it to
the Delian Apollo, he connected the two islands by a chain. See Thuc. 3.104; Diod. 12.58.1; Paus. 2.27.1. The notion that either a birth or a death would
defile the holy island is illustrated by an inscription found on the acropolis of
Athens, which declares it to be the custom
that no one should be born or die within any sacred precinct. See *)efhmeri\s *)arxaiologikh/, Athens, 1884, pp. 167ff.
The desolate and ruinous remains of the ancient necropolis, overgrown by asphodel, may
still be seen on the bare treeless slopes of Rhenia, which looks across the strait to
Delos. See H. F. Tozer, The
Islands of the Aegean （Oxford, 1890）, pp. 14ff. The
quaint legend, recorded by Apollodorus, that immediately after her birth Artemis helped
her younger twin brother Apollo to be born into the world, is mentioned also by Serv. Verg. A. 3.73 and the Vatican Mythographers （see the reference in the
last note）. The legend, these writers inform us, was told to explain
why the maiden goddess Artemis was invoked by women in child-bed.
Now Artemis devoted herself to the chase and remained a maid; but Apollo learned the art
of prophecy from Pan, the son of Zeus and Hybris,Pan, son
of Zeus and Thymbreus (Thymbris? Hybris?), is mentioned by a Scholiast on Pindar, who
distinguishes him from Pan, the son of Hermes and Penelope. See the Argument to
the Pythians, p. 297, ed. Boeckh. and came to Delphi, where Themis at that time used to deliver
oracles;As to the oracle of Themis at Delphi, see Aesch. Eum.
1ff.; Eur. IT 1259ff.; Paus.
10.5.6; Scholiast on Pind. Argument to the Pythians, p. 297, ed.
Boeckh. According to Ov. Met. 1.367ff., it was
Themis, and not Apollo, whom Deucalion consulted at Delphi about the best means of repeopling the earth after the great
flood. and when the snake Python, which guarded the oracle, would have hindered
him from approaching the chasm,The reference is to the
oracular chasm at which the priestess, under the supposed influence of its divine
exhalations, delivered her prophecies. See Diod. 16.26;
Strab. 9.3.5; Justin xxiv.6.9. he
killed it and took over the oracle.As to Apollo's slaughter
of the Python, the dragon that guarded the oracle at Delphi, see Plut. Quaest. Graec. 12; Plut. De defectu
oraculorum 15; Ael., Var. Hist. iii.1; Paus.
2.7.7, Paus. 2.30.3, Paus.
10.6.5ff.; Ov. Met. 1.437ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. 140. From Plutarch and Aelian we learn that Apollo had to go to Tempe to be purified for the slaughter of the dragon,
and that both the slaughter of the dragon and the purification of the god were
represented every eighth year in a solemn festival at Delphi. See Frazer, on Paus. 2.7.7 （Paus. vol 3. pp.
53ff.）. The Pythian games at Delphi were instituted in honour of the dead dragon （Ovid and
Hyginus, Fab. 140; compare Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. 2, p.
29, ed. Potter）, probably to soothe his natural anger at being
slain. Not long afterwards he slew also Tityus, who was a son of Zeus and Elare,
daughter of Orchomenus; for her, after he had
debauched her, Zeus hid under the earth for fear of Hera, and brought forth to
the light the son Tityus, of monstrous size, whom she had borne in her womb.Compare Scholiast on Hom. Od. 7.324;
Eustathius on Hom. Od. 7.324, p. 1581; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.761ff.,
with the Scholiast on 761. The curious story how Zeus hid his light o' love
under the earth to save her from the jealous rage of Hera was told by the early
mythologist and antiquarian Pherecydes of Athens, as we learn from the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., (l.c.).
Pherecydes was a contemporary of Herodotus and Hellanicus, and wrote in the first half
of the fifth century B.C. Apollodorus often refers to him, and appears to have made much
use of his writings, as I shall have occasion to observe in the course of these notes.
With regard to Elare or Elara, the mother of Tityus, some people thought that she was a
daughter of Minyas, not of Orchomenus
（Scholiast on Hom. and Eustathius on Hom. Od. vii.324, p.
1581）. Because Tityus was brought up under the earth, he was said to be
earth-born （ghgenh/s, Scholiast on Ap.
Rhod., Argon. i.761）. Homer calls him simply a son of Earth
（Hom. Od. 11.576）, and in this he
is followed by Verg. A. 6.595. When
Latona came to Pytho, Tityus beheld her, and overpowered by lust drew her to him. But she
called her children to her aid, and they shot him down with their arrows. And he is
punished even after death; for vultures eat his heart in Hades.As to the crime and punishment of Tityus, see Hom.
Od. 11.576-581; Pind. P. 4.90(160)ff., with the
Scholiast on Pind. P. 4.90(160); Lucretius iii.984ff.; Verg. A. 6.595ff.; Hor. Carm.
2.14.8ff., iii.4.77ff., iii.11.21ff., iv.6.2ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 55;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 4, 110 (First Vatican
Mythographer 13; Second Vatican Mythographer 104). The tomb of Tityus was shown
at Panopeus in Phocis; it was a mound or barrow
about a third of a furlong in circumference. See Paus.
10.4.5. In Euboea there was shown a cave
called Elarium after the mother of Tityus, and Tityus himself had a shrine where he was
worshipped as a hero （Strab. 9.3.14）.
The death of Tityus at the hands of Apollo and Artemis was represented on the throne of
Apollo at Amyclae （Paus. 3.18.15）, and
it was the subject of a group of statuary dedicated by the Cnidians at Delphi （Paus.
10.11.1）. His sufferings in hell were painted by Polygnotus in his
famous picture of the underworld at Delphi.
The great artist represented the sinner worn to a shadow, but no longer racked by the
vultures gnawing at his liver （Paus.
10.29.3）.
Apollo also slew Marsyas, the son of Olympus.
For Marsyas, having found the pipes which Athena had thrown away because they disfigured
her face,As she played on the pipes, she is said to have
seen her puffed and swollen cheeks reflected in water. See Plut. De cohibenda ira
6; Athenaeus xiv.7, p. 616ef; Prop.
iii.22(29). 16ff.; Ovid, Fasti vi.697ff.;
Ovid, Ars Am. iii.505ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
165; Fulgentius, Mytholog. iii.9; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. G.H.Bode, i. pp. 40, 114 (First Vatican Mythographer 125; Second Vatican
Mythographer 115). On the acropolis at Athens there was a group of statuary representing Athena smiting Marsyas
because he had picked up the flutes which she had thrown away （Paus. 1.24.1）. The subject was a favourite theme in
ancient art. See Frazer, note on Paus. 10.29.3 （vol. ii. pp.
289ff.）. engaged in a musical contest with Apollo.
They agreed that the victor should work his will on the vanquished, and when the trial
took place Apollo turned his lyre upside down in the competition and bade Marsyas do the
same. But Marsyas could not, so Apollo was judged the victor and despatched Marsyas by
hanging him on a tall pine tree and stripping off his skin.As to the musical contest between Marsyas and Apollo, and the punishment of the
vanquished Marsyas, see Diod. 3.59; Paus.
2.22.9; Ov. Met. 6.382ff.; Ovid, Fasti
vi.703ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 165; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 40, 114 (First Vatican Mythographer 125; Second Vatican
Mythographer 115). There has been some doubt as to the interpretation of the
words th\n kiqa/ran stre/yas; but that they mean simply
“turned the lyre upside down,” as Heyne correctly explained them, is
shown by a comparison with the parallel passages in Hyginus
（“citharam
versabat”） and the Second Vatican Mythographer
（“invertit citharam, et canere coepit. Inversis
autem tibiis, quum se Marsya Apollini aequiparare nequiret,”
etc.）. That the tree on which Marsyas was hanged was a pine is affirmed by many
ancient writers besides Apollodorus. See Nicander, Alex. 301ff., with the
Scholiast's note; Lucian, Tragodopodagra 314ff.; Archias
Mitylenaeus in Anth. Pal. vii.696; Philostratus Junior, Im. i.3;
Longus, Pastor. iv.8; Zenobius, Cent. iv.81; Tzetzes,
Chiliades i.353ff. Pliny alone describes the tree as a plane, which in his time
was still shown at Aulocrene on the way from Apamea to Phrygia
（Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi.240）. The skin of the flayed
Marsyas was exhibited at Celaenae within historical times. See Hdt.
7.26; Xen. Ana. 1.2.8; Livy
xxxviii.13.6; Quintus Curtius iii.1.1-5; Pliny, Nat. Hist.
v.106.
And Artemis slew Orion in Delos.See Hom. Od. 5.121-124; Hor. Carm. 3.4.70ff. They say that he was of
gigantic stature and born of the earth; but Pherecydes says that he was a son of Poseidon
and Euryale.The same account of Orion's parentage was given
by Hesiod, whom Pherecydes probably followed. See Eratosthenes, Cat. 32;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.34. Poseidon bestowed on him the power of
striding across the sea.Some thought that Orion waded
through the sea （so Verg. A.
10.763ff.）, others that he walked on the top of it （so
Eratosthenes, Cat. 32; Scholiast on Nicander, Ther. 15;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.34）. He first married Side,As Side means
“pomegranate” in Greek, it has been supposed that the marriage of
Orion to Side is a mythical expression for the ripening of the pomegranate at the season
when the constellation Orion is visible in the nightly sky. See W. Pape,
Worterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen （Brunswick,
1884）, ii.1383. whom Hera cast into Hades because she rivalled
herself in beauty. Afterwards he went to Chios
and wooed Merope, daughter of Oenopion. But Oenopion made him drunk, put out
his eyes as he slept, and cast him on the beach. But he went to the smithy of Hephaestus,
and snatching up a lad set him on his shoulders and bade him lead him to the sunrise.
Being come thither he was healed by the sun's rays, and having recovered his sight he
hastened with all speed against Oenopion. But for him
Poseidon had made ready a house under the earth constructed by Hephaestus.This quaint story of Orion and Oenopion is told also by
Eratosthenes, Cat. 32; the Old Scholiast on Aratus, Phaenomena 322,
quoted in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 89; the
Scholiast on Nicander, Ther. 15; Hyginus, Ast. ii.34; Serv. Verg. A. 10.763; and the Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 12 (First Vatican Mythographer 33), except
that this last writer substitutes Minos, king of Crete, for Oenopion. The name of the guide whom Orion took on his back to
guide him to the sunrise was Cedalion （Lucian, De domo 28;
Eratosthenes, Cat.; and Hyginus, Ast. ii.34.）.
Sophocles made the story the theme of a satyric drama called Cedalion, of
which a few fragments have come down to us. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
202ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
ii. pp. 8ff. Euripides represents the blinded Polymestor praying to the Sun to
restore his sight （Eur. Hec.
1067ff.）. And Dawn fell in love with Orion and carried him off and
brought him to Delos; for Aphrodite caused Dawn
to be perpetually in love, because she had bedded with Ares. But Orion was killed, as some say, for challenging Artemis to a match
at quoits, but some say he was shot by Artemis for offering violence to Opis, one of the
maidens who had come from the Hyperboreans.Compare
Scholiast on Hom. Od. 5.121, who calls the maiden Upis.
According to another, and more generally received, account, Orion died of the bite of a
scorpion, which Artemis sent against him because he had attempted her chastity. For this
service the scorpion was raised to the rank of a constellation in the sky, and Orion
attained to a like dignity. That is why the constellation Orion flies for ever from the
constellation Scorpion round the sky. See Aratus, Phaenomena 634ff.;
Nicander, Ther. 13ff.; Eratosthenes, Cat. 32;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xviii.486; Scholiast on Hom. Od.
v.121; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.27; Scholiast
on Caesar Germanicus, Aratea, p. 386, ed. Eyssenhardt, in his edition of Martianus
Capella. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xviii.486, cites as his
authority Euphorion, a grammarian and poet of the fourth century B.C.
Poseidon wedded Amphitrite, daughter of Ocean, and there were born to him TritonCompare Hes. Th. 930ff.
and Rhode, who was married to the Sun.Rhode, more commonly
in the form Rhodos, is a personification of the
island of Rhodes, which Pindar calls the Bride
of the Sun （Pind. O. 7.14）, because it
was the great seat of the worship of the Sun in ancient Greece. A Rhodian inscription of about 220 B.C.
records public prayers offered by the priests “to the Sun and Rhodos and all the other gods and goddesses and founders
and heroes who have the city and the land of the Rhodians in their keeping.”
See P. Cauer, Delectus Inscriptionum Graecarum, p. 123, No.
181; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques, p. 24, No.
21; H. Collitz and F. Bechtel, Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt
Inschriften, vol. iii. p. 412, No. 3749. Every year the Rhodians
threw into the sea a chariot and four horses for the use of the Sun, apparently
supposing that after riding a whole year across the sky his old chariot and horses must
be quite worn out. See Festus, s.v. “October equus,” p. 181,
ed. C. O. Muller.
Pluto fell in love with Persephone and with the help of Zeus carried her off
secretly.This account of the rape of Persephone and
Demeter's quest of her is based on the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The
opening passage, including the explanation of the Laughless Stone, is quoted verbally by
Zenobius, （Cent. i.7） and the Scholiast on
Aristoph. Kn. 785, but without mention of their authority. For other accounts
of the rape of Persephone and Demeter's quest of her, see Diod. 5.4.1-3,
Diod. 5.68.2; Cicero, In Verrem, Act. 2. lib. 4, cap. 48;
Ovid, Fasti iv.419ff.; Ov. Met. 5.346ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 146; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, v.347;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 106-108 （Second
Vatican Mythographer 93-100）. All these writers agree in mentioning
Sicily as the scene of the rape of
Persephone; Cicero and Ovid identify the place with Enna （Henna）,
of which Cicero gives a vivid description. The author of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter
says (HH Dem. 16ff.) that the earth yawned “in the
Nysian plain,” but whether this was a real or a mythical place is doubtful.
See T. W. Allen and E. E. Sikes, The Homeric Hymns, p. 4
（on Hymn i.8）. It was probably the luxuriant fertility of
Sicily, and particularly the abundance of its
corn, which led later writers to place the scene of the rape in that island. In Ovid's
version of the visit of Demeter to Eleusis
（Ovid, Fasti iv.507ff.）, Celeus is not the king of the
place but a poor old peasant, who receives the disguised goddess in his humble
cottage. But Demeter went about seeking her all over the earth with torches by
night and day, and learning from the people of Hermion that Pluto had carried her off,This
visit paid by the mourning Demeter to Hermion,
when she was searching for the lost Persephone, is not mentioned by the author of the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter, nor, so far as I know, by any other ancient
writer except Zenobius, Cent. i.7 and the Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn.
785, both of whom, however, merely copied Apollodorus without naming him. But
compare Paus. 2.35.4-8, who mentions the sanctuary of
Subterranean Demeter at Hermion, and describes
the curious sacrificial ritual observed at it. At Hermion there was a chasm which was supposed to communicate with the
infernal regions, and through which Herakles was said to have dragged up Cerberus
（Paus. 2.35.10）. The statement of
Apollodorus in the present passage suggests that according to local tradition Pluto
dragged down his bride to hell through the same chasm. So convinced were the good people
of Hermion that they possessed a private
entrance to the nether regions that they very thriftily abstained from the usual Greek
practice of placing money in the mouths of their dead （Strab. 9.6.12）. Apparently they thought that it would be a waste of
money to pay Charon for ferrying them across to hell when they could get there for
nothing from their own backdoor. she was wroth with the gods and
quitted heaven, and came in the likeness of a woman to Eleusis. And first she sat down on the rock which has been named Laughless
after her, beside what is called the Well of the Fair DancesCompare HH Dem. 98ff., who says that Demeter, sad at heart,
sat down by the wayside at the Maiden's Well, under the shadow of an olive tree. Later
in the poem (HH. Dem. 270ff. Demeter directs the people of
Eleusis to build her a temple and altar
“above Callichorum“—that is, the Well of the Fair Dances.
Apollodorus identifies the well beside which Demeter sat down with the Well of the Fair
Dances. But from Paus. 1.38.6 we learn that the two wells
were different and situated at some distance from each other, the Well of the Fair
Dances being close to the Sanctuary of Demeter, and the Maiden's Well, or the Flowery
Well, as Pausanias calls it, being outside Eleusis, on the road to Megara.
In the course of the modern excavation of the sanctuary at Eleusis, the Well of the Fair Dances was discovered
just outside the portal of the sacred precinct. It is carefully built of polygonal
stones, and the mouth is surrounded by concentric circles, round which the women of
Eleusis probably tripped in the dance.
See *praktika\ th=s *)arxaiologikh=s *(etairi/as,
Athens, 1892, pp. 33ff. In antiquity solemn oaths were sworn by the water of
the well （Alciphron iii.69）.; thereupon she made
her way to Celeus, who at that time reigned over the Eleusinians. Some women were in the
house, and when they bade her sit down beside them, a certain old crone, Iambe, joked the
goddess and made her smile.As to the jesting of the old
woman with Demeter, see HH Dem. 194-206; Scholiast on
Nicander, Alex. 130, who calls Demeter's host Hippothoon, son of
Poseidon. For that reason they say that the women break jests at the
Thesmophoria.The jests seem to have been obscene in form
（Diod. 5.4.6）, but they were probably serious in
intention; for at the Thesmophoria rites were performed to ensure the fertility of the
fields, and the lewd words of the women may have been thought to quicken the seed by
sympathetic magic. See Scholia in Lucianum, ed. H. Rabe （Leipsig,
1906）, pp. 275ff.; Spirits of the Corn and of the
Wild, i.62ff., 116, ii.17ff.
But Metanira, wife of Celeus, had a child and Demeter received it to nurse, and wishing
to make it immortal she set the babe of nights on the fire and stripped off its mortal
flesh. But as Demophon — for that was the child's name—
grew marvelously by day, Praxithea watched, and discovering him buried in the fire she
cried out; wherefore the babe was consumed by the fire and the goddess revealed
herself.See Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus,
“Putting Children on the Fire.”
But for Triptolemus, the elder of Metanira's children,
she made a chariot of winged dragons, and gave him wheat, with which, wafted through the
sky, he sowed the whole inhabited earth.Compare
Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium 28, pp. 53ff. ed. C. Lang;
Ovid, Fasti iv.559ff.; Ovid, Tristia iii.8. （9）
1ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 147; Hyginus, Ast. ii.14; Serv. Verg. G. 1.19, 163; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. ii.382; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
pp. 3, 107 (First Vatican Mythographer 8; Second Vatican Mythographer 97). The
dragon-car of Triptolemus was mentioned by Sophocles in his lost tragedy
Triptolemus. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), p. 262, frag. 539;
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.243, frag.
596. In Greek vase-paintings Triptolemus is often represented in his
dragon-car. As to the representations of the car in ancient art, see Stephani, in
Compte Rendu （St. Petersburg） for 1859, pp.
82ff.; Frazer, note on Paus. vii.18.3 （vol. iv. pp.
142ff.）; and especially A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.
（Cambridge, 1914）, pp. 211ff., who shows that on the earlier
monuments Triptolemus is represented sitting on a simple wheel, which probably
represents the sun. Apparently he was a mythical embodiment of the first sower. See
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i.72ff. But
Panyasis affirms that Triptolemus was a son of Eleusis, for he says that Demeter came to him. Pherecydes, however, says that
he was a son of Ocean and Earth.The accounts given of the
parentage of Triptolemus were very various （Paus.
1.14.2ff.）, which we need not wonder at when we remember that he was
probably a purely mythical personage. As to Eleusis, the equally mythical hero who is said to have given his name to
Eleusis, see Paus.
8.38.7. He is called Eleusinus by Hyginus, Fab. 147 and Serv. Verg. G. 1.19.
But when Zeus ordered Pluto to send up the Maid, Pluto gave her a seed of a pomegranate
to eat, in order that she might not tarry long with her mother.The Maid （Kore） is Persephone. As to her eating a seed or
seeds of a pomegranate, see HH Dem. 371ff., HH Dem. 411ff.; Ov. Met. 5.333ff.; Ovid,
Fasti iv.601ff.; Serv. Verg. G. 1.39 and Serv. Aen. 4.462; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. iii.511; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 3,
108 （(First Vatican Mythographer 7; Second Vatican Mythographer 100).
There is a widespread belief that if a living person visits the world of the dead and
there partakes of food, he cannot return to the land of the living. Thus, the ancient
Egyptians believed that, on his way to the spirit land, the soul of a dead person was
met by a goddess （Hathor, Nouit, or Nit）, who offered him fruits,
bread, and water, and that, if he accepted them, he could return to earth no more. See
G. Maspero, Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient Classiques, les
Origines （Paris, 1895）, p. 184. Similarly, the
natives of New Caledonia, in the South Pacific,
say that when a man dies, messengers come from the other world to guide his soul through
the air and over the sea to the spirit land. Arrived there, he is welcomed by the other
souls and bidden to a banquet, where he is offered food, especially bananas. If he
tastes them, his doom is fixed for ever: he cannot return to earth. See the missionary
Gagniere, in Annales de la Propagation de la Foi, xxxii.
（Lyons, 1860）, pp. 439ff. The Eastern Melanesians believe
that living people can go down to the land of the dead and return alive to the upper
world. Persons who have done so relate how in the nether world they were warned by
friendly ghosts to eat nothing there. See R. H. Codrington, The
Melanesians （Oxford, 1891）, pp. 277, 286. Similar
beliefs prevail and similar tales are told among the Maoris of New Zealand. For example, a woman who believed that she
had died and passed to the spirit land, related on her return how there she met with her
dead father, who said to her, “You must go back to the earth, for there is no
one now left to take care of my grandchild. But remember, if you once eat food in this
place, you can never more return to life; so beware not to taste anything offered to
you.” See E. Shortland, Traditions and Superstitions of the New
Zealanders （London, 1856）, pp. 150-152. Again, they
tell of a great chief named Hutu, who performed the same perilous journey. On reaching
the place of departed spirits he encountered a certain being called Hine nui te po, that
is, Great Mother Night, of whom he inquired the way down to the nether world. She
pointed it out to him and gave him a basket of cooked food, saying, “When you
reach the lower regions, eat sparingly of your provisions that they may last, and you
may not be compelled to partake of their food, for if you do, you cannot return upwards
again.” See R. Taylor, Te Ika A Maui, or New Zealand and its
Inhabitants, 2nd ed. （London, 1870）, p. 271. And
the same rule holds good of fairyland, into which living people sometimes stray or are
enticed to their sorrow. “Wise people recommend that, in the circumstances, a
man should not utter a word till he comes out again, nor, on any account, taste fairy
food or drink. If he abstains he is very likely before long dismissed, but if he
indulges he straightway loses the will and the power ever to return to the society of
men.” See J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the Highlands and
Islands of Scotland （Glasgow, 1900）, p. 17. See
further E. S. Hartland, The Science of Fairy Tales
（London, 1891）, pp. 40ff. Not foreseeing
the consequence, she swallowed it; and because Ascalaphus, son of Acheron and Gorgyra,
bore witness against her, Demeter laid a heavy rock on him in Hades.As to the talebearer Ascalaphus, below, Apollod.
2.5.12. According to another account, Persephone or Demeter punished him by
turning him into a screech-owl. See Ov. Met. 5.538ff.;
Serv. Verg. G. 1.39 and Aen. iv.462;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.511; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 108 （Second Vatican Mythographer
100）. But Persephone was compelled to remain a third of every
year with Pluto and the rest of the time with the gods.Apollodorus agrees with the author of the HH Dem. 398ff.,
HH Dem. 445ff.） that Persephone was to spend
one-third of each year with her husband Pluto in the nether world and two-thirds of the
year with her mother and the other gods in the upper world. But, according to another
account, Persephone was to divide her time equally between the two regions, passing six
months below the earth and six months above it. See Ovid, Fasti iv.613ff.;
Ov. Met. 5.564ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 146;
Serv. Verg. G. 1.39; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 108 （Second Vatican Mythographer
100）.
Such is the legend of Demeter. But Earth, vexed on account of the Titans, brought forth
the giants, whom she had by Sky.According to Hesiod
（Hes. Th. 183ff.）, Earth was
impregnated by the blood which dropped from heaven when Cronus mutilated his father Sky
（Uranus）, and in due time she gave birth to the giants. As to the
battle of the gods and giants, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 63;
Hor. Carm. 3.4.49ff.; Ov.
Met. 1.150ff.; Claudian, Gigant.; Sidonius Apollinaris,
Carm. xii.15ff., ed. Baret; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
i. pp. 4, 92 (First Vatican Mythographer 11; Second Vatican Mythographer 53).
The account which Apollodorus here gives of it is supplemented by the evidence of the
monuments, especially temple-sculptures and vase-paintings. See Preller-Robert,
Griechische Mythologie, i.67ff. Compare M. Mayer,
Die Giganten und Titanen, （Berlin, 1887）.
The battle of the gods and the giants was sculptured on the outside of the temple of
Apollo at Delphi, as we learn from the
description of Euripides （Eur. Ion
208ff.）. On similar stories see Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus,
“War of Earth on Heaven.” These were matchless in the bulk of
their bodies and invincible in their might; terrible of aspect did they appear, with long
locks drooping from their head and chin, and with the scales of dragons for feet.Compare Ov. Met. 1.184,
Tristia, iv.7.17; Macrobius, Sat. i.20.9; Serv.
Verg. A. 3.578; Claudian, Gigant. 80ff.; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 92 （Second Vatican Mythographer
53）. Pausanias denied that the giants were serpent-footed
（Paus. 8.29.3）, but they are often so
represented on the later monuments of antiquity. See Kuhnert, in W. H. Roscher's
Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, i.1664ff.;
M. Mayer, Die Giganten und Titanen, pp. 274ff. They
were born, as some say, in Phlegrae, but according to others in Pallene.Phlegra is said
to have been the old name of Pallene
（Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *fle/gra）. The scene of the battle of the gods and giants was
laid in various places. See Diod. 5.71; Strab.
5.4.4, 6, Strab. 6.3, 5, Strab. 7 Fr. 25, 27, Strab.
10.5.16, Strab. 11.2.10; Paus. 8.29.1, with my note. Volcanic phenomena and the discovery of the fossil
bones of large extinct animals seem to have been the principal sources of these
tales. And they darted rocks and burning oaks at the sky. Surpassing all the rest
were Porphyrion and Alcyoneus, who was even immortal so long as he fought in the land of
his birth. He also drove away the cows of the Sun from Erythia. Now the gods had an oracle
that none of the giants could perish at the hand of gods, but that with the help of a
mortal they would be made an end of. Learning of this, Earth sought for a simple to
prevent the giants from being destroyed even by a mortal. But Zeus forbade the
Dawn and the Moon and the Sun to shine, and then, before anybody else could get it, he
culled the simple himself, and by means of Athena summoned Hercules to his help. Hercules
first shot Alcyoneus with an arrow, but when the giant fell on the ground he somewhat
revived. However, at Athena's advice Hercules dragged him outside Pallene, and so the giant died.Compare Pind. N. 4.27, Pind. I. 6.31(45) with the Scholia; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
63. The Scholiast on Pind. I. 6.32(47), mentions, like Apollodorus,
that Alcyoneus had driven away the oxen of the Sun. The reason why Herakles dragged the
wounded giant from Pallene before
despatching him was that, as Apollodorus has explained above, the giant was immortal so
long as he fought on the land where he had been born. That, too, is why the giant
revived when in falling he touched his native earth.
But in the battle Porphyrion attacked Hercules and Hera.
Nevertheless Zeus inspired him with lust for Hera, and when he tore her robes and would
have forced her, she called for help, and Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt, and Hercules
shot him dead with an arrow.Compare Pind. P. 8.12(15)ff., who says that the king of the giants
（Porphyrion） was shot by Apollo, not Herakles. Tzetzes agrees with
Apollodorus （Scholiast on Lycophron 63）. As for
the other giants, Ephialtes was shot by Apollo with an arrow in his left eye and by
Hercules in his right; Eurytus was killed by Dionysus with a thyrsus, and Clytius by
Hecate with torches, and Mimas by Hephaestus with missiles of red-hot metal.According to Eur. Ion 215ff.,
Mimas was killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt; according to Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iii.122ff. and Claudian, Gigant. 87ff., he was slain by
Ares. Enceladus fled, but Athena threw on him in his flight the island of
SicilyCompare
Verg. A. 3.578ff. The combat of Athena with Enceladus
was sculptured on the temple of Apollo at Delphi. See Eur. Ion 209ff.; and she
flayed Pallas and used his skin to shield her own body in the fight.According to one account the Pallas whom Athena flayed, and
whose skin she used as a covering, was her own father, who had attempted her chastity.
See Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii.28, p. 24, ed. Potter;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 355; Cicero, De natura deorum
iii.23.59. Polybotes was chased through the sea by Poseidon and came to
Cos; and Poseidon, breaking off that piece of the island which is called Nisyrum, threw it
on him.Compare Strab.
10.5.16. And Hermes, wearing the helmet of Hades,The helmet of Hades was thought to render the wearer invisible. Compare Hom. Il. 5.844ff.; Hes. Sh.
226ff. slew Hippolytus in the fight, and Artemis slew Gration. And the
Fates, fighting with brazer clubs, killed Agrius and Thoas. The other giants Zeus smote
and destroyed with thunderbolts and all of them Hercules shot with arrows as they were
dying.
When the gods had overcome the giants, Earth, still more enraged, had intercourse with
Tartarus and brought forth Typhon in Cilicia,As to Typhon, or Typhoeus, as he is
also called, who was especially associated with the famous Corycian cave in Cilicia, see Hes. Th.
820ff.; Pind. P. 1.15ff.; Aesch. PB 351ff.; Ant. Lib. 28; Ov. Met.
5.321ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 152; Mela i.76, ed. G.
Parthey; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 4, 29, 92
(First Vatican Mythographer 11, 86; Second Vatican Mythographer 53). As to the
Corycian cave, see Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed. i.152ff.
According to Hesiod （Hes. Th. 821）,
Typhoeus was the youngest child of Earth. a hybrid between man and beast. In size
and strength he surpassed all the offspring of Earth. As far as the thighs he was of human
shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, and his head often
brushed the stars. One of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and
from them projected a hundred dragons' heads. From the thighs downward he had
huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and emitted a loud
hissing. His body was all wingedOr
“feathered.” But Ant. Lib. 28 speaks of Typhon's
numerous wings.:unkempt hair streamed on the wind from his head and cheeks; and
fire flashed from his eyes. Such and so great was Typhon when, hurling kindled rocks, he
made for the very heaven with hissings and shouts, spouting a great jet of fire from his
mouth. But when the gods saw him rushing at heaven, they made for Egypt in flight, and being pursued they changed their
forms into those of animals.Compare Ant. Lib.
28; Ov. Met. 5.319ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
152; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 29 (First Vatican
Mythographer 86). The story of the transformation of the gods into beasts in
Egypt was probably invented by the Greeks to
explain the Egyptian worship of animals, as Lucian shrewdly perceived
（Lucian, De sacrificiis 14）. However Zeus pelted
Typhon at a distance with thunderbolts, and at close quarters struck him down with an
adamantine sickle, and as he fled pursued him closely as far as Mount Casius, which
overhangs Syria. There, seeing the monster sore
wounded, he grappled with him. But Typhon twined about him and gripped him in his coils,
and wresting the sickle from him severed the sinews of his hands and feet, and lifting him
on his shoulders carried him through the sea to Cilicia and deposited him on arrival in the Corycian cave. Likewise he put
away the sinews there also, hidden in a bearskin, and he set to guard them the she-dragon
Delphyne, who was a half-bestial maiden. But Hermes and Aegipan stole the sinews and fitted them unobserved to Zeus.According to
Nonnus, Dionys. i.481ff., it was Cadmus who, disguised as a shepherd,
wheedled the severed sinews of Zeus out of Typhon by pretending that he wanted them for
the strings of a lyre, on which he would play ravishing music to the monster. The
barbarous and evidently very ancient story seems to be alluded to by no other Greek
writers. And having recovered his strength Zeus suddenly from heaven, riding in a
chariot of winged horses, pelted Typhon with thunderbolts and pursued him to the mountain
called Nysa, where the Fates beguiled the
fugitive; for he tasted of the ephemeral fruits in the persuasion that he would be
strengthened thereby.This story of the deception practised
by the Fates on Typhon seems to be otherwise unknown. So being again pursued he
came to Thrace, and in fighting at Mount
Haemus he heaved whole mountains. But when
these recoiled on him through the force of the thunderbolt, a stream of blood gushed out
on the mountain, and they say that from that circumstance the mountain was called
Haemus.Haemus,
from haima （blood）; hence “the Bloody Mountain.”
It is said that a city of Egypt received the
same name for the same reason （Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. h(rw/）. And when he started to flee
through the Sicilian sea, Zeus cast Mount Etna in
Sicily upon him. That is a huge mountain, from
which down to this day they say that blasts of fire issue from the thunderbolts that were
thrown.As to Typhon under Mount Etna see Aesch. PB 363ff.; Pind. P. 1.17(32)ff; Ovid, Fasti iv.491ff.;
Ov. Met. 5.352ff. So much for that subject.
Prometheus moulded men out of water and earthAs to the
creation of the human race by Prometheus, compare Philemon in Stobaeus,
Florilegium ii.27; Paus. 10.4.4; Lucian,
Dial. Deorum i.1; Libanius, Declam. xxv.31, vol. ii. p. 552, ed. R.
Foerster; Ov. Met. 1.82ff.; Juvenal
xiv.35. It is to be observed that in the earliest versions of the legend
（Hes. Th. 510ff.
Hes. WD 48ff.; Aesch.
PB） Prometheus appears only as the benefactor, not the creator, of
mankind. and gave them also fire, which, unknown to Zeus, he had hidden in a
stalk of fennel.Compare Hes. WD
50ff., Hes. Th. 565ff.; Aesch. PB 107ff.; Plat. Prot. 321;
Hyginus, Fab. 144; Hyginus, Ast. ii.15. According to Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.42, Prometheus stole the fire by
applying a torch to the sun's wheel. Stories of the original theft of fire are
widespread among mankind. See Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “Myths of the
Origin of Fire.” The plant （na/rqhc） in which Prometheus is said to have carried the stolen fire
is commonly identified with the giant fennel （Ferula communis）. See
L. Whibley, Companion to Greek Studies （Cambridge,
1916）, p. 67. Tournefort found the plant growing abundantly in
Skinosa, the ancient Schinussa, a small deserted island south of Naxos （Pliny, Nat. Hist.
iv.68）. He describes the stalk as about five feet high and three inches
thick, with knots and branches at intervals of about ten inches, the whole being covered
with a tolerably hard rind. “This stalk is filled with a white pith, which,
being very dry, catches fire just like a wick; the fire keeps alight perfectly in the
stalk and consumes the pith only gradually, without damaging the rind; hence people use
this plant to carry fire from one place to another; our sailors laid in a supply of it.
This custom is of great antiquity, and may serve to explain a passage in Hesiod, who,
speaking of the fire which Prometheus stole from heaven, says that he carried it away in
a stalk of fennel.” He tells us, further, that the Greeks still call the plant
nartheca. See P. de Tournefort, Relation d'un Voyage du Levant
（Amsterdam, 1718）, i.93. The plant is common all over
Greece, and may be seen in particular
abundance at Phalerum, near Athens. See
W. G. Clark, Peloponnesus (London, 1858);, p. 111;
J. Murr, Die Pflanzenwelt in der griechischen Mythologie
（Innsbruck, 1890）, p. 231. In Naxos Mr. J. T. Bent saw orange gardens divided by hedges of tall reeds,
and he adds: “In Lesbos this reed is still called na/rqhka （na/rqhc）, a survival of the old word for the
reed by which Prometheus brought down fire from heaven. One can understand the idea
well: a peasant today who wishes to carry a light from one house to another will put it
into one of these reeds to prevent its being blown out.” See J. T. Bent,
The Cyclades （London, 1885）, p. 365. Perhaps
Bent mistook fennel for a reed. The rationalistic Diodorus Siculus explained the myth of
the theft of fire by saying that Prometheus was the inventor of the fire-sticks, by the
friction of which against each other fire is kindled. See Diod. 5.67.2. But
Greek tradition attributed the invention of fire-sticks to Hermes. See the HH Herm. 108ff. But when Zeus learned of it, he
ordered Hephaestus to nail his body to Mount Caucasus, which is a Scythian mountain. On it
Prometheus was nailed and kept bound for many years. Every day an eagle swooped on him and
devoured the lobes of his liver, which grew by night. That was the penalty that Prometheus
paid for the theft of fire until Hercules afterwards released him, as we shall show in
dealing with Hercules.As to the release of Prometheus, see
Apollod. 2.5.11.
And Prometheus had a son Deucalion.The whole of the
following account of Deucalion and Pyrrha is
quoted, with a few trifling verbal changes, by the Scholiast on Hom. Il.
i.126, who cites Apollodorus as his authority. He reigning in the regions
about Phthia, married
Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the
first woman fashioned by the gods.As to the making of
Pandora, see Hes. WD 60ff., Hes. Th.
571ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 142. And when Zeus would destroy the men of the Bronze Age, Deucalion by the advice of Prometheus constructed a
chest,As to Deucalion's flood, see Lucian, De dea
Syria 12ff.; Ov. Met. 1.125-415; Hyginus,
Fab. 153; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.41;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 57ff., 99 (First Vatican
Mythographer 189; Second Vatican Mythographer 73); Folk-Lore in
the Old Testament, i.146ff. Another person who is said to have
escaped alive from the flood was a certain Cerambus: the story ran that the nymphs
wafted him aloft on wings over the Thessalian mountains. See Ov. Met. 7.353ff. and having stored it with provisions he embarked in
it with Pyrrha. But Zeus by pouring heavy rain
from heaven flooded the greater part of Greece,
so that all men were destroyed, except a few who fled to the high mountains in the
neighborhood. It was then that the mountains in Thessaly parted, and that all the world outside the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. But Deucalion, floating in
the chest over the sea for nine days and as many nights, drifted to Parnassus, and there, when the rain ceased, he landed and
sacrificed to Zeus, the god of Escape. And Zeus sent Hermes to him and allowed him to
choose what he would, and he chose to get men. And at the bidding of Zeus he took up
stones and threw them over his head, and the stones which Deucalion threw became men, and
the stones which Pyrrha threw became women.
Hence people were called metaphorically people （ laos） from laas, “ a stone. ”Compare Pind. O. 9.41ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
153. And Deucalion had children by
Pyrrha, first Hellen, whose father some say was Zeus, and second
Amphictyon, who reigned over Attica after
Cranaus; and third a daughter Protogenia, who became the mother of Aethlius by Zeus.This passage as to the children of Deucalion is quoted by the
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.307, who names Apollodorus as his authority.
Hellen had Dorus, Xuthus, and AeolusAs to Hellen and his sons, see Strab. 8.7.1;
Paus. 7.12; Conon 27. According to the
Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.2, Xuthus was a son of Aeolus. by a nymph
Orseis. Those who were called Greeks he named Hellenes after himself,According to the Parian Chronicle, the change of the national
name from Greeks （Graikoi） to Hellenes took place in 1521 B.C. See Fragmenta Historicorum
Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, i.542ff. Compare Aristot. Met. 1.352; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v.
*graiko/s, p. 239; Stephanus Byzantius,
s.v. *graiko/s; Frazer on Paus. 3.20.6;
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson,
ii.160. and divided the country among his sons. Xuthus received Peloponnese and begat Achaeus and Ion by Creusa, daughter
of Erechtheus, and from Achaeus and Ion the Achaeans and Ionians derive their names. Dorus
received the country over against Peloponnese and
called the settlers Dorians after himself.As to the early
seats of the Dorians, see Hdt. 1.56. Aeolus reigned
over the regions about Thessaly and named the
inhabitants Aeolians.As to the Aeolians of Thessaly, compare Paus.
10.8.4; Diod. 4.67.2. He married Enarete, daughter of
Deimachus, and begat seven sons, Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes,
Perieres, and five daughters, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, Perimede.As to Aeolus, his descendants, and their settlements, see
Diod. 4.67.2-7; Scholiast on Pind. P. 4.107(190).
Perimede had Hippodamas and Orestes by Achelous; and Pisidice had Antiphus and Actor by
Myrmidon. Alcyone was married by Ceyx, son of
Lucifer.According to Ov. Met.
11.271ff., Ceyx reflected his father's brightness in his face. These perished by reason of their pride; for he said that his wife was Hera, and she
said that her husband was Zeus.Compare Scholiast on
Aristoph. Birds 250; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.562;
Eustathius on Hom. Il. ix.562. p. 776. The story may be a reminiscence of
an ancient Greek custom, in accordance with which kings are said to have been regularly
called Zeus. See Tzetzes, Antehomerica 102ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades
i.474; A. B. Cook, “The European Sky-god,”
Folklore, xv. (1904), pp. 299ff. But Zeus turned them
into birds; her he made a kingfisher （ alcyon） and him a gannet
（ ceyx）.Compare Lucian, Halcyon
1; Scholiast on Aristoph. Birds 250; Ov.
Met. 11.410ff., especially 710ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 65. The
identification of the seabird ceyx is doubtful. See D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson,
Glossary of Greek Birds （Oxford, 1895）, p.
81.
Canace had by Poseidon Hopleus and Nireus and Epopeus and Aloeus and Triops. Aloeus
wedded Iphimedia, daughter of Triops; but she fell in love with Poseidon, and often going
to the sea she would draw up the waves with her hands and pour them into her lap. Poseidon
met her and begat two sons, Otus and Ephialtes, who are called the Aloads.As to the Aloads, see Hom. Od.
11.305ff.; Verg. A. 6.582ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. 28. These grew every year a cubit in breadth and a fathom in
height; and when they were nine years old,This answers to
the e)nne/wroi of Homer (Hom.
Od. 11.31), the meaning of which has been disputed. See Merry, on Hom.
Od. x.19. Hyginus, Fab. 28 understood e)nne/wroi in the same way as Apollodorus (“cum essent annorum novem”). being nine cubits broad and
nine fathoms high, they resolved to fight against the gods, and they set Ossa on
Olympus, and having set Pelion on Ossa they threatened by means of these mountains
to ascend up to heaven, and they said that by filling up the sea with the mountains they
would make it dry land, and the land they would make sea. And Ephialtes wooed Hera, and
Otus wooed Artemis; moreover they put Ares in bonds.They
are said to have imprisoned him for thirteen months in a brazen pot, from which he was
rescued, in a state of great exhaustion, by the interposition of Hermes. See Hom. Il. 5.385ff. Compare my note, “Ares in
the brazen pot,” The Classical Review, ii.
（1888） p. 222. However, Hermes rescued Ares
by stealth, and Artemis killed the Aloads in Naxos by a ruse. For she changed herself into a deer and leaped between them,
and in their eagerness to hit the quarry they threw their darts at each other.Compare Hyginus, Fab. 28.
Calyce and Aethlius had a son Endymion who led Aeolians from Thessaly and founded Elis. But
some say that he was a son of Zeus. As he was of surpassing beauty, the Moon fell in love
with him, and Zeus allowed him to choose what he would, and he chose to sleep for ever,
remaining deathless and ageless.As to Endymion and the
Moon, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.57ff., with the Scholiast; Paus. 5.1.4; Mythographi Graeci, ed Westermann, pp.
319ff., 324; Hyginus, Fab. 271. The present passage of Apollodorus
is quoted almost verbally by Zenobius, Cent. iii.76, but as usual without
mention of his authority. The eternal sleep of Endymion was proverbial. See Plat. Phaedo 72c; Macarius, Cent. iii.89;
Diogenianus, Cent. iv.40; Cicero, De finibus v.20.55;
compare Cicero, Tusc. Disp. i.38.92.
Endymion had by a Naiad nymph or, as some say, by Iphianassa, a son Aetolus, who slew
Apis, son of Phoroneus, and fled to the Curetian country. There he killed his hosts, Dorus
and Laodocus and Polypoetes, the sons of Phthia and Apollo, and called the country Aetolia after himself.Compare Paus. 5.1.8; Conon 14.
Aetolus and Pronoe, daughter of Phorbus, had sons, Pleuron and Calydon, after whom the cities in Aetolia were named. Pleuron
wedded Xanthippe, daughter of Dorus, and begat a son Agenor, and daughters, Sterope and
Stratonice and Laophonte. Calydon and Aeolia,
daughter of Amythaon, had daughters, Epicaste and Protogenia, who had Oxylus by Ares. And
Agenor, son of Pleuron, married Epicaste,
daughter of Calydon, and begat Porthaon and Demonice, who had Evenus, Molus,
Pylus, and Thestius by Ares.
Evenus begat Marpessa, who was wooed by Apollo, but Idas, son of Aphareus, carried her
off in a winged chariot which he received from Poseidon.As
to Evenus and Marpessa, see Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.557; Eustathius
on Hom. Il. ix.557 p. 776; Plut. Lives. 40; Hyginus, Fab.
242 （who calls Evenus a son of Herakles）. According to the
first two of these writers, Evenus, like Oenomaus, used to set his daughter's suitors to
run a chariot race with him, promising to bestow her on the winner; but he cut off the
heads of his vanquished competitors and nailed them to the walls of his house. This
seems to be the version of the story which Apollodorus had before him, though he has
abridged it. Pursuing him in a chariot, Evenus came to the river Lycormas, but
when he could not catch him he slaughtered his horses and threw himself into the river,
and the river is called Evenus after him. But Idas came
to Messene, and Apollo, falling in with him,
would have robbed him of the damsel. As they fought for the girl's hand, Zeus parted them
and allowed the maiden herself to choose which of the two she would marry; and she,
because she feared that Apollo might desert her in her old age, chose Idas for her
husband.Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.557
（who cites Simonides）; Eustathius on Hom. Il. ix.557 p.
776; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 561; Paus. 5.18.2.
Thestius had daughters and sons by Eurythemis, daughter of Cleoboea: the daughters were
Althaea, Leda,Paus. 3.13.8
agrees with Apollodorus in saying that Leda was the daughter of Thestius, who was a son
of Agenor, who was a son of Pleuron; and he
cites the epic poem of Areus as his authority for the genealogy. Hypermnestra,
and the males were Iphiclus, Evippus, Plexippus, and Eurypylus.
Porthaon and Euryte, daughter of Hippodamas, had sons, Oeneus, Agrius, Alcathous,
Melas, Leucopeus, and a daughter Sterope, who
is said to have been the mother of the Sirens by Achelous.
Reigning over Calydon, Oeneus was the first who received a vine-plant from
Dionysus.Compare Hyginus, Fab. 129.
He married Althaea, daughter of Thestius, and begat Toxeus, whom he slew with his own hand
because he leaped over the ditch.So Romulus is said to have
killed Remus for leaping over the rising wall of Rome （Livy i.7.2）. And besides Toxeus
he had Thyreus and Clymenus, and a daughter Gorge, whom Andraemon married, and another
daughter Deianira, who is said to have been begotten on Althaea by Dionysus. This Deianira
drove a chariot and practised the art of war, and Hercules wrestled for her hand with
Achelous.See Apollod.
2.7.5, with the note.
Althaea had also a son Meleager,The whole of the following account of the life and death of Meleager is
quoted, with a few verbal changes and omissions, by Zenobius, Cent. v.33.
The story is told by Bacch. 5.93ff., ed. Jebb; and,
though without any express mention of the burning brand or of Meleager's death, by Hom. Il. 9.529-599. Compare Diod. 4.34; Ov. Met. 8.270ff.; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. ii.481; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 46ff.
(First Vatican Mythographer 146). It was made the theme of tragedies by
Sophocles and Euripides. See Nauck, TGF, 2nd ed. （Leipsig,
1889）, pp. 219ff., 525ff.; The Fragments of
Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.64ff. by Oeneus, though they
say that he was begotten by Ares. It is said that, when he was seven days old, the Fates
came and declared that Meleager should die when the brand burning on the hearth was burnt
out. On hearing that, Althaea snatched up the brand and deposited it in a chest.For the story of the burning brand on which the life of
Meleager depended, see also Aesch. Lib. 604ff.; Bacch. 5.136ff., ed. Jebb; Diod.
4.34.6ff.; Paus. 10.31.4; Ant. Lib.
2; Dio Chrysostom lxvii. vol. ii. p. 231, ed. L. Dindorf;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.534; Ov. Met.
8.445-525; Hyginus, Fab. 171, 174; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. ii.481; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
p. 47 (First Vatican Mythographer 146). The story belongs to a widespread class
of tales concerned with the “external soul,” or the belief that a
person's life is bound up with an animal or object outside of his own body. See
Balder the Beautiful, ii.94ff. Meleager grew up
to be an invulnerable and gallant man, but came by his end in the following way. In
sacrificing the first fruits of the annual crops of the country to all the gods
Oeneus forgot Artemis alone. But she in her wrath sent a boar of extraordinary size and
strength, which prevented the land from being sown and destroyed the cattle and the people
that fell in with it. To attack this boar Oeneus called together all the noblest men of
Greece, and promised that to him who should
kill the beast he would give the skin as a prize. Now the men who assembled to hunt the
boar were theseFor lists of the heroes who hunted the
Calydonian boar, see Ov. Met. 8.299ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. 173.:— Meleager, son of Oeneus; Dryas, son of Ares; these
came from Calydon; Idas and Lynceus, sons of Aphareus, from Messene; Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus and Leda,
from Lacedaemon; Theseus, son of Aegeus, from
Athens; Admetus, son of Pheres, from Pherae;
Ancaeus and Cepheus, sons of Lycurgus, from Arcadia; Jason, son of Aeson, from Iolcus; Iphicles, son of Amphitryon, from
Thebes; Pirithous, son of Ixion, from
Larissa; Peleus, son of Aeacus, from Phthia;
Telamon, son of Aeacus, from Salamis; Eurytion,
son of Actor, from Phthia; Atalanta, daughter
of Schoeneus, from Arcadia; Amphiaraus, son of
Oicles, from Argos. With them came also the
sons of Thestius. And when they were assembled, Oeneus entertained them for nine days; but
on the tenth, when Cepheus and Ancaeus and some others disdained to go hunting with a
woman, Meleager compelled them to follow the chase with her, for he desired to have a
child also by Atalanta, though he had to wife Cleopatra, daughter of Idas and Marpessa.
When they surrounded the boar, Hyleus and Ancaeus were killed by the brute, and
Peleus struck down Eurytion undesignedly with a javelin. But Atalanta was the first to
shoot the boar in the back with an arrow, and Amphiaraus was the next to shoot it in the
eye; but Meleager killed it by a stab in the flank, and on receiving the skin gave it to
Atalanta. Nevertheless the sons of Thestius, thinking scorn that a woman should get the
prize in the face of men, took the skin from her, alleging that it belonged to them by
right of birth if Meleager did not choose to take it.
But Meleager in a rage slew the sons of Thestius and gave the skin to Atalanta. However,
from grief at the slaughter of her brothers Althaea kindled the brand, and Meleager
immediately expired.
But some say that Meleager did not die in that way,The
following account of the death of Meleager is substantially that of Hom. Il. 9.529ff. but that when the sons of Thestius
claimed the skin on the ground that Iphiclus had been the first to hit the boar, war broke
out between the Curetes and the Calydonians; and when Meleager had sallied outFrom Calydon, then besieged by the Curetes. and slain
some of the sons of Thestius, Althaea cursed him, and he in a rage remained at home;
however, when the enemy approached the walls, and the citizens supplicated him to come to
the rescue, he yielded reluctantly to his wife and sallied forth, and having killed the
rest of the sons of Thestius, he himself fell fighting. After the death of
Meleager, Althaea and Cleopatra hanged themselves, and the women who mourned the dead man
were turned into birds.The birds called in Greek
meleagrides, guinea-fowl （Numida sp.）. See Ant. Lib. 2;
Ael., Nat. Anim. iv.42; Ov. Met.
8.533-546; Hyginus, Fab. 174; Pliny, Nat. Hist. x.74,
xxxvii.40. Worshippers of Artemis strictly abstained from eating the bird; the
reason of the abstention was known to the natives of Leros, one of the Sporades
（Ael., Nat. Anim. iv.42）. The birds were kept in the
sanctuary of the Maiden （Artemis?） in that island, and were tended by
the priests （Athenaeus xiv.71, p. 655 C）. It is said that
it was Artemis who turned the sisters of Meleager into birds by touching them with a
rod, after which she transferred them to the island of Leros （Ant. Lib. 2） On the birds see
D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds
（Oxford, 1895）, pp. 114ff.
After Althaea's death Oeneus married Periboea, daughter of Hipponous. The author of the
Thebaid says that when Olenus was sacked, Oeneus received Periboea as a gift
of honor; but Hesiod says that she was seduced by Hippostratus, son of Amarynceus, and
that her father Hipponous sent her away from Olenus in Achaia to Oeneus, because
he dwelt far from Greece, with an injunction to
put her to death.Compare Diod. 4.35.1ff.,
according to whom Periboea alleged that she was with child by Ares. Sophocles wrote a
tragedy on the subject; a few fragments of it remain （The
Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, i.216ff.）.
However, some say that Hipponous discovered that his
daughter had been debauched by Oeneus, and therefore he sent her away to him when she was
with child. By her Oeneus begat Tydeus. But Pisander says that the mother of Tydeus was
Gorge, for Zeus willed it that Oeneus should fall in love with his own daughter.Gorge was a daughter of Oeneus. See above, Apollod. 1.8.1; Paus.
10.38.5.
When Tydeus had grown to be a gallant man he was banished for killing, as some say,
Alcathous, brother of Oeneus; but according to the author of the
Alcmaeonidhis victims were the sons of Melas who had plotted against Oeneus, their
names being Pheneus, Euryalus, Hyperlaus, Antiochus, Eumedes, Sternops,
Xanthippus, Sthenelaus; but as Pherecydes will have it, he murdered his own brother
Olenias.Compare Eustathius on Hom. Il. xiv.122, p.
971; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.114, 120; The
Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, iii.38, frag. 799;
Statius, Theb. i.401ff., with the commentary of Lactantius
Placidus, pp. 47ff. ed. R. Jahnke. The accounts differ as to whom Tydeus
killed, but they agree that he fled from Calydon to Adrastus at Argos, and that Adrastus purified him from the murder
（Eustathius and Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.122, p. 971）
and gave him his daughter to wife. Compare Apollodorus, iii.6.1. Being arraigned
by Agrius, he fled to Argos and came to
Adrastus, whose daughter Deipyle he married and begat Diomedes.
Tydeus marched against Thebes with
Adrastus,See below, Apollod.
3.6.3ff. and died of a wound which he received at the hand of
Melanippus. But the sons of Agrius, to wit, Thersites,
Onchestus, Prothous, Celeutor, Lycopeus, Melanippus, wrested the kingdom from Oeneus and
gave it to their father, and more than that they imprisoned Oeneus in his lifetime and
tormented him.With this and what follows compare Paus. 2.25.2; Scholiast on Aristoph. Ach. 418;
Ant. Lib. 37; Hyginus, Fab. 175. The story furnished
Euripides with the theme of a tragedy called Oeneus. See TGF (Nauck
2nd ed.), pp. 536ff. Nevertheless Diomedes afterwards came secretly with
Alcmaeon from Argos and put to death all the
sons of Agrius, except Onchestus and Thersites, who had fled betimes to Peloponnese; and as Oeneus was old, Diomedes gave the
kingdom to Andraemon who had married the daughter of Oeneus, but Oeneus himself he took
with him to Peloponnese. Howbeit, the sons of
Agrius, who had made their escape, lay in wait for the old man at the hearth of Telephus
in Arcadia, and killed him. But Diomedes conveyed
the corpse to Argos and buried him in the place
where now a city is called Oenoe after him.Compare Paus. 2.25.2. And having married Aegialia,
daughter of Adrastus or, as some say, of Aegialeus, he went to the wars against Thebes and Troy.
Of the sons of Aeolus, Athamas ruled over Boeotia and begat a son Phrixus and a daughter Helle by Nephele.For the story of Athamas, Phrixus, and Helle, see
Zenobius, Cent. iv.38; Apostolius, Cent. xi.58;
Scholiast on Aristoph. Cl. 257; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
22; Eustathius on Hom. Il. vii.86, p. 667; Scholiast on Hom.
Il. vii.86; Diod. 4.47; Hyginus, Fab. 1-3;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.20; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill.
i.65; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 8, 120ff. (First
Vatican Mythographer 23; Second Vatican Mythographer 134). According to
Herodotus （Hdt. 7.197）, it was a rule
among the descendants of Phrixus that the eldest son of the family should be sacrificed
（apparently to Laphystian Zeus） if ever he entered the town-hall;
hence, to escape the risk of such a fate, many of the family fled to foreign lands.
Sophocles wrote a tragedy called Athamas, in which he represented the
king himself crowned with garlands and led to the altar of Zeus to be sacrificed, but
finally rescued by the interposition of Herakles （Scholiast on Aristoph.
Cl. 237; Apostolius, Cent. xi.58; The Fragments of
Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, i.1ff.）. These traditions
point to the conclusion that in the royal line of Athamas the eldest son was regularly
liable to be sacrificed either to prevent or to remedy a failure of the crops, and that
in later times a ram was commonly accepted as a substitute for the human victim. Compare
The Dying God, pp. 161ff. And he married a second
wife, Ino, by whom he had Learchus and Melicertes. But Ino plotted against the children of
Nephele and persuaded the women to parch the wheat; and having got the wheat they did so
without the knowledge of the men. But the earth, being sown with parched wheat, did not
yield its annual crops; so Athamas sent to Delphi to inquire how he might be delivered from the dearth. Now Ino
persuaded the messengers to say it was foretold that the infertility would cease if
Phrixus were sacrificed to Zeus. When Athamas heard that, he was forced by the inhabitants
of the land to bring Phrixus to the altar. But Nephele caught him and her daughter up and
gave them a ram with a golden fleece, which she had received from Hermes, and borne
through the sky by the ram they crossed land and sea. But when they were over
the sea which lies betwixt Sigeum and the Chersonese, Helle slipped into the deep and was drowned, and the sea was
called Hellespont after her. But Phrixus came to
the Colchians, whose king was Aeetes, son of the Sun and of Perseis, and brother of Circe
and Pasiphae, whom Minos married. He received Phrixus and gave him one of his daughters,
Chalciope. And Phrixus sacrificed the ram with the golden fleece to Zeus the god of
Escape, and the fleece he gave to Aeetes, who nailed it to an oak in a grove of Ares. And
Phrixus had children by Chalciope, to wit, Argus, Melas, Phrontis, and Cytisorus.
But afterwards Athamas was bereft also of the children of Ino through the wrath of Hera;
for he went mad and shot Learchus with an arrow, and Ino cast herself and Melicertes into
the sea.Compare Zenobius, Cent. iv.38;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 229; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
vii.86; Eust. on Hom. Il. vii.86, p. 667; Eust. on Hom. Od.
v.339, p. 1543; Paus. 1.44.7ff.; Paus. 9.34.7; Ov. Met.
4.481-542; Hyginus, Fab. 4, 5. Euripides wrote a tragedy,
Ino, of which a number of fragments remain. See TGF (Nauck 2nd
ed.), pp. 482ff. It is said that Hera drove Athamas mad because she was angry
with him for receiving from Hermes the infant Dionysus and bringing him up as a girl.
See Apollod. 3.4.3; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 22. Being banished from Boeotia, Athamas inquired of the god where he should dwell, and on receiving
an oracle that he should dwell in whatever place he should be entertained by wild beasts,
he traversed a great extent of country till he fell in with wolves that were devouring
pieces of sheep; but when they saw him they abandoned their prey and fled. So Athamas
settled in that country and named it Athamantia after himself;Compare Scholiast on Plat. Minos 315c; Tzetzes, Scholiast
on Lycophron 22; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)Aqama/ntion, p. 24.10. According to the last of these writers,
Athamantia was a plain in Thessaly. and
he married Themisto, daughter of Hypseus, and begat Leucon, Erythrius, Schoeneus, and
Ptous.
And Sisyphus, son of Aeolus, founded Ephyra,
which is now called Corinth,Compare Hom. Il. 6.152ff.;
Paus. 2.1.1. and married Merope, daughter of
Atlas. They had a son Glaucus, who had by Eurymede a son Bellerophon, who slew the fire
breathing Chimera.As to Bellerophon and the Chimera, see
Apollod. 2.3.1, with the note. But Sisyphus is
punished in Hades by rolling a stone with his hands and head in the effort to heave it
over the top; but push it as he will, it rebounds backward.As to Sisyphus and his stone, see Hom. Od. 11.593-600.
Homer does not say why Sisyphus was thus punished, but Paus.
2.5.1 and the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.180 agree with Apollodorus as
to the crime which incurred this punishment. Hyginus assigns impiety as the cause of his
sufferings （Hyginus, Fab. 60）. The picturesque story of
this cunning knave, who is said to have laid Death himself by the heels, so that nobody
died till Ares released Death and delivered Sisyphus himself into his clutches
（Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.153）, was the theme of plays
by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 74ff., 251,
572; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
ii. pp. 184ff. Critias, one of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens, is credited with a play on the same theme, of
which a very striking fragment, giving a wholly sceptical view of the origin of the
belief in gods, has come down to us. See Sextus Empiricus, ed. Bekker, pp.
402ff.; TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 771ff. This punishment he
endures for the sake of Aegina, daughter of
Asopus; for when Zeus had secretly carried her off, Sisyphus is said to have betrayed the
secret to Asopus, who was looking for her.
Deion reigned over Phocis and married Diomede,
daughter of Xuthus; and there were born to him a daughter, Asterodia, and sons, Aenetus,
Actor, Phylacus, and Cephalus, who married Procris, daughter of Erechtheus.Compare Apollod. 2.4.7, Apollod. 3.15.1. As to the love of Dawn or Day for
Cephalus, see Hes. Th. 986ff.; Paus.
1.3.1; Ant. Lib. 41; Ov. Met.
7.700-713; Hyginus, Fab. 189, 270. But afterwards Dawn fell
in love with him and carried him off.
Perieres took possession of Messene and
married Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus, by whom he had sons, to wit, Aphareus and
Leucippus,Compare Paus.
4.2.2 and Paus. 4.2.4. and Tyndareus, and also Icarius. But many say that Perieres was not the son of Aeolus but of
Cynortas, son of Amyclas;See below, Paus. 3.10.3. so we shall narrate the history of the descendants of
Perieres in dealing with the family of Atlas.
Magnes married a Naiad nymph, and sons were born to him, Polydectes and Dictys; these
colonized Seriphus.
Salmoneus at first dwelt in Thessaly, but
afterwards he came to Elis and there founded a
city.Compare Diod. 4.68.1. His city was
called Salmone. See Strab. 7.3.31-32; Stephanus
Byzantius, s.v. *salmw/nh. And being arrogant and
wishful to put himself on an equality with Zeus, he was punished for his impiety; for he
said that he was himself Zeus, and he took away the sacrifices of the god and ordered them
to be offered to himself; and by dragging dried hides, with bronze kettles, at his
chariot, he said that he thundered, and by flinging lighted torches at the sky he said
that he lightened. But Zeus struck him with a thunderbolt, and wiped out the city he had
founded with all its inhabitants.Compare Verg. A. 6.585ff. with the commentary of Servius;
Hyginus, Fab. 61; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
pp. 28, 93 (First Vatican Mythographer 82; Second Vatican Mythographer 56). In
the traditions concerning Salmoneus we may perhaps trace the reminiscence of a line of
kings who personated the Skygod Zeus and attempted to make rain, thunder and lightning
by means of imitative magic. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of
Kings, i.310, ii.177, 180ff. Sophocles composed a Satyric play on the
subject （The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson,
vol. ii. pp. 177ff. ）.
Now Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus and Alcidice, was brought up by Cretheus, brother of
Salmoneus, and conceived a passion for the river Enipeus, and often would she hie to its
running waters and utter her plaint to them. But Poseidon in the likeness of
Enipeus lay with her,As to the passion of Tyro for the
river Enipeus, see Hom. Od. 11.235ff.; Lucian,
Dial. Marin. 13; Diod. 4.68.3; Eustathius on Hom. Od.
xi.234, p. 1681. Sophocles wrote two plays, both called Tyro, on
the romantic love and sorrows of this heroine. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
272ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
ii. pp. 270ff. and she secretly gave birth to twin sons, whom she
exposed. As the babes lay forlorn, a mare, belonging to some passing horsekeepers, kicked
with its hoof one of the two infants and left a livid mark on its face. The horsekeeper
took up both the children and reared them; and the one with the livid （pelion） mark he called Pelias, and the other Neleus.As to the exposure and discovery of the twins Pelias and
Neleus, see Menander, Epitrepontes 108-116 (Four Plays of Menander,
ed. E. Capps, pp. 60ff.); Scholiast on Hom. Il. x.334;
Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.253, p. 1681. According to Eustathius and the
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.253, Pelias was suckled by a mare and Neleus by
a bitch. Compare Ael., Var. Hist. xii.42. Aristotle says （Aristot. Poet. 1454b 25） that in
Sophocles's play Tyro the recognition of the forsaken babes was effected
by means of the ark （ska/fh） in which
they were found. Menander seems to have followed a somewhat different tradition, for he
says that the children were found by an old goatherd, and that the token by which they
were recognized was a small scrip or wallet （phri/dion）. The legend of the exposed twins, the children of a
divine father by a human mother, who were suckled by animals, reared by a peasant, and
grew up to quarrel about a kingdom, presents points of resemblance to the legend of
Romulus and Remus; and it has even been
suggested that the Greek tale, as dramatized by Sophocles, was the ultimate source of
the Roman story, having filtered to the early Roman historian Q. Fabius Pictor through
the medium of the Greek historian Diocles of Peparethus, whom Fabius Pictor appears to
have followed on this and many other points of early Roman history （Plut.
Romulus 3）. The same word ska/fh which
Sophocles seems to have applied to the ark in which Pelias and Neleus were exposed, is
applied by Plut. Romulus 3 to the ark in which Romulus and Remus were
exposed. See C. Trieber, “Die Romulussage,” Rheinisches
Museum, N.F. xliii. （1888）, pp. 569-582.
When they were grown up, they discovered their mother and killed their stepmother Sidero.
For knowing that their mother was ill-used by her, they attacked her, but before they
could catch her she had taken refuge in the precinct of Hera.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175, who seems to have
copied Apollodorus. However, Pelias cut her down on the very altars,
and ever after he continued to treat Hera with contumely. But afterwards the brothers fell out, and Neleus, being banished, came to Messene, and founded Pylus, and married Chloris,Compare Hom. Od. 11.281ff.;
Paus. 4.2.5. daughter of Amphion, by whom he had a
daughter, Pero, and sons, to wit, Taurus,
Asterius, Pylaon, Deimachus, Eurybius, Epilaus, Phrasius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Alastor,
Nestor and Periclymenus, whom Poseidon granted the power of changing his shape. And when
Hercules was ravaging Pylus, in the fight Periclymenus turned himself into a lion, a
snake, and a bee, but was slain by Hercules with the other sons of Neleus. Nestor alone
was saved, because he was brought up among the Gerenians.See below, Apollod. 2.7.3, and compare Hom. Il. 11.690-693, with the Scholia; Ov. Met. 12.549ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 10. As to
Periclymenus, see the verses of Hesiod quoted by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. i.156, according to whom Periclymenus received from Poseidon the power
of turning himself into an eagle, an ant, a bee, or a snake; but Herakles, so says the
scholiast, killed him with a blow of his club when he had assumed the form of a fly.
According to another account, it was in the form of a bee that Periclymenus was slain by
Herakles （Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.285, pp. 1685ff.;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.336）. Ov.
Met. 12.549ff. says that Herakles shot him in the shape of an eagle, and this
version is followed by Hyginus, Fab. 10. Periclymenus is also reported to
have been able to change himself into any animal or tree he pleased
（Eustathius, on Hom. Od. xi.285, pp. 1685ff.; Scholiast on
Hom. Od. xi.286）. He married Anaxibia, daughter of
Cratieus,According to Homer （Hom. Od. 3.452）, the wife of Nestor was Eurydice,
daughter of Clymenus. and begat daughters, Pisidice and Polycaste, and sons,
Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron, Pisistratus, Antilochus, and Thrasymedes.
But Pelias dwelt in Thessaly and married
Anaxibia, daughter of Bias, but according to some his wife was Phylomache, daughter of
Amphion; and he begat a son, Acastus, and daughters, Pisidice,
Pelopia, Hippothoe, and Alcestis.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175.
Cretheus founded Iolcus and married Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, by whom he
had sons, Aeson, Amythaon, and Pheres.Compare Hom. Od. 11.258ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
175. Amythaon dwelt in Pylus and married Idomene, daughter of Pheres,
and there were born to him two sons, Bias and Melampus. The latter lived in the country,
and before his house there was an oak, in which there was a lair of snakes. His servants
killed the snakes, but Melampus gathered wood and burnt the reptiles, and reared the young
ones. And when the young were full grown, they stood beside him at each of his shoulders
as he slept, and they purged his ears with their tongues. He started up in a great fright,
but understood the voices of the birds flying overhead, and from what he learned from them
he foretold to men what should come to pass.As to the mode
in which Melampus learned the language of birds, and with it the art of divination, from
serpents in return for the kindness which he had shown to their species, see
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.118; compare Eustathius on Hom.
Od. xi.292, p. 1685; Pliny, Nat. Hist. x.137. Helenus and
Cassandra are said to have acquired their prophetic power in like manner. As children
they were left overnight in a temple of Apollo, and in the morning serpents were found
licking their ears. See Scholiast on Hom. Il. vii.44; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron, Introd. vol. i. pp. 266ff., ed. C. G. Müller.
Polybius said that perhaps we and all men might have understood the language of all
animals if a serpent had washed our ears （Porphyry, De abstinentia
iii.4）. In the folk-tales of many lands, men are said to have obtained a
knowledge of the language of animals from serpents, either by eating the flesh of
serpents or in other ways. See Frazer, “The Language of
Animals,” The Archaeological Review`, i.
（1888）, pp. 166ff. He acquired besides the art of
taking the auspices, and having fallen in with Apollo at the Alpheus he was ever after an
excellent soothsayer.
Bias wooed Pero, daughter of Neleus.The following romantic tale of the wooing of
Pero is told also by the Scholiast on Hom. Od.
xi.287. It is repeated also in substantially the same form by Eustathius
on Hom. Od. 11.292, p. 1685. Compare Scholiast on Theocritus
iii.43; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.118; Prop. ii.3.51ff. A summary of the story, shorn of its miraculous elements, is
given by Homer （Hom. Od. 11.287-297, Hom. Od. 15.225-238） and Paus. 4.36.3）. See Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus,
“Melampus and the kine of Phylacus.” But as there were many
suitors for his daughter's hand, Neleus said that he would give her to him who
should bring him the kine of Phylacus. These were in Phylace, and they were guarded by a dog which neither man nor beast could
come near. Unable to steal these kine, Bias invited his brother to help him. Melampus
promised to do so, and foretold that he should be detected in the act of stealing them,
and that he should get the kine after being kept in bondage for a year. After making this
promise he repaired to Phylace and, just as
he had foretold, he was detected in the theft and kept a prisoner in a cell. When the year
was nearly up, he heard the worms in the hidden part of the roof, one of them asking how
much of the beam had been already gnawed through, and others answering that very little of
it was left. At once he bade them transfer him to another cell, and not long after that
had been done the cell fell in. Phylacus marvelled, and perceiving that he was an
excellent soothsayer, he released him and invited him to say how his son Iphiclus might
get children. Melampus promised to tell him, provided he got the kine. And having
sacrificed two bulls and cut them in pieces he summoned the birds; and when a vulture
came, he learned from it that once, when Phylacus was gelding rams, he laid down the
knife, still bloody, beside Iphiclus, and that when the child was frightened and ran away,
he stuck the knife on the sacred oak,According to the
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.287, 290 and Eustathius on Hom. Od.
xi.292, p. 1685, the tree was not an oak but a wild pear-tree
（a)/xerdos）. and the bark encompassed the knife and hid it. He said, therefore, that if the knife
were found, and he scraped off the rust, and gave it to Iphiclus to drink for ten days, he
would beget a son. Having learned these things from the vulture, Melampus found the knife,
scraped the rust, and gave it to Iphiclus for ten days to drink, and a son Podarces was
born to him.Compare Apollod.
E.3.20, with the note. But he drove the kine to Pylus, and having
received the daughter of Neleus he gave her to his brother. For a time he continued to
dwell in Messene, but when Dionysus drove the
women of Argos mad, he healed them on condition
of receiving part of the kingdom, and settled down there with Bias.See below, Apollod. 2.2.2; Diod.
2.68.4; Paus. 2.18.4.
Bias and Pero had a son Talaus, who married
Lysimache, daughter of Abas, son of Melampus, and had by her Adrastus, Parthenopaeus,
Pronax, Mecisteus, Aristomachus, and Eriphyle, whom Amphiaraus married. Parthenopaeus had
a son Promachus, who marched with the Epigoni against Thebes;Compare below, Apollod. 3.7.2. and Mecisteus had a son Euryalus, who
went to Troy.See
Hom. Il. 2.565ff. Pronax had a son Lycurgus;
and Adrastus had by Amphithea, daughter of Pronax, three daughters, Argia, Deipyle, and
Aegialia, and two sons, Aegialeus and Cyanippus.
Pheres, son of Cretheus, founded Pherae in Thessaly and begat Admetus and Lycurgus. Lycurgus took up his abode at
Nemea, and having married Eurydice, or, as
some say, Amphithea, he begat Opheltes, afterwards called Archemorus.See below, Apollod. 3.6.4.
When Admetus reigned over Pherae, Apollo served him as
his thrall,See below, Apollod.
3.10.4. while Admetus wooed Alcestis, daughter of Pelias. Now
Pelias had promised to give his daughter to him who should yoke a lion and a boar to a
car, and Apollo yoked and gave them to Admetus, who brought them to Pelias and so obtained
Alcestis.Compare Hyginus, Fab. 50,
51. But in offering a sacrifice at his marriage, he forgot to sacrifice to
Artemis; therefore when he opened the marriage chamber he found it full of coiled snakes.
Apollo bade him appease the goddess and obtained as a favour of the Fates that, when
Admetus should be about to die, he might be released from death if someone should choose
voluntarily to die for him. And when the day of his death came neither his father nor his
mother would die for him, but Alcestis died in his stead. But the MaidenThat is, Persephone. sent her up again, or, as some say,
Hercules fought with Hades and brought her up to him.This
pathetic story is immortalized by Euripides in his noble tragedy
Alcestis, happily still extant. Compare Zenobius, Cent.
i.18, which to a certain extent agrees verbally with this passage of Apollodorus.
The tale of Admetus and Alcestis has its parallel in history. Once when Philip II of
Spain had fallen ill and seemed like to die,
his fourth wife, Anne of Austria, “in
her distress, implored the Almighty to spare a life so important to the welfare of the
kingdom and of the church, and instead of it to accept the sacrifice of her own. Heaven,
says the chronicler, as the result showed, listened to her prayer. The king recovered;
and the queen fell ill of a disorder which in a few days terminated fatally.”
So they laid the dead queen to her last rest, with the kings of Spain, in the gloomy pile of the Escurial among the wild
and barren mountains of Castile; but there was
no Herakles to complete the parallel with the Greek legend by restoring her in the bloom
of life and beauty to the arms of her husband. See W. H. Prescott, History
of the Reign of Philip the Second, bk. vi. chap. 2, at the end.
Aeson, son of Cretheus, had a son Jason by Polymede, daughter of Autolycus. Now Jason
dwelt in Iolcus, of which Pelias was king after Cretheus.For the story of Pelias and Jason, see Pind. P.
4.73(129)ff., with the Scholia; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.5ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron i.175; Hyginus, Fab. 12, 13;
Serv. Verg. Ecl. 4.34; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. iii.516. The present passage of Apollodorus is copied almost
literally, but as usual without acknowledgment, by Zenobius, Cent. iv.92.
It was the regular custom of Aetolian warriors to go with the left foot shod and the
right foot unshod. See Macrobius, Sat. v.18- 21, quoting Euripides and
Aristotle; Scholiast on Pind. P. 4.133. So the two hundred men who broke
through the Spartan lines at the siege of Plataea were shod on the left foot only （Thuc. 3.22）. Virgil represents some of the rustic militia of
Latium marching to war with their right feet
shod and their left feet bare （Verg. A.
7.689ff.）. As to the custom, see Taboo and the Perils of
the Soul, pp. 311ff. But when Pelias consulted the oracle
concerning the kingdom, the god warned him to beware of the man with a single sandal. At
first the king understood not the oracle, but afterwards he apprehended it. For when he
was offering a sacrifice at the sea to Poseidon, he sent for Jason, among many others, to
participate in it. Now Jason loved husbandry and therefore abode in the country, but he
hastened to the sacrifice, and in crossing the river Anaurus he lost a sandal in the
stream and landed with only one. When Pelias saw him, he bethought him of the oracle, and
going up to Jason asked him what, supposing he had the power, he would do if he had
received an oracle that he should be murdered by one of the citizens. Jason answered,
whether at haphazard or instigated by the angry Hera in order that Medea should prove a
curse to Pelias, who did not honor Hera, “ I would command him,” said
he, “ to bring the Golden Fleece. ” No sooner did Pelias hear that
than he bade him go in quest of the fleece. Now it was at Colchis in a grove of Ares, hanging on an oak and guarded by a sleepless
dragon.See Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1268-1270,
iv.123ff. 163.
Sent to fetch the fleece, Jason called in the help of Argus, son of Phrixus; and Argus,
by Athena's advice, built a ship of fifty oars named
Argo after its builder; and at the prow Athena fitted in a
speaking timber from the oak of Dodona.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.524ff., iv.580ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175. The following narrative of the
voyage of the Argo is based mainly on the
Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius. As to the voyage of the Argonauts,
see further Pind. P. 4.156(276)ff.; Diod.
4.40-49; Orphica, Argonautica; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 175; Hyginus, Fab. 12, 14-23; Ov.
Met. 7.1ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. When the ship was
built, and he inquired of the oracle, the god gave him leave to assemble the nobles of
Greece and sail away. And those who assembled
were as follows:For lists of the Argonauts, see Pind. P. 4.171ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.20ff.;
Orphica, Argonautica 119ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
i.352ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 14. Tiphys, son of Hagnias, who
steered the ship; Orpheus, son of Oeagrus; Zetes and
Calais, sons of Boreas; Castor and Pollux, sons of Zeus; Telamon and Peleus,
sons of Aeacus; Hercules, son of Zeus; Theseus, son of Aegeus; Idas and Lynceus, sons of
Aphareus; Amphiaraus, son of Oicles; Caeneus, son of Coronus; Palaemon, son of Hephaestus
or of Aetolus; Cepheus, son of Aleus; Laertes
son of Arcisius; Autolycus, son of Hermes; Atalanta, daughter of Schoeneus; Menoetius, son
of Actor; Actor, son of Hippasus; Admetus, son of Pheres; Acastus, son of Pelias; Eurytus,
son of Hermes; Meleager, son of Oeneus; Ancaeus, son of Lycurgus; Euphemus, son of
Poseidon; Poeas, son of Thaumacus; Butes, son of Teleon; Phanus and Staphylus, sons of
Dionysus; Erginus, son of Poseidon; Periclymenus, son of Neleus; Augeas, son of the Sun;
Iphiclus, son of Thestius; Argus, son of Phrixus; Euryalus, son of Mecisteus; Peneleos,
son of Hippalmus; Leitus, son of Alector; Iphitus, son of Naubolus; Ascalaphus
and Ialmenus, sons of Ares; Asterius, son of Cometes; Polyphemus, son of Elatus.
These with Jason as admiral put to sea and touched at Lemnos.As to the visit of the Argonauts to
Lemnos, see Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.607ff.; Orphica, Argonautica 473ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
vii.468; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. ii.77ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
15. As to the massacre of the men of Lemnos by the women, see further Hdt. 6.138;
Apostolius, Cent. x.65; Zenobius, Cent. iv.91;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.609, 615. The visit of the Argonauts to
Lemnos was the theme of plays by Aeschylus
and Sophocles. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 79, 215ff.; The
Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.51ff. The Lemnian
traditions have been interpreted as evidence of a former custom of gynocracy, or the
rule of men by women, in the island. See J. J. Bachofen, Das Mutterrecht
（Stuttgart, 1861）, pp. 84ff. Every year the island of
Lemnos was purified from the guilt of the
massacre and sacrifices were offered to the dead. The ceremonies lasted nine days,
during which all fires were extinguished in the island, and a new fire was brought by
ship from Delos. If the vessel arrived before
the sacrifices to the dead had been offered, it might not put in to shore or anchor, but
had to cruise in the offing till they were completed. See Philostratus, Her.
xx.24. At that time it chanced that Lemnos was bereft of men and ruled over by a queen, Hypsipyle, daughter of
Thoas, the reason of which was as follows. The Lemnian women did not honor Aphrodite, and
she visited them with a noisome smell; therefore their spouses took captive women from the
neighboring country of Thrace and bedded with
them. Thus dishonored, the Lemnian women murdered their fathers and husbands, but
Hypsipyle alone saved her father Thoas by hiding him. So having put in to Lemnos, at that time ruled by women, the Argonauts had
intercourse with the women, and Hypsipyle bedded with Jason and bore sons, Euneus and
Nebrophonus.
And after Lemnos they landed among the Doliones,
of whom Cyzicus was king.As to the visit of the Argonauts to the Doliones and the death of King
Cyzicus, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.935-1077; Orphica, Argonautica
486ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. ii.634ff., iii.1ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 16. He received them kindly. But having put to sea
from there by night and met with contrary winds, they lost their bearings and landed again
among the Doliones. However, the Doliones, taking them for a Pelasgian army
（ for they were constantly harassed by the Pelasgians）, joined battle
with them by night in mutual ignorance of each other. The Argonauts slew many and among
the rest Cyzicus; but by day, when they knew what they had done, they mourned and cut off
their hair and gave Cyzicus a costly burial;They lamented
for three days and tore out their hair; they raised a mound over the grave, marched
round it thrice in armour, performed funeral rites, and celebrated games in honour of
the dead man. The mound was to be seen down to later days, and the people of Cyzicus
continued to pour libations at it every year. See Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.1057-1077. Compare Orphica, Argonautica 571ff.; Valerius
Flaccus, Argon. iii.332ff. and after the burial they sailed away and
touched at Mysia.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1172ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
iii.481ff.
There they left Hercules and Polyphemus. For Hylas, son of Thiodamas, a minion of
Hercules, had been sent to draw water and was ravished away by nymphs on account of his
beauty.As to Hylas and Herakles, compare Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. i.1207ff.; Theocritus xiii.; Ant. Lib. 26;
Orphica, Argonautica 646ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
iii.521ff.; Prop. i.20.17ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
14; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 18, 140 (First
Vatican Mythographer 49; Second Vatican Mythographer 199). It is said that down
to comparatively late times the natives continued to sacrifice to Hylas at the spring
where he had disappeared, that the priest used to call on him thrice by name, and that
the echo answered thrice (Ant. Lib. 26). But Polyphemus heard him
cry out, and drawing his sword gave chase in the belief that he was being carried off by
robbers. Falling in with Hercules, he told him; and while the two were seeking for Hylas,
the ship put to sea. So Polyphemus founded a city Cius in Mysia and reigned as king;Compare Ap.
Rhod., Argon. i.1321ff., 1345ff. but Hercules returned to Argos. However Herodorus says that Hercules did not sail
at all at that time, but served as a slave at the court of Omphale. But Pherecydes says
that he was left behind at Aphetae in
Thessaly, the
Argo having declared with human voice that she could not bear his
weight. Nevertheless Demaratus has recorded that Hercules sailed to Colchis; for Dionysius even affirms that he was the leader
of the Argonauts.The opinions of the ancients were much
divided as to the share Herakles took in the voyage of the
Argo. See Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1290. In saying
that Herakles was left behind in Mysia and
returned to Argos, our author follows, as
usual, the version of Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1273ff. According to another
version, after Herakles was left behind by the
Argo in Mysia, he made his way on
foot to Colchis （Theocritus
xiii.73ff.）. Herodotus says （Hdt.
1.193） that at Aphetae in
Thessaly the hero landed from the
Argo to fetch water and was left behind by Jason and his
fellows. From the present passage of Apollodorus it would seem that in this account
Herodotus was following Pherecydes. Compare Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)afetai/.
From Mysia they departed to the land of the
Bebryces, which was ruled by King Amycus, son of Poseidon and a Bithynian nymph.As to the visit of the Argonauts to the Bebryces, and the
boxing match of Pollux with Amycus, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1ff.;
Theocritus xxii.27ff.; Orphica, Argonautica 661ff.;
Valerius Flaccus, Argon. iv.99ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 17;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.353; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 31, 123 (First Vatican Mythographer 93; Second
Vatican Mythographer 140). The name of the Bithynian nymph, mother of Amycus,
was Melie （Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.4; Hyginus, Fab. 17;
Serv. Verg. A. 5.373）. Being a doughty
man he compelled the strangers that landed to box and in that way made an end of them. So
going to the Argo as usual, he challenged the
best man of the crew to a boxing match. Pollux undertook to box against him and killed him
with a blow on the elbow. When the Bebryces made a rush at him, the chiefs snatched up
their arms and put them to flight with great slaughter.
Thence they put to sea and came to land at Salmydessus in Thrace, where dwelt Phineus, a seer who had lost the sight of both
eyes.As to Phineus and the Harpies, see Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. ii.176ff., with the Scholiast on 177, 178, 181; Scholiast on Hom.
Od. xii.69; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. iv.422ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. 19; Serv. Verg. A. 3.209; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 9ff., 124 (First Vatican Mythographer 27;
Second Vatican Mythographer 142). Aeschylus and Sophocles composed tragedies on
the subject of Phineus. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 83, 284ff.;
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp.
311ff. The classical description of the Harpies is that of Verg. A. 3.225ff.）. Compare Hes. Th. 265-269ff. In his account of the visit of the Argonauts to Phineus,
the rationalistic Diod. 4.43ff. omits all mention of the Harpies.
Some say he was a son of Agenor,So Ap.
Rhod., Argon. ii.237, 240 and Hyginus, Fab. 19. but others
that he was a son of Poseidon, and he is variously alleged to have been blinded by the
gods for foretelling men the future; or by Boreas and the Argonauts because he blinded his
own sons at the instigation of their stepmother;See below,
Apollod. 3.15.3 with note. or by Poseidon,
because he revealed to the children of Phrixus how they could sail from Colchis to Greece. The gods also sent the Harpies to him. These were winged female
creatures, and when a table was laid for Phineus, they flew down from the sky and snatched
up most of the victuals, and what little they left stank so that nobody could touch it.
When the Argonauts would have consulted him about the voyage, he said that he would advise
them about it if they would rid him of the Harpies. So the Argonauts laid a table of
viands beside him, and the Harpies with a shriek suddenly pounced down and snatched away
the food. When Zetes and Calais, the sons of
Boreas, saw that, they drew their swords and, being winged, pursued them through the air.
Now it was fated that the Harpies should perish by the sons of Boreas, and that the sons
of Boreas should die when they could not catch up a fugitive. So the Harpies were pursued
and one of them fell into the river Tigres in Peloponnese, the river that is now called Harpys after her; some call her
Nicothoe, but others Aellopus. But the other, named Ocypete or, according to others,
Ocythoe （ but Hesiod calls her Ocypode）Hes. Th. 267 calls her Ocypete. fled by the
Propontis till she came to the Echinadian Islands, which are now called Strophades after
her; for when she came to them she turned （estraphe） and being at the shore fell for very weariness with her pursuer.
But Apollonius in the Argonautica says that the Harpies were pursued
to the Strophades Islands and suffered no harm, having sworn an oath that they would wrong
Phineus no more.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon.
ii.284-298, who says that previously the islands were called the Floating Isles
（Plotai）.
Being rid of the Harpies, Phineus revealed to the Argonauts the course of their voyage,
and advised them about the Clashing RocksThe Clashing Rocks
are the islands which the Greeks called Symplegades. Another name for them was the
Wandering Rocks （Planctae） or the Blue Rocks
（Cyaneae）. See Hdt. 4.85; Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. ii.317ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. iv.561ff.; Pliny,
Nat. Hist. vi.32; Merry on Hom. Od. xii.61; Frazer's Appendix to
Apollodorus, “The clashing Rocks.” As to the passage of the Argo
between them, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.317ff., 549-610; Orphica,
Argonautica 683-714; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. iv.561-702;
Hyginus, Fab. 19. According to the author of the Orphica, the bird which
the Argonauts, or rather Athena, let fly between the Clashing Rocks was not a dove but a
heron （e)rwdio/s. ）The heron was
specially associated with Athena. See D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary
of Greek Birds, p. 58. in the sea. These were huge cliffs,
which, dashed together by the force of the winds, closed the sea passage. Thick was the
mist that swept over them, and loud the crash, and it was impossible for even the birds to
pass between them. So he told them to let fly a dove between the rocks, and, if they saw
it pass safe through, to thread the narrows with an easy mind, but if they saw it perish,
then not to force a passage. When they heard that, they put to sea, and on nearing the
rocks let fly a dove from the prow, and as she flew the clash of the rocks nipped off the
tip of her tail. So, waiting till the rocks had recoiled, with hard rowing and the help of
Hera, they passed through, the extremity of the ship's ornamented poop being
shorn away right round. Henceforth the Clashing Rocks stood still; for it was fated that,
so soon as a ship had made the passage, they should come to rest completely.
The Argonauts now arrived among the Mariandynians, and there King Lycus received them
kindly.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.720ff.;
Orphica, Argonautica 715ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
iv.733ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 18. There died Idmon the seer of a
wound inflicted by a boar;Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon.
ii.815ff.; Orphica, Argonautica 725ff.; Valerius Flaccus,
Argon. v.1ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 14, 18. According to Apollonius, the
barrow of Idmon was surmounted by a wild olive tree, which the Nisaeans were commanded
by Apollo to worship as the guardian of the city. and there too died Tiphys, and
Ancaeus undertook to steer the ship.Compare Ap.
Rhod., Argon. ii.851-898; Orphica, Argonautica 729ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 890; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
v.13ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 14, 18.
And having sailed past the Thermodon and the Caucasus they came to the river Phasis, which is in the Colchian land.As to
Jason in Colchis, and his winning of the Golden
Fleece, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1260ff., iii.1ff., iv.1-240; Diod.
4.48.1-5; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. v.177-viii.139; Ov. Met. 7.1-158. The adventures of Jason in Colchis were the subject of a play by Sophocles called
The Colchian Women. See The Fragments of
Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 15ff.; TGF (Nauck 2nd
ed.), pp. 204ff. When the ship was brought into port, Jason repaired to
Aeetes, and setting forth the charge laid on him by Pelias invited him to give him the
fleece. The other promised to give it if single-handed he would yoke the brazen-footed
bulls. These were two wild bulls that he had, of enormous size, a gift of Hephaestus; they
had brazen feet and puffed fire from their mouths. These creatures Aeetes ordered him to
yoke and to sow dragon's teeth; for he had got from Athena half of the dragon's teeth
which Cadmus sowed in Thebes.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.401ff.,
1176ff. While Jason puzzled how he could yoke the bulls, Medea
conceived a passion for him; now she was a witch, daughter of Aeetes and Idyia, daughter
of Ocean. And fearing lest he might be destroyed by the bulls, she, keeping the thing from
her father, promised to help him to yoke the bulls and to deliver to him the fleece, if he
would swear to have her to wife and would take her with him on the voyage to Greece. When Jason swore to do so, she gave him a drug
with which she bade him anoint his shield, spear, and body when he was about to yoke the
bulls; for she said that, anointed with it, he could for a single day be harmed neither by
fire nor by iron. And she signified to him that, when the teeth were sown, armed men would
spring up from the ground against him; and when he saw a knot of them he was to throw
stones into their midst from a distance, and when they fought each other about that, he
was taken to kill them.As to the yoking of the
brazen-footed bulls, compare Pind. P. 4.224ff.;
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.1026ff. As to the drug with which Jason was to
anoint himself, see further Pind. P. 4.221ff.; Ap.
Rhod., Argon. iii.844ff. It was extracted from a plant with a saffron-coloured
flower, which was said to grow on the Caucasus
from the blood of Prometheus. Compare Valerius Flaccus, Argon. vii.355ff.;
Pseudo-Plutarch, De Fluviis v.4. On hearing that, Jason anointed
himself with the drug,
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.1246ff.
and being come to the grove of the temple he sought the bulls, and though they
charged him with a flame of fire, he yoked them.
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii. 1278ff.
And when he had sowed the teeth, there rose armed men from the ground; and where
he saw several together, he pelted them unseen with stones, and when they fought each
other he drew near and slew them.Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iii. 1320-1398. But though the bulls were yoked, Aeetes did
not give the fleece; for he wished to burn down the
Argo and kill the crew. But before he could do so, Medea brought Jason by
night to the fleece, and having lulled to sleep by her drugs the dragon that guarded it,
she possessed herself of the fleece and in Jason's company came to the
Argo.Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. iv.123-182. She was attended, too, by her brother Apsyrtus.Here Apollodorus departs from the version of Apollonius
Rhodius, according to whom Apsyrtus, left behind by Jason and Medea, pursued them with a
band of Colchians, and, overtaking them, was treacherously slain by Jason, with the
connivance of Medea, in an island of the Danube. See Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.224ff., 30（
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.223, 228）. The version of
Apollonius is followed by Hyginus, Fab. 23 and the Orphic poet
（Ap. Rhod., Argon., 1027ff.）. According to Sophocles,
in his play The Colchian Women, Apsyrtus was murdered in the palace of
Aeetes （Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.228）; and this
account seems to have been accepted by Eur. Med. 1334.
Apollodorus's version of the murder of Apsyrtus is repeated verbally by Zenobius,
Cent. iv.92, but as usual without acknowledgment. And with them the
Argonauts put to sea by night.
When Aeetes discovered the daring deeds done by Medea, he started off in pursuit of the
ship; but when she saw him near, Medea murdered her brother and cutting him limb from limb
threw the pieces into the deep. Gathering the child's limbs, Aeetes fell behind in the
pursuit; wherefore he turned back, and, having buried the rescued limbs of his child, he
called the place Tomi. But he sent out many of
the Colchians to search for the Argo, threatening
that, if they did not bring Medea to him, they should suffer the punishment due to her; so
they separated and pursued the search in divers places.
When the Argonauts were already sailing past the Eridanus river, Zeus sent a furious
storm upon them, and drove them out of their course, because he was angry at
the murder of Apsyrtus. And as they were sailing past the Apsyrtides Islands, the ship
spoke, saying that the wrath of Zeus would not cease unless they journeyed to Ausonia and
were purified by Circe for the murder of Apsyrtus.Compare
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.576-591; Orphica, Argonautica
1160ff. So when they had sailed past the Ligurian and Celtic nations and had
voyaged through the Sardinian Sea, they skirted Tyrrhenia and came to Aeaea, where they
supplicated Circe and were purified.Compare Ap.
Rhod., Argon. iv.659-717 who describes the purificatory rites. A sucking pig
was waved over the homicides; then its throat was cut, and their hands were sprinkled
with its blood. Similar rites of purification for homicide are represented on Greek
vases. See Frazer on Paus. 2.31.8 （vol. iii. p. 277）.
And as they sailed past the Sirens,About the Argonauts and
the Sirens, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.891-921; Orphica, Argonautica
1270- 1297; Hyginus, Fab. 14. Orpheus restrained the
Argonauts by chanting a counter-melody. Butes alone swam off to the Sirens, but Aphrodite
carried him away and settled him in Lilybaeum.
After the Sirens, the ship encountered Charybdis and Scylla and the Wandering Rocks,Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.922ff. These
Wandering Rocks are supposed to be the Lipari
islands, two of which are still active volcanoes. above which a great flame and
smoke were seen rising. But Thetis with the Nereids steered the ship through them at the
summons of Hera.
Having passed by the Island of Thrinacia, where are the kine of the Sun,Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.964-979, according to
whom the kine of the Sun were milk-white, with golden horns. they came to
Corcyra, the island of the Phaeacians, of which
Alcinous was king.About the Argonauts among the Phaeacians,
see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.982ff.; Orphica, Argonautica
1298-1354; Hyginus, Fab. 23. But when the Colchians could not
find the ship, some of them settled at the Ceraunian mountains, and some
journeyed to Illyria and colonized the Apsyrtides
Islands. But some came to the Phaeacians, and finding the
Argo there, they demanded of Alcinous that he should give up Medea. He
answered, that if she already knew Jason, he would give her to him, but that if she were
still a maid he would send her away to her father.Compare
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1106ff.; Orphica, Argonautica
1327ff. However, Arete, wife of Alcinous, anticipated matters by marrying
Medea to Jason;Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iv.1111-1169; Orphica, Argonautica 1342ff. hence the
Colchians settled down among the PhaeaciansCompare
Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1206ff. and the Argonauts put to sea with
Medea.
Sailing by night they encountered a violent storm, and Apollo, taking his stand on the
Melantian ridges, flashed lightning down, shooting a shaft into the sea. Then they
perceived an island close at hand, and anchoring there they named it Anaphe, because it
had loomed up （anaphanenai） unexpectedly. So they
founded an altar of Radiant Apollo, and having offered sacrifice they betook them to
feasting; and twelve handmaids, whom Arete had given to Medea, jested merrily with the
chiefs; whence it is still customary for the women to jest at the sacrificeCompare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1701-1730;
Orphica, Argonautica 1361-1367. From the description of Apollonius we
gather that the raillery between men and women at these sacrifices was of a ribald
character (ai)sxroi=s e)/pessin.) Here Apollodorus again
departs from Apollonius, who places the intervention of Apollo and the appearance of the
island of Anaphe after the approach of the Argonauts to Crete, and their repulse by Talos. Moreover, Apollonius tells how, after
leaving Phaeacia, the Argonauts were driven by a storm to Libya and the Syrtes, where they suffered much hardship
（Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1228-1628）. This Libyan episode
in the voyage of the Argo is noticed by
Diod. 4.56.6, but entirely omitted by Apollodorus..
Putting to sea from there, they were hindered from touching at Crete by Talos.As to Talos,
see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1639- 1693; Orphica, Argonautica
1358-1360; Agatharchides, in Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 443b, lines 22-25,
ed. Bekker; Lucian, De saltatione 49; Zenobius, Cent.
v.85; Suidas, s.v. *sarda/nios
ge/lws; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xx.302, p. 1893;
Scholiast on Plat. Rep. i, 337a. Talos would seem to have been a bronze
image of the sun represented as a man with a bull's head. See The Dying
God, pp. 74ff.; A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.718ff.
In his account of the death of Talos our author again differs from Apollonius Rhodius,
according to whom Talos perished through grazing his ankle against a jagged rock, so
that all the ichor in his body gushed out. This incident seems to have been narrated by
Sophocles in one of his plays （Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iv.1638; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson,
i.110ff.）. The account, mentioned by Apollodorus, which referred the
death of Talos to the spells of Medea, is illustrated by a magnificent vase-painting, in
the finest style, which represents Talos swooning to death in presence of the Argonauts,
while the enchantress Medea stands by, gazing grimly at her victim and holding in one
hand a basket from which she seems to be drawing with the other the fatal herbs. See
A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.721, with plate XL1. Some say
that he was a man of the Brazen Race, others that he was given to Minos by Hephaestus; he
was a brazen man, but some say that he was a bull. He had a single vein extending from his
neck to his ankles, and a bronze nail was rammed home at the end of the vein. This Talos
kept guard, running round the island thrice every day; wherefore, when he saw the
Argo standing inshore, he pelted it as usual
with stones. His death was brought about by the wiles of Medea, whether, as some say, she
drove him mad by drugs, or, as others say, she promised to make him immortal and then drew
out the nail, so that all the ichor gushed out and he died. But some say that Poeas shot
him dead in the ankle.
After tarrying a single night there they put in to Aegina to draw water, and a contest arose among them concerning the drawing
of the water.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iv.1765-1772, from whose account we gather that this story was told to explain
the origin of a footrace in Aegina, in which
young men ran with jars full of water on their shoulders. Thence they sailed
betwixt Euboea and Locris and came to Iolcus, having completed the whole voyage
in four months.
Now Pelias, despairing of the return of the Argonauts, would have killed Aeson; but he
requested to be allowed to take his own life, and in offering a sacrifice drank freely of
the bull's blood and died.Compare Diod.
4.50.1; Valerius Flaccus, Argon. i.777ff. The ancients believed that
bull's blood was poisonous. Similarly Themistocles was popularly supposed to have killed
himself by drinking bull's blood （Plut. Them.
31）. And Jason's mother cursed Pelias and hanged herself,Her name was Perimede, according to Apollod. 1.9.16. Diodorus Siculus calls her Amphinome, and says that she
stabbed herself after cursing Pelias （Diod.
4.50.1）. leaving behind an infant son Promachus; but Pelias slew
even the son whom she had left behind.Compare Diod.
4.50.1. On his return Jason surrendered the fleece, but though he longed
to avenge his wrongs he bided his time. At that time he sailed with the chiefs to the
Isthmus and dedicated the ship to Poseidon, but afterwards he exhorted Medea to devise how
he could punish Pelias. So she repaired to the palace of Pelias and persuaded his
daughters to make mince meat of their father and boil him, promising to make him young
again by her drugs; and to win their confidence she cut up a ram and made it into a lamb
by boiling it. So they believed her, made mince meat of their father and boiled him.With this account of the death of Pelias compare Diod.
4.51ff.; Paus. 8.11.2ff.; Zenobius, Cent.
iv.92; Plaut. Ps. 868ff.; Cicero, De
senectute xxiii.83; Ov. Met. 7.297-349;
Hyginus, Fab. 24. The story of the fraud practised by Medea on Pelias is
illustrated by Greek vase-paintings. For example, on a black-figured vase the ram is
seen issuing from the boiling cauldron, while Medea and the two daughters of Pelias
stand by watching it with gestures of glad surprise, and the aged white-haired king
himself sits looking on expectant. See Miss J. E. Harrison, Greek Vase
Paintings （London, 1894）, plate ii;
Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums,
ii.1201ff. with fig. 1394. According to the author of the epic Returns
（Nostoi）, Medea in like manner restored to youth Jason's old
father, Aeson; according to Pherecydes and Simonides, she applied the magical
restorative with success to her husband, Jason. Again, Aeschylus wrote a play called
The Nurses of Dionysus, in which he related how Medea similarly
renovated not only the nurses but their husbands by the simple process of decoction. See
the Greek Argument to the Medea of Euripides, and the Scholiast on Aristophanes,
Knights, 1321. （According to Ov. Met.
7.251-294, Medea restored Aeson to youth, not by boiling him, but by draining
his body of his effete old blood and replacing it by a magic brew.） Again, when
Pelops had been killed and served up at a banquet of the gods by his cruel father
Tantalus, the deities in pity restored him to life by boiling him in a cauldron from
which he emerged well and whole except for the loss of his shoulder, of which Demeter
had inadvertently partaken. See Pind. O. 1.26(40)ff with
the Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 152-153. For similar stories of the
magical restoration of youth and life, see Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus,
“The Renewal of Youth.” But Acastus buried his father with
the help of the inhabitants of Iolcus, and he expelled Jason and Medea from
Iolcus.
They went to Corinth, and lived there
happily for ten years, till Creon, king of Corinth, betrothed his daughter Glauce to Jason, who married her and divorced
Medea. But she invoked the gods by whom Jason had sworn, and after often upbraiding him
with his ingratitude she sent the bride a robe steeped in poison, which when Glauce had
put on, she was consumed with fierce fire along with her father, who went to her
rescue.See Eur. Med.
1136ff. It is said that in her agony Glauce threw herself into a fountain, which
was thenceforth named after her （Paus.
2.2.6）. The fountain has been discovered and excavated in recent years.
See G. W. Elderkin, “The Fountain of Glauce at Corinth,”
American Journal of Archaeology, xiv. （1910）, pp.
19-50. But Mermerus and Pheres, the children whom Medea had by Jason,
she killed, and having got from the Sun a car drawn by winged dragons she fled on it to
Athens.In
this account of the tragic end of Medea's stay at Corinth our author has followed the Medea of Euripides.
Compare Diod. 4.54; Ov. Met. 7.391ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 25. According to Apuleius, Meta. i.10, Medea
contrived to burn the king's palace and the king himself in it, as well as his
daughter. Another tradition is that on her flight she left behind her children, who
were still infants, setting them as suppliants on the altar of Hera of the
Height; but the Corinthians removed them and wounded them to death.Compare Paus. 2.3.6; Ael., Var. Hist.
v.21; Scholiast on Eur. Med. 9, 264. Down to a comparatively late
date the Corinthians used to offer annual sacrifices and perform other rites for the
sake of expiating the murder of the children. Seven boys and seven girls, clad in black
and with their hair shorn, had to spend a year in the sanctuary of Hera of the Height,
where the murder had been perpetrated. These customs fell into desuetude after
Corinth was captured by the Romans. See
Paus. 2.3.7; Scholiast on Eur.
Med. 264; compare Philostratus, Her. xx.24.
Medea came to Athens, and being there married
to Aegeus bore him a son Medus. Afterwards, however, plotting against Theseus, she was
driven a fugitive from Athens with her
son.According to one account, Medea attempted to poison
Theseus, but his father dashed the poison cup from his lips. See below, Apollod. E.1.5ff.; Plut. Thes.
12; Diod. 4.55.4-6; Paus. 2.3.8;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.741; Eustathius, Comment. on Dionysius
Perieg. 1017; Ov. Met. 7.406-424. According to
Ovid, the poison which Medea made use of to take off Thesus was aconite. But he
conquered many barbarians and called the whole country under him Media,For the etymology, compare Diod. 4.55.5, 7,
Diod. 4.56.1; Strab. 11.13.10; Paus. 2.3.8; Eustathius, Comment. on Dionysius Perieg.
1017; Hyginus, Fab. 27. and marching against the Indians he
met his death. And Medea came unknown to Colchis,
and finding that Aeetes had been deposed by his brother Perses, she killed Perses and
restored the kingdom to her father.According to others, it
was not Medea but her son Medus who killed Perses. See Diod. 4.56.1;
Hyginus, Fab. 27. Cicero quotes from an otherwise unknown Latin tragedy
some lines in which the deposed Aeetes is represented mourning his forlorn state in an
unkingly and unmanly strain （Tusculan. Disput. iii.12.26）. The
narrative of Hyginus has all the appearance of being derived from a tragedy, perhaps the
same tragedy from which Cicero quotes. But that tragedy itself was probably based on a
Greek original; for Diodorus Siculus introduces his similar account of the assassination
of the usurper with the remark that the history of Medea had been embellished and
distorted by the extravagant fancies of the tragedians.
Having now gone through the family of Deucalion, we have next to speak of that of
Inachus.
Ocean and Tethys had a son Inachus, after whom a river in Argos is called Inachus.As to Inachus and
his descendants, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 177 （who
follows Apollodorus）; Paus. 2.15.5;
Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.22.
According to Apion, the flight of the Israelites from Egypt took place during the reign of Inachus at Argos. See Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii,
x.10.10ff. On the subject of Phoroneus there was an ancient epic Phoronis, of
which a few verses have survived. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel,
pp. 209ff. He and Melia, daughter of Ocean, had sons, Phoroneus, and
Aegialeus. Aegialeus having died childless, the whole country was called Aegialia; and
Phoroneus, reigning over the whole land afterwards named Peloponnese, begat Apis and Niobe by a nymph Teledice. Apis converted his
power into a tyranny and named the Peloponnese
after himself Apia; but being a stern tyrant he
was conspired against and slain by Thelxion and Telchis. He left no child, and being
deemed a god was called Sarapis.Apollodorus identifies the
Argive Apis with the Egyptian bull Apis, who was in turn identified with Serapis
（Sarapis）. As to the Egyptian Apis, see Hdt.
2.153 （with Wiedemann's note）, iii.27, 28. As to
Apia as a name for Peloponnese or Argos, see Aesch. Supp. 260ff.; Paus.
2.5.7; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.22; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 177; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)api/a. But Niobe had by Zeus （ and she was the
first mortal woman with whom Zeus cohabited） a son
Argus, and also, so says Acusilaus, a son Pelasgus, after whom
the inhabitants of the Peloponnese were called
Pelasgians. However, Hesiod says that Pelasgus was a son of the soil.
About him I shall speak again.See below, Apollod. 3.8.1. But Argus received the kingdom and
called the Peloponnese after himself Argos; and having married Evadne, daughter of Strymon
and Neaera, he begat Ecbasus, Piras, Epidaurus,
and Criasus,Compare Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932; Hyginus, Fab. 145. who also succeeded to the
kingdom.
Ecbasus had a son Agenor, and Agenor had a son Argus, the one who is called the
All-seeing. He had eyes in the whole of his body,As to
Argus and his many eyes, compare Aesch. Supp. 303ff.;
Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116; Ov. Met.
1.625ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145; Serv. Verg. A.
7.790; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 5ff. (First
Vatican Mythographer 18). and being exceedingly strong he killed the
bull that ravaged Arcadia and clad himself in its
hide;Compare Dionysius, quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116, who says merely that Argus was clad in a
hide and had eyes all over his body. and when a satyr wronged the Arcadians and
robbed them of their cattle, Argus withstood and killed him. It is said, too, that
Echidna,As to the monster Echidna, half woman, half
snake, see Hes. Th. 295ff. daughter of Tartarus and
Earth, who used to carry off passers-by, was caught asleep and slain by Argus. He also
avenged the murder of Apis by putting the guilty to death.
Argus and Ismene, daughter of Asopus, had a son Iasus, who is said to have been the
father of Io.Compare Paus.
2.16.1; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932. But
the annalist Castor and many of the tragedians allege that Io was a daughter of
Inachus;Compare Aesch. PB
589ff.; Hdt. 1.1; Plut. De Herodoti malignitate
11; Lucian, Dial. Deorum iii.; Lucian, Dial. Marin.
vii.1; Paus. 3.18.13; Ov.
Met. 1.583ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145. and Hesiod and Acusilaus say that she was a daughter of Piren. Zeus seduced her while she held the
priesthood of Hera, but being detected by Hera he by a touch turned Io into a white
cowCompare Aesch. Supp.
291ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.103 （who cites the present passage
of Apollodorus）; Ov. Met.
1.588ff. and swore that he had not known her; wherefore Hesiod remarks that
lover's oaths do not draw down the anger of the gods. But Hera requested the cow from Zeus
for herself and set Argus the All-seeing to guard it. Pherecydes says that this Argus was
a son of Arestor;The passage of Pherecydes is quoted by the
Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1116. but Asclepiades
says that he was a son of Inachus, and Cercops says that he was a son of Argus and Ismene,
daughter of Asopus; but Acusilaus says that he was earth-born.So Aesch. PB 305. He tethered her to the
olive tree which was in the grove of the Mycenaeans. But Zeus ordered Hermes to steal the
cow, and as Hermes could not do it secretly because Hierax had blabbed, he killed Argus by
the cast of a stone;Compare Scholiast on Aesch. Prom.
561; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.103. whence he was called
Argiphontes.That is, slayer of Argus. Hera next
sent a gadfly to infest the cow,For the wanderings of Io,
goaded by the gadfly, see Aesch. Supp. 540ff., Aesch. PB 786(805)ff.; Ov. Met.
1.724ff. and the animal came first to what is called after her the
Ionian gulf. Then she journeyed through Illyria
and having traversed Mount Haemus she crossed what was then called the Thracian Straits
but is now called after her the Bosphorus.Bosphoros,
”Cow's strait” or ”
Oxford.” And having gone away to Scythia and the Cimmerian land she wandered over great
tracts of land and swam wide stretches of sea both in Europe and Asia until at last she came to Egypt, where she recovered
her original form and gave birth to a son Epaphus beside the river Nile.Compare Aesch. PB 846(865)ff.; Hdt. 2.153
Hdt. 3.27; Ov. Met. 1.748ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 145. Him Hera besought the Curetes to make away
with, and make away with him they did. When Zeus learned of it, he slew the Curetes; but
Io set out in search of the child. She roamed all over Syria, because there it was revealed to her that the wife of the king of
Byblus was nursing her son;Isis, whom the ancients
sometimes identified with Io （see below）, is said to have nursed the
infant son of the king of Byblus. See Plut. Isis et Osiris 15ff. Both
stories probably reflect the search said to have been instituted by Isis for the body of
the dead Osiris. and having found Epaphus she came to Egypt and was married to Telegonus, who then reigned over
the Egyptians. And she set up an image of Demeter, whom the Egyptians called Isis,For the identification of Demeter with Isis, see Hdt. 2.59, Hdt. 2.156; Diod.
1.13.5, Diod. 1.25.1, Diod. 1.96.5. and Io
likewise they called by the name of Isis.Herodotus remarked
（Hdt. 2.41） that in art Isis was
represented like Io as a woman with cow's horns. For the identification of Io and Isis,
see Diod. 1.24.8; Lucian, Dial. Deorum iii.; Clement of
Alexandria, Strom. i.21.106, p. 382, ed. Potter; Prop.
iii.20.17ff.; Juvenal vi.526ff.; Statius, Sylv.
iii.2.101ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 145.
Reigning over the Egyptians Epaphus married Memphis, daughter of Nile, founded
and named the city of Memphis after her, and
begat a daughter Libya, after whom the region of
Libya was called.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 894.
Libya had by Poseidon twin sons, Agenor and
Belus.Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades
vii.349ff. Agenor departed to Phoenicia and reigned there, and there he became the ancestor of the great
stock; hence we shall defer our account of him.See below,
Apollod. 3.1. But Belus remained in Egypt, reigned over the country, and married Anchinoe,
daughter of Nile, by whom he had twin sons, Egyptus and Danaus,The following account of Egyptus
and Danaus, including the settlement of Danaus and his daughters at Argos, is quoted verbally, with a few omissions and
changes, by the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.42, who mentions the second book of
Apollodorus as his authority. Compare Aesch. Supp.
318ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886, and Scholiast on Eur. Or.
872; Hyginus, Fab. 168; Serv. Verg. A.
10.497. but according to Euripides, he had also Cepheus and Phineus.
Danaus was settled by Belus in Libya, and Egyptus
in Arabia; but Egyptus subjugated the country of
the Melampods and named it Egypt < after
himself>. Both had children by many wives; Egyptus had fifty sons, and Danaus fifty
daughters. As they afterwards quarrelled concerning the kingdom, Danaus feared the sons of
Egyptus, and by the advice of Athena he built a ship, being the first to do so, and having
put his daughters on board he fled. And touching at Rhodes he set up the image of Lindian Athena.Compare Hdt. 2.182; Marmor Parium 15-17, pp. 544,
546, ed. C. Müller (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. i);
Diod. 5.58.1; Strab. 14.2.11;
Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii iii.8. As to the worship of the goddess,
see Cecil Torr, <placeName key="tgn,7011266" authname="tgn,7011266">Rhodes</placeName> in Ancient
Times （Cambridge, 1885）, pp. 74ff., 94 sq. In
recent years a chronicle of the temple of Lindian Athena has been discovered in Rhodes:
it is inscribed on a marble slab. See Chr. Blinkenberg, La Chronique du
temple Lindien （Copenhagen, 1912）. Thence he
came to Argos and the reigning king Gelanor
surrendered the kingdom to him;Compare Paus. 2.16.1, Paus.
2.19.3. < and having made himself master of the country he named the
inhabitants Danai after himself>. But the country being waterless,
because Poseidon had dried up even the springs out of anger at Inachus for testifying that
the land belonged to Hera,Compare Paus. 2.15.5. Danaus sent his daughters to draw water. One of them,
Amymone, in her search for water threw a dart at a deer and hit a sleeping satyr, and he,
starting up, desired to force her; but Poseidon appearing on the scene, the satyr fled,
and Amymone lay with Poseidon, and he revealed to her the springs at Lerna.Compare Eur. Ph. 187ff.; Lucian, Dial. Marin. vi.;
Philostratus, Imagines, i.8; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Prop. iii.18.47ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 169. There was
a stream called Amymone at Lerna. See Strab. 8.6.8; Paus. 2.37.1,
Paus. 2.37.4; Hyginus, Fab. 169.
But the sons of Egyptus came to Argos, and
exhorted Danaus to lay aside his enmity, and begged to marry his daughters. Now Danaus
distrusted their professions and bore them a grudge on account of his exile; nevertheless
he consented to the marriage and allotted the damsels among them.For the marriage of the sons of Egyptus with the daughters of Danaus, and its
tragic sequel, see Zenobius, Cent. ii.6; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886
and Or. 872; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Hyginus, Fab.
168; Serv. Verg. A. 10.497. With the list of
names of the bridal pairs as recorded by Apollodorus, compare the list given by
Hyginus, Fab. 170. First, they picked out Hypermnestra as the
eldest to be the wife of Lynceus, and Gorgophone to be the wife of Proteus; for Lynceus
and Proteus had been borne to Egyptus by a woman of royal blood, Argyphia; but of the rest
Busiris, Enceladus, Lycus, and Daiphron obtained by lot the daughters that had been borne
to Danaus by Europe, to wit, Automate, Amymone,
Agave, and Scaea. These daughters were borne to Danaus by a queen; but Gorgophone and
Hypermnestra were borne to him by Elephantis. And
Istrus got Hippodamia; Chalcodon got Rhodia; Agenor got Cleopatra; Chaetus
got Asteria; Diocorystes got Hippodamia; Alces got Glauce; Alcmenor got Hippomedusa;
Hippothous got Gorge; Euchenor got Iphimedusa; Hippolytus got Rhode. These ten sons were
begotten on an Arabian woman; but the maidens were begotten on Hamadryad nymphs, some
being daughters of Atlantia, and others of Phoebe. Agaptolemus got Pirene; Cercetes got
Dorium; Eurydamas got Phartis; Aegius got Mnestra; Argius got Evippe; Archelaus got
Anaxibia; Menemachus got Nelo. These seven sons were begotten on a Phoenician woman, and
the maidens on an Ethiopian woman. The sons of Egyptus by Tyria got as their wives,
without drawing lots, the daughters of Danaus by Memphis in virtue of the similarity of their names; thus Clitus got Clite;
Sthenelus got Sthenele; Chrysippus got Chrysippe. The twelve sons of Egyptus by the Naiad
nymph Caliadne cast lots for the daughters of Danaus by the Naiad nymph Polyxo: the sons
were Eurylochus, Phantes, Peristhenes, Hermus, Dryas, Potamon, Cisseus,
Lixus, Imbrus, Bromius, Polyctor, Chthonius; and the
damsels were Autonoe, Theano, Electra, Cleopatra, Eurydice, Glaucippe, Anthelia, Cleodore,
Evippe, Erato, Stygne, Bryce. The sons of Egyptus by Gorgo, cast lots for the daughters of
Danaus by Pieria, and Periphas got Actaea, Oeneus got Podarce, Egyptus got
Dioxippe, Menalces got Adite, Lampus got Ocypete, Idmon got Pylarge. The youngest sons of
Egyptus were these: Idas got Hippodice; Daiphron got Adiante （ the mother who
bore these damsels was Herse）; Pandion got Callidice; Arbelus got Oeme; Hyperbius
got Celaeno; Hippocorystes got Hyperippe; the mother of these men was Hephaestine, and the
mother of these damsels was Crino.
When they had got their brides by lot, Danaus made a feast and gave his daughters
daggers; and they slew their bridegrooms as they slept, all but Hypermnestra; for she
saved Lynceus because he had respected her virginity:Compare Pind. N. 7.1.6(10), with the Scholiast;
Paus. 2.19.6, Paus.
2.20.7, Paus. 2.21.1; Hor. Carm. 3.11.30ff.; Ovid, Her. xiv. wherefore Danaus
shut her up and kept her under ward. But the rest of the daugters of Danaus buried the
heads of their bridegrooms in LernaCompare Zenobius, Cent. iv.86. According to Paus. 2.24.2） the heads of the sons of Egyptus were
buried on the Larisa, the acropolis of
Argos, and the headless trunks were buried
at Lerna. and paid funeral honors to
their bodies in front of the city; and Athena and Hermes purified them at the command of
Zeus. Danaus afterwards united Hypermnestra to Lynceus; and bestowed his other daughters
on the victors in an athletic contest.Compare Pind. P. 9.112(195), with the Scholiasts; Paus. 3.12.2. The legend may reflect an old custom of racing
for a bride. See The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings,
ii.299ff. It is said that Danaus instituted games which were celebrated every
fifth （or, as we should say, every fourth） year, and at which the
prize of the victor in the footrace was a shield. See Hyginus, Fab.
170.
Amymone had a son Nauplius by Poseidon.Compare Strab. 8.6.2; Paus. 2.38.2,
Paus. 4.35.2.> This Nauplius lived to a
great age, and sailing the sea he used by beacon lights to lure to death such as he
fell in with.See below, Apollod. E. E.6.7-11. It came to pass, therefore, that
he himself died by that very death. But before his death he married a wife; according to
the tragic poets, she was Clymene, daughter of Catreus; but according to the author of The Returns,Nostoi, an
epic poem describing the return of the Homeric heroes from Troy. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp.
52ff.; D. B. Monro, in his edition of Homer, Odyssey, Bks. xiii.- xxiv. pp.
378-382. she was Philyra; and according to Cercops she was Hesione. By her he had
Palamedes, Oeax, and Nausimedon.
Lynceus reigned over Argos after Danaus and
begat a son Abas by Hypermnestra; and Abas had twin sons Acrisius and ProetusWith this and what follows compare Paus.
2.16.2, Paus. 2.25.7. by Aglaia, daughter
of Mantineus. These two quarrelled with each other while they were still in the womb, and
when they were grown up they waged war for the kingdom,So
the twins Esau and Jacob quarrelled both in the womb and in after life
（Genesis, xxv.21ff.）. Compare Rendel Harris,
Boanerges, pp. 279ff. who argues that Proetus was the elder
twin, who, as in the case of Esau and Jacob, was worsted by his younger brother.
and in the course of the war they were the first to invent shields. And Acrisius gained
the mastery and drove Proetus from Argos; and
Proetus went to Lycia to the court of Iobates or,
as some say, of Amphianax, and married his daughter, whom Homer calls Antia,Hom. Il. 6.160. but the
tragic poets call her Stheneboea.See below, Apollod. 2.3.1, Apollod.
3.9.1. Euripides called her Stheneboea （Eustathius on Hom. Il.
vi.158, p 632）. His in-law restored him to his own land with
an army of Lycians, and he occupied Tiryns, which the Cyclopes had fortified for him.Compare Bacch. 10.77ff., ed. Jebb; Paus. 2.25.8; Strab.
8.6.8. They divided the whole of the Argive territory between them and settled in it, Acrisius reigning over
Argos and Proetus over Tiryns. And Acrisius
had a daughter Danae by Eurydice, daughter of
Lacedaemon, and Proetus had daughters, Lysippe, Iphinoe, and Iphianassa, by
Stheneboea. When these damsels were grown up, they went mad,Compare Bacch. 10.40-112, ed. Jebb; Hdt. 9.34; Strab. 8.3.19;
Diod. 4.68; Paus. 2.7.8; Paus. 2.18.4; Paus. 5.5.10;
Paus. 8.18.7ff.; Scholiast on Pind. N. 9.13
(30); Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vii.4.26, p. 844, ed. Potter;
Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)azani/a;
Verg. Ecl. 6.48ff.; Ov.
Met. 15.325ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxv.47; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.48; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. iii.453; Vitruvius viii.3.21. Of these writers,
Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and, in one passage （Paus.
2.18.4）, Pausanias, speak of the madness of the Argive women in general, without mentioning the
daughters of Proetus in particular. And, according to Diodorus Siculus, with whom
Pausanias in the same passage （Paus.
2.18.4） agrees, the king of Argos at the time of the affair was not Proetus but Anaxagoras, son of
Megapenthes. As to Megapenthes, see Apollod. 2.4.4.
According to Virgil the damsels imagined that they were turned into cows; and Servius
and Lactantius Placidus inform us that this notion was infused into their minds by Hera
（Juno） to punish them for the airs of superiority which they assumed
towards her; indeed, in one place Lactantius Placidus says that the angry goddess turned
them into heifers outright. In these legends Mr. A. B. Cook sees reminiscences of
priestesses who assumed the attributes and assimilated themselves to the likeness of the
cow-goddess Hera. See his Zeus, i.451ff. But it is possible
that the tradition describes, with mythical accessories, a real form of madness by which
the Argive women, or some portion of them, were
temporarily affected. We may compare a somewhat similar form of temporary insanity to
which the women of the wild Jakun tribe in the Malay
Peninsula are said to be liable. “A curious complaint was made
to the Penghulu of Pianggu, in my presence, by a Jakun man from the Anak Endau. He
stated that all the women of his settlement were frequently seized by a kind of
madness—presumably some form of hysteria— and that they ran off
singing into the jungle, each woman by herself, and stopped there for several days and
nights, finally returning almost naked, or with their clothes all torn to shreds. He
said that the first outbreak of this kind occurred a few years ago, and that they were
still frequent, one usually taking place every two or three months. They were started by
one of the women, whereupon all the others followed suit.” See Ivor H.
N. Evans, “Further Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of Pahang,”
Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums, ix:1, January 1920, p.
27 (Calcutta, 1920). according to Hesiod, because they would not accept
the rites of Dionysus, but according to Acusilaus, because they disparaged the wooden
image of Hera. In their madness they roamed over the whole Argive land, and afterwards, passing through Arcadia and the Peloponnese, they ran through the desert in the most disorderly fashion. But Melampus, son
of Amythaon by Idomene, daughter of Abas, being a seer and the first to devise the cure by
means of drugs and purifications, promised to cure the maidens if he should receive the
third part of the sovereignty. When Proetus refused to pay so high a fee for the cure, the
maidens raved more than ever, and besides that, the other women raved with them; for they
also abandoned their houses, destroyed their own children, and flocked to the desert. Not
until the evil had reached a very high pitch did Proetus consent to pay the stipulated
fee, and Melampus promised to effect a cure whenever his brother Bias should receive just
so much land as himself. Fearing that, if the cure were delayed, yet more would be
demanded of him, Proetus agreed to let the physician proceed on these terms. So Melampus,
taking with him the most stalwart of the young men, chased the women in a bevy from the
mountains to Sicyon with shouts and a sort of
frenzied dance. In the pursuit Iphinoe, the eldest of the daughters, expired; but the
others were lucky enough to be purified and so to recover their wits.According to Bacch. 10.95ff., ed. Jebb,
the father of the damsels vowed to sacrifice twenty red oxen to the Sun, if his
daughters were healed: the vow was heard, and on the intercession of Artemis the angry
Hera consented to allow the cure. Proetus gave them in marriage to Melampus and
Bias, and afterwards begat a son, Megapenthes.
Bellerophon, son of Glaucus, son of Sisyphus, having accidentally killed his brother
Deliades or, as some say, Piren, or, as others will have it, Alcimenes, came
to Proetus and was purified.Compare Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 17; Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.810ff.;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.155. According to one account, mentioned by
these writers, Bellerophon received his name （meaning slayer of
Bellerus） because he had slain a tyrant of Corinth called Bellerus. And Stheneboea fell in love with
him,In the following story of Bellerophon, our author
follows Hom. Il. 6.155ff. （where the wife of
Proetus is called Antia instead of Stheneboea）. Compare Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 17; Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.816ff.;
Zenobius, Cent. ii.87 （who probably followed
Apollodorus）; Hyginus, Fab. 57; Hyginus, Ast. ii.18;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 24, 119 (First Vatican
Mythographer 71, 72; Second Vatican Mythographer 131). Euripides composed a
tragedy on the subject called Stheneboea. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.),
pp. 567ff. According to Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron
17）, Iobates refrained from slaying Bellerophon with his own hand in
virtue of an old custom which forbade those who had eaten together to kill each
other. and sent him proposals for a meeting; and when he rejected them, she told
Proetus that Bellerophon had sent her a vicious proposal. Proetus believed her, and gave
him a letter to take to Iobates, in which it was written that he was to kill Bellerophon.
Having read the letter, Iobates ordered him to kill the Chimera, believing that he would
be destroyed by the beast, for it was more than a match for many, let alone one; it had
the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and its third head, the middle one, was
that of a goat, through which it belched fire. And it devastated the country and harried
the cattle; for it was a single creature with the power of three beasts. It is said, too,
that this Chimera was bred by Amisodarus, as Homer also affirms,
Hom. Il. 16.328ff.
and that it was begotten by Typhon on Echidna, as Hesiod relates.
Hes. Th. 319ff.
So Bellerophon mounted his winged steed
Pegasus, offspring of Medusa and Poseidon, and soaring on high shot down the Chimera from
the height.For the combat of Bellerophon with the Chimera,
see Hom. Il. 6.179ff.; Hes. Th.
319ff.; Pind. O. 13.84(120)ff. ;
Hyginus, Fab. 57. After that contest Iobates ordered him to fight
the Solymi, and when he had finished that task also, he commanded him to combat the
Amazons. And when he had killed them also, he picked out the reputed bravest of the
Lycians and bade them lay an ambush and slay him. But when Bellerophon had killed them
also to a man, Iobates, in admiration of his prowess, showed him the letter and begged him
to stay with him; moreover he gave him his daughter Philonoe,Anticlia, according to the Scholiast on Pind. O. 9.59(82);
Cassandra, according to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.155. and dying
bequeathed to him the kingdom.
When Acrisius inquired of the oracle how he should get male children, the god said that
his daughter would give birth to a son who would kill him.The following legend of Perseus （Apollod.
2.4.1-4） seems to be based on that given by Pherecydes in his second
book, which is cited as his authority by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iv.1091, 1515, whose narrative agrees closely with that of Apollodorus. The
narrative of Apollodorus is quoted, for the most part verbally, but as usual without
acknowledgment, by Zenobius, Cent. i.41, who, however, like the
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1091, 1515, passes over in silence the
episode of Andromeda. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 838
（who may have followed Apollodorus）; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xiv.319. The story of Danae, the mother of Perseus, was the theme of plays by
Sophocles and Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 143ff., 168ff., 453ff.
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 38ff.,
115ff. Fearing that, Acrisius built a brazen chamber under
ground and there guarded Danae.Compare Soph. Ant. 944ff. Horace represents Danae as shut up in a
brazen tower （Hor. Carm.
3.16.1ff.）. However, she was seduced, as some say, by Proetus,
whence arose the quarrel between them;That is, between
Acrisius and Proetus. See above, Apollod. 2.2.1.
but some say that Zeus had intercourse with her in the shape of a stream of gold which
poured through the roof into Danae's lap. When Acrisius afterwards learned that she had
got a child Perseus, he would not believe that she had been seduced by Zeus, and putting
his daughter with the child in a chest, he cast it into the sea. The chest was washed
ashore on Seriphus, and Dictys took up the boy and reared him. Polydectes, brother of Dictys, was then king of Seriphus and fell in
love with Danae, but could not get access to her, because Perseus was grown to man's
estate. So he called together his friends, including Perseus, under the pretext of
collecting contributions towards a wedding gift for Hippodamia, daughter of Oenomaus.That is, he pretended to be a suitor for the hand of Hippodamia
and to be collecting a present for her, such as suitors were wont to offer to their
brides. As to Hippodamia and her suitors, see Apollod.
E.2.4ff. Now Perseus having declared that he would not stick even at the
Gorgon's head, Polydectes required the others to furnish horses, and not getting horses
from Perseus ordered him to bring the Gorgon's head. So under the guidance of Hermes and
Athena he made his way to the daughters of Phorcus, to wit, Enyo, Pephredo, and Dino; for
Phorcus had them by Ceto, and they were sisters of the Gorgons, and old women from their
birth.As to the Phorcides, compare Hes. Th. 270ff.; Aesch. PB 794ff.;
Eratosthenes, Cat. 22; Ov. Met. 4.774ff.;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.12. Aeschylus wrote a satyric play on the subject. See
TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 83ff. The three had but one eye and
one tooth, and these they passed to each other in turn. Perseus got
possession of the eye and the tooth, and when they asked them back, he said he would give
them up if they would show him the way to the nymphs. Now these nymphs had winged sandals
and the kibisis, which they say was a wallet. [ But Pindar
and Hesiod in The Shield say of Perseus:—
Hes. Sh. 223ff.
“ But all his back had on the head of a dread monster,
< The Gorgon,> and round him ran the kibisis.
”
Hesiod, Shield of Hercules, 223-4.
The kibisis is so called because dress and food are deposited
in it. ]The word ki/bisis is absurdly derived by the writer from kei=sqai and e)sqh/s. The gloss is probably
an interpolation. They had also the cap < of Hades>. When the
Phorcides had shown him the way, he gave them back the tooth and the eye, and coming to
the nymphs got what he wanted. So he slung the wallet （kibisis） about him, fitted the sandals to his ankles, and put the cap on
his head. Wearing it, he saw whom he pleased, but was not seen by others. And having
received also from Hermes an adamantine sickle he flew to the ocean and caught the Gorgons
asleep. They were Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. Now Medusa alone was mortal; for that
reason Perseus was sent to fetch her head. But the Gorgons had heads twined about with the
scales of dragons, and great tusks like swine's, and brazen hands, and golden wings, by
which they flew; and they turned to stone such as beheld them. So Perseus stood over them as they slept, and while Athena guided his hand and he looked with
averted gaze on a brazen shield, in which he beheld the image of the Gorgon,Compare Ov. Met.
4.782ff. he beheaded her. When her head was cut off, there sprang from the
Gorgon the winged horse Pegasus and Chrysaor, the father of Geryon; these she had by
Poseidon.Compare Hes. Th.
280ff.; Ov. Met. 4.784ff., vi.119ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 151.
So Perseus put the head of Medusa in the wallet
（kibisis） and went back again; but the Gorgons
started up from their slumber and pursued Perseus: but they could not see him on account
of the cap, for he was hidden by it.
Being come to Ethiopia, of which Cepheus was
king, he found the king's daughter Andromeda set out to be the prey of a sea monster.For the story of Andromeda, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 836; Conon 40 （who rationalizes the
story）; Eratosthenes, Cat. 16, 17, and 36; Ov. Met. 4.665ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 64;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.11; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
i. pp. 24ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 73). According to the first two of
these writers, the scene of the tale was laid at Joppa. The traces of Andromeda's fetters were still pointed out on the
rocks at Joppa in the time of Josephus
（Jos. Bell. Jud. iii.9.2）. Sophocles and Euripides
composed tragedies on the subject, of which some fragments remain. See TGF (Nauck
2nd ed.), pp. 157ff., 392ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles,
ed. A. C. Pearson, i.78ff. For Cassiepea, the wife of Cepheus, vied with
the Nereids in beauty and boasted to be better than them all; hence the Nereids were
angry, and Poseidon, sharing their wrath, sent a flood and a monster to invade the land.
But Ammon having predicted deliverance from the calamity if Cassiepea's daughter Andromeda
were exposed as a prey to the monster, Cepheus was compelled by the Ethiopians to do it,
and he bound his daughter to a rock. When Perseus beheld her, he loved her and promised
Cepheus that he would kill the monster, if he would give him the rescued
damsel to wife. These terms having been sworn to, Perseus withstood and slew the monster
and released Andromeda. However, Phineus, who was a brother of Cepheus, and to whom
Andromeda had been first betrothed, plotted against him; but Perseus discovered the plot,
and by showing the Gorgon turned him and his fellow conspirators at once into stone. And
having come to Seriphus he found that his mother and Dictys had taken refuge at the altars
on account of the violence of Polydectes; so he entered the palace, where Polydectes had
gathered his friends, and with averted face he showed the Gorgon's head; and all who
beheld it were turned to stone, each in the attitude which he happened to have struck.
Having appointed Dictys king of Seriphus, he gave back the sandals and the wallet
（kibisis） and the cap to Hermes, but the Gorgon's
head he gave to Athena. Hermes restored the aforesaid things to the nymphs and Athena
inserted the Gorgon's head in the middle of her shield. But it is alleged by some that
Medusa was beheaded for Athena's sake; and they say that the Gorgon was fain to match
herself with the goddess even in beauty.
Perseus hastened with Danae and Andromeda to Argos in order that he might behold Acrisius. But he, learning of this and
dreading the oracle,That is, the oracle which declared that
he would be killed by the son of Danae. See above, Apollod.
2.4.1. forsook Argos and departed to the Pelasgian land. Now Teutamides, king of Larissa,
was holding athletic games in honor of his dead father, and Perseus came to compete. He
engaged in the pentathlum, but in throwing the quoit he struck Acrisius on the foot and
killed him instantly.Compare Paus.
2.16.2. Perceiving that the oracle was fulfilled, he buried Acrisius
outside the city,According to another account, the grave of
Acrisius was in the temple of Athena on the acropolis of Larissa. See Clement of
Alexandria, Protrept. iii.45, p. 39, ed. Potter. and being ashamed to
return to Argos to claim the inheritance of him
who had died by his hand, he went to Megapenthes, son of Proetus, at Tiryns and effected an exchange with him, surrendering
Argos into his hands.As to this exchange of kingdoms, compare Paus.
2.16.3. So Megapenthes reigned over the Argives, and Perseus reigned over
Tiryns, after fortifying also Midea and Mycenae.As to the fortification or
foundation of Mycenae by Perseus, see Paus. 2.15.4, Paus. 2.16.3.
And he had sons by Andromeda: before he came to
Greece he had Perses, whom he left behind with
Cepheus （ and from him it is said that the kings of Persia are descended）; and in Mycenae he had Alcaeus and Sthenelus and Heleus and Mestor and
Electryon,As to the sons of Perseus and Andromeda,
compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.116; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.747. The former agrees with Apollodorus as to the five sons born to Perseus
in Mycenae, except that he calls one of
them Aelius instead of Heleus; the latter mentions only four sons, Alcaeus, Sthenelus,
Mestor, and Electryon. and a daughter Gorgophone, whom Perieres married.See below, Apollod.
3.10.3.
Alcaeus had a son Amphitryon and a daughter Anaxo by Astydamia, daughter of Pelops; but
some say he had them by Laonome, daughter of Guneus, others that he had them by Hipponome,
daughter of Menoeceus; and Mestor had Hippothoe by Lysidice, daughter of Pelops. This
Hippothoe was carried off by Poseidon, who brought her to the Echinadian Islands, and
there had intercourse with her, and begat Taphius, who colonized Taphos and called the
people Teleboans, because he had gone farThe name Teleboans
is derived by the writer from “telou ebē” (thlou= e)/bh), “he went far.” The same
false etymology is accepted by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932;. Strabo
says （Strab. 10.2.20） that the
Taphians were formerly called Teleboans. from his native land. And Taphius had a
son Pterelaus, whom Poseidon made immortal by implanting a golden hair in his head.See below, Apollod.
2.4.7. And to Pterelaus were born sons, to wit, Chromius, Tyrannus,
Antiochus, Chersidamas, Mestor, and Eueres.
Electryon married Anaxo, daughter of Alcaeus,Thus
Electryon married his niece, the daughter of his brother Alcaeus （see above,
Apollod. 2.4.5）. Similarly Butes is said to
have married the daughter of his brother Erechtheus （Apollod. 3.15.1）, and Phineus is reported to have been betrothed to
the daughter of his brother Cepheus （Apollod.
2.4.3）. Taken together, these traditions perhaps point to a custom of
marriage with a niece, the daughter of a brother. and begat a daughter
Alcmena,According to another account, the mother of
Alcmena was a daughter of Pelops （Eur. Herc.
210ff.）, her name being variously given as Lysidice
（Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.27(49);; Plut.
Thes. 6） and Eurydice （Diod.
4.9.1）. and sons, to wit, Stratobates, Gorgophonus, Phylonomus,
Celaeneus, Amphimachus, Lysinomus, Chirimachus, Anactor, and Archelaus; and after these he
had also a bastard son, Licymnius, by a Phrygian woman Midea.Compare Scholiast on Pind. O.
7.27(49).
Sthenelus had daughters, Alcyone and Medusa, by Nicippe,According to other accounts, her name was Antibia （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xix.119） or Archippe （Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172,
192）. daughter of Pelops; and he had afterwards a son Eurystheus,
who reigned also over Mycenae. For when
Hercules was about to be born, Zeus declared among the gods that the descendant of Perseus
then about to be born would reign over Mycenae, and Hera out of jealousy persuaded the Ilithyias to retard Alcmena's
delivery,Compare Hom. Il.
19.95-133, where （v. 119） the Ilithyias, the goddesses of
childbirth, are also spoken of in the plural. According to Ov.
Met. 9.292ff., the goddess of childbirth （Lucina, the Roman equivalent
of Ilithyia） delayed the birth of Herakles by sitting at the door of the room
with crossed legs and clasped hands until, deceived by a false report that Alcmena had
been delivered, she relaxed her posture and so allowed the birth to take place. Compare
Paus. 9.11.3; Ant. Lib. 29, according to
whom it was the Fates and Ilithyia who thus retarded the birth of Herakles. Among the
Efiks and Ibibios, of Southern Nigeria, “the ancient custom still obtains that
locks should be undone and knots untied in the house of a woman who is about to bear a
babe, since all such are thought, by sympathetic magic, to retard delivery. A case was
related of a jealous wife, who, on the advice of a witch doctor versed in the mysteries
of her sex, hid a selection of padlocks beneath her garments, then went and sat down
near the sick woman's door and surreptitiously turned the key in each. She had
previously stolen an old waist-cloth from her rival, which she knotted so tightly over
and over that it formed a ball, and, as an added precaution, she locked her fingers
closely together and sat with crossed legs, exactly as did Juno Lucina of old when
determined to prevent the birth of the infant Herakles” （D.
Amaury Talbot, Woman's Mysteries of a Primitive People, the Ibibios of Southern
Nigeria （London, etc. 1915）, p. 22）. See
further Taboo and the Perils of the Soul, pp. 294ff.
and contrived that Eurystheus, son of Sthenelus, should be born a seven-month child.Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.119;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.172ff., 192ff.
When Electryon reigned over Mycenae, the
sons of Pterelaus came with some Taphians and claimed the kingdom of Mestor, their
maternal grandfather,Taphius, the father of Pterelaus, was
a son of Hippothoe, who was a daughter of Mestor. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5. Thus Mestor was not the maternal grandfather, but the
great-grandfather of the sons of Pterelaus. Who the maternal grandfather of the sons of
Pterelaus was we do not know, since the name of their mother is not recorded. The words
“their maternal grandfather” are probably a gloss which has crept
into the text. See the Critical Note. Apart from the difficulty created by these words,
it is hard to suppose that Electryon was still reigning over Mycenae at the time of this expedition of the sons
of Pterelaus, since, being a son of Perseus, he was a brother of their great-grandfather
Mestor. and as Electryon paid no heed to the claim, they drove away
his kine; and when the sons of Electryon stood on their defence, they challenged and slew
each other.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.747-751, with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.747;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, whose account seems based on that of
Apollodorus. But of the sons of Electryon there survived Licymnius, who was still
young; and of the sons of Pterelaus there survived Everes, who guarded the ships. Those of
the Taphians who escaped sailed away, taking with them the cattle they had lifted, and
entrusted them to Polyxenus, king of the Eleans; but Amphitryon ransomed them from
Polyxenus and brought them to Mycenae.
Wishing to avenge his sons' death, Electryon purposed to make war on the Teleboans, but
first he committed the kingdom to Amphitryon along with his daughter Alcmena, binding him
by oath to keep her a virgin until his return.Compare Hes. Sh. 14ff., where it is said that Amphitryon might not go
in to his wife Alcmena until he had avenged the death of her brothers, the sons of
Electryon, who had been slain in the fight with the Taphians. The tradition points to a
custom which enjoined an avenger of blood to observe strict chastity until he had taken
the life of his enemy. However, as he was receiving the cows back, one of them
charged, and Amphitryon threw at her the club which he had in his hands. But the club
rebounded from the cow's horns and striking Electryon's head killed him.A similar account of the death of Electryon is given by
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932, who seems to follow Apollodorus.
According to this version of the legend, the slaying of Electryon by Amphitryon was
purely accidental. But according to Hes. Sh. 11ff.; Hes. Sh. 79ff., the two men quarrelled over the cattle, and
Amphitryon killed Electryon in hot blood. Compare the Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xiv.323. Hence Sthenelus laid hold of this pretext to banish Amphitryon
from the whole of Argos, while he
himself seized the throne of Mycenae and
Tiryns; and he entrusted Midea to Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, whom
he had sent for. 0
Amphitryon went with Alcmena and Licymnius to Thebes and was purified by CreonThat is, for
the killing of Electryon. Compare Hes. Sh. 79ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932; Eur. Herc.
16ff. and gave his sister Perimede to Licymnius. And as Alcmena said she
would marry him when he had avenged her brothers' death, Amphitryon engaged to do so, and
undertook an expedition against the Teleboans, and invited Creon to assist him. Creon said
he would join in the expedition if Amphitryon would first rid the Cadmea of the vixen; for
a brute of a vixen was ravaging the Cadmea.The animal had
its lair at Teumessus, and hence was known as the Teumessian fox. See Paus. 9.19.1; Ant. Lib. 41; Apostolius,
Cent. xvi.42; Suidas, s.v. *teumhsi/a; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.553ff. （who refers to
Apollodorus as his authority）; Ov. Met.
7.762ff. By an easy application of the rationalistic instrument, which cuts so
many mythological knots, the late Greek writer Palaephatus （De Incredib.
8） converted the ferocious animal into a gentleman （kalo\s ka)gaqo\s） named Fox, of a truculent
disposition and predatory habits, who proved a thorn in the flesh to the Thebans, until
Cephalus rid them of the nuisance by knocking him on the head. But though
Amphitryon undertook the task, it was fated that nobody should catch her. As the country suffered thereby, the Thebans every month exposed a son
of one of the citizens to the brute, which would have carried off many if that were not
done. So Amphitryon betook him to Cephalus, son of Deioneus, at Athens, and persuaded him, in return for a share of the
Teleboan spoils, to bring to the chase the dog which Procris had brought from Crete as a gift from MinosAs to Procris, see below, Apollod. 3.15.1.; for
that dog was destined to catch whatever it pursued. So then, when the vixen was chased by
the dog, Zeus turned both of them into stone. Supported by his allies, to wit, Cephalus
from Thoricus in Attica, Panopeus from Phocis, Heleus, son of Perseus, from Helos in Argolis, and Creon from Thebes,
Amphitryon ravaged the islands of the Taphians. Now, so long as Pterelaus lived, he could
not take Taphos; but when Comaetho, daughter of Pterelaus, falling in love with
Amphitryon, pulled out the golden hair from her father's head, Pterelaus died,Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 932. For
the similar story of Nisus and his daughter Megara, see below, Apollod. 3.15.8.
and Amphitryon subjugated all the islands. He slew Comaetho, and sailed with the booty to
Thebes,In the
sanctuary of Ismenian Apollo at Thebes, the
historian Herodotus saw a tripod bearing an inscription in “Cadmean
letters,” which set forth that the vessel had been dedicated by Amphitryon
from the spoils of the Teleboans. See Hdt. 5.59. Among the
booty was a famous goblet which Poseidon had given to his son Teleboes, and which
Teleboes had given to Pterelaus. See Athenaeus xi.99, p. 498 C; Plaut. Amph. 256ff. For the expedition of Amphitryon against
the Teleboans or Taphians, see also Strab. 10.2.20;
Paus. 1.37.6; Plaut. Amph.
183-256. and gave the islands to Heleus and Cephalus; and they founded
cities named after themselves and dwelt in them.
But before Amphitryon reached Thebes, Zeus
came by night and prolonging the one night threefold he assumed the likeness of Amphitryon
and bedded with AlcmenaFor the deception of
Alcmena by Zeus and the birth of Herakles and Iphicles, see Hes.
Sh. 27-56; Diod. 4.9; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323,
and Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.266; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
33; Hyginus, Fab. 29. The story was the subject of plays by
Sophocles and Euripides which have perished （TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
156, 386ff.
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C Pearson,
i.76ff.）; and it is the theme of a well-known comedy of Plautus the
Amphitryo, which is extant. In that play （Plaut. Amph. 112ff.）, Plautus mentions the lengthening
of the night in which Jupiter
（Zeus） begat Herakles. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.323
says that Zeus persuaded the Sun not to rise for three days; and the threefold night is
mentioned also by Diod. 4.9.2. The whole story was told by Pherecydes, as
we learn from the Scholiasts on Hom. Il. xiv.323; Od. xi.266; and it is
likely that Apollodorus here follows him, for he refers to Pherecydes a few lines
below. and related what had happened concerning the Teleboans. But when Amphitryon
arrived and saw that he was not welcomed by his wife, he inquired the cause; and when she
told him that he had come the night before and slept with her, he learned from Tiresias
how Zeus had enjoyed her. And Alcmena bore two sons, to wit, Hercules, whom she had by
Zeus and who was the elder by one night, and Iphicles, whom she had by Amphitryon. When
the child was eight months old, Hera desired the destruction of the babe and sent two huge
serpents to the bed. Alcmena called Amphitryon to her help, but Hercules arose and killed
the serpents by strangling them with both his hands.As to
the infant Herakles and the serpents, compare Pind. N.
1.33(50)ff.; Theocritus xxiv; Diod. 4.10.1; Paus. 1.24.2; Plaut. Amph.
1123ff.; Verg. A. 8.288ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
30. According to Theocritus xxiv.1, Herakles was ten months old
when he strangled the serpents. However, Pherecydes says that it was Amphitryon
who put the serpents in the bed, because he would know which of the two children was his,
and that when Iphicles fled, and Hercules stood his ground, he knew that Iphicles was
begotten of his body.
Hercules was taught to drive a chariot by Amphitryon, to wrestle by Autolycus, to shoot
with the bow by Eurytus, to fence by Castor, and to play the lyre by
Linus.As to the education of Herakles, see
Theocritus xxiv.104ff., according to whom Herakles learned wrestling not
from Autolycus but from Harpalycus, son of Hermes. This Linus was a brother of
Orpheus; he came to Thebes and became a
Theban, but was killed by Hercules with a blow of the lyre; for being struck by him,
Hercules flew into a rage and slew him.Compare Diod.
3.67.2; Paus. 9.29.9; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.213ff. When he was tried for murder, Hercules quoted a law of
Rhadamanthys, who laid it down that whoever defends himself against a wrongful aggressor
shall go free, and so he was acquitted. But fearing he might do the like again, Amphitryon
sent him to the cattle farm; and there he was nurtured and outdid all in stature and
strength. Even by the look of him it was plain that he was a son of Zeus; for his body
measured four cubits,Four cubits and one foot, according to
the exact measurement of the historian Herodorus. See Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.210ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 662. and he
flashed a gleam of fire from his eyes; and he did not miss, neither with the bow nor with
the javelin.
While he was with the herds and had reached his eighteenth year he slew the lion of
Cithaeron, for that animal, sallying from Cithaeron, harried the kine of Amphitryon and of
Thespius.According to another account, the lion of
Cithaeron was killed by Alcathous （Paus.
1.41.3ff.）. But Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.216ff. agrees with
Apollodorus, whose account of Herakles he seems to follow.
Now this Thespius was king of Thespiae, and Hercules went to him when he wished to catch
the lion. The king entertained him for fifty days, and each night, as Hercules went forth
to the hunt, Thespius bedded one of his daughters with him（ fifty daughters
having been borne to him by Megamede, daughter of Arneus）; for he was anxious
that all of them should have children by Hercules. Thus Hercules, though he thought that
his bed-fellow was always the same, had intercourse with them all.As to Herakles and the daughters of Thespius, compare Diod.
4.29.2ff.; Paus. 9.27.6ff.; Athenaeus xiii.4,
p. 556 F; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.221ff. The father of the damsels
is called Thestius by Pausanias and Athenaeus, who refers to Herodorus as his authority.
See the Critical Note. And having vanquished the lion, he dressed himself in the
skin and wore the scalpMore exactly, “the gaping
mouth.” In Greek art Herakles is commonly represented wearing the lion's skin,
often with the lion's scalp as a hood on his head. See, for example, Baumeister,
Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, i. figs. 724, 726, 729,
730. as a helmet.
As he was returning from the hunt, there met him heralds sent by Erginus to receive the
tribute from the Thebans.As to Herakles and Erginus,
compare Diod. 4.10.3-5; Paus. 9.37.2ff.;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.226ff. Now the Thebans paid tribute to
Erginus for the following reason. Clymenus, king of the Minyans, was wounded with a cast
of a stone by a charioteer of Menoeceus, named Perieres, in a precinct of Poseidon at
Onchestus; and being carried dying to Orchomenus,
he with his last breath charged his son Erginus to avenge his death. So Erginus marched
against Thebes, and after slaughtering not a
few of the Thebans he concluded a treaty with them, confirmed by oaths, that they should
send him tribute for twenty years, a hundred kine every year. Falling in with the heralds
on their way to Thebes to demand
this tribute, Hercules outraged them; for he cut off their ears and noses and hands, and
having fastened them by ropes from their necks, he told them to carry that tribute to
Erginus and the Minyans. Indignant at this outrage, Erginus marched against Thebes. But Hercules, having received weapons from
Athena and taken the command, killed Erginus, put the Minyans to flight, and compelled
them to pay double the tribute to the Thebans. And it chanced that in the fight Amphitryon
fell fighting bravely. And Hercules received from Creon his eldest daughter Megara as a prize of valor,Compare Diod. 4.10.6; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.228. As
to the sons of Herakles by Megara, compare
below, Apollod. 2.7.8. The ancients differed
considerably as to the number and names of the children whom Herakles had by Megara. According to Pind. I.
4.63ff. there were eight of them. Euripides speaks of three （Eur. Herc. 995ff.）. See Scholiast on Pind. I.
4.61(104); Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 48, 663;
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.269 （who agrees with Apollodorus and
quotes Asclepiades as his authority）; Hyginus, Fab. 31, 32. The
Thebans celebrated an annual festival, with sacrifices and games, in honour of the
children. See Pind. I. 4.61 （104）ff,
with the Scholiast. and by her he had three sons, Therimachus, Creontiades, and
Deicoon. But Creon gave his younger daughter to Iphicles, who already had a son Iolaus by
Automedusa, daughter of Alcathus. And Rhadamanthys, son of Zeus, married Alcmena after the
death of Amphitryon, and dwelt as an exile at Ocaleae in Boeotia.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 50, who says that Rhadamanthys fled from Crete because he had murdered his own brother. He agrees with Pausanias
that the worthy couple took up their abode at Ocaleae （or Ocalea） in
Boeotia. Their tombs were shown near
Haliartus, in Boeotia. See Plut. Lys. 28. The grave of Alcmena was excavated in
antiquity, during the Spartan occupation of the Cadmea. It was found to contain a small
bronze bracelet, two earthen-ware jars, and a bronze tablet inscribed with ancient and
unknown characters. See Plut. De genio Socratis 5. A different story of the
marriage of Rhadamanthys and Alcmena was told by Pherecydes. According to him, when
Alcmena died at a good old age, Zeus commanded Hermes to steal her body from the coffin
in which the sons of Herakles were conveying it to the grave. Hermes executed the
commission, adroitly substituting a stone for the corpse in the coffin. Feeling the
coffin very heavy, the sons of Herakles set it down, and taking off the lid they
discovered the fraud. They took out the stone and set it up in a sacred grove at
Thebes, where was a shrine of Alcmena.
Meantime Hermes had carried off the real Alcmena to the Islands of the Blest, where she
was married to Rhadamanthys. See Ant. Lib. 33. This quaint story is alluded
to by Pausanias, who tells us （Paus.
9.16.7） that there was no tomb of Alcmena at Thebes, because at her death she had been turned to
stone.
Having first learned from Eurytus the art of archery,See
above Apollod. 2.4.9. According to another account,
Herakles learned archery from the exile Rhadamanthys （Tzetzes, Scholiast
on Lycophron 50）, and if we accept the MS. reading au)tou= in the present passage （see Critical
Note）, this was the version of the story here followed by Apollodorus. But it
seems more likely that au)tou= is a scribe's mistake for
*eu)ru/tou than that Apollodorus should have
contradicted himself flatly in two passages so near each other. The learned
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50 mentions no less than three different
men—Teutarus, Eurytus, and Rhadamanthys—to whom the honour of having
taught Herakles to shoot was variously assigned by tradition. Hercules received a
sword from Hermes, a bow and arrows from Apollo,As to the
gifts of the gods to Herakles, see Diod. 4.13.3, who, besides the sword and
bow given by Hermes and Apollo, mentions horses given by Poseidon. a golden
breastplate from Hephaestus, and a robe from Athena; for he had himself cut a club at
Nemea.
Now it came to pass that after the battle with the Minyans Hercules was driven mad
through the jealousy of Hera and flung his own children, whom he had by Megara, and two children of Iphicles into the
fire;Compare Eur. Herc.
967ff.; Moschus iv.13ff.; Diod. 4.11.1ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 38; Nicolaus Damascenus, Frag. 20,
in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii.369;
Hyginus, Fab. 32. wherefore he condemned himself to exile, and was
purified by Thespius, and repairing to Delphi
he inquired of the god where he should dwell.Compare
Diod. 4.10.7. The Pythian priestess then first called him
Hercules, for hitherto he was called Alcides.Herakles was
called Alcides after his grandfather Alcaeus, the father of Amphitryon. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5. But, according to another account, the hero
was himself called Alcaeus before he received the name of Herakles from Apollo. See
Sextus Empiricus, pp. 398ff., ed. Bekker; Scholiast on Pind. O.
6.68(115). And she told him to dwell in Tiryns, serving Eurystheus for twelve years and to
perform the ten labours imposed on him, and so, she said, when the tasks were
accomplished, he would be immortal.For the labours of
Herakles, see Soph. Trach. 1091ff.; Eur. Herc. 359ff.; Eur. Herc.
1270ff.; Diod. 4.10ff.; Paus.
5.10.9; Paus. 5.26.7; Quintus Smyrnaeus,
Posthomerica vi.208ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades 229ff.; Verg. A. 8.287ff.; Ov. Met.
9.182ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30.
When Hercules heard that, he went to Tiryns
and did as he was bid by Eurystheus. First, Eurystheus ordered him to bring the skin of
the Nemean lion;As to the Nemean lion, compare Hes. Th. 326ff.; Bacch. 8.6ff.,
ed. Jebb; Soph. Trach. 1091ff.;
Theocritus xxv.162ff.; Diod. 4.11.3ff.; Eratosthenes,
Cat. 12; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.232ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
30. According to Hesiod, the Nemean lion was begotten by Orthus, the hound of
Geryon, upon the monster Echidna. Hyginus says that the lion was bred by the
Moon. now that was an invulnerable beast begotten by Typhon. On his way to attack
the lion he came to Cleonae and lodged at the house of a day-laborer, Molorchus;As to Herakles and Molorchus, compare Tibullus
iv.1.12ff.; Verg. G. 3.19, with Servius's note;
Martial iv.64.30, ix.43.13; Statius, Sylv. iii.1.28.
and when his host would have offered a victim in sacrifice, Hercules told him to wait for
thirty days, and then, if he had returned safe from the hunt, to sacrifice to Saviour
Zeus, but if he were dead, to sacrifice to him as to a hero.The Greeks had two distinct words for sacrificing, according as the sacrifice was
offered to a god or to a hero, that is, to a worshipful dead man; the former sacrifice
was expressed by the verb qu/ein, the latter by the verb
e)nagi/zein. The verbal distinction can hardly be
preserved in English, except by a periphrasis. For the distinction between the two, see
Paus. 2.10.1; Paus.
2.11.7; Paus. 3.19.3; and for more instances of
e)nagi/zein in this sense, see Paus. 3.1.8; Paus. 4.21.11; Paus. 7.17.8; Paus. 7.19.10;
Paus. 7.20.9; Paus.
8.14.10-11; Paus. 8.41.1; Paus. 9.5.14; Paus. 9.18.3-4; Paus. 9.38.5; Paus. 10.24.6;
Inscriptiones Graecae Megaridis, Oropiae, Boeotiae, ed. G.
Dittenberger, p. 32, No. 53. For instances of the antithesis between qu/ein and e)nagi/zein, see
Hdt. 2.44; Plut. De Herodoti malignitate 13;
Ptolemy Hephaest., Nauck 2nd ed., Nov. Hist. iii. in Westermann's Mythographi
Graeci, p. 186; Pollux viii.91; Scholiast on Eur. Ph.
274. The corresponding nouns qusi/ai and e)nagi/smata are similarly opposed to each other. See Aristot. Ath. Pol. 58. Another word which is used
only of sacrificing to heroes or the dead is e)nte/mnein
See, for example, Thuc. 5.11, w)s
h(/rwi/+ te e)nte/mnousi （of the sacrifices offered at Amphipolis to Brasidas）. Sometimes the
verbs e)nagi/zein and e)nte/mnein are coupled in this sense. See Philostratus, Her. xx.27,
28. For more evidence as to the use of these words, see Fr. Pfister,
Der Reliquienkult im Altertum (Giessen, 1909-1912), pp. 466ff.
Compare P. Foucart, Le culte des héros chez les Grecs
（Paris, 1918）, pp. 96, 98 （from the Memoires de l'
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, vol.
xlii）. And having come to Nemea and tracked the lion, he first shot an arrow at
him, but when he perceived that the beast was invulnerable, he heaved up his club and made
after him. And when the lion took refuge in a cave with two mouths, Hercules built up the
one entrance and came in upon the beast through the other, and putting his arm round its
neck held it tight till he had choked it; so laying it on his shoulders he carried it to
Cleonae. And finding Molorchus on the last of the thirty days about to sacrifice the
victim to him as to a dead man, he sacrificed to Saviour Zeus and brought the lion to
Mycenae. Amazed at his manhood, Eurystheus
forbade him thenceforth to enter the city, but ordered him to exhibit the fruits of his
labours before the gates. They say, too, that in his fear he had a bronze jar made for
himself to hide in under the earth,Compare Diod.
4.12.1, who however places this incident after the adventure with the
Erymanthian boar. and that he sent his commands for the labours through a herald,
Copreus,As to the herald Copreus, compare Hom. Il. 15.639ff., with the note of the Scholiast.
son of Pelops the Elean. This Copreus had killed Iphitus and fled to Mycenae, where he was purified by Eurystheus and took
up his abode.
As a second labour he ordered him to kill the Lernaean hydra.Compare Eur. Herc. 419ff.; Diod.
4.11.5ff.; Paus. 2.37.4; Paus. 5.5.10; Paus. 5.17.11; Zenobius,
Cent. vi.26; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.212ff.;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.237ff.; Verg. A.
8.299ff.; Ov. Met. 9.69ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
30. Diodorus and Ovid multiply the hydra's heads to a hundred; the sceptical
Pausanias （Paus. 2.37.4） would reduce
them to one. Both Diodorus and Pausanias, together with Zenobius and Hyginus, mention
that Herakles poisoned his arrows with the gall of the hydra. The account which Zenobius
gives of the hydra is clearly based on that of Apollodorus, though as usual he does not
name his authority. That creature, bred in the swamp of Lerna, used to go forth into the plain and ravage both the cattle and the country. Now the hydra had a huge body, with nine
heads, eight mortal, but the middle one immortal. So mounting a chariot driven by Iolaus,
he came to Lerna, and having halted his horses,
he discovered the hydra on a hill beside the springs of the Amymone, where was its den. By
pelting it with fiery shafts he forced it to come out, and in the act of doing so he
seized and held it fast. But the hydra wound itself about one of his feet and clung to
him. Nor could he effect anything by smashing its heads with his club, for as fast as one
head was smashed there grew up two. A huge crab also came to the help of the hydra by
biting his foot.For this service the crab was promoted by
Hera, the foe of Herakles, to the rank of a constellation in the sky. See
Eratosthenes, Cat. 11 （who quotes as his authority the
Heraclia of Panyasis）; Hyginus, Ast.
ii.23. So he killed it, and in his turn called for help on Iolaus who, by
setting fire to a piece of the neighboring wood and burning the roots of the heads with
the brands, prevented them from sprouting. Having thus got the better of the sprouting
heads, he chopped off the immortal head, and buried it, and put a heavy rock on it, beside
the road that leads through Lerna to Elaeus.
But the body of the hydra he slit up and dipped his arrows in the gall. However,
Eurystheus said that this labour should not be reckoned among the ten because he had not
got the better of the hydra by himself, but with the help of Iolaus.
As a third labour he ordered him to bring the Cerynitian hind alive to Mycenae.Compare Pind. O. 3.28(50)ff.; Eur. Herc.
375ff.; Diod. 4.13.1; Tzetzes, Chiliades 11.265ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 30. Pindar says that in his quest of the hind with the
golden horns Herakles had seen “the land at the back of the cold north
wind.” Hence, as the reindeer is said to be the only species of deer of which
the female has antlers, Sir William Ridgeway argues ingeniously that the hind with the
golden horns was no other than the reindeer. See his Early Age of
Greece 1. （Cambridge, 1901）, pp. 360ff. Later Greek
tradition, as we see from Apollodorus, did not place the native land of the hind so far
away. Oenoe was a place in Argolis. Mount
Artemisius is the range which divides Argolis
from the plain of Mantinea. The
Ladon is the most beautiful river of Arcadia, if not of Greece. The river Cerynites, from which the hind took its name, is a river
which rises in Arcadia and flows through
Achaia into the sea. The modern name of the
river is Bouphousia. See Paus. 7.25.5, with my
note. Now the hind was at Oenoe; it had golden horns and was sacred to Artemis; so
wishing neither to kill nor wound it, Hercules hunted it a whole year. But when, weary
with the chase, the beast took refuge on the mountain called Artemisius, and thence passed
to the river Ladon, Hercules shot it just as it
was about to cross the stream, and catching it put it on his shoulders and hastened
through Arcadia. But Artemis with Apollo met him,
and would have wrested the hind from him, and rebuked him for attempting to kill her
sacred animal.The hind is said to have borne the
inscription “Taygete dedicated （me） to Artemis.”
See Pind. O. 3.29(53)ff., with the Scholiast.
Howbeit, by pleading necessity and laying the blame on Eurystheus, he appeased the anger
of the goddess and carried the beast alive to Mycenae.
As a fourth labour he ordered him to bring the Erymanthian boar alive;As to the Erymanthian boar and the centaurs, see Soph. Trach. 1095ff.; Diod. 4.12;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.268ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30. The boar's
tusks were said to be preserved in a sanctuary of Apollo at Cumae in Campania （Paus.
8.24.5）. now that animal ravaged Psophis, sallying from a mountain which they call Erymanthus. So passing
through Pholoe he was entertained by the centaur Pholus, a son of Silenus by a Melian nymph.As to these nymphs, see Hesiod, Th. 187. The name perhaps means an ash-tree nymph
（from meli/a, an ash tree）, as Dryad
means an oak tree nymph （from dru=s, an oak
tree）. He set roast meat before Hercules, while he himself ate his meat
raw. When Hercules called for wine, he said he feared to open the jar which belonged to
the centaurs in common.Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.271; Theocritus vii.149ff. The jar had been presented by
Dionysus to a centaur with orders not to open it till Herakles came （Diodorus
Siculus iv.12.3）. But Hercules, bidding him be of good courage, opened
it, and not long afterwards, scenting the smell, the centaurs arrived at the cave of
Pholus, armed with rocks and firs. The first who dared to enter, Anchius and Agrius, were
repelled by Hercules with a shower of brands, and the rest of them he shot and pursued as
far as Malea. Thence they took refuge with Chiron, who, driven by the Lapiths from Mount
Pelion, took up his abode at Malea. As the centaurs cowered about Chiron, Hercules shot an
arrow at them, which, passing through the arm of Elatus, stuck in the knee of Chiron.
Distressed at this, Hercules ran up to him, drew out the shaft, and applied a medicine
which Chiron gave him. But the hurt proving incurable, Chiron retired to the cave and
there he wished to die, but he could not, for he was immortal. However, Prometheus offered
himself to Zeus to be immortal in his stead, and so Chiron died. The rest of the centaurs
fled in different directions, and some came to Mount Malea, and Eurytion to Pholoe, and
Nessus to the river Evenus. The rest of them Poseidon received at Eleusis and hid them in a mountain. But
Pholus, drawing the arrow from a corpse, wondered that so little a thing could kill such
big fellows; howbeit, it slipped from his hand and lighting on his foot killed him on the
spot.Compare Servius on Verg. A. 8.294. So when
Hercules returned to Pholoe, he beheld Pholus dead; and he buried him and proceeded to the
boar hunt. And when he had chased the boar with shouts from a certain thicket, he drove
the exhausted animal into deep snow, trapped it, and brought it to Mycenae.
The fifth labour he laid on him was to carry out the dung of the cattle of Augeas in a
single day.As to Augeas and his cattle-stalls, see
Theocritus xxv.7ff.; Diod. 4.13.3; Paus. 5.1.9ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.278ff. （who seems
to follow Apollodorus）; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.629, xi.700;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.172; Hyginus, Fab. 30.
According to the rationalistic Pausanias, the name of the father of Augeas was Eleus
（Eleios）, which was popularly corrupted into Helios,
“Sun”; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300.
Now Augeas was king of Elis; some say that he
was a son of the Sun, others that he was a son of Poseidon, and others that he was a son
of Phorbas; and he had many herds of cattle. Hercules accosted him, and without revealing
the command of Eurystheus, said that he would carry out the dung in one day, if Augeas
would give him the tithe of the cattle. Augeas was incredulous, but promised. Having taken
Augeas's son Phyleus to witness, Hercules made a breach in the foundations of the
cattle-yard, and then, diverting the courses of the Alpheus and Peneus, which
flowed near each other, he turned them into the yard, having first made an outlet for the
water through another opening. When Augeas learned that this had been accomplished at the
command of Eurystheus, he would not pay the reward; nay more, he denied that he had
promised to pay it, and on that point he professed himself ready to submit to arbitration.
The arbitrators having taken their seats, Phyleus was called by Hercules and bore witness
against his father, affirming that he had agreed to give him a reward. In a rage Augeas,
before the voting took place, ordered both Phyleus and Hercules to pack out of Elis. So Phyleus went to Dulichium and dwelt there,Compare Hom. Il. 2.629, with
the Scholiast; Paus. 5.1.10, Paus.
5.3.1-3. and Hercules repaired to Dexamenus at Olenus.Compare
Bacchylides, referred to by the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.295; Bacch.,
ed. R. C. Jebb, p. 430; Diod. 4.33.1; Paus.
7.18.1; Hyginus, Fab. 33. He found Dexamenus on the point
of betrothing perforce his daughter Mnesimache to the centaur Eurytion, and being called
upon by him for help, he slew Eurytion when that centaur came to fetch his bride. But
Eurystheus would not admit this labour either among the ten, alleging that it had been
performed for hire.
The sixth labour he enjoined on him was to chase away the Stymphalian birds.As to the Stymphalian birds, see Ap. Rhod., Argon.
ii.1052-1057, with the Scholiast on 1054; Diod. 4.13.2; Strab. 8.6.8; Paus. 8.22.4;
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.227ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.291ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 20, 30; Serv.
Verg. A. 8.300. These fabulous birds were said to shoot their feathers like
arrows. Compare D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds,
p. 162. From the Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1052-1057, with the Scholiast on
1054 we learn that the use of a brazen rattle to frighten the birds was
mentioned both by Pherecydes and Hellanicus. Now at the city of Stymphalus in
Arcadia was the lake called Stymphalian,
embosomed in a deep wood. To it countless birds had flocked for refuge,
fearing to be preyed upon by the wolves.In no other ancient
account of the Stymphalian birds, so far as I know, are wolves mentioned. There is
perhaps a reminiscence of an ancient legend in the name of the Wolf's Ravine, which is
still given to the deep glen, between immense pine-covered slopes, through which the
road runs southwestward from Stymphalus to Orchomenus. The glen forms a conspicuous feature in the landscape to anyone
seated on the site of the ancient city and looking across the clear shallow water of the
lake to the high mountains that bound the valley on the south. See Frazer on Paus.
vol. iv. p. 269. So when Hercules was at a loss how to drive the birds
from the wood, Athena gave him brazen castanets, which she had received from Hephaestus.
By clashing these on a certain mountain that overhung the lake, he scared the birds. They
could not abide the sound, but fluttered up in a fright, and in that way Hercules shot
them.
The seventh labour he enjoined on him was to bring the Cretan bull.As to the Cretan bull see Diod. 4.13.4; Paus. 1.27.9ff., Paus. 5.10.9; Tzetzes,
Chiliades ii.293- 298 （who seems to follow Apollodorus）;
Hyginus, Fab. 30. Acusilaus says that this was the bull that
ferried across Europa for Zeus; but some say it was the bull that Poseidon sent up from
the sea when Minos promised to sacrifice to Poseidon what should appear out of the sea.
And they say that when he saw the beauty of the bull he sent it away to the herds and
sacrificed another to Poseidon; at which the god was angry and made the bull savage. To
attack this bull Hercules came to Crete, and
when, in reply to his request for aid, Minos told him to fight and catch the bull for
himself, he caught it and brought it to Eurystheus, and having shown it to him he let it
afterwards go free. But the bull roamed to Sparta and all Arcadia, and
traversing the Isthmus arrived at Marathon in Attica and harried the inhabitants.
The eighth labour he enjoined on him was to bring the mares of Diomedes the Thracian to
Mycenae.As
to the man-eating mares of Diomedes, see Diod. 4.15.3ff.;
Philostratus, Im. ii.25; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica
vi.245ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.299-308 （who seems to
follow Apollodorus, except that he speaks of the animals in the masculine as horses, not
mares）; Strab. 7 Fr. 44, 47, ed.
A. Meineke; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)/abdhra; Hyginus, Fab. 30 （who gives the
names of four horses, not mares）. According to Diod. 4.13.4,
Herakles killed the Thracian king Diomedes himself by exposing him to his own mares,
which devoured him. Further, the historian tells us that when Herakles brought the mares
to Eurystheus, the king dedicated them to Hera, and that their descendants existed down
to the time of Alexander the Great. Now this Diomedes was a son of Ares and
Cyrene, and he was king of the Bistones, a very
warlike Thracian people, and he owned man-eating mares. So Hercules sailed with a band of
volunteers, and having overpowered the grooms who were in charge of the mangers, he drove
the mares to the sea. When the Bistones in arms came to the rescue, he committed the mares
to the guardianship of Abderus, who was a son of Hermes, a native of Opus in Locris, and a minion of Hercules; but the mares killed him
by dragging him after them. But Hercules fought against the Bistones, slew Diomedes and
compelled the rest to flee. And he founded a city Abdera beside the grave of Abderus who had been done to death,Compare Strab. 7
Fr. 44, 47, ed. A. Meineke; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)/abdhra; Philostratus, Im. ii.25. From
Philostratus we learn that athletic games were celebrated in honour of Abderus. They
comprised boxing, wrestling, the pancratium, and all the other usual contests, with the
exception of racing—no doubt because Abderus was said to have been killed by
horses. We may compare the rule which excluded horses from the Arician grove, because
horses were said to have killed Hippolytus, with whom Virbius, the traditionary founder
of the sanctuary, was identified. See Verg. A.
7.761-780; Ovid, Fasti iii.265ff. When we remember that the Thracian
king Lycurgus is said to have been killed by horses in order to restore the fertility of
the land （see Apollod. 3.5.1）, we may
conjecture that the tradition of the man-eating mares of Diomedes, another Thracian king
who is said to have been killed by horses, points to a custom of human sacrifice
performed by means of horses, whether the victim was trampled to death by their hoofs or
tied to their tails and rent asunder. If the sacrifice was offered, as the legend of
Lycurgus suggests, for the sake of fertilizing the ground, the reason for thus tearing
the victim to pieces may have been to scatter the precious life-giving fragments as
widely and as quickly as possible over the barren earth. Compare Adonis,
Attis, Osiris ii.97ff. The games at Abdera are alluded to by the poet Machon, quoted by Athenaeus
viii.41, p. 349 B. and bringing the mares he gave them to
Eurystheus. But Eurystheus let them go, and they came to Mount Olympus, as it is called, and there they were destroyed by the wild
beasts.
The ninth labour he enjoined on Hercules was to bring the belt of Hippolyte.As to the expedition of Herakles to fetch the belt of the
Amazon, see Eur.
Herc. 408ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.777ff., 966ff., with the Scholiast on
778, 780; Diod. 4.16; Paus. 5.10.9;
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.240ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.309ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1327（who
follows Apollodorus and cites him by name）; Hyginus, Fab.
30. She was queen of the Amazons, who dwelt about the river Thermodon, a
people great in war; for they cultivated the manly virtues, and if ever they gave birth to
children through intercourse with the other sex, they reared the females; and they pinched
off the right breasts that they might not be trammelled by them in throwing the javelin,
but they kept the left breasts, that they might suckle. Now Hippolyte had the belt of Ares
in token of her superiority to all the rest. Hercules was sent to fetch this belt because
Admete, daughter of Eurystheus, desired to get it. So taking with him a band of volunteer
comrades in a single ship he set sail and put in to the island of Paros, which was inhabited by the sons of Minos,According to Diod. 5.79.2, Rhadamanthys bestowed
the island of Paros on his son Alcaeus.
Combined with the evidence of Apollodorus, the tradition points to a Cretan colony in
Paros. to wit, Eurymedon, Chryses,
Nephalion, and Philolaus. But it chanced that two of those in the ship landed and were
killed by the sons of Minos. Indignant at this, Hercules killed the sons of
Minos on the spot and besieged the rest closely, till they sent envoys to request that in
the room of the murdered men he would take two, whom he pleased. So he raised the siege,
and taking on board the sons of Androgeus, son of Minos, to wit, Alcaeus and Sthenelus, he
came to Mysia, to the court of Lycus, son of
Dascylus, and was entertained by him; and in a battle between him and the king of the
Bebryces Hercules sided with Lycus and slew many, amongst others King Mygdon, brother of
Amycus. And he took much land from the Bebryces and gave it to Lycus, who called it all
Heraclea.
Having put in at the harbor of Themiscyra, he received a visit from Hippolyte, who
inquired why he was come, and promised to give him the belt. But Hera in the likeness of
an Amazon went up and down the multitude saying
that the strangers who had arrived were carrying off the queen. So the Amazons in arms
charged on horseback down on the ship. But when Hercules saw them in arms, he suspected
treachery, and killing Hippolyte stripped her of her belt. And after fighting the rest he
sailed away and touched at Troy.
But it chanced that the city was then in distress consequently on the wrath of Apollo and
Poseidon. For desiring to put the wantonness of Laomedon to the proof, Apollo
and Poseidon assumed the likeness of men and undertook to fortify Pergamum for wages. But when they had fortified it, he
would not pay them their wages.Compare Hom. Il. 7.452ff., Hom. Il.
21.441-457. According to the former of these passages, the walls of Troy were built by Poseidon and Apollo jointly for king
Laomedon. But according to the latter passage the walls were built by Poseidon alone,
and while he thus toiled as a mason, Apollo served as a herdsman, tending the king's
cattle in the wooded glens of Ida. Their period of service lasted for a year, and at the
end of it the faithless king not only dismissed the two deities without the stipulated
wages which they had honestly earned, but threatened that, if they did not take
themselves off, he would tie Apollo hand and foot and sell him for a slave in the
islands, not however before he had lopped off the ears of both of them with a knife.
Thus insulted as well as robbed, the two gods retired with wrath and indignation at
their hearts. This strange tale, told by Homer, is alluded to by Pind. O. 8.30(40)ff., who adds to it the detail that the two gods took the
hero Aeacus with them to aid them in the work of fortification; and the Scholiast
on Pindar （pp. 194ff. ed. Boeckh） explains that, as
Troy was fated to be captured, it was
necessary that in building the walls the immortals should be assisted by a mortal, else
the city would have been impregnable. The sarcastic Lucian tells us
（Lucian, De sacrificiis 4） that both Apollo and
Poseidon laboured as bricklayers at the walls of Troy, and that the sum of which the king cheated them was more than thirty
Trojan drachmas. The fraud is alluded to by Verg. G.
1.502 and Hor. Carm. 3.3.21ff. Compare
Hyginus, Fab. 89; Ov. Met. 11.194ff.;
Serv. Verg. A. 8.157; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 43ff., 138 (First Vatican Mythographer 136; Second
Vatican Mythographer 193). Homer does not explain why Apollo and Poseidon took
service with Laomedon, but his Scholiast on Hom. Il. xxi.444, in agreement
with Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34, says that their service was a
punishment inflicted on them by Zeus for a conspiracy into which some of the gods had
entered for the purpose of putting him, the supreme god, in bonds. The conspiracy is
mentioned by Hom. Il. 1.399ff.）, who names
Poseidon, Hera, and Athena, but not Apollo, among the conspirators; their nefarious
design was defeated by the intervention of Thetis and the hundred-handed giant Briareus.
We have already heard of Apollo serving a man in the capacity of neatherd as a
punishment for murder perpetrated by the deity （see above, Apollod. 1.9.15, with the note）. These back-stair
chronicles of Olympus shed a curious light on
the early Greek conception of divinity. Therefore Apollo sent a pestilence, and
Poseidon a sea monster, which, carried up by a flood, snatched away the people of the
plain. But as oracles foretold deliverance from these calamities if Laomedon would expose
his daughter Hesione to be devoured by the sea monster, he exposed her by fastening her to
the rocks near the sea.For the story of the rescue of
Hesione by Herakles, see Diod. 4.42; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xx.146; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34; Ov. Met. 11.211ff.; Valerius Flaccus, Argon.
ii.451ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 89; Serv. Verg.
A. 8.157; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 44 (First
Vatican Mythographer 136). A curious variant of the story is told, without
mention of Hesione, by the Second Vatican Mythographer （193, i. p.
138）. Tzetzes says that Herakles, in full armour, leaped into the jaws
of the sea-monster, and was in its belly for three days hewing and hacking it, and that
at the end of the three days he came forth without any hair on his head. The
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xx.146 tells the tale similarly, and refers to
Hellanicus as his authority. The story of Herakles and Hesione corresponds closely to
that of Perseus and Andromeda （see Apollod.
2.4.3）. Both tales may have originated in a custom of sacrificing
maidens to be the brides of the Sea. Compare The Magic Art and the
Evolution of Kings, ii.150ff. Seeing her exposed,
Hercules promised to save her on condition of receiving from Laomedon the mares which Zeus
had given in compensation for the rape of Ganymede.The
horses were given by Zeus to Tros, the father of Ganymede. See Hom. Il. 5.265ff.; HH Aphr. 210ff.; Paus. 5.24.5. According to another account, which had the
support of a Cyclic poet, the compensation given to the bereaved father took the shape,
not of horses, but of a golden vine wrought by Hephaestus. See Scholiast on Eur.
Or. 1391. As the duty of Ganymede was to pour the red nectar from a golden bowl
in heaven （HH Aphr. 206）, there would be a
certain suitability in the bestowal of a golden vine to replace him in his earthly
home. On Laomedon's saying that he would give them, Hercules killed the monster and
saved Hesione. But when Laomedon would not give the stipulated reward,As to the refusal of Laomedon to give the horses to Herakles, see Hom. Il. 5.638-651, Hom. Il.
21.441-457; Ov. Met. 11.213ff.; Hyginus,
Fab. 69. Laomedon twice broke his word, first to Poseidon and Apollo and
afterwards to Herakles. Hence Ovid speaks of “the twice-perjured walls of
Troy” （Ov. Met. 11.215）. Hercules put to sea after
threatening to make war on Troy.As to the siege and capture of Troy by Herakles, see below, Apollod.
2.6.4.
And he touched at Aenus, where he was
entertained by Poltys. And as he was sailing away he shot and killed on the Aenian beach a
lewd fellow, Sarpedon, son of Poseidon and brother of Poltys. And having come to
Thasos and subjugated the Thracians who dwelt
in the island, he gave it to the sons of Androgeus to dwell in. From Thasos he proceeded to Torone, and there, being challenged to wrestle by Polygonus and Telegonus,
sons of Proteus, son of Poseidon, he killed them in the wrestling match.Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.320 sq. And
having brought the belt to Mycenae he gave it
to Eurystheus.
As a tenth labour he was ordered to fetch the kine of Geryon from Erythia.As to Herakles and the cattle of Geryon, see Hes. Th. 287-294ff.; Hes. Th.
979-983; Pind. Frag. 169(151) ed. Sandys; Hdt.
4.8; Plat. Gorg. 484b; Diod.
4.17ff.; Paus. 3.18.13, Paus. 4.36.3; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica vi.249ff.;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.322-352 （who seems to follow
Apollodorus）; Scholiast on Plato, Tim. 24e; Pliny, Nat.
Hist. iv.120; Solinus xxiii.12; Serv.
Verg. A. 8.300. Now Erythia was an island near the ocean; it is now
called Gadira.Compare Hdt. 4.8;
Strab. 3.2.11, Strab. 3.5
4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iv.120; Solinus xxiii.12. Gadira
is Cadiz. According to Pliny, Nat. Hist.
iv.120, the name is derived from a Punic word gadir, meaning “hedge.” Compare Dionysius, Perieg.
453ff. The same word agadir is still used in
the south of Morocco in the sense of
“fortified house,” and many places in that country bear the name.
Amongst them the port of Agadir is the best
known. See E. Doutté, En tribu （Paris,
1914）, pp. 50ff. The other name of the island is given by
Solinus xxiii.12 in the form Erythrea, and by Mela iii.47 in
the form Eythria. This island was inhabited by Geryon, son of Chrysaor by
Callirrhoe, daughter of Ocean. He had the body of three men grown together and joined in
one at the waist, but parted in three from the flanks and thighs.As to the triple form of Geryon, compare Hes. Th.
287; Aesch. Ag. 870; Eur.
Herc. 423ff.; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e; Paus. 5.19.1; Lucian, Toxaris 62; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 652; Lucretius v.28; Hor.
Carm. 2.14.7ff.; Verg. A. 6.289; Ov. Met. 9.184ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30,
151. He owned red kine, of which Eurytion was the herdsman and Orthus,The watchdog's name is variously given as Orthus
（Orthos） and Orthrus (Orthros). See Hes. Th.
293 (where Orthos seems to be the better reading); Quintus Smyrnaeus,
Posthomerica vi.253 （Orthros）; Scholiast on Pind. I.
1.13(15) （Orthos）; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e
（Orthros, so Stallbaum）; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.333
（Orthros）; Pediasmus, De Herculis laboribus 10
（Orthos）; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300
（Orthrus）. the two-headed hound, begotten by Typhon on Echidna,
was the watchdog. So journeying through Europe to
fetch the kine of Geryon he destroyed many wild beasts and set foot in Libya,Compare Diod.
4.17.3ff., who says that Herakles completely cleared Crete of wild beasts, and that he subdued many of the
wild beasts in the deserts of Libya and
rendered the land fertile and prosperous. and proceeding to Tartessus he erected
as tokens of his journey two pillars over against each other at the boundaries
of Europe and Libya.The opinions of the ancients were much
divided on the subject of the Pillars of Herakles. See Strab.
3.5.5. The usual opinion apparently identified them with the rock of Calpe （Gibraltar） and the rock of Abyla, Abila, or Abylica
（Ceuta） on the northern and
southern sides of the straits. See Strab. 3.5.5;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 649; Pliny, Nat. Hist.
iii.4; Mela i.27, ii.95; Martianus Capella vi.624.
Further, it seems to have been commonly supposed that before the time of Herakles the
two continents were here joined by an isthmus, and that the hero cut through the isthmus
and so created the straits. See Diod. 4.18.5; Seneca, Herakles Furens
235ff.; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1240; Pliny, Nat. Hist.
iii.4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii.4; Mela i.27;
Martianus Capella vi.625. Some people, however, on the contrary, thought
that the straits were formerly wider, and that Herakles narrowed them to prevent the
monsters of the Atlantic ocean from bursting into the Mediterranean
（Diod. 4.18.5）. An entirely different opinion
identified the Pillars of Herakles with two brazen pillars in the sanctuary of Herakles
at Gadira （Cadiz）, on which
was engraved an inscription recording the cost of building the temple. See Strab. 3.5.5; compare Pliny, Nat. Hist. ii.242,
who speaks of “the columns of Herakles consecrated at Gadira.” For
other references to the Pillars of Herakles, see Pind. O.
3.43ff., Pind. N. 3.21, Pind. I. 4.11ff.; Athenaeus vii.98, p. 315 CD; Tzetzes,
Chiliades ii.339 （who here calls the pillars Alybe and
Abinna）; Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e; Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Orbis Descriptio 64-68, with the commentary of Eustathius
（Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, ii. pp. 107,
228）. According to Eustathius, Calpe was the name given to the rock of Gibraltar by the barbarians, but its Greek name was Alybe; and the rock
of Ceuta was called Abenna by the barbarians
but by the Greeks Cynegetica, that is, the Hunter's Rock. He tells us further that the
pillars were formerly named the Pillars of Cronus, and afterwards the Pillars of
Briareus. But being heated by the Sun on his journey, he bent his bow at the god,
who in admiration of his hardihood, gave him a golden goblet in which he crossed the
ocean.Apollodorus seems to be here following Pherecydes,
as we learn from a passage which Athenaeus xi.39, p. 470 CD quotes from the
third book of Pherecydes as follows: “And Herakles drew his bow at him as if
he would shoot, and the Sun bade him give over; so Herakles feared and gave over. And in
return the Sun bestowed on him the golden goblet which carried him with his horses, when
he set, through the Ocean all night to the east, where the Sun rises. Then Herakles
journeyed in that goblet to Erythia. And when he was on the open sea, Ocean, to make
trial of him, caused the goblet to heave wildly on the waves. Herakles was about to
shoot him with an arrow; and the Ocean was afraid, and bade him give over.”
Stesichorus described the Sun embarking in a golden goblet that he might cross the ocean
in the darkness of night and come to his mother, his wedded wife, and children dear. See
Athenaeus xi.38, p. 468 E; compare Athenaeus xi.16, p. 781
D. The voyage of Herakles in the golden goblet was also related by the early
poets Pisander and Panyasis in the poems, both called Heraclia, which
they devoted to the exploits of the great hero. See Athenaeus xi.38, p. 469
D; compare Macrobius, Sat. v.21.16, 19. Another poet, Mimnermus,
supposed that at night the weary Sun slept in a golden bed, which floated across the sea
to Ethiopia, where a chariot with fresh horses
stood ready for him to mount and resume his daily journey across the sky. See
Athenaeus xi.39, p. 470 A. And having reached Erythia he lodged on
Mount Abas. However the dog, perceiving him, rushed at him; but he smote it with his club,
and when the herdsman Eurytion came to the help of the dog, Hercules killed
him also. But Menoetes, who was there pasturing the kine of Hades, reported to Geryon what
had occurred, and he, coming up with Hercules beside the river Anthemus,Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 652, who
probably follows Apollodorus. as he was driving away the kine, joined battle with
him and was shot dead. And Hercules, embarking the kine in the goblet and sailing across
to Tartessus, gave back the goblet to the Sun.
And passing through AbderiaAbderia, the territory of
Abdera, a Phoenician city of southern
Spain, not to be confused with the better
known Abdera in Thrace. See Strab. 3.4.3; Stephanus
Byzantius, s.v. *)/abdhra. he came to
Liguria,Apollodorus has much abridged a famous adventure of Herakles in Liguria. Passing through the country with the herds of
Geryon, he was attacked by a great multitude of the warlike natives, who tried to rob
him of the cattle. For a time he repelled them with his bow, but his supply of arrows
running short he was reduced to great straits; for the ground, being soft earth,
afforded no stones to be used as missiles. So he prayed to his father Zeus, and the god
in pity rained down stones from the sky; and by picking them up and hurling them at his
foes, the hero was able to turn the tables on them. The place where this adventure took
place was said to be a plain between Marseilles
and the Rhone, which was called the Stony Plain
on account of the vast quantity of stones, about as large as a man's hand, which were
scattered thickly over it. In his play Prometheus Unbound, Aeschylus
introduced this story in the form of a prediction put in the mouth of Prometheus and
addressed to his deliverer Herakles. See Strab. 4.1.7;
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.41; Eustathius,
Commentary on Dionysius Perieg. 76 （Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C.
Müller, ii.231）; Hyginus, Ast. ii.6; TGF
(Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 66ff. The Stony Plain is now called the Plaine de la
Crau. It “attracts the attention of
all travellers between Arles and Marseilles, since it is intersected by the railway that
joins those two cities. It forms a wide level area, extending for many square miles,
which is covered with round rolled stones from the size of a pebble to that of a man's
head. These are supposed to have been brought down from the
Alps by the Durance at some
early period, when this plain was submerged and formed the bed of what was then a bay of
the Mediterranean at the mouth of that river and the Rhone” （H. F. Tozer, Selections from Strabo, p.
117）. where Ialebion and Dercynus, sons of Poseidon, attempted
to rob him of the kine, but he killed themCompare
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.340ff., who calls the victims Dercynus and
Alebion. and went on his way through Tyrrhenia. But at Rhegium a bull broke awayThe author clearly
derives the name of Rhegium from this incident
（*rh/gion from a)porrh/gnusi）. The story of the escape of the bull, or heifer,
and the pursuit of it by Herakles was told by Hellanicus. See Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.35.2. It is somewhat singular that Apollodorus
passes so lightly over the exploits of Herakles in Italy, and in particular that he says nothing about those adventures of his
at Rome, to which the Romans attached much
significance. For the Italian adventures of the hero, and his sojourn in Rome, see Diod. 4.20-22; Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.34ff., 38-44; Prop.
iv.9; Verg. A. 8.201ff.; Ovid, Fasti
i.543ff. On the popularity of the worship of Herakles in Italy, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom.
i.40.6, who says: “And in many other parts of Italy （besides Rome） precincts are consecrated to the god, and altars are set
up both in cities and beside roads; and hardly will you find a place in Italy where the god is not
honoured.” and hastily plunging into the sea swam across to
Sicily, and having passed through the
neighboring country since called Italy after it,
for the Tyrrhenians called the bull italus,Some of the ancients supposed that the name of Italy was derived from the Latin vitulus,
“a calf.” See Varro, Re. Rust. ii.1.9; Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. i.35.2; compare Aulus Gellius
xi.1.2. came to the plain of Eryx, who reigned over the Elymi.As to
Herculus and Eryx, see Diod.
4.23.2; Paus. 3.16.4ff.; Paus. 4.36.4; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.346ff.; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 866; Verg. A. 5.410ff.;
Serv. Verg. A. 1.570. Now Eryx was a son of Poseidon, and he mingled the bull with
his own herds. So Hercules entrusted the kine to Hephaestus and hurried away in search of
the bull. He found it in the herds of Eryx, and when the king refused to surrender it
unless Hercules should beat him in a wrestling bout, Hercules beat him thrice, killed him
in the wrestling, and taking the bull drove it with the rest of the herd to the Ionian
Sea. But when he came to the creeks of the sea, Hera afflicted the cows with a gadfly, and
they dispersed among the skirts of the mountains of Thrace. Hercules went in pursuit, and having caught some, drove them to the
Hellespont; but the remainder were thenceforth
wild.The story was apparently told to account for the
origin of wild cattle in Thrace. Having
with difficulty collected the cows, Hercules blamed the river Strymon, and whereas it had
been navigable before, he made it unnavigable by filling it with rocks; and he conveyed the kine and gave them to Eurystheus, who sacrificed them to Hera.
When the labours had been performed in eight years and a month,This period for the completion of the labours of Herakles is mentioned also by
the Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368 and Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.353ff., both of whom, however, may have had the present passage of Apollodorus
before them. It is possible that the period refers to the eight years' cycle, which
figured prominently in the religious calendar of the ancient Greeks; for example, the
Pythian games were originally held at intervals of eight years. See Geminus,
Element. Astron. viii.25ff., ed. C. Manitius; Censorinus, De die natali
18. It is to be remembered that the period of service performed by Herakles for
Eurystheus was an expiation for the murder of his children （see Apollod. 2.4.12）. Now Cadmus is said to have
served Ares for eight years as an expiation for the slaughter of the dragon, the
offspring of Ares （see Apollod.
3.4.2）. But in those days, we are told, the “eternal
year” comprised eight common years （Apollod.
3.4.2）. Now Apollo served Admetus for a year as an expiation for the
slaughter of the Cyclopes （Apollod.
3.10.4）; but according to Serv. Verg. A.
7.761, the period of Apollo's service was not one but nine years. In making this
statement Servius, or his authority, probably had before him a Greek author, who
mentioned an e)nneathri/s as the period of Apollo's
service. But though e)nneathri/s means literally
“nine years,” the period, in consequence of the Greek mode of
reckoning, was actually equivalent to eight years （compare Celsus, De die
natali 18.4, “Octaeteris facta, quae tunc
enneateris vocitata, quia primus eius annus nono quoque anno
redibat.”） These legends about the servitude of Cadmus,
Apollo, and Herakles for eight years, render it probable that in ancient times Greek
homicides were banished for eight years, and had during that time to do penance by
serving a foreigner. Now this period of eight years was called a “great
year” （Censorinus, De die natali 18.5）, and the
period of banishment for a homicide was regularly a year. See Apollod. 2.8.3; Eur. Hipp.34-37, Eur. Or. 1643-1645; Nicolaus Damascenus, Frag 20
（Fragmenta Historicorum Graccorum, ed. C. Müller,
iii.369）; Hesychius, s.v. a)peniautismo/s; Suidas, s.v. a)penauti/sai. Hence it seems probable that, though in later times
the period of a homicide's banishment was a single ordinary year, it may formerly have
been a “great year,” or period of eight ordinary years. It deserves
to be noted that any god who had forsworn himself by the Styx had to expiate his fault
by silence and fasting for a full year, after which he was banished the company of the
gods for nine years （Hes. Th.
793-804ff.）; and further that any man who partook of human flesh in the
rites of Lycaean Zeus was supposed to be turned into a wolf for nine years. See Paus. 8.2; Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii.81;
Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.17. These notions point to a nine years'
period of expiation, which may have been observed in some places instead of the eight
years' period. In the present passage of Apollodorus, the addition of a month to the
eight years' period creates a difficulty which I am unable to explain. Ancient
mathematicians defined a “great year” as the period at the end of
which the sun, moon, and planets again occupy the same positions relatively to each
other which they occupied at the beginning; but on the length of the period opinions
were much divided. See Cicero, De natura deorum ii.20.51ff. Different,
apparently, from the “great year” was the
“revolving” （vertens）
or “mundane” （mundanus） year, which was the period at the end of which, not only
the sun, moon, and planets, but also the so-called fixed stars again occupy the
positions relatively to each other which they occupied at the beginning; for the
ancients recognized that the so-called fixed stars do move, though their motion is
imperceptible to our senses. The length of a “revolving” or
“mundane” year was calculated by ancient physicists at fifteen
thousand years. See Cicero, Somnium Scipionis 7, with the commentary of Macrobius,
ii.11. Eurystheus ordered Hercules, as an eleventh labour, to fetch
golden apples from the Hesperides,As to the
apples of the Hesperides, see Hes. Th. 215ff.; Eur. Herc. 394ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396ff.;
with the Scholiast Ap. Rhod. Argon. iv.1396; Diod. 4.26; Paus. 5.11.6; Paus. 5.18.4;
Paus. 6.19.8; Eratosthenes, Cat. 3;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.355ff.; Ov. Met.
4.637ff., ix.190; Hyginus, Fab. 30; Hyginus, Ast. ii.3;
Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, pp. 382ff., in Martianus Capella, ed. Fr.
Eyssenhardt; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 13ff.,
130 (First Vatican Mythographer 38; Second Vatican Mythographer 161). From the
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396ff. we learn that the story of
Herakles and the apples of the Hesperides was told by Pherecydes in the second book of
his work on the marriage of Hera. The close resemblance which the Scholiast's narrative
bears to that of Apollodorus seems to show that here, as in many other places, our
author followed Pherecydes. The account given by Pherecydes of the origin of the golden
apples is as follows. When Zeus married Hera, the gods brought presents to the bride.
Among the rest, Earth brought golden apples, which Hera so much admired that she ordered
them to be planted in the garden of the gods beside Mount Atlas. But, as the daughters
of Atlas used to pilfer the golden fruit, she set a huge serpent to guard the tree. Such
is the story told, on the authority of Pherecydes, by Eratosthenes, Hyginus, Astr.
ii.3, and the Scholiast on the Aratea of Germanicus. for he did not
acknowledge the labour of the cattle of Augeas nor that of the hydra. These apples were
not, as some have said, in Libya, but on Atlas
among the Hyperboreans.Here Apollodorus departs from the
usual version, which placed the gardens of the Hesperides in the far west, not the far
north. We have seen that Herakles is said to have gone to the far north to fetch the
hind with the golden horns （see above, Apollod.
2.5.3 note）; also he is reported to have brought from the land of the
Hyperboreans the olive spray which was to form the victor's crown at the Olympic games.
See Pind. O. 3.11(20)ff.; Paus.
5.7.7, compare Paus. 5.15.3. They were
presented < by Earth> to Zeus after his marriage with Hera, and guarded by
an immortal dragon with a hundred heads, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which spoke with
many and divers sorts of voices. With it the Hesperides also were on guard, to wit, Aegle,
Erythia, Hesperia, and Arethusa. So journeying he came to the river Echedorus. And Cycnus,
son of Ares and Pyrene, challenged him to single combat. Ares championed the cause of
Cycnus and marshalled the combat, but a thunderbolt was hurled between the two and parted
the combatants.Compare Hyginus, Fab. 31, who
describes the intervention of Mars （Ares） on the side of his son
Cycnus, and the fall of the thunderbolt which parted the combatants; yet he says that
Herakles killed Cycnus. This combat, which, according to Apollodorus, ended
indecisively, was supposed to have been fought in Macedonia, for the Echedorus was a Macedonian river （Hdt. 7.124, Hdt. 7.127）.
Accordingly we must distinguish this contest from another and more famous fight which
Herakles fought with another son of Ares, also called Cycnus, near Pagasae in Thessaly. See Apollod. 2.7.7, with the
note. Apparently Hyginus confused the two combats. And going on foot
through Illyria and hastening to the river
Eridanus he came to the nymphs, the daughters
of Zeus and Themis. They revealed Nereus to him, and Hercules seized him while he slept,
and though the god turned himself into all kinds of shapes, the hero bound him and did not
release him till he had learned from him where were the apples and the Hesperides.The meeting of Herakles with the nymphs, and his struggle with
Nereus, are related also by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396,
citing as his authority Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus also probably follows. The
transformations of the reluctant sea-god Nereus in his encounter with Herakles are like
those of the reluctant sea-god Proteus in his encounter with Menelaus （Hom. Od. 4.354- 570）, and those of the
reluctant sea-goddess Thetis with her lover Peleus （see below, Apollod. 3.13.5）. Being informed, he
traversed Libya. That country was then ruled by
Antaeus, son of Poseidon,As to Herakles and Antaeus, see
Pind. I. 4.52(87)ff., with the Scholiast on Pind.
I. 4.52(87) and 54(92); Diod. 4.17.4; Paus.
9.11.6; Philostratus, Im. ii.21; Quintus Smyrnaeus,
Posthomerica vi.285ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.363ff.;
Scholiast on Plat. Laws, vii, 796a （whose account agrees almost
verbally with that of Apollodorus）; Ovid, Ibis 393-395, with the
Scholia; Hyginus, Fab. 31; Lucan, Pharsal. iv.588-655;
Juvenal iii.89; Statius, Theb. vi.893ff.; Lactantius
Placidus on Statius, Theb. vi.869(894); Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 19, 131 (First Vatican Mythographer 55; Second Vatican
Mythographer 164). According to Pindar, the truculent giant used to roof the
temple of his sire Poseidon with the skulls of his victims. The fable of his regaining
strength through contact with his mother Earth is dwelt on by Lucan with his usual
tedious prolixity. It is briefly alluded to by Ovid, Juvenal, and Statius. Antaeus is
said to have reigned in western Morocco, on the
Atlantic coast. Here a hillock was pointed out as his tomb, and the natives believed
that the removal of soil from the hillock would be immediately followed by rain, which
would not cease till the earth was replaced. See Mela iii.106. Sertorius is
said to have excavated the supposed tomb and to have found a skeleton sixty cubits long.
See Plut. Sertorius 9; Strab. 17.3.8.
who used to kill strangers by forcing them to wrestle. Being forced to wrestle with him,
Hercules hugged him, lifted him aloft,More literally,
“lifted him aloft with hugs.” For this technical term (a(/mma) applied to a wrestler's hug, see Plut. Fabius
Maximus 23, and Plut. Alc. 2. broke and
killed him; for when he touched earth so it was that he waxed stronger, wherefore some
said that he was a son of Earth.
After Libya he traversed Egypt. That country was then ruled by
Busiris,For Herakles and Busiris, see Diod.
4.18.1, Diod. 4.27.2ff.; Plut. Parallela 38;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron ii.367ff.; Ov. Met. 9.182ff.;
Ovid, Ars Am. i.647-652; Scholiast on Ovid, Ibis 397 （p.
72, ed. R. Ellis）; Hyginus, Fab. 31, 56; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300 and Georg. iii.5;
Philargyrius on Verg. G. 3.5; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb.
xii.155. Ovid, with his Scholiasts, Hyginus and Philargyrius, like Apollodorus,
allege a nine or eight years' dearth or drought as the cause of the human sacrifices
instituted by Busiris. Their account may be derived from Pherecydes, who is the
authority cited by the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396.
Hyginus, Fab. 56 adds that the seer Phrasius, who advised the sacrifice,
was a brother of Pygmalion. Herodotus, without mentioning Busiris, scouts the story on
the ground that human sacrifices were utterly alien to the spirit of Egyptian religion
（Hdt. 2.45）. Isocrates also discredited
the tradition, in so far as it relates to Herakles, because Herakles was four
generations younger, and Busiris more than two hundred years older, than Perseus. See
Isoc. 11.15. Yet there are grounds for thinking that the
Greek tradition was substantially correct. For Manetho, our highest ancient authority,
definitely affirmed that in the city of Ilithyia it was customary to burn alive
“Typhonian men” and to scatter their ashes by means of winnowing
fans （Plut. Isis et Osiris 73）. These
“Typhonian men” were red-haired, because Typhon, the Egyptian
embodiment of evil, was also redhaired （Plut. Isis et Osiris 30,
33）. But redhaired men would commonly be foreigners, in contrast to the
black-haired natives of Egypt; and it was just
foreigners who, according to Greek tradition, were chosen as victims. Diodorus Siculus
points this out （Diod. 1.88.5） in confirmation of the
Greek tradition, and he tells us that the redhaired men were sacrificed at the grave of
Osiris, though this statement may be an inference from his etymology of the name
Busiris, which he explains to mean “grave of Osiris.” The etymology
is correct, Busiris being a Greek rendering of the Egyptian Asir “place of
Osiris.” See A. Wiedemann, Herodots Zweites Buch
（Leipsic, 1890）, p. 213. Porphyry informs us, on the
authority of Manetho, that the Egyptian custom of sacrificing human beings at the City
of the Sun was suppressed by Amosis （Amasis）, who ordered waxen
effigies to be substituted for the victims. He adds that the human victims used to be
examined just like calves for the sacrifice, and that they were sealed in token of their
fitness for the altar. See Porphyry, De abstinentia iii.35. Sextus
Empiricus even speaks of human sacrifices in Egypt as if they were practised down to his own time, which was about 200
A.D. See Sextus Empiricus, p. 173, ed. Bekker. Seleucus wrote a special
treatise on human sacrifices in Egypt
（Athenaeus iv.72, p. 172 D）. In view of these facts,
the Greek tradition that the sacrifices were offered in order to restore the fertility
of the land or to procure rain after a long drought, and that on one occasion the king
himself was the victim, may be not without significance. For kings or chiefs have been
often sacrificed under similar circumstances （see Apollod. 3.5.1; Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed.
ii.97ff.; The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings,
i.344ff., 352ff.）; and in ancient Egypt the rulers are definitely said to have been held responsible for the
failure of the crops （Ammianus Marcellinus xxviii.5.14）;
hence it would not be surprising if in extreme cases they were put to death. Busiris was
the theme of a Satyric play by Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
452ff. a son of Poseidon by Lysianassa, daughter of Epaphus. This Busiris
used to sacrifice strangers on an altar of Zeus in accordance with a certain oracle. For
Egypt was visited with dearth for nine years,
and Phrasius, a learned seer who had come from Cyprus, said that the dearth would cease if they slaughtered a
stranger man in honor of Zeus every year. Busiris began by slaughtering the seer himself
and continued to slaughter the strangers who landed. So Hercules also was seized and haled
to the altars, but he burst his bonds and slew both Busiris and his son Amphidamas.The Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396 calls
him Iphidamas, and adds “the herald Chalbes and the attendants” to
the list of those slain by Herakles.
And traversing Asia he put in to Thermydrae, the
harbor of the Lindians.Thermydra is the form of the name
given by Stephanus Byzantius, s.v.. In his account of this incident Tzetzes
calls the harbour Thermydron （Tzetzes. Chiliades ii.385）.
Lindus was one of the chief cities of
Rhodes. And having loosed one of the
bullocks from the cart of a cowherd, he sacrificed it and feasted. But the cowherd, unable
to protect himself, stood on a certain mountain and cursed. Wherefore to this day, when
they sacrifice to Hercules, they do it with curses.Compare
Conon 11; Philostratus, Im. ii.24; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.385ff.; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i.21. According to all these
writers except Tzetzes （who clearly follows Apollodorus）, Herakles's
victim in this affair was not a waggoner, but a ploughman engaged in the act of
ploughing; Philostratus names him Thiodamus, and adds: “Hence a ploughing ox
is sacrificed to Herakles and they begin the sacrifice with curses such as, I suppose,
the husbandman then made use of; and Herakles is pleased and blesses the Lindians in
return for their curses.” According to Lactantius, it was a pair of oxen that
was sacrificed, and the altar at which the sacrifice took place bore the name of
bouzygos, that is, “yoke of oxen.”
Hence it seems probable that the sacrifice which the story purported to explain was
offered at the time of ploughing in order to ensure a blessing on the ploughman's
labours. This is confirmed by the ritual of the sacred ploughing observed at Eleusis, where members of the old priestly family of
the Bouzygai or Ox-yokers uttered many curses as they guided the plough down the furrows
of the Rarian Plain. See Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *bouzugi/a, p. 206, lines 47ff.; Anecdota Graeca, ed.
Bekker, i.221; Hesychius, s.v. *bouzu/ghs; Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. Leutsch
and Schneidewin, i. p. 388; Scholiast on Soph. Ant. 255;
Plut. Praecepta Conjugalia 42. Compare J. Toepffer, Attische
Genealogie （Berlin, 1889）, rr. 136ff.;
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, i.108ff. The Greeks
seem to have deemed curses of special efficacy to promote the fertility of the ground;
for we are told that when a Greek sowed cummin he was expected to utter imprecations or
the corn would not turn out well. See Theophrastus, Historia plantarum vii.3.3,
ix.8.8; Plut. Quaest. Conviv. vii.2.3; Pliny, Nat. Hist.
xix.120. Roman writers mention a like custom observed by the sowers of rue and
basil. See Palladius, De re rustica, iv.9; Pliny, Nat. Hist.
xix.120. As to the beneficent effect of curses, when properly directed, see
further The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings,
i.278ff.
And passing by Arabia he slew Emathion, son of
Tithonus,Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.369ff., who as usual follows Apollodorus. According to Diod.
4.27.3, after Herakles had slain Busiris, he ascended the Nile to Ethiopia and there slew Emathion, king of Ethiopia. and journeying through Libya to the outer sea he received the goblet from the Sun. And having
crossed to the opposite mainland he shot on the Caucasus the eagle, offspring of Echidna and Typhon, that was devouring the
liver of Prometheus, and he released Prometheus,As to
Herakles and Prometheus, see Diod. 4.15.2; Paus.
5.11.6; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.370ff.; Scholiast on Ap.
Rhod., Argon. ii.1248, iv.1396; Hyginus, Ast. ii.15;
Hyginus, Fab. 31, 54, and 144; Serv. Verg. Ecl.
6.42. The Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.1248 agrees with
Apollodorus as to the parentage of the eagle which preyed on Prometheus, and he cites as
his authority Pherecydes; hence we may surmise that Apollodorus is following the same
author in the present passage. The time during which Prometheus suffered on the
Caucasus was said by Aeschylus to be thirty
thousand years （Hyginus, Ast. ii.15）; but Hyginus, though
he reports this in one passage, elsewhere reduces the term of suffering to thirty years
（Hyginus, Fab. 54, 144）. after choosing for
himself the bond of olive,The reference seems to be to the
crown of olive which Herakles brought from the land of the Hyperboreans and instituted
as the badge of victory in the Olympic games. See Pind. O.
3.11(20)ff.; Paus. 5.7.7. The ancients had a
curious notion that the custom of wearing crowns or garlands on the head and rings on
the fingers was a memorial of the shackles once worn for their sake by their great
benefactor Prometheus among the rocks and snows of the Caucasus. In order that the will of Zeus, who had sworn never to release
Prometheus, might not be frustrated by the entire liberation of his prisoner from his
chains, Prometheus on obtaining his freedom was ordered to wear on his finger a ring
made out of his iron fetters and of the rock to which he had been chained; hence, in
memory of their saviour's sufferings, men have worn rings ever since. The practice of
wearing crowns or garlands was explained by some people in the same way. See
Hyginus, Ast. ii.15; Serv. Verg. Ecl.
6.42; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvii.2; Isidore, Orig.
xix.32.1. According to one version of the legend, the crown which the sufferer on
regaining his liberty was doomed to wear was a crown of willow; and the Carians, who
used to crown their brows with branches of willow, explained that they did so in
imitation of Prometheus. See Athenaeus xv.11-13, pp. 671-673 EB. In the
present passage of Apollodorus, if the text is correct, Herakles, as the deliverer of
Prometheus, is obliged to bind himself vicariously for the prisoner whom he has
released; and he chooses to do so with his favourite olive. Similarly he has to find a
substitute to die instead of Prometheus, and he discovers the substitute in Chiron. As
to the substitution of Chiron for Prometheus, see Apollod.
2.5.4. It is remarkable that, though Prometheus was supposed to have attained
to immortality and to be the great benefactor, and even the creator, of mankind, he
appears not to have been worshipped by the Greeks; Lucian says that nowhere were temples
of Prometheus to be seen （Lucian, Prometheus 14）.
and to Zeus he presented Chiron, who, though immortal, consented to die in
his stead.
Now Prometheus had told Hercules not to go himself after the apples but to send Atlas,
first relieving him of the burden of the sphere; so when he was come to Atlas in the land
of the Hyperboreans, he took the advice and relieved Atlas. But when Atlas had received
three apples from the Hesperides, he came to Hercules, and not wishing to support the
sphere< he said that he would himself carry the apples to Eurystheus, and bade
Hercules hold up the sky in his stead. Hercules promised to do so, but succeeded by craft
in putting it on Atlas instead. For at the advice of Prometheus he begged Atlas to hold up
the sky till he should>The passage in angular
brackets is wanting in the manuscripts of Apollodorus, but is restored from the
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1396, who quotes as his authority
Pherecydes, the writer here seemingly followed by Apollodorus. See the Critical Note.
The story of the contest of wits between Herakles and Atlas is represented in one of the
extant metopes of the temple of Zeus at Olympia, which were seen and described by Paus.
5.10.9. See Frazer, note on Pausanias （vol. iii. pp.
524ff.）. put a pad on his head. When Atlas heard that, he laid
the apples down on the ground and took the sphere from Hercules. And so Hercules picked up
the apples and departed. But some say that he did not get them from Atlas, but that he
plucked the apples himself after killing the guardian snake. And having brought the apples
he gave them to Eurystheus. But he, on receiving them, bestowed them on
Hercules, from whom Athena got them and conveyed them back again; for it was not lawful
that they should be laid down anywhere.
A twelfth labour imposed on Hercules was to bring Cerberus from Hades.As to Herakles and Cerberus, see Hom.
Il. 8.366ff.; Hom. Od. 11.623ff.; Bacch. 5.56ff., ed. Jebb; Eur.
Herc. 23ff.; Eur. Her. 1277ff.; Diod.
4.25.1, Diod. 4.26.1; Paus. 2.31.6;
Paus. 2.35.10; Paus.
3.18.13; Paus. 3.25.5ff.; Paus. 5.26.7; Paus. 9.34.5; Tzetzes,
Chiliades ii.388-405 （who seems to follow Apollodorus）;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368; Ov. Met.
7.410ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 31; Seneca, Agamemnon 859ff.;
Eur. Herc. 50ff.; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 20 (First Vatican Mythographer 57). Ancient writers
differ as to the number of Cerberus's heads. Hesiod assigned him fifty （Hes. Th. 311ff.）; Pindar raised the number to a
hundred （Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368）, a liberal
estimate which was accepted by Tzetzes in one place (Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 699) and by Horace in another （Hor. Carm. 2.13.34）. Others reduced the number to three. See Soph. Trach. 1098; Eur. Herc.
24; Eur. Herc. 1277; Paus.
3.25.6; Hor. Carm. 2.19.29ff.,
iii.11.17ff.; Verg. G. 4.483, Aen. vi.417ff.; Ov. Met.
4.451ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 151; Seneca, Agamemnon 62;
Seneca, Herakles Furens 783ff. Apollodorus apparently seeks to reconcile
these contradictions, and he is followed as usual by Tzetzes （Tzetzes,
Chiliades ii.390ff.）, who, however, at the same time speaks of
Cerberus as fifty-headed. The whole of the present passage of Apollodorus, from the
description of Cerberus down to Herakles's slaughter of one of the kine of Hades, is
quoted, with a few small variations, by a Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368. See
Dindorf's edition of the Scholia, vol. i. p. 287. The quotation is omitted by Bekker
in his edition of the Scholia p. 233. Now this Cerberus had three heads
of dogs, the tail of a dragon, and on his back the heads of all sorts of snakes. When
Hercules was about to depart to fetch him, he went to Eumolpus at Eleusis, wishing to be initiated. However it was not
then lawful for foreigners to be initiated: since he proposed to be initiated as the
adoptive son of Pylius. But not being able to see the mysteries because he had not been
cleansed of the slaughter of the centaurs, he was cleansed by Eumolpus and then
initiated.As to the initiation of Herakles at Eleusis, compare Diod. 4.25.1;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.394. According to Diodorus, the rites were
performed on this occasion by Musaeus, son of Orpheus. Elsewhere
（Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.14.3） the same writer says that
Demeter instituted the lesser Eleusinian mysteries in honour of Herakles for the purpose
of purifying him after his slaughter of the centaurs. The statement that Pylius acted as
adoptive father to Herakles at his initiation is repeated by Plut. Thes. 33, who mentions that before Castor and Pollux were initiated at
Athens they were in like manner adopted by
Aphidnus. Herodotus says （Hdt. 8.65） that
any Greek who pleased might be initiated at Eleusis. The initiation of Herakles is represented in ancient reliefs. See
A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.425ff. And having come to
Taenarum in Laconia, where is the
mouth of the descent to Hades, he descended through it.Compare Eur. Herc. 23ff.; Paus.
3.25.5; Seneca, Herakles Furens 807ff. Sophocles seems to have
written a Satyric drama on the descent of Herakles into the infernal regions at
Taenarum. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
i. pp. 167ff. According to another account, Herakles descended, not at Taenarum
but at the Acherusian Chersonese, near Heraclea
Pontica on the Black Sea. The marks of the descent were there pointed out to
a great depth. See Xen. Ana. 6.2.2. But when
the souls saw him, they fled, save Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa. And Hercules drew his
sword against the Gorgon, as if she were alive, but he learned from Hermes that she was an
empty phantom.So Bacch.
5.71ff., ed. Jebb represents Herakles in Hades drawing his bow against the
ghost of Meleager in shining armour, who reminds the hero that there is nothing to fear
from the souls of the dead; so, too, Verg. A. 6.290ff.
describes Aeneas in Hades drawing his sword on the Gorgons and Harpies, till the Sibyl
tells him that they are mere flitting empty shades. Apollodorus more correctly speaks of
the ghost of only one Gorgon （Medusa）, because of the three Gorgons
she alone was mortal. See Apollod. 2.4.2. Compare Hom. Od. 11.634ff. And being come near to the gates
of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous,On Theseus and
Pirithous in hell, see Apollod. E.1.23ff.; Hom. Od. 1.631; Eur. Herc.
619; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.101ff., with the Scholiast on 101;
Diod. 4.26.1, Diod. 4.63.4ff.; Paus.
1.17.4; Paus. 9.31.5; Paus. 10.29.9; Apostolius, Cent. iii.36; Suidas, s.v.
li/spoi;Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn.
1368; Verg. A. 6.392ff., 617ff.; Hor. Carm. 3.4.79ff., iv.7.27ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
79; Aulus Gellius x.16.13; Serv. Verg. A.
6.617; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 18 (First
Vatican Mythographer 48). The general opinion seems to have been that Herakles
rescued Theseus, but that he could not save Pirithous. Others, however, alleged that he
brought up both from the dead （Hyginus, Fab. 79）; others
again affirmed that he brought up neither （Diod. 4.63.5）.
A dull rationalistic version of the romantic story converted Hades into a king of the
Molossians or Thesprotians, named Aidoneus, who had a wife Persephone, a daughter
Cora, and a dog Cerberus, which he set to
worry his daughter's suitors, promising to give her in marriage to him who could master
the ferocious animal. Discovering that Theseus and Pirithous were come not to woo but to
steal his daughter, he arrested them. The dog made short work of Pirithous, but Theseus
was kept in durance till the king consented to release him at the intercession of
Herakles. See Plut. Thes. 31.4-35.1ff.; Ael.,
Var. Hist. iv.5; Paus. 1.17.4, Paus. 1.18.4, Paus. 2.22.6,
Paus. 3.18.5; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.406ff. him who wooed Persephone in wedlock and was therefore bound fast.
And when they beheld Hercules, they stretched out their hands as if they should be raised
from the dead by his might. And Theseus, indeed, he took by the hand and raised up, but
when he would have brought up Pirithous, the earth quaked and he let go. And
he rolled away also the stone of Ascalaphus.See Apollod. 1.5.3. And wishing to provide the souls with
blood, he slaughtered one of the kine of Hades. But Menoetes, son of Ceuthonymus, who
tended the king, challenged Hercules to wrestle, and, being seized round the middle, had
his ribs broken;Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.396ff., who calls the herdsman Menoetius. howbeit, he was let off at
the request of Persephone. When Hercules asked Pluto for Cerberus, Pluto ordered him to
take the animal provided he mastered him without the use of the weapons which he carried.
Hercules found him at the gates of Acheron, and,
cased in his cuirass and covered by the lion's skin, he flung his arms round the head of
the brute, and though the dragon in its tail bit him, he never relaxed his grip and
pressure till it yielded.Literally, “till he
persuaded （it）.” So he carried it off and ascended
through Troezen.Compare Paus. 2.31.2. According to others, the ascent of
Herakles with Cerberus took place at Hermione （Paus. 2.35.10）
or on Mount Laphystius in Boeotia
（Paus. 9.34.5）. But Demeter
turned Ascalaphus into a short-eared owl,Compare Ov. Met. 5.538ff. As to the short-eared owl
（w)=tos）, see D'Arcy Wentworth
Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds, pp. 200ff. and
Hercules, after showing Cerberus to Eurystheus, carried him back to Hades.
After his labours Hercules went to Thebes and
gave Megara to Iolaus,With this and what follows down to the adventure with Syleus, compare
Diod. 4.31 （who seems to be following the same authority as
Apollodorus）; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.412-435. and, wishing
himself to wed, he ascertained that Eurytus, prince of Oechalia, had proposed the hand of his daughter Iole as a prize to him who
should vanquish himself and his sons in archery.Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. 5.392; Soph.
Trach. 260ff., with the Scholiast on Soph. Trach. 266;
Scholiast on Eur. Hipp. 545. So he came to Oechalia, and though he proved himself better than
them at archery, yet he did not get the bride; for while Iphitus, the elder of Eurytus's
sons, said that Iole should be given to Hercules, Eurytus and the others refused, and said
they feared that, if he got children, he would again kill his offspring.As he had killed the children he had by Megara. See Apollod.
2.4.12.
Not long after, some cattle were stolen from Euboea by Autolycus, and Eurytus supposed that it was done
by Hercules; but Iphitus did not believe it and went to Hercules. And meeting him, as he
came from Pherae after saving the dead Alcestis for Admetus, he invited him to seek the
kine with him. Hercules promised to do so and entertained him; but going mad again he
threw him from the walls of Tiryns.The story is told somewhat differently by Hom. Od. 21.23-30. According to him, Iphitus had lost twelve
mares （not oxen） and came in search of them to Herakles, who murdered
him in his house and kept the mares. A Scholiast on Hom. Od. xxi.22 says
that the mares had been stolen by Autolycus and sold by him to Herakles. Another
Scholiast on the same passage of Homer, who refers to Pherecydes as his authority, says
that Herakles treacherously lured Iphitus to the top of the wall, then hurled him down.
As to the quest of the mares and the murder of Iphitus, see also Soph. Trach. 270-273; Diod. 4.31.2ff.
（who says that Herakles himself stole the mares out of spite at
Eurytus）; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.417-423; Scholiast on Hom.
Il. v.392. Apollodorus seems to be the only writer who substitutes cattle for
mares in this story. Wishing to be purified of the murder he repaired to Neleus,
who was prince of the Pylians. And when Neleus rejected his request on the score of his
friendship with Eurytus, he went to Amyclae and was purified by Deiphobus, son of
Hippolytus.Compare Diod. 4.31.4ff.;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. v.392. But being afflicted with a dire
disease on account of the murder of Iphitus he went to Delphi and inquired how he might be rid of the disease. As the
Pythian priestess answered him not by oracles, he was fain to plunder the temple, and,
carrying off the tripod, to institute an oracle of his own. But Apollo fought him,As to the attempt of Herakles to carry off the tripod, see
Plut. De EI apud Delphos 6; Plut. De sera numinis vindicta
12 （who says that Herakles carried it off to Pheneus）; Paus. 3.21.8, Paus. 8.37.1,
Paus. 10.13.7ff.; Scholiast on Pind. O.
9.29(43); Cicero, De natura deorum iii.16.42; Hyginus, Fab.
32; Serv. Verg. A. 8.300. The subject was often
represented in ancient art; for example, it was sculptured in the gable of the Treasury
of the Siphnians at Delphi; the principal
pieces of the sculpture were discovered by the French in their excavation of the
sanctuary. See E. Bourguet, Les ruines de Delphes （Paris,
1914）, pp. 76ff., and Frazer, commentary on Pausanias, vol. v.
pp. 274ff. and Zeus threw a thunderbolt between them. When they had thus
been parted, Hercules received an oracle, which declared that the remedy for his disease
was for him to be sold, and to serve for three years, and to pay compensation for the
murder to Eurytus. After the delivery of the oracle,
Hermes sold Hercules, and he was bought by Omphale,As to
Herakles and Omphale, see Soph. Trach. 247ff.;
Diod. 4.31.5-8; Lucian, Dial. Deorum. xiii.2; Plut.
Quaest. Graec. 45; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.425ff.; Scholiast
on Hom. Od. xxi.22; Joannes Lydus, De magistratibus iii.64;
Ovid, Her. ix.55ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 32; Seneca,
Herakles Oetaeus 371ff.; Statius, Theb. x.646-649. According to
Pherecydes, cited by the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xxi.22, Hermes sold Herakles
to Omphale for three talents. The sum obtained by his sale was to be paid as
compensation to the sons of the murdered Iphitus, according to Diod.
4.31.5-8. The period of his servitude, according to Soph. Trach. 252ff., was only one year; but Herodorus, cited by the
Scholiast on Soph. Tr. 253, says that it was three years, which agrees
with the statement of Apollodorus. daughter of Iardanes, queen of Lydia, to whom at his death her husband Tmolus had
bequeathed the government. Eurytus did not accept the compensation when it was presented
to him, but Hercules served Omphale as a slave, and in the course of his servitude he
seized and bound the Cercopes at Ephesus;As to the Cercopes, see Diod. 4.31.7;
Nonnus, in Mythographi Graeci, ed. A. Westermann, Appendix Narrationum, 39, p.
375; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.431, v.73ff.; Zenobius, Cent.
v.10; Apostolius, Cent. xi.19. These malefactors were two in
number. Herakles is said to have carried them hanging with their heads downward from a
pole. They are so represented in Greek art. See W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der
griech. und röm. Mythologie, ii.1166ff. The name Cercopes
seems to mean “tailed men,” （from ke/rkos, “tail”）. One story concerning them
was that they were deceitful men whom Zeus punished by turning them into apes, and that
the islands of Ischia and Procida, off the Bay of Naples, were called Pithecusae
（“Ape Islands”） after them. See
Harpocration, s.v. *ke/rkwy;
Eustathius on Hom. Od. xix.247, p. 1864; Ov.
Met. 14.88ff. According to Pherecydes, the Cercopes were turned into stone. See
Scholiast on Lucian, Alexander 4, p. 181, ed. H. Rabe. The story of
Herakles and the Cercopes has been interpreted as a reminiscence of Phoenician traders
bringing apes to Greek markets. See O. Keller, Thiere des classischen
Alterthums （Innsbruck, 1887）, p. 1. The
interpretation may perhaps be supported by an Assyrian bas-relief which represents a
Herculean male figure carrying an ape on his head and leading another ape by a leash,
the animals being apparently brought as tribute to a king. See O. Keller, op.
cit., p. 11, fig. 2; Perrot et Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art dans
l'Antiquité, ii.547, fig 254. and as for Syleus in
Aulis, who compelled passing
strangers to dig, Hercules killed him with his daughter Xenodoce, after burning the vines
with the roots.Compare Diod. 4.31.7;
Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.432ff.; Conon 17. Euripides wrote a
satyric play on the subject. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 575ff. The legend
may be based on a custom practised by vine-dressers on passing strangers. See W.
Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 12, 53ff., who, for
the rough jests of vine dressers in antiquity, refers to Hor. Sat.
i.8.28ff.; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii.26.66(249). And having put
in to the island of Doliche, he saw the body of Icarus washed ashore and buried it, and he
called the island Icaria instead of Doliche. In
return Daedalus made a portrait statue of Hercules at Pisa, which Hercules mistook at night for living and threw a stone and hit
it. And during the time of his servitude with Omphale it is said that the voyage to
ColchisThat is,
the voyage of the Argo. See above, Apollod. 1.9.16ff. As to the hunt of the Calydonian boar,
see above, Apollod. 1.8.2ff. As to the clearance of the
Isthmus by Theseus, see below, Apollod. 3.16, and the
Apollod. E.1.1ff. and the hunt of the
Calydonian boar took place, and that Theseus on his way from Troezen cleared the Isthmus of malefactors.
After his servitude, being rid of his disease he mustered an army of noble volunteers and
sailed for Ilium with eighteen ships of fifty
oars each.As to the siege and capture of Troy by Herakles, see Hom. Il.
5.640-643, Hom. Il. 5.648-651; Pind. I. 6.26(38)ff.; Diod. 4.32; Tzetzes,
Chiliades ii.443ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34; Ov. Met. 11.213-217, xiii.22ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
89. The account given by Diodorus agrees so closely in matter, though not in
words, with that of Apollodorus that both authors probably drew on the same source.
Homer, with whom Tzetzes agrees, says that Herakles went to Troy with only six ships. Diodorus notices the Homeric
statement, but mentions that according to some the fleet of Herakles numbered
“eighteen long ships.” And having come to port at Ilium, he left the guard of the ships to OiclesAs to Oicles at Troy,
compare Diod. 4.32.3; Paus. 8.36.6, who says
that his tomb was shown near Megalopolis in Arcadia. Sophocles
seems to have written a play called Oicles, though there is some doubt as
to the spelling of the name. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A.
C. Pearson, ii.119. and himself with the rest of the champions set out
to attack the city. Howbeit Laomedon marched against the ships with the multitude and slew
Oicles in battle, but being repulsed by the troops of Hercules, he was besieged. The siege
once laid, Telamon was the first to breach the wall and enter the city, and after him
Hercules. But when he saw that Telamon had entered it first, he drew his sword and rushed
at him, loath that anybody should be reputed a better man than himself. Perceiving that,
Telamon collected stones that lay to hand, and when Hercules asked him what he did, he
said he was building an altar to Hercules the Glorious Victor.This incident is recorded also by Tzetzes （Scholiast on
Lycophron 469）; but according to him the title which Telamon applied
to Herakles at the altar was Averter of Ills （Alexikakos）, not
Glorious Victor （Kallinikos）. Hercules thanked him, and when he
had taken the city and shot down Laomedon and his sons, except Podarces, he assigned
Laomedon's daughter Hesione as a prize to TelamonCompare Soph. Aj. 1299-1303; Scholiast
on Hom. Il. 8.284; Ov. Met. 11.216ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 89. and allowed her to take with her whomsoever of
the captives she would. When she chose her brother Podarces, Hercules said that he must
first be a slave and then be ransomed by her. So when he was being sold she took the veil
from her head and gave it as a ransom; hence Podarces was called Priam.This derivation of the name Priam from the verb pri/amai, “to buy,” is repeated, somewhat
more clearly, by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 34, *poda/rkhn e)pri/ato, o(/qen kai\ e)klh/qh Pri/amos. Compare Hyginus,
Fab. 89, Podarci, filio eius infanti, regnum dedit, qui
postea Priamus est appellatus, a)po\ tou=
pri/asqai. For the bestowal by Herakles of the kingdom on the youthful Priam,
compare Seneca, Troades 718ff.
When Hercules was sailing from Troy, Hera sent
grievous storms,See Hom. Il.
14.249ff., Hom. Il. 15.24ff. which so
vexed Zeus that he hung her from Olympus.See Apollod. 1.3.5.
Hercules sailed to Cos,With the following account of Herakles's adventures in Cos, compare the
Scholiasts on Hom. Il. i.590, xiv.255; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.445; Ov. Met. 7.363ff. The Scholiast on
Hom. Il. xiv.255 tells us that the story was found in Pherecydes, whom
Apollodorus probably follows in the present passage. and the Coans, thinking he
was leading a piratical squadron, endeavored to prevent his approach by a shower of
stones. But he forced his way in and took the city by night, and slew the king, Eurypylus,
son of Poseidon by Astypalaea. And Hercules was
wounded in the battle by Chalcedon; but Zeus snatched him away, so that he took no harm.
And having laid waste Cos, he came through Athena's agency to Phlegra, and sided with the
gods in their victorious war on the giants.See Apollod. 1.6.1ff.
Not long afterwards he collected an Arcadian
army, and being joined by volunteers from the first men in Greece he marched against Augeas.For the
expedition of Herakles against Augeas, see Diod. 4.33.1; Paus. 5.1.10ff.; Paus. 5.2.1;
Paus. 6.20.16; Scholiast on Pind. O.
9.31(40). But Augeas, hearing of the war that
Hercules was levying, appointed Eurytus and CteatusAs to Eurytus and Cteatus, who were called Actoriones after their father
Actor, and Moliones or Molionides, after their mother Molione, see Hom. Il. 2.621, Hom. Il.
11.709ff.,Hom. Il. 11.751ff., Hom. Il. 13.638; Paus.
5.1.10ff.; Paus. 5.2.1ff. and Paus. 5.2.5ff. According to some, they had two bodies joined in one
（Scholiast on Hom. Il. 13.638, 639）. According to
others, they had each two heads four hands, and four feet but only one body
（Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.709）. Compare
Eustathius on Hom. Il. xi.749, p. 882. The poet Ibycus spoke of them as
twins, born of a silver egg and “with equal heads in one body”
（i)sokefa/lous e(nigui/ous）. See
Athenaeus ii.50, pp. 57ff. Their story was told by Pherecydes
（Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.709）, whom Apollodorus may
have followed in the present passage. generals of the Eleans. They were two men
joined in one, who surpassed all of that generation in strength and were sons of Actor by
Molione, though their father was said to be Poseidon; now Actor was a brother of Augeas.
But it came to pass that on the expedition
Hercules fell sick; hence he concluded a truce with the Molionides. But
afterwards, being apprized of his illness, they attacked the army and slew many. On that
occasion, therefore, Hercules beat a retreat; but
afterwards at the celebration of the third Isthmian festival, when the Eleans sent the
Molionides to take part in the sacrifices,
Hercules waylaid and killed them at Cleonae,Compare Pind. O. 10.26(32)ff.; Diod.
4.33.3; Paus. 2.15.1, Paus.
5.2.1. and marching on Elis
took the city. And having killed Augeas and his sons, he restored Phyleus and bestowed on
him the kingdom.Compare Pind. O.
10.34(43)ff.; Diod. 4.33.4; Paus.
5.3.1; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.700. He also celebrated the
Olympian gamesHerakles is said to have marked out the
sacred precinct at Olympia, instituted the
quadriennial Olympic festival, and celebrated the Olympic games for the first time. See
Pind. O. 3.3ff., Pind. O.
6.67ff., Pind. O. 10.43(51)ff.; Diod.
4.14.1ff., Diod. 5.64.6; Paus. 5.7.9;
Paus. 5.8.1 and Paus.
5.8.3ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 41; Scholiast on
Hom. Il. xi.700; Hyginus, Fab. 273. and founded
an altar of Pelops,Apollodorus is probably mistaken in
speaking of an altar of Pelops at Olympia. The
more accurate Pausanias describes （Paus.
5.13.1ff.） a precinct of Pelops founded by Herakles at Olympia and containing a pit, in which the magistrates
annually sacrificed a black ram to the hero: he does not mention an altar. As a hero,
that is, a worshipful dead man, Pelops was not entitled to an altar, he had only a right
to a sacrificial pit. For sacrifices to the dead in pits see Hom. Od. 11.23ff.; Philostratus, Her. xx.27; Scholiast on
Eur. Ph. 274; Paus. 9.39.6; Fr. Pfister,
Der Reliquienkult im Altertum, pp. 474ff. and built six
altars of the twelve gods.As to the six double altars, each
dedicated to a pair of deities, see Pind. O. 5.4(8)ff.;
Pind. O. 10.24(30); Scholiast on Pind. O. 5.4(8) and Pind. O.
5.5(10), who cites Herodorus on the foundation of the altars by Herakles.
After the capture of Elis he marched against
Pylus,As to the war of Herakles on Pylus, see Hom. Il. 5.392ff.; Hom. Il.
11.690ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.396; Paus. 2.18.7; Paus. 3.26.8; Paus. 5.3.1; Paus. 6.22.5; Paus. 6.25.2ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.451; Ov. Met. 12.549ff. and having taken the city he slew
Periclymenus, the most valiant of the sons of Neleus, who used to change his shape in
battle.See Apollod.
1.9.9, with the note. And he slew Neleus and his sons, except Nestor; for
he was a youth and was being brought up among the Gerenians. In the fight he also wounded
Hades, who was siding with the Pylians.See Hom. Il. 5.395ff.; Paus.
6.25.2ff. In the same battle Herakles is said to have wounded Hera with an arrow
in the right breast. See Hom. Il. 5.392ff.;
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii.36, p. 31, ed. Potter, from whom we
learn that Panyasis mentioned the wounding of the goddess by the hero. Again, in the
same fight at Pylus, we read that Herakles gashed the thigh of Ares with his spear and
laid that doughty deity in the dust. See Hes. Sh.
359ff.
Having taken Pylus he marched against
Lacedaemon, wishing to punish the sons of Hippocoon,As to the war of Herakles with Hippocoon and his sons, see Diod.
4.33.5ff.; Paus. 2.18.7, Paus. 3.10.6, Paus. 3.15.3-6, Paus. 3.19.7, Paus.
8.53.9. for he was angry with them, both because they fought for Neleus, and
still angrier because they had killed the son of Licymnius. For when he was looking at the
palace of Hippocoon, a hound of the Molossian breed ran out and rushed at him, and he
threw a stone and hit the dog, whereupon the Hippocoontids darted out and
despatched him with blows of their cudgels. It was to avenge his death that
Hercules mustered an army against the Lacedaemonians. And
having come to Arcadia he begged Cepheus to join
him with his sons, of whom he had twenty. But fearing lest, if he quitted Tegea, the Argives would march against it, Cepheus refused
to join the expedition. But Hercules had received
from Athena a lock of the Gorgon's hair in a bronze jar and gave it to Sterope, daughter
of Cepheus, saying that if an army advanced against the city, she was to hold up the lock
of hair thrice from the walls, and that, provided she did not look before her, the enemy
would be turned to flight.Compare Paus. 8.47.5. That being so, Cepheus and his sons took the field, and
in the battle he and his sons perished, and besides them Iphicles, the brother of
Hercules. Having killed Hippocoon and his sons
and subjugated the city, Hercules restored Tyndareus and entrusted the kingdom to him.
Passing by Tegea,
Hercules debauched Auge, not knowing her to be a daughter of Aleus.As to the story of Herakles, Auge, and Telephus, see Apollod. 3.9.1; Diod. 4.33.7-12; Strab. 13.1.69; Paus. 8.4.9,
Paus. 8.47.4, Paus.
8.48.7, Paus. 8.54.6, Paus.
10.28.8; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 206; Hyginus, Fab.
99ff. The tale was told by Hecataeus （Paus.
8.4.9, Paus. 8.47.4）, and was the theme
of tragedies by Sophocles and Euripides. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 146ff.,
436ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles. ed. A. C. Pearson, i.
46ff., ii.70ff. Different versions of the story were current among ancient
writers and illustrated by ancient artists. See Frazer, note on Paus. 1.4.6
（vol. ii. pp. 75ff.）. One of these versions, which I omitted
to notice in that place, ran as follows. On a visit to Delphi, king Aleus of Tegea was
warned by the oracle that his daughter would bear a son who would kill his maternal
uncles, the sons of Aleus. To guard against this catastrophe, Aleus hurried home and
appointed his daughter priestess of Athena, declaring that, should she prove unchaste,
he would put her to death. As chance would have it, Herakles arrived at Tegea on his way to Elis, where he purposed to make war on Augeas. The king entertained him
hospitably in the sanctuary of Athena, and there the hero, flushed with wine, violated
the maiden priestess. Learning that she was with child, her father Aleus sent for the
experienced ferryman Nauplius, father of Palamedes, and entrusted his daughter to him to
take and drown her. On their way to the sea the girl （Auge） gave birth
to Telephus on Mount Parthenius, and instead of drowning her and the infant the ferryman
sold them both to king Teuthras in Mysia, who,
being childless, married Auge and adopted Telephus. See Alcidamas, Od. 14-16, pp.
179ff., ed. Blass （appended to his edition of Antiphon）. This
version, which represents mother and child as sold together to Teuthras, differs from
the version adopted by Apollodorus, according to whom Auge alone was sold to Teuthras in
Mysia, while her infant son Telephus was left
behind in Arcadia and reared by herdsmen
（Apollod. 3.9.1）. The sons of Aleus
and maternal uncles of Telephus were Cepheus and Lycurgus （Apollod. 3.9.1）. Ancient writers do not tell us how
Telephus fulfilled the oracle by killing them, though the murder is mentioned by
Hyginus, Fab. 244 and a Greek proverb-writer
（Paroemiographi Graeci, ed. Leutsch and Schneidewin, i. p.
212）. Sophocles appears to have told the story in his lost play,
The Mysians; for in it he described how Telephus came, silent and
speechless, from Tegea to Mysia （Aristot. Poet. 1460a
32">P">Aristot. Poet. 1460a 32）, and this silence of
Telephus seems to have been proverbial. For the comic poet Alexis, speaking of a greedy
parasite who used to gobble up his dinner without exchanging a word with anybody, says
that, “he dines like speechless Telephus, answering all questions put to him
only with nods” （Athenaeus x.18, p. 421 D）. And
another comic poet, Amphis, describing the high and mighty airs with which fish-mongers
treated their customers in the market, says that it was a thousand times easier to get
speech of a general than of a fish-monger; for if you addressed one of these gentry and,
pointing to a fish, asked “How much?” he would not at first deign to
look at you, much less speak to you, but would stoop down, silent as Telephus, over his
wares; though in time, his desire of lucre overcoming his contempt of you, he would slap
a bloated octopus and mutter meditatively, as if soliloquizing, “ Sixpence for
him, and a bob for the hammerfish.” This latter poet explains incidentally why
Telephus was silent; he says it was very natural that fish-mongers should hold their
tongue, “for all homicides are in the same case,” thus at once
informing us of a curious point in Greek law or custom and gratifying his spite at the
“cursed fish-mongers,” whom he compares to the worst class of
criminals. See Athenaeus vi.5, p. 224 DE. As Greek homicides were supposed
to be haunted by the ghosts of their victims until a ceremony of purification was
performed which rid them of their invisible, but dangerous, pursuers, we may conjecture
that the rule of silence had to be observed by them until the accomplishment of the
purificatory rite released them from the restrictions under which they laboured during
their uncleanness, and permitted them once more to associate freely with their fellows.
As to the restrictions imposed on homicides in ancient Greece, see Psyche's Task, 2nd ed. pp.
113ff.; Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.80, 83ff.
The motive of the homicide's silence may have been a fear lest by speaking he should
attract the attention, and draw down on himself the vengeance, of his victim's ghost.
Similarly, among certain peoples, a widow is bound to observe silence for some time
after her husband's death, and the rule appears to be based on a like dread of exciting
the angry or amorous passions of her departed spouse by the sound of the familiar voice.
See Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, iii.71ff. And
she brought forth her babe secretly and deposited it in the precinct of
Athena. But the country being wasted by a pestilence, Aleus entered the precinct and on
investigation discovered his daughter's motherhood. So he exposed the babe on Mount
Parthenius, and by the providence of the gods it was preserved: for a doe that had just
cast her fawn gave it suck, and shepherds took up the babe and called it
Telephus.Apollodorus seems to derive the name Telephus
from qhlh/, “a dug,” and e)/lafos, “a doe.” And her father
gave Auge to Nauplius, son of Poseidon, to sell far away in a foreign land; and Nauplius
gave her to Teuthras, the prince of Teuthrania, who made her his wife.
And having come to Calydon, Hercules wooed Deianira, daughter of Oeneus.When Herakles went down to hell to fetch up Cerberus, he met
the ghost of Meleager, and conversing with him proposed to marry the dead hero's sister,
Deianira. The story of the match thus made, not in heaven but in hell, is told by Bacch. 5.165ff., ed. Jebb, and seems to have been
related by Pindar in a lost poem （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xxi.194）. As to the marriage of Herakles with Deianira at Calydon, the
home of her father Oeneus, see also Diod. 4.34.1. He wrestled for
her hand with Achelous, who assumed the likeness of a bull; but Hercules broke off one of
his horns.On the struggle of Herakles with the river
Achelous, see Soph. Trach. 9-21; Diod.
4.35.3ff.; Dio Chrysostom lx.; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xxi.194; Ov. Met. 9.1-88; Hyginus, Fab.
31; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 20, 131 (First
Vatican Mythographer 58; Second Vatican Mythographer 165). According to Ovid,
the river-god turned himself first into a serpent and then into a bull. The story was
told by Archilochus, who represented the river Achelous in the form of a bull, as we
learn from the Scholiast on Hom. Il.xxi.194. Diodorus rationalized the
legend in his dull manner by supposing that it referred to a canal which the eminent
philanthropist Herakles dug for the benefit of the people of Calydon. So Hercules
married Deianira, but Achelous recovered the horn by giving the horn of Amalthea in its
stead. Now Amalthea was a daughter of Haemonius, and she had a bull's horn, which,
according to Pherecydes, had the power of supplying meat or drink in abundance, whatever
one might wish.According to some, Amalthea was the goat on
whose milk the infant Zeus was fed. From one of its horns flowed ambrosia, and from the
other flowed nectar. See Callimachus, Hymn to Zeus 48ff., with the
Scholiast. According to others, Amalthea was only the nymph who owned the goat
which suckled the god. See Eratosthenes, Cat. 13; Hyginus, Ast.
ii.13; Ovid, Fasti v.115ff. Some said that, in gratitude for having
been nurtured on the animal's milk, Zeus made a constellation of the goat and bestowed
one of its horns on the nymphs who had reared him, at the same time ordaining that the
horn should produce whatever they asked for. See Zenobius, Cent. ii.48. As
to the horn, see A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.501ff.
And Hercules marched with the Calydonians against the Thesprotians, and having taken the
city of Ephyra, of which Phylas was king, he
had intercourse with the king's daughter Astyoche, and became the father of
Tlepolemus.Compare Diod. 4.36.1, who gives
Phyleus as the name of the king of Ephyra,
but does not mention the name of his daughter. According to Pind. O. 7.23(40)ff., with the Scholiast）, the mother of Tlepolemus
by Herakles was not Astyoche but Astydamia. While he stayed among them, he sent
word to Thespius to keep seven of his sons, to send three to Thebes and to despatch the remaining forty to the
island of Sardinia to plant a colony.The sons referred to are those whom Herakles had by the fifty
daughters of Thespius. See Apollod. 2.4.10.
CompareDiod. 4.29, who says that two （not three） of
these sons of Herakles remained in Thebes,
and that their descendants were honoured down to the historian's time. He informs us
also that, on account of the youth of his sons, Herakles committed the leadership of the
colony to his nephew Iolaus. As to the Sardinian colony see also Paus. 1.29.5, Paus. 7.2.2, Paus. 9.23.1, Paus. 10.17.5, who says
（Paus. 10.17.5） that there were still
places called Iolaia in Sardinia, and that
Iolaus was still worshipped by the inhabitants down to his own time. As
Pseudo-Aristotle, Mirab. Auscult. 100, （Westermann, Scriptores rerum
mirabilium Graeci, p. 31） tells us that the works ascribed to Iolaus
included round buildings finely built of masonry in the ancient Greek style, we can
hardly doubt that the reference is to the remarkable prehistoric round towers which are
still found in the island, and to which nothing exactly similar is known elsewhere. The
natives call them nouraghes. They are built in the
form of truncated cones, and their material consists of squared or rough blocks of
stone, sometimes of enormous size. See Perrot et Chipiez, Histoire de l'Art
dans l'Antiquité, iv.22ff. The Sardinian Iolaus was
probably a native god or hero, whom the Greeks identified with their own Iolaus on
account of the similarity of his name. It has been surmised that he was of Phoenician
origin, being identical with Esmun. See W. W. Baudissin, Adonis und
Esmun （Leipsig, 1911）, pp. 282ff. After these
events, as he was feasting with Oeneus, he killed with a blow of his knuckles endeavored,
son of Architeles, when the lad was pouring water on his hands; now the lad was a kinsman
of Oeneus.Compare Diod. 4.36.2; Paus. 2.13.8; Athenaeus ix.80, pp. 410 411 FA;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1212; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 50-51; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.456ff. From Athenaeus
ix.80, pp. 410 411 FA we learn that the story was told or alluded to by
Hellanicus, Herodorus, and Nicander. The victim's name is variously given as Eunomus,
Ennomus, Eurynomus, Archias, Cherias, and Cyathus. He was cupbearer to Oeneus, the
father-in-law of Herakles. The scene of the tragedy seems to have been generally laid at
Calydon, of which Oeneus was king （Apollod.
1.8.1）, but Pausanias transfers the scene to Phlius. Seeing that
it was an accident, the lad's father pardoned Hercules; but Hercules wished,
in accordance with the law, to suffer the penalty of exile, and resolved to depart to Ceyx
at Trachis. And taking Deianira with him, he
came to the river Evenus, at which the centaur Nessus sat and ferried passengers across
for hire,As to Herakles and Nessus, and the fatal affray at
the ferry, see Soph. Trach. 555ff.; Diod.
4.36.3ff.; Strab. 10.2.5; Dio Chrysostom
lx; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii, ii.2.15ff.; Nonnus, in
Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, xxviii.8. p. 371;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50-51; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.457ff.; Ov. Met. 9.101ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
34; Servius. on Virgil, Aen. viii 300; Lactantius Placidus
on Statius, Theb. xi.235; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
i. pp. 20ff., 131 (First Vatican Mythographer 58; Second Vatican Mythographer
165). The tale was told by Archilochus, Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.1212. Apollodorus's version of the story is copied, with a few verbal changes
and omissions, by Zenobius, Cent. i.33, but as usual without
acknowledgment. alleging that he had received the ferry from the gods for his
righteousness. So Hercules crossed the river by himself, but on being asked to pay the
fare he entrusted Deianira to Nessus to carry over. But he, in ferrying her across,
attempted to violate her. She cried out, Hercules heard her, and shot Nessus to the heart
when he emerged from the river. Being at the point of death, Nessus called Deianira to him
and said that if she would have a love charm to operate on Hercules she should mix the
seed he had dropped on the ground with the blood that flowed from the wound inflicted by
the barb. She did so and kept it by her.
Going through the country of the Dryopes and being in lack of food, Hercules met
Thiodamas driving a pair of bullocks; so he unloosed and slaughtered one of
the bullocks and feasted.As to Herakles and Thiodamas,
compare Callimachus, Hymn to Diana 160ff., with the Scholiast on
161 （who calls Thiodamas king of the Dryopians）; Nonnus
(Westermann, Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, xxviii.6, pp. 370ff.);
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1212; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.464ff. From the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1212, we learn
that the tale was told by Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus may here be following. The story
seems to be a doublet of the one told about Herakles at Lindus in Rhodes. See Apollod. 2.5.11, with the note. And when he came to
Ceyx at Trachis he was received by him and
conquered the Dryopes.On the reception of Herakles by Ceyx,
see Diod. 4.36.5; Paus. 1.32.6. As to the
conquest of the Dryopians by Herakles, see Hdt. 8.43, compare
73; Diod. 4.37.1ff.;
Strab. 8.6.13; Paus.
4.34.9ff.; Nonnus, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix
Narrationum, xxix.6, p. 371; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1212,
1218. From these accounts we gather that the Dryopians were a wild robber tribe,
whose original home was in the fastnesses of Mount Parnassus. Driven from there by the
advance of the Dorians, they dispersed and settled, some in Thessaly, some in Euboea, some
in Peloponnese, and some even in Cyprus. Down to the second century of our era the
descendants of the Dryopians maintained their national or tribal traditions and pride of
birth at Asine, on the coast of Messenia （Paus.
1.32.6）.
And afterwards setting out from there, he fought as an ally of Aegimius, king of the
Dorians.On the war which Herakles, in alliance with
Aegimius, king of the Dorians, waged with the Lapiths, see Diod.
4.37.3ff. For the Lapiths, commanded by Coronus, made war on him in a
dispute about the boundaries of the country; and being besieged he called in the help of
Hercules, offering him a share of the country. So Hercules came to his help and slew
Coronus and others, and handed the whole country over to Aegimius free. He slew also
Laogoras,Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.466. king of the Dryopes, with his children, as he was banqueting in a
precinct of Apollo; for the king was a wanton fellow and an ally of the Lapiths. And as he
passed by Itonus he was challenged to single combat by Cycnus a son of Ares
and Pelopia; and closing with him Hercules slew
him also.On the combat of Herakles with Cycnus, see Hes. Sh. 57ff.; Pind. O.
2.82(147), with the Scholia to Pind. O. 10.15(19); Eur. Herc. 391ff.; Plut. Thes.
11; Paus. 1.27.6; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.467. It is said that Cycnus used to cut off the heads of passing strangers,
intending with these gory trophies to build a temple to his father Ares. This we learn
from the Scholiasts on Pind. O. 2.82. The scene of his exploits was
Thessaly. According to Paus. 1.27.6, Herakles slew the ruffian on the banks of the Peneus river; but
Hesiod places the scene at Pagasae, and says
that the grave of Cycnus was washed away by the river Anaurus, a small stream which
flows into the Pagasaean gulf. See Hes. Sh. 70ff., Hes. Sh. 472ff. The story of Cycnus was told in a poem of
Stesichorus. See Scholiast on Pind. O. 10.15(19). For the combat of
Herakles with another Cycnus, see Apollod.
2.5.11. But when he was come to Ormenium, king Amyntor took arms and forbade
him to march through; but when he would have hindered his passage, Hercules slew him
also.It is said that the king refused to give his
daughter Astydamia in marriage to Herakles. So Herakles killed him, took Astydamia by
force, and had a son Ctesippus by her. See Diod. 4.37.4. Ormenium was a
small town at the foot of Mount Pelion. See Strab.
9.5.18.
On his arrival at Trachis he mustered an
army to attack Oechalia, wishing to punish
Eurytus.Eurytus was the king of Oechalia. See Apollod.
2.6.1ff. As to the capture of Oechalia by Herakles, see Soph. Trach.
351-365; Soph. Trach. 476-478; Diod.
4.37.5; Zenobius, Cent. i.33; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.469ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50-51; Scholiast on
Hom. Il. v.392; Scholiast on Eur. Hipp. 545; Hyginus, Fab.
35; Serv. Verg. A. 8.291; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 129ff., 131ff. (Second Vatican Mythographer
159, 165). The situation of Oechalia, the city of Eurytus, was much debated. Homer seems to place it in
Thessaly （Hom. Il. 2.730）. But according to others it was in Euboea, or Arcadia, or Messenia. See Strab. 9.5.17; Paus. 4.2.2ff.;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.87; Second Vatican Mythographer
165. Apollodorus apparently placed it in Euboea. See above, Apollod. 2.6.1ff. There
was an ancient epic called The Capture of <placeName key="perseus,Oechalia" authname="perseus,Oechalia">Oechalia</placeName>, which was commonly attributed to Creophilus of
Samos, though some thought it was by Homer.
See Strab. 14.1.18; compare Strab. 9.5.17; Paus. 4.2.3 （who calls
the poem
<placeName key="perseus,Heraclea,Thessaly" authname="perseus,Heraclea,Thessaly">Heraclea</placeName>
）; Callimachus, Epigram 6(7); Epicorum Graecorum
Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 60ff.; F. G. Welcker, Der epische
Cyclus （Bonn, 1835）, pp. 229ff. As to the names of
the sons of Eurytus, see the Scholiast on Soph. Trach. 266. He quotes a
passage from a lost poem of Hesiod in which the poet mentions Deion, Clytius, Toxeus,
and Iphitus as the sons, and Iola
（Iole） as the daughter of Eurytus. The Scholiast adds that according
to Creophylus and Aristocrates the names of the sons were Toxeus, Clytius, and Deion.
Diod. 4.37.5 calls the sons Toxeus, Molion, and Clytius. Being
joined by Arcadians, Melians from Trachis,
and Epicnemidian Locrians, he slew Eurytus and his sons and took the city.
After burying those of his own side who had fallen, to wit, Hippasus, son of Ceyx, and
Argius and Melas, the sons of Licymnius, he
pillaged the city and led Iole captive. And having put in at Cenaeum, a headland of
Euboea, he built an altar of Cenaean Zeus.Compare Soph. Trach. 237ff.,
Soph. Trach. 752ff., Soph. Trach. 993ff.; Diod. 4.37.5; Ov.
Met. 9.136ff.; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 102ff., 782ff. Cenaeum is
the modern Cape Lithada, the extreme northwestern point of Euboea. It is a low flat promontory, terminating a peninsula which runs
far out westward into the sea, as if to meet the opposite coast of Locris. But while the cape is low and flat, the greater
part of the peninsula is occupied by steep, rugged, and barren mountains, overgrown
generally with lentisk and other shrubs, and presenting in their bareness and aridity a
strong contrast to the beautiful woods and rich vegetation which clothe much of northern
Euboea, especially in the valleys and glens.
But if the mountains themselves are gaunt and bare, the prospect from their summits is
glorious, stretching over the sea which washes the sides of the peninsula, and across it
to the long line of blue mountains which bound, as in a vast amphitheatre, the horizon
on the north, the west, and the south. These blue mountains are in Magnesia, Phthiotis, and Locris. At their
foot the whole valley of the Spercheus lies open to view. The sanctuary of Zeus, at
which Herakles is said to have offered his famous sacrifice, was probably at
“the steep city of Dium,” as Homer calls it （Hom. Il. 2.538）, which may have occupied the site
of the modern Lithada, a village situated high up on the western face of the mountains,
embowered in tall olives, pomegranates, mulberries, and other trees, and supplied with
abundance of flowing water. The inhabitants say that a great city once stood here, and
the heaps of stones, many of them presenting the aspect of artificial mounds, may
perhaps support, if they did not suggest, the tradition. See W. Vischer,
Erinnerungen und Eindrucke aus Griechenland （Basel,
1857）, pp. 659-661; H. N. Ulrichs, Reisen und Forschungen
in Griechenland, ii. （Berlin, 1863）, pp. 236ff.;
C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland, ii.409ff. At Dium
（Lithada?）, in a spot named after a church of St. Constantine, the
foundations of a temple and fair-sized precinct, with a circular base of three steps at
the east end, have been observed in recent years. These ruins may be the remains of the
sanctuary of Caenean Zeus. See A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.123, note
9. Intending to offer sacrifice, he sent the herald Lichas to Trachis to fetch fine raiment.With this and what follows compare Soph. Trach.
756ff.; Diod. 4.38.1ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades
ii.472ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 50-51; Ov. Met. 9.136ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 36;
Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 485ff.; Serv. Verg. A.
8.300; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 21, 132
(First Vatican Mythographer 58; Second Vatican Mythographer 165). The following
passage of Apollodorus, down to and including the ascension of Herakles to heaven, is
copied verbally, with a few unimportant omissions and changes, by Zenobius, Cent.
i.33, but as usual without acknowledgment. From him
Deianira learned about Iole, and fearing that Hercules might love that damsel more than
herself, she supposed that the spilt blood of Nessus was in truth a love-charm, and with
it she smeared the tunic.That is, the “fine
raiment” which Lichas had fetched, from Trachis for the use of Herakles at the sacrifice. So Hercules put
it on and proceeded to offer sacrifice. But no sooner was the tunic warmed than the poison
of the hydra began to corrode his skin; and on that he lifted Lichas by the feet, hurled
him down from the headland,The reading is uncertain. See
the critical note. and tore off the tunic, which clung to his body, so that his
flesh was torn away with it. In such a sad plight he was carried on shipboard to
Trachis: and Deianira, on learning what had
happened, hanged herself.Compare Diod. 4.38.3.
According to Soph. Trach. 930ff.）, Deianira
stabbed herself with a sword. But hanging was the favourite mode of suicide adopted by
Greek legendary heroines, as by Jocasta, Erigone, Phaedra, and Oenone. See Apollod. 1.8.3, Apollod.
1.9.27, Apollod. 3.5.9, Apollod. 3.12.6, Apollod. 3.13.3, Apollod. 3.14.7, Apollod.
E.1.19. It does not seem to have been practised by men. But Hercules,
after charging Hyllus his elder son by Deianira, to marry Iole when he came of age,For this dying charge of Herakles, see Soph. Trach. 1216ff.; Ov. Met.
9.278ff. It is remarkable that Herakles should be represented as so earnestly
desiring that his concubine should become the wife of his eldest son by Deianira. In
many polygamous tribes of Africa it is
customary for the eldest son to inherit all his father's wives, except his own mother.
See Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.541, note 3, ii.280.
Absalom's treatment of his father's concubines （2 Samuel,
xvi.21ff.） suggests that a similar custom formerly obtained in
Israel., I do not remember to have met with
any other seeming trace of a similar practice in Greece. proceeded to Mount Oeta, in the Trachinian
territory, and there constructed a pyre,For the death of
Herakles on the pyre, see Soph. Trach. 1191ff.;
Diod. 4.38.3-8; Lucian, Hermotimus 7; Ov. Met. 9.229ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 36;
Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1483ff.; Serv. Verg. A.
8.300; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 21, 132
(First Vatican Mythographer 58; Second Vatican Mythographer 165). According to
the usual account, it was not Poeas but his son Philoctetes who set a light to the pyre.
So Diod. 4.38.4, Lucian, De morte Peregrini 21, Ov. Met. 9.233ff., Hyginus, Fab. 36,
Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1485ff., 1727, and the Second Vatican
Mythographer. According to a different and less famous version of the legend, Herakles
was not burned to death on a pyre, but, tortured by the agony of the poisoned robe,
which took fire in the sun, he flung himself into a neighbouring stream to ease his pain
and was drowned. The waters of the stream have been hot ever since, and are called
Thermopylae. See Nonnus, in
Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, xxviii.8; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 50-51. Nonnus expressly says that the poisoned tunic
took fire and burned Herakles. That it was thought to be kindled by exposure to the heat
of the sun appears from the narrative of Hyginus, Fab. 36; compare Soph. Trach. 684-704; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus
485ff., 716ff. The waters of Thermopylae are steaming hot to this day. See Adonis, Attis,
Osiris, 3rd ed. i.210ff. The Vatican Mythographers, perhaps through
the blunder of a copyist, transfer the death of Herakles from Mount Oeta to Mount Etna. mounted it, and gave orders to kindle
it. When no one would do so, Poeas, passing by to look for his flocks, set a light to it.
On him Hercules bestowed his bow. While the pyre was burning, it is said that a cloud
passed under Hercules and with a peal of thunder wafted him up to heaven.The ascension of Herakles to heaven in a cloud is described
also by Zenobius, Cent. i.33, who copies Apollodorus. In a more sceptical
vein Diod. 4.38.4 relates that, as soon as a light was set to the pyre, a
thunderstorm burst, and that when the friends of the hero came to collect his bones they
could find none, and therefore supposed he had been translated to the gods. As to the
traditional mode of Herakles's death, compare Alberuni's India,
English ed. by E. C. Sachau, ii.168: “Galenus says in his commentary
to the apothegms of Hippocrates: ‘It is generally known that Asclepius was
raised to the angels in a column of fire, the like of which is also related with regard
to Dionysos, Heracles, and others, who laboured for the benefit of mankind. People say
that God did thus with them in order to destroy the mortal and earthly part of them by
the fire, and afterwards to attract to himself the immortal part of them, and to raise
their souls to heaven.’” So Lucian speaks of Herakles becoming a god
in the burning pile on Mount Oeta, the human element in him, which he had inherited from
his mortal mother, being purged away in the flames, while the divine element ascended
pure and spotless to the gods. See Lucian, Hermotimus 7. The notion that
fire separates the immortal from the mortal element in man has already met us in Apollod. 1.5.1. Thereafter he obtained immortality,
and being reconciled to Hera he married her daughter Hebe,On the marriage of Herakles with Hebe, see Hom. Od. 11.602ff.; Hes. Th.
950ff.; Pind. N. 1.69(104)ff.; Pind. N. 10.17(30)ff.; Pind. I.
4.59(100); Eur. Heraclid. 915ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1349, 1350; Ov.
Met. 9.400ff. According to Eur. Heraclid.
854ff.）, at the battle which the Athenians fought with the Argives in
defence of the Heraclids, two stars were seen shining brightly on the car of Iolaus, and
the diviner interpreted them as Herakles and Hebe. by whom he had sons, Alexiares
and Anicetus.
And he had sons by the daughters of Thespius,A short list
of the sons of Herakles is given by Hyginus, Fab. 162. As to the daughters
of Thespius, see above, Apollod. 2.4.10. to wit:
by Procris he had Antileon and Hippeus（ for the eldest daughter bore
twins）; by Panope he had Threpsippas; by Lyse he had Eumedes;he had Creon;
by Epilais he had Astyanax; by Certhe he had Iobes; by Eurybia he had Polylaus; by Patro
he had Archemachus; by Meline he had Laomedon; by Clytippe he had Eurycapys; by Eubote he
had Eurypylus; by Aglaia he had Antiades; by Chryseis he had Onesippus; by Oriahe had
Laomenes; by Lysidice he had Teles; by Menippis he had Entelides; by Anthippe he had
Hippodromus; by Eury he had Teleutagoras; by Hippo he had Capylus; by Euboea he had Olympus; by Nice he had Nicodromus; by Argele he had Cleolaus; by Exole he
had Erythras; by Xanthis he had Homolippus; by Stratonice he had Atromus; by Iphis he had
Celeustanor; by Laothoe he had Antiphus; by Antiope he had Alopius; by Calametis he had
Astybies; by Phyleis he had Tigasis, by Aeschreis he had Leucones; by Anthea; by
Eurypyle he had Archedicus; by Erato he had Dynastes; by Asopis he had Mentor; by Eone he had Amestrius; by Tiphyse he had Lyncaeus; by Olympusa he had Halocrates; by
Heliconis he had Phalias; by Hesychia he had Oestrobles; by Terpsicrate he had Euryopes;
by Elachia he had Buleus; by Nicippe he had Antimachus; by Pyrippehe had Patroclus; by
Praxithea he had Nephus; by Lysippe he had Erasippus; by Toxicrate he had Lycurgus; by
Marse he had Bucolus; by Eurytele he had Leucippus; by Hippocrate he had Hippozygus. These
he had by the daughters of Thespius. And he had sons by other women: by Deianira, daughter
of Oeneus, he had Hyllus, Ctesippus, Glenus and Onites;Compare Diod. 4.37.1. by Megara, daughter of Creon, he had Therimachus, Deicoon, and Creontiades;Compare Apollod. 2.4.11;
Scholiast on Hom. Od. 11.269, who agrees with Apollodorus as to the names
of the children whom Herakles had by Megara.
But other writers gave different lists. Dinias the Argive, for example, gave the three names mentioned by Apollodorus, but
added to them Deion. See the Scholiast on Pind. I. 5.61(104). by
Omphale he had Agelaus,Diod. 4.31.8 and
Ovid, Her. ix.53ff. give Lamus as the name of the son whom Omphale bore
to Herakles. from whom the family of Croesus was descended,According to Hdt. 1.7 the dynasty which preceded
that of Croesus on the throne of Sardes traced
their descent from Alcaeus, the son of Herakles by a slave girl. It is a curious
coincidence that Croesus, like his predecessor or ancestor Herakles, is said to have
attempted to burn himself on a pyre when the Persians captured Sardes. See Bacch.
3.24-62, ed. Jebb. The tradition is supported by the representation of the
scene on a red-figured vase, which may have been painted about forty years after the
capture of Sardes and the death or captivity of
Croesus. See Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen
Altertums, ii.796, fig. 860. Compare Adonis, Attis,
Osiris, 3rd ed. i.174ff. The Herakles whom Greek tradition associated
with Omphale was probably an Oriental deity identical with the Sandan of Tarsus. See Adonis, Attis,
Osiris, i.124ff. by Chalciope, daughter of
Eurypylus, he had Thettalus; by Epicaste, daughter of Augeas, he had Thestalus; by
Parthenope, daughter of Stymphalus, he had
Everes; by Auge, daughter of Aleus, he had Telephus;See
above, Apollod. 2.7.4, and below, Apollod. 3.9.1. by Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, he
had Tlepolemus;See above, Apollod.
2.7.6. by Astydamia, daughter of Amyntor, he had Ctesippus; by Autonoe,
daughter of Pireus, he had Palaemon.
When Hercules had been translated to the gods, his sons fled from Eurystheus and came to
Ceyx.Ceyx, king of Trachis, who had given shelter and hospitality to Herakles. See above,
Apollod. 2.7.7. Compare Diod. 4.57, who
agrees with Apollodorus as to the threats of Eurystheus and the consequent flight of the
children of Herakles from Trachis to Athens.
According to Hecataeus, quoted by Longinus, De sublimitate 27, king Ceyx
ordered them out of the country, pleading his powerlessness to protect them. Compare
Paus. 1.32.6. But when Eurystheus demanded their
surrender and threatened war, they were afraid, and, quitting Trachis, fled through Greece. Being pursued, they came to Athens, and sitting down on the altar of Mercy, claimed protection.Compare Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn. 1151, who
mentions that the Heraclids took refuge at the altar of Mercy. As to the altar of Mercy
see below, Apollod. 3.7.1 note. Apollodorus has omitted
a famous episode in the war which the Athenians waged with the Argives in defence of the
children of Herakles. An oracle having declared that victory would rest with the
Athenians if a highborn maiden were sacrificed to Persephone, a voluntary victim was
found in the person of Macaria, daughter of Herakles, who gave herself freely to die for
Athens. See Eur. Heraclid. 406ff.; Eur. Heraclid.
488ff.; Paus. 1.32.6; Zenobius, Cent.
ii.61; Timaeus, Lexicon, s.v. *ba/ll' ei)s
makari/an; Scholiast on Plat. Hipp. Maj. 293a;
Scholiast on Aristoph. Kn. 1151. The protection afforded by Athens to the suppliant Heraclids was a subject of
patriotic pride to the Athenians. See Lys. 2.11-16; Isoc. 4.15, 16. The story was told by Pherecydes, who
represented Demophon, son of Theseus, as the protector of the Heraclids at Athens. See Ant. Lib. 33. In this he may
have been followed by Euripides, who in his play on the subject introduces Demophon as
king of Athens and champion of the Heraclids
（Eur. Heraclid. 111ff.）. But,
according to Paus. 1.32.6, it was not Demophon but his
father Theseus who received the refugees and declined to surrender them to
Eurystheus Refusing to surrender them, the Athenians bore the brunt of war with
Eurystheus, and slew his sons, Alexander, Iphimedon, Eurybius, Mentor and Perimedes.
Eurystheus himself fled in a chariot, but was pursued and slain by Hyllus just as he was
driving past the Scironian cliffs; and Hyllus cut off his head and gave it to
Alcmena; and she gouged out his eyes with weaving-pins.Traditions varied concerning the death and burial of Eurystheus. Diod.
4.57.6, in agreement with Apollodorus, says that all the sons of Eurystheus were
slain in the battle, and that the king himself, fleeing in his chariot, was killed by
Hyllus, son of Herakles. According to Paus. 1.44.9, the
tomb of Eurystheus was near the Scironian Rocks, where he had been killed by Iolaus
（not Hyllus） as he was fleeing home after the battle. According to
Euripides, he was captured by Iolaus at the Scironian Rocks and carried a prisoner to
Alcmena, who ordered him to execution, although the Athenians interceded for his life;
and his body was buried before the sanctuary of Athena at Pallene, an Attic township situated between
Athens and Marathon. See Eur. Heraclid. 843ff.; Eur.
Heraclid. 928ff.; Eur. Heraclid. 1030ff.
According to Strab. 8.6.19, Eurystheus marched against
the Heraclids and Iolaus at Marathon; he fell in the battle, and his body was buried at
Gargettus, but his head was cut off and buried separately in Tricorythus, under the high
road, at the spring Macaria, and the place was hence called “the Head of
Eurystheus.” Thus Strabo lays the scene of the battle and of the death of
Eurystheus at Marathon. From Paus. 1.32.6 we know that the
spring Macaria, named after the heroine who sacrificed herself to gain the victory for
the Heraclids, was at Marathon. The name seems to have been applied to the powerful
subterranean springs which form a great marsh at the northern end of the plain of
Marathon. The ancient high road, under which the head of Eurystheus was buried, and of
which traces existed down to modern times, here ran between the marsh on the one hand
and the steep slope of the mountain on the other. At the northern end of the narrow
defile thus formed by the marsh and the mountain stands the modern village of
Kato-Souli, which is proved by inscriptions to have occupied the site of the ancient
Tricorythus. See W. M. Leake, The Demi of Athens, 2nd ed.
（London, 1841）, pp. 95ff., and Frazer, commentary on
Pausanias, vol. ii. pp. 432, 439ff. But Pallene, at or near which, according to Euripides, the body of Eurystheus
was buried, lay some eighteen miles or so away at the northern foot of Mount Hymettus, in the gap which divides the high and steep
mountains of Pentelicus and Hymettus from each other. That gap, forming the only gateway
into the plain of Athens from the north
east, was strategically very important, and hence was naturally the scene of various
battles, legendary or historical. Gargettus, where, according to Strabo, confirmed by
Hesychius and Stephanus Byzantius （s.v. *garghtto/s）, the headless trunk of Eurystheus was interred, seems
to have lain on the opposite side of the gap, near the foot of Pentelicus, where a small
modern village, Garito, apparently preserves the ancient name. See W. M. Leake,
op. cit. pp. 26ff., 44-47; Karten von Attika,
Erläuternder Text, Heft II. von A. Milchhoefer （Berlin,
1883）, pp. 35 （who differs as to the site of
Gargettus）; Guides-Joanne, Grèce, par B.
Haussoullier, i. （Paris, 1896）, pp. 204ff. Thus the
statements of Euripides and Strabo about the place where the body of Eurystheus was
buried may be reconciled if we suppose that it was interred at Gargettus facing over
against Pallene, which lay on the opposite
or southern side of the gap between Pentelicus and Hymettus. For the battles said to have been fought at various times in this
important pass, see Hdt. 1.62ff.; Aristot. Ath. Pol. 15, with Sir J. E. Sandys's note;
Plut. Thes. 13; Scholiast on Eur. Hipp.
35. The statement of Apollodorus that Hyllus killed Eurystheus and brought his
head to Alcmena, who gouged out his eyes with weaving-pins, is repeated by
Zenobius, Cent. ii.61, who probably here, as so often, simply copied our
author without acknowledgment. According to Pind. P.
9.79(137)ff., （with the Scholia）, the slayer of Eurystheus
was not Hyllus but Iolaus; and this seems to have been the common tradition. Can we
explain the curious tradition that the severed head and body of the foeman Eurystheus
were buried separately many miles apart, and both of them in passes strategically
important? According to Eur. Heraclid. 1026ff.,
Eurystheus, before being killed by the order of Alcmena, announced to the Athenians
that, in gratitude for their merciful, though fruitless, intercession with Alcmena, he
would still, after his death, lying beneath the sod, be a friend and saviour to
Athens, but a stern foe to the descendants
of the Heraclids—that is, to the Argives and Spartans, both of whom traced the
blood of their kings to Herakles. Further, he bade the Athenians not to pour libations
or shed blood on his grave, for even without such offerings he would in death benefit
them and injure their enemies, whom he would drive home, defeated, from the borders of
Attica. From this it would seem that the
ghost of Eurystheus was supposed to guard Attica against invasion; hence we can understand why his body should be
divided in two and the severed parts buried in different passes by which enemies might
march into the country, because in this way the ghost might reasonably be expected to do
double duty as a sentinel or spiritual outpost in two important places at the same time.
Similarly the dead Oedipus in his grave at Athens was believed to protect the country and ensure its welfare. See
Soph. OC 576ff.; Soph. OC
1518-1534; Soph. OC 1760-1765; Aristides,
Or. xlvi. vol. ii. p. 230, ed. G. Dindorf. So Orestes, in gratitude for his
acquittal at Athens, is represented by
Aeschylus as promising that even when he is in his grave he will prevent any Argive leader from marching against Attica. See Aesch. Eum.
732(762)ff. And Euripides makes Hector declare that the foreigners who had
fought in defence of Troy were “no
small security to the city” even when “they had fallen and were
lying in their heaped-up graves.” See Eur. Rh.
413-415. These examples show that in the opinion of the Greeks the ghosts even of
foreigners could serve as guardian spirits of a country to which they were attached by
ties of gratitude or affection; for in each of the cases I have cited the dead man who
was thought to protect either Attica or
Troy was a stranger from a strange land.
Some of the Scythians in antiquity used to cut off the heads of their enemies and stick
them on poles over the chimneys of their houses, where the skulls were supposed to act
as watchmen or guardians, perhaps by repelling any foul fiends that might attempt to
enter the dwelling by coming down the chimney. See Hdt.
4.103. So tribes in Borneo, who make a
practice of cutting off the heads of their enemies and garnishing their houses with
these trophies, imagine that they can propitiate the spirits of their dead foes and
convert them into friends and protectors by addressing the skulls in endearing language
and offering them food. See Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
i.294ff. The references in Greek legend to men who habitually relieved
strangers of their heads, which they added to their collection of skulls, may point to
the former existence among the Greeks of a practice of collecting human skulls for the
purpose of securing the ghostly protection of their late owners. See notes on Apollod. 2.5.11 （Antaeus）, Apollod. 2.7.7 （Cycnus）. Compare Apollod. E.2.5 （Oenomaus）; note on Apollod. 1.7.8 （Evenus）.
After Eurystheus had perished, the Heraclids came to attack Peloponnese and they captured all the cities.For the first attempted invasion of the Peloponnese by the Heraclids or sons of Herakles, see Diod.
4.58.1-4. The invasion is commonly spoken of as a return, because, though their
father Herakles had been born at Thebes in
Boeotia, he regarded Mycenae and Tiryns, the kingdom of his forefathers, as his true home. The word
（ka/qodos） here employed by
Apollodorus is regularly applied by Greek writers to the return of exiles from
banishment, and in particular to the return of the Heraclids. See, for example, Strab. 8.3.30, Strab. 8.4.1,
Strab. 8.5.5, Strab.
8.6.10, Strab. 8.7.1, Strab.
8.8.5, Strab. 9.1.7, Strab. 10.2.6, Strab. 13.1.3, Strab. 14.2.6; Paus. 4.3.3;
Paus. 5.6.3. The corresponding verbs, kate/rxesqai, “to return from exile,” and
kata/gein, “to bring back from
exile,” are both used by Apollodorus in these senses. See Apollod. 2.7.2-3; Apollod.
2.8.2 and Apollod. 2.8.5; Apollod. 3.10.5. The final return of the Heraclids, in
conjunction with the Dorians, to the Peloponnese is dated by Thuc. 1.12.3 in the
eightieth year after the capture of Troy;
according to Paus. 4.3.3, it occurred two generations after
that event, which tallies fairly with the estimate of Thucydides. Velleius
Paterculus i.2.1 agrees with Thucydides as to the date, and adds for our
further satisfaction that the return took place one hundred and twenty years after
Herakles had been promoted to the rank of deity. When a year had elapsed from
their return, a plague visited the whole of Peloponnese; and an oracle declared that this happened on account of the
Heraclids, because they had returned before the proper time. Hence they quitted Peloponnese and retired to Marathon and dwelt there.Diodorus Siculus says nothing of this return of the Heraclids
to Attica after the plague, but he records
（Diod. 4.58.3ff.） that, after their defeat and the
death of Hyllus at the Isthmus, they retired to Tricorythus and stayed there for fifty
years. We have seen （above, p. 278, note on Apollod.
2.8.1） that Tricorythus was situated at the northern end of the plain
of Marathon. Now before they came out of Peloponnese, Tlepolemus had killed Licymnius inadvertently; for while he was
beating a servant with his stick Licymnius ran in between; so he fled with not a few, and
came to Rhodes, and dwelt there.For the homicide and exile of Tlepolemus, see Hom. Il. 2.653-670, with the Scholiast on Hom. Il.
662; Pind. O. 7.27(50)ff.; Strab. 14.2.6; Diod. 4.58.7ff. According to Pindar, the homicide
was apparently not accidental, but committed in a fit of anger with a staff of
olive-wood. But Hyllus married Iole according to his father's commands, and
sought to effect the return of the Heraclids. So he went to Delphi and inquired how they should return; and the god
said that they should await the third crop before returning. But Hyllus supposed that the
third crop signified three years; and having waited that time he returned with his
armyHe was met by a Peloponnesian army at the Isthmus of
Corinth and there defeated and slain in
single combat by Echemus, king of Tegea.
Then, in virtue of a treaty which they had concluded with their adversaries, the
Heraclids retreated to Attica and did not
attempt the invasion of Peloponnese again for
fifty years. See Diod. 4.58.1-5; Paus. 8.5.1.
These events may have been recorded by Apollodorus in the lacuna which
follows. of Hercules to Peloponnese,
when Tisamenus, son of Orestes, was reigning over the Peloponnesians.Pausanias at first dated the return of the Heraclids in the
reign of this king （Paus. 2.18.7, Paus. 3.1.5; compare Apollod.
4.3.3）, but he afterwards retracted this opinion （Apollod. 8.5.1）. And in another battle the
Peloponnesians were victorious, and AristomachusThis
Aristomachus was a son of Cleodaeus （Paus.
2.7.6）, who was a son of Hyllus （Paus.
3.15.10）, who was a son of Herakles （Paus. 1.35.8）. Aristomachus was the father of Aristodemus, Temenus,
and Cresphontes （Paus. 2.18.7, Paus. 8.5.6）, of whom Temenus and Cresphontes led the
Heraclids and Dorians in their final invasion and conquest of Peloponnese （Paus.
2.18.7, Paus. 5.3.5ff., Paus. 5.4.1, Paus. 8.5.6, Paus. 10.38.10）. Compare Hdt.
6.52, who indicates the descent of Aristodemus from Herakles concisely by
speaking of “Aristodemus, the son of Aristomachus, the son of Cleodaeus, the
son of Hyllus.” Thus, according to the traditional genealogy, the conquerors
of the Peloponnese were great-grandsons of
Herakles. With regard to Aristomachus, the father of the conquerors, Pausanias says
（Paus. 2.7.6） that he missed his chance
of returning to Peloponnese through mistaking
the meaning of the oracle. The reference seems to be to the oracle about “the
narrows,” which is reported by Apollodorus (see below, note 2.8.2.h).
was slain. But when the sons of CleodaeusAs Heyne pointed
out, the name Cleodaeus here is almost certainly wrong, whether we suppose the mistake
to have been made by Apollodorus himself or by a copyist. For Cleodaeus was the father
of Aristomachus, whose death in battle Apollodorus has just recorded; and, as the sequel
clearly proves, the reference is here not to the brothers but to the sons of
Aristomachus, namely, Temenus and Cresphontes, the conquerors of the Peloponnese. Compare the preceding note. were
grown to man's estate, they inquired of the oracle concerning their return. And the god
having given the same answer as before, Temenus blamed him, saying that when they had
obeyed the oracle they had been unfortunate. But the god retorted that they were
themselves to blame for their misfortunes, for they did not understand the oracles, seeing
that by “ the third crop” he meant, not a crop of the earth, but a
crop of a generation, and that by the narrows he meant the broad-bellied sea on the right
of the Isthmus.The oracle was recorded and derided by the
cynical philosopher Oenomaus, who, having been deceived by what purported to be a
revelation of the deity, made it his business to expose the whole oracular machinery to
the ridicule and contempt of the public. This he did in a work entitled On
Oracles, or the Exposure of Quacks, of which Eusebius has preserved some
extracts. From one of these （Eusebius, v.20） we learn
that when Aristomachus applied to the oracle, he was answered, “The gods
declare victory to thee by the way of the narrows” （*ni/khn soi fai/nousi qeoi\ di' o(doi=o stenu/grwn）.
This the inquirer understood to mean “by the Isthmus of Corinth,” and on that understanding the
Heraclids attempted to enter Peloponnese by the
Isthmus, but were defeated. Being taxed with deception, the god explained that when he
said “the narrows” he really meant “the broads,”
that is, the sea at the mouth of the Gulf of Corinth. Compare K. O. Müller, Die Dorier(2),
i.58ff., who would restore the “retort courteous” of the
oracle in two iambic lines as follows:
genea=s ga/r, ou) gh=s karpo\n e)cei=pon tri/ton
kai\ th\n stenugra\n au)= to\n eu)ruga/stora
—e)/xonta kata\ to\n *)isqmo\n decia/n.
On hearing that, Temenus made ready the army and built
ships in Locris where the place is now named
Naupactus from that.Naupactus means
“ship-built.” Compare Strab. 9.4.7;
Paus. 4.26.1; Paus.
10.38.10. While the army was there, Aristodemus was killed by a
thunderbolt,Aristodemus was a son of Aristomachus and
brother of Temenus and Cresphontes, the conquerors of the Peloponnese （Paus.
2.18.7）. Some said he was shot by Apollo at Delphi for not consulting the oracle, but others said
he was murdered by the children of Pylades and Electra （Paus. 3.1.6）. Apollodorus clearly adopts the former of these two
accounts; the rationalistic Pausanias preferred the latter. leaving twin sons,
Eurysthenes and Procles, by Argia, daughter of Autesion.Compare Hdt. 6.52.
And it chanced that a calamity also befell the army at
Naupactus. For there appeared to them a
soothsayer reciting oracles in a fine frenzy, whom they took for a magician sent by the
Peloponnesians to be the ruin of the army. So Hippotes, son of Phylas, son of Antiochus,
son of Hercules, threw a javelin at him, and hit and killed him.The soothsayer was Carnus, an Acarnanian; the Dorians continued to propitiate
the soul of the murdered seer after his death. See Paus.
3.13.4; Conon 26; Scholiast on Theocritus v.83.
In consequence of that, the naval force perished with the destruction of the fleet, and
the land force suffered from famine, and the army disbanded. When Temenus inquired of the
oracle concerning this calamity, the god said that these things were done by the
soothsayerThat is, by the angry spirit of the murdered
man. and he ordered him to banish the slayer for ten years and to take for his
guide the Three-Eyed One. So they banished Hippotes, and sought for the Three-Eyed
One.With this and what follows compare Paus. 5.3.5ff.; Suidas, s.v. *trio/fqalmos; and as to Oxylus, compare Strab. 8.3.33. Pausanias calls Oxylus the son of Haemon. And they chanced to light on Oxylus, son of Andraemon, a man sitting on a one-eyed horse
（ its other eye having been knocked out with an arrow）; for he had fled
to Elis on account of a murder, and was now
returning from there to Aetolia after the lapse
of a year.The homicide is said to have been accidental;
according to one account, the victim was the homicide's brother. See Paus. 5.3.7. As to the banishment of a murderer for a year, see
note on Apollod. 2.5.11. So guessing the purport
of the oracle, they made him their guide. And having engaged the enemy they got the better
of him both by land and sea, and slew Tisamenus, son of Orestes.Pausanias gives a different account of the death of Tisamenus. He says that,
being expelled from Lacedaemon and Argos by the returning Heraclids, king Tisamenus led
an army to Achaia and there fell in a battle
with the Ionians, who then inhabited that district of Greece. See Paus. 2.18.8, Paus. 7.1.7ff. Their allies, Pamphylus and Dymas, the
sons of Aegimius, also fell in the fight.
When they had made themselves masters of Peloponnese, they set up three altars of Paternal Zeus, and sacrificed upon
them, and cast lots for the cities. So the first drawing was for Argos, the second for Lacedaemon, and the third for Messene. And they brought a pitcher of water, and resolved that each should
cast in a lot. Now Temenus and the two sons of Aristodemus, Procles and Eurysthenes, threw
stones; but Cresphontes, wishing to have Messene allotted to him, threw in a clod of earth. As the clod was dissolved
in the water, it could not be but that the other two lots should turn up. The lot of
Temenus having been drawn first, and that of the sons of Aristodemus second, Cresphontes
got
Messene.As to
the drawing of the lots, and the stratagem by which Cresphontes secured Messenia for himself, see Polyaenus, Strateg.
i.6; Paus. 4.3.4ff. Sophocles alludes to the
stratagem （Soph. Aj. 1283ff., with the
Scholiast on Soph. Aj. 1285）.
And on the altars on which they sacrificed they found
signs lying: for they who got Argos by the lot
found a toad; those who got Lacedaemon found a
serpent; and those who got Messene found a
fox.In the famous paintings by Polygnotus at Delphi, the painter depicted Menelaus, king of
Sparta, with the device of a serpent on
his shield. See Paus. 10.26.3. The great Messenian hero
Aristomenes is said to have escaped by the help of a fox from the pit into which he had
been thrown by the Lacedaemonians. See Paus. 4.18.6ff. I
do not remember to have met with any evidence, other than that of Apollodorus, as to the
association of the toad with Argos. As
to these signs the seers said that those who found the toad had better stay in the city
（ seeing that the animal has no strength when it walks）; that those who
found the serpent would be terrible in attack, and that those who found the fox would be
wily.
Now Temenus, passing over his sons Agelaus, Eurypylus, and Callias, favoured his daughter
Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes; hence his sons hired some fellows to murder their
father.Compare Paus.
2.19.1; Paus. 2.28.2ff., who agrees as to the names
of Hyrnetho and her husband Deiphontes, but differs as to the sons of Temenus, whom he
calls Cisus, Cerynes, Phalces, and Agraeus. On the perpetration of the murder the
army decided that the kingdom belonged to HyrnethoThe grave
of Hyrnetho was shown at Argos, but she is
said to have been accidentally killed by her brother Phalces near Epidaurus, and long afterwards she was worshipped in a
sacred grove of olives and other trees on the place of her death. See Paus. 2.23.3; Paus.
2.28.3-7. and Deiphontes. Cresphontes had not long reigned over Messene when he was murdered with two of his
sons;Compare Paus.
4.3.7. and Polyphontes, one of the true Heraclids, came to the throne and took to wife, against her will, Merope, the wife of the murdered man.Compare Hyginus, Fab. 137. But he too was
slain. For Merope had a third son, called Aepytus, whom she gave to her own father to
bring up. When he was come to manhood he secretly returned, killed Polyphontes, and
recovered the kingdom of his fathers.Compare Paus. 4.3.7ff. （who does not name
Polyphontes）; Hyginus, Fab. 184. According to Hyginus, the name of
the son of Cresphontes who survived to avenge his father's murder was Telephon. This
story of Merope, Aepytus, and Polyphontes is the theme of Matthew Arnold's tragedy
Merope, an imitation of the antique.
Having now run over the family of Inachus and described them from Belus down to the
Heraclids, we have next to speak of the house of Agenor. For as I have said,See above, Apollod. 2.1.4.
Libya had by Poseidon two sons, Belus and Agenor.
Now Belus reigned over the Egyptians and begat the aforesaid sons; but Agenor went to
Phoenicia, married Telephassa, and begat a
daughter Europa and three sons, Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix.The ancients were not agreed as to the genealogies of these mythical ancestors of the
Phoenicians, Cilicians, and Thebans. See the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
ii.178, iii.1186. Among the authorities whose divergent views are reported in
these passages by the Scholiast are Hesiod, Pherecydes, Asclepiades, and Antimachus.
Moschus ii.40, 42 agrees with Apollodorus that the mother of Europa was
Telephassa, but differs from him as to her father （see below）.
According to Hyginus, Fab. 6, 178, the mother who bore Cadmus and Europa to
Agenor was not Telephassa but Argiope. According to Euripides, Agenor had three sons,
Cilix, Phoenix, and Thasus. See Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 6. Pausanias agrees
with regard to Thasus, saying that the natives of Thasos were Phoenicians by descent and traced their origin to this Thasus,
son of Agenor （Paus. 5.25.12）. In
saying this, Pausanias followed Herodotus, who tells us that the Phoenician colonists of
Thasos discovered wonderful gold mines there,
which the historian had visited （Hdt.
6.46ff.）, and that they had founded a sanctuary of Herakles in the
island （Hdt. 2.44）. Herodotus also
（Hdt. 7.91） represents Cilix as a son of
the Phoenician Agenor, and he tells us （Hdt.
4.147） that Cadmus, son of Agenor, left a Phoenician colony in the
island of Thera. Diodorus Siculus reports
（Diod. 5.59.2ff.） that Cadmus, son of Agenor, planted a
Phoenician colony in Rhodes, and that the
descendants of the colonists continued to hold the hereditary priesthood of Poseidon,
whose worship had been instituted by Cadmus. He mentions also that in the sanctuary of
Athena at Lindus, in Rhodes, there was a tripod of ancient style bearing a
Phoenician inscription. The statement has been confirmed in recent years by the
discovery of the official record of the temple of Lindian Athena in Rhodes. For in this record, engraved on a marble slab,
there occurs the following entry: “Cadmus （dedicated） a
bronze tripod engraved with Phoenician letters, as Polyzalus relates in the fourth book
of the histories.” See Chr. Blinkenberg, La Chronique du temple
Lindien (Copenhagen, 1912), p. 324. However, from such legends all
that we can safely infer is that the Greeks traced a blood relationship between the
Phoenicians and Cilicians, and recognised a Phoenician element in some of the Greek
islands and parts of the mainland. If Europa was, as seems possible, a personification
of the moon in the shape of a cow （see The Dying God, p.
88）, we might perhaps interpret the quest of the sons of Agenor for
their lost sister as a mythical description of Phoenician mariners steering westward
towards the moon which they saw with her silver horns setting in the sea. But
some say that Europa was a daughter not of Agenor but of Phoenix.Europa was a daughter of Phoenix, according to Hom. Il. 14.321ff.）; Bacch. 16.29ff. p. 376, ed. Jebb, and Moschus
ii.7. So, too, the Scholiast on Hom. Il. xii.292 calls Europa a
daughter of Phoenix. The Scholiast on Plat. Tim. 24e speaks of Europa as a
daughter of Agenor, or of Phoenix, or of Tityus. Some said that Cadmus also was a son,
not of Agenor, but of Phoenix （Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iii.1186）. Zeus loved her, and turning himself into a tame bull,
he mounted her on his back and conveyed her through the sea to Crete.Compare Moschus
ii.77ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xii.292; Diod.
5.78.1; Lucian, Dial. Marin. xv.; id. De dea Syria 4; Ov. Met. 2.836ff.; Ovid, Fasti v.603ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 178; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
pp. 47, 100 (First Vatican Mythographer 148; Second Vatican Mythographer 76).
The connexion which the myth of Zeus and Europa indicates between Phoenicia and Crete receives a certain confirmation from the worship at Gaza of a god called Marnas, who was popularly
identified with the Cretan Zeus. His name was thought to be derived from a Cretan word
marna, meaning “maiden”; so that,
as Mr. G. F. Hill has pointed out, marnas might signify
“young man.” The city is also said to have been called Minoa, after Minos. See Stephanus Byzantius, s.v.
*ga/za. The worship of Marnas, “the
Cretan Zeus,” persisted at Gaza till
402 A.D., when it was finally suppressed and his sanctuary, the Marneion, destroyed. See
Mark the Deacon's Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza, 64-71, pp.
73-82, G. F. Hill's translation （Oxford, 1913）. From this
work (ch. 19, p. 24) we learn that Marnas was regarded as the lord of rain, and that
prayer and sacrifice were offered to him in time of drought. As to the god and his
relation to Crete, see G. F. Hill's
introduction to his translation, pp. xxxii.-xxxviii. There Zeus bedded
with her, and she bore Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys;Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xii.292; Hyginus, Fab.
178. but according to Homer, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus by Laodamia,
daughter of Bellerophon.
Hom. Il. 2.198ff.
On the disappearance of Europa her father Agenor sent out his sons in search of
her, telling them not to return until they had found Europa. With them her mother,
Telephassa, and Thasus, son of Poseidon, or according to Pherecydes, of
Cilix,According to some writers, Thasus was a son of
Agenor. See Frazer on Apollod. 3.1.1. went forth in search of her.
But when, after diligent search, they could not find Europa, they gave up the thought of
returning home, and took up their abode in divers places; Phoenix settled in Phoenicia; Cilix settled near Phoenicia, and all the country subject to himself near the river Pyramus he called Cilicia; and Cadmus and Telephassa took up their abode in Thrace and in like manner Thasus founded a city Thasus in
an island off Thrace and dwelt there.Apollodorus probably meant to say that Thasus colonized the
island of Thasos. The text may be corrupt. See
Critical Note. For the traces of the Phoenicians in Thasos, Apollod. 3.1.1 note.
Now Asterius, prince of the Cretans, married Europa and brought up her children.Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. 12.292; Diod.
4.60.3 （who calls the king Asterius）. On the place of
Asterion or Asterius in Cretan mythology, see A. B. Cook, Zeus,
i.543ff. But when they were grown up, they quarrelled with each other;
for they loved a boy called Miletus, son of
Apollo by Aria, daughter of Cleochus.With the following legend of the foundation of Miletus compare Ant. Lib. 30; Paus. 7.2.5; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.186. As the boy was more friendly to Sarpedon, Minos went to war and had
the better of it, and the others fled.
Miletus landed in Caria and there founded a city which he called Miletus after himself; and Sarpedon allied himself
with Cilix, who was at war with the Lycians, and having stipulated for a share of the
country, he became king of Lycia.Compare Hdt. 1.173; Diod.
5.79.3; Strab. 12.8.5; Paus. 7.3.7. Sarpedon was worshipped as a hero in Lycia. See Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones
Selectae 552 vol. ii. p. 231. And Zeus granted him to live for
three generations. But some say that they loved Atymnius, the son of Zeus and Cassiepea,
and that it was about him that they quarrelled. Rhadamanthys legislated for the
islandersCompare Diod. 5.79.1ff. but
afterwards he fled to Boeotia and married
AlcmenaSee above, Apollod.
2.4.11 note.; and since his departure from the world he acts as judge in
Hades along with Minos. Minos, residing in Crete,
passed laws, and married Pasiphae, daughter of the SunDaughter of the Sun; compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.999; Paus. 3.26.1, Paus. 5.25.9;
Ant. Lib. 41; Mythographi Graeci, ed. Westermann, Appendix
Narrationum, p. 379; Ov. Met. 9.736. Pausanias
interpreted Pasiphae as the moon （Paus.
3.26.1）, and this interpretation has been adopted by some modern
scholars. The Cretan traditions concerning the marriage of Minos and Pasiphae seem to
point to a ritual marriage performed every eight years at Cnossus by the king and queen as representatives respectively of the Sun
and Moon. See The Dying God, pp. 70ff.; A. B. Cook,
Zeus, i.521ff. （who holds that Europa was originally
a Cretan Earth-goddess responsible for the vegetation of the year）. and
Perseis; but Asclepiades says that his wife was Crete, daughter of Asterius. He begat sons, to wit, Catreus,Compare Paus. 8.53.4.
Deucalion, Glaucus, and Androgeus: and daughters, to wit, Acalle, Xenodice, Ariadne,
Phaedra; and by a nymph Paria he had Eurymedon, Nephalion, Chryses, and Philolaus; and by
Dexithea he had Euxanthius.
Asterius dying childless, Minos wished to reign over Crete, but his claim was opposed. So he alleged that he had received the
kingdom from the gods, and in proof of it he said that whatever he prayed for
would be done. And in sacrificing to Poseidon he prayed that a bull might appear from the
depths, promising to sacrifice it when it appeared. Poseidon did send him up a fine bull,
and Minos obtained the kingdom, but he sent the bull to the herds and sacrificed
another.Compare Diod. 4.77.2; Tzetzes,
Chiliades i.479ff. （who seems to follow Apollodorus）;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. v.431, according to whom the bull
was sent, in answer to Minos's prayer, not by Poseidon but by
Jupiter （Zeus）. [
Being the first to obtain the dominion of the sea, he extended his rule over almost all
the islands. ]Compare Hdt.
1.171; Thuc. 1.4 and Thuc.
1.8.
But angry at him for not sacrificing the bull, Poseidon
made the animal savage, and contrived that Pasiphae should conceive a passion for it.Here Apollodorus seems to be following Euripides, who in a
fragment of his drama, The Cretans, introduces Pasiphae excusing herself
on the ground that her passion for the bull was a form of madness inflicted on her by
Poseidon as a punishment for the impiety of her husband Minos, who had broken his vow by
not sacrificing the bull to the sea-god. See W. Schubart und U. von
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Griechische Dichterfragmente, ii.
（Berlin, 1907）, pp. 74ff. In her love for the bull she
found an accomplice in Daedalus, an architect, who had been banished from Athens for murder.See
below, Apollod. 3.15.8. He constructed a wooden
cow on wheels, took it, hollowed it out in the inside, sewed it up in the hide of a cow
which he had skinned, and set it in the meadow in which the bull used to graze. Then he
introduced Pasiphae into it; and the bull came and coupled with it, as if it were a real
cow. And she gave birth to Asterius, who was called the Minotaur. He had the face of a
bull, but the rest of him was human; and Minos, in compliance with certain oracles, shut
him up and guarded him in the Labyrinth. Now the Labyrinth which Daedalus constructed was
a chamber “ that with its tangled windings perplexed the outward
way. ”In the Greek original these words are
seemingly a quotation from a poem, probably a tragedy—perhaps Sophocles's
tragedy Daedalus, of which a few fragments survive. See TGF (Nauck
2nd ed.), pp. 167ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A.
C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 110ff. As to the Minotaur and the labyrinth, compare
Diod. 4.77.1-5; Plut. Thes. 15ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 40; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill.
192. As to the loves of Pasiphae and the bull, see also Scholiast on Eur.
Hipp. 887; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.479ff.; Verg. Ecl. 6.45ff.; Ovid, Ars Am. i.289ff. The story of
the Minotaur, and Androgeus, and Phaedra, and Ariadne, I will tell hereafter in my account
of Theseus.See below, Apollod.
3.15.7-9; Apollod. E.1.7-11.
But Catreus, son of Minos, had three daughters, Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne, and a
son, Althaemenes.The tragic story of the involuntary
parricide of Althaemenes is similarly told by Diod. 5.59.1-4, who says that
this murderer of his father and of his sister was afterwards worshipped as a hero in
Rhodes. When Catreus inquired of the
oracle how his life should end, the god said that he would die by the hand of one of his
children. Now Catreus hid the oracles, but Althaemenes heard of them, and fearing to be
his father's murderer, he set out from Crete with
his sister Apemosyne, and put in at a place in Rhodes, and having taken possession of it he called it Cretinia. And having
ascended the mountain called Atabyrium, he beheld the islands round about; and descrying
Crete also and calling to mind the gods of his
fathers he founded an altar of Atabyrian Zeus.As to
Atabyrian Zeus and his sanctuary on Mount Atabyrium, Atabyrum, or Atabyris, the highest
mountain in Rhodes, see Pind. O. 7.87(159)ff.; Polybius vii.27.7, ed. L. Dindorf;
Appian, Mithridat. 26; Strab. 14.2.12;
Diod. 5.59.2; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i.22. Diodorus
Siculus tells us that the sanctuary, crowning a lofty peak, was highly venerated down to
his own time, and that the island of Crete was
visible from it in the distance. Some rude remains of the temple, built of grey
limestone, still exist on a summit a little lower than the highest. See H. F.
Tozer, The Islands of the Aegean （Oxford, 1890）, pp.
220ff.; Cecil Torr, <placeName key="tgn,7011266" authname="tgn,7011266">Rhodes</placeName> in Ancient Times, （Cambridge, 1885）,
pp. 1, 75. Atabyrian Zeus would seem to have been worshipped in the form of a
bull; for it is said that there were bronze images of cattle on the mountain, which
bellowed when some evil was about to befall the state, and small bronze figures of bulls
are still sometimes found on the mountain. See Tzetzes, Chiliades
iv.390ff.; Scholiast on Pind. O. 7.87(159); Cecil Torr, op.
cit. p. 76, with plate 4. Further, we know from Greek inscriptions found in the
island that there was a religious association which took its name of The Atabyriasts
from the deity; and one of these inscriptions （No. 31） records a
dedication of oxen or bulls (tou\s bou=s) to the god.
See Inscriptiones Graecae Insularum Rhodi, Chalces, Carpathi, cum Saro Casi, ed.
F. Hiller de Gaertringen （Berlin, 1895）, Nos. 31, 161, 891.
The oxen so dedicated were probably bronze images of the animals, such as are found in
the island, though Dittenberger thought that they were live oxen destined for sacrifice.
See his paper, De sacris Rhodiorum Commentatio altera
（Halle, 1887）, pp. viii.ff. The worship of Atabyrian Zeus may
well have been of Phoenician origin, for we have seen that there was a Phoenician colony
in Rhodes （see above, Apollod. 3.1.1 note）, and the name Atabyrian is
believed to be Semitic, equivalent to the Hebrew Tabor. See Encyclopaedia
Biblica, s. v. “Tabor,” vol. iii. col. 4881ff.
Compare A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.642ff. But not long
afterwards he became the murderer of his sister. For Hermes loved her, and as
she fled from him and he could not catch her, because she excelled him in speed of foot,
he spread fresh hides on the path, on which, returning from the spring, she slipped and so
was deflowered. She revealed to her brother what had happened, but he, deeming the god a
mere pretext, kicked her to death. And Catreus gave
Aerope and Clymene to Nauplius to sell into foreign lands; and of these two Aerope became
the wife of Plisthenes, who begat Agamemnon and Menelaus; and Clymene became the wife of
Nauplius, who became the father of Oeax and Palamedes. But afterwards in the grip of old
age Catreus yearned to transmit the kingdom to his son Althaemenes, and went for that
purpose to Rhodes. And having landed from the ship with the heroes at a desert place of
the island, he was chased by the cowherds, who imagined that they were pirates on a raid.
He told them the truth, but they could not hear him for the barking of the dogs, and while
they pelted him Althaemenes arrived and killed him with the cast of a javelin,
not knowing him to be Catreus. Afterwards when he learned the truth, he prayed and
disappeared in a chasm.
To Deucalion were born Idomeneus and Crete and a
bastard son Molus.Compare Diod. 5.79.4.
But Glaucus, while he was yet a child, in chasing a mouse fell into a jar of honey and was
drowned.Glaucus was a son of Minos and Pasiphae. See
above, Apollod. 3.1.2. For the story of his death and
resurrection, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 811; Apostolius,
Cent. v.48; Palaephatus, De incredib. 27; Hyginus, Fab.
136; Hyginus, Ast. ii.14. Sophocles and Euripides composed tragedies
on the subject. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 216ff., 558ff.;
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp.
56ff. On his disappearance Minos made a great search and consulted
diviners as to how he should find him. The Curetes told him that in his herds he had a cow
of three different colors, and that the man who could best describe that cow's color would
also restore his son to him alive.The cow or calf
（for so Hyginus describes it） was said to change colour twice a day,
or once every four hours, being first white, then red, and then black. The diviner
Polyidus solved the riddle by comparing the colour of the animal to a ripening mulberry,
which is first white, then red, and finally black. See Hyginus, Fab. 136;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 811; Sophocles, quoted by Athenaeus
ii.36, p. 51 D, and Bekker's Anecdota Graeca, i. p. 361, lines
20ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.60,
frag. 395. So when the diviners were assembled, Polyidus, son of
Coeranus, compared the color of the cow to the fruit of the bramble, and being compelled
to seek for the child he found him by means of a sort of divination.He is said to have discovered the drowned boy by observing an owl which had
perched on a wine-cellar and was driving away bees. See Hyginus, Fab. 136.
Compare Ael., Nat. Anim. v.2, from which it would seem that Hyginus here
followed the tragedy of Polyidus by Euripides. But Minos declaring that he must
recover him alive, he was shut up with the dead body. And while he was in great
perplexity, he saw a serpent going towards the corpse. He threw a stone and killed it,
fearing to be killed himself if any harm befell the body.Accepting Bekker's emendation of the text. See Critical Note. But
another serpent came, and, seeing the former one dead, departed, and then returned,
bringing a herb, and placed it on the whole body of the other; and no sooner was the herb
so placed upon it than the dead serpent came to life. Surprised at this sight, Polyidus
applied the same herb to the body of Glaucus and raised him from the dead.According to another account, Glaucus was raised from the dead
by Aesculapius. See below, Apollod. 3.10.3;
Scholiast on Pind. P. 3.54(96); Hyginus, Fab. 49;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.14. In a Tongan tradition a dead boy is brought to life
by being covered with the leaves of a certain tree. See Père Reiter,
“Traditions Tonguinnes,” Anthropos, xii.-xi
(1917-1918), pp. 1036ff.; and Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “The
Resurrection of Glaucus.”
Minos had now got back his son, but even so he did not
suffer Polyidus to depart to Argos until he had
taught Glaucus the art of divination. Polyidus taught him on compulsion, and when he was
sailing away he bade Glaucus spit into his mouth. Glaucus did so and forgot the art of
divination.It is said that when Cassandra refused to
grant her favours to Apollo in return for the gift of prophecy which he had bestowed on
her, he spat into her mouth and so prevented her from convincing anybody of the truth of
her prophecies. See Serv. Verg. A. 2.247. On ancient
superstitions about spittle, see Pliny, Nat. Hist. 28.35ff.; C. de
Mensignac, Recherches Ethnographiques sur la Salive et le Crachat
(Bordeaux, 1892), pp. 41ff. Thus much must suffice for my account of the
descendants of Europa.
When Telephassa died, Cadmus buried her, and after being hospitably received by the
Thracians he came to Delphi to inquire about
Europa. The god told him not to trouble about Europa, but to be guided by a cow, and to
found a city wherever she should fall down for weariness.With this story of the foundation of Thebes by Cadmus compare Paus. 9.12.1ff.,
Paus. 9.19.4; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.494;
Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 638 （who quotes the oracle at full
length）; Scholiast on Aesch. Seven 486; Hyginus, Fab.
178; Ov. Met. 3.6ff. The Scholiast on Hom.
Il. ii.494 agrees almost verbally with Apollodorus, and cites as his
authorities the Boeotica of Hellanicus and the third book of Apollodorus.
Hence we may suppose that in this narrative Apollodorus followed Hellanicus. According
to Pausanias, the cow which Cadmus followed bore on each flank a white mark resembling
the full moon; Hyginus says simply that it had the mark of the moon on its flank. Varro
says （Varro, Re Rust. iii.1） that Thebes in Boeotia was the oldest city in the world, having been built by King Ogyges
before the great flood. The tradition of its high antiquity has been recently confirmed
by the discovery of many Mycenaean remains on the site. See A. D. Keramopoullos,
in *)arxaiologiko\n *delti/on (Athens, 1917), pp.
1ff. After receiving such an oracle he journeyed through Phocis; then falling in with a cow among the herds of
Pelagon, he followed it behind. And after traversing Boeotia, it sank down where is now the city of Thebes. Wishing to sacrifice the cow to Athena, he sent
some of his companions to draw water from the spring of Ares. But a dragon, which some
said was the offspring of Ares, guarded the spring and destroyed most of those that were
sent. In his indignation Cadmus killed the dragon, and by the advice of Athena sowed its
teeth. When they were sown there rose from the ground armed men whom they called
Sparti.That is,
“sown.” Compare Eur. Ph. 939ff. For
the story of the sowing of the dragon's teeth, see Paus.
9.10.1; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.494; Hyginus, Fab.
178; Ov. Met. 3.26-130. Similarly, Jason in
Colchis sowed some of the dragon's teeth
which he had received from Athena, and from the teeth there sprang up armed men, who
fought each other. See Apollod. 1.9.23. As to the
dragon-guarded spring at Thebes, see Eur. Ph. 930ff.; Paus.
9.10.5, with my note. It is a common superstition that springs are guarded by
dragons or serpents. Compare The Magic Art and the Evolution of
Kings, ii.155ff. These slew each other, some in a chance brawl,
and some in ignorance. But Pherecydes says that when Cadmus saw armed men growing up out
of the ground, he flung stones at them, and they, supposing that they were
being pelted by each other, came to blows. However, five of them survived, Echion, Udaeus,
Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelorus.The names of the five
survivors of the Sparti are similarly reported
by Paus. 9.5.3; the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
iii.1179; and Hyginus, Fab. 179. From the Scholiast on Ap.
Rhod., Argon. iii.1179, we learn that their names were given in like manner by
Pherecydes as indeed we might have inferred from Apollodorus's reference to that author
in the present passage. Ov. Met. 3.126 mentions that
five survived, but he names only one （Echion）.
But Cadmus, to atone for the slaughter, served Ares for
an eternal year; and the year was then equivalent to eight years of our reckoning.The “eternal year” probably refers to the
old eight years' cycle, as to which and the period of a homicide's banishment, see the
note on Apollod. 2.5.11.
After his servitude Athena procured for him the kingdom, and Zeus gave him to wife
Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. And all the gods quitted the sky, and feasting
in the Cadmea celebrated the marriage with hymns.As to the
marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia, see Pind. P.
3.88(157)ff.; Eur. Ph. 822ff.; Theognis
15-18; Diod. 4.2.1, Diod. 5.48.5, Diod.
5.49.1; Paus. 3.18.12; Paus. 9.12.3; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 101
（Second Vatican Mythographer 78）, （who calls the
wife Hermiona）. Cadmus gave her a robe and the necklace wrought by
Hephaestus, which some say was given to Cadmus by Hephaestus, but Pherecydes says that it
was given by Europa, who had received it from Zeus.According to another account, this golden necklace was bestowed by Aphrodite on Cadmus
or on Harmonia. See Diod. 4.65.5; Scholiast on Pind. P.
3.94(167); Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 71. But, according to yet another
account, the necklace and robe were both bestowed by Athena. See Diod.
5.49.1. Second Vatican Mythographer 78 （see preceding
note） says that the necklace was made by Vulcan
（Hephaestus） at the instigation of Minerva （Athena）,
and that it was bestowed by him on Harmonia at her marriage. And to Cadmus were
born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.Compare Hes. Th. 975-978ff.; Diod.
4.2.1. As to the daughters Semele and Ino, compare Pind.
O. 2.22(38)ff. Ino was married to Athamas, Autonoe to Aristaeus, and
Agave to Echion. But Zeus loved Semele and bedded with
her unknown to Hera.For the loves of Zeus and
Semele and the birth of Dionysus, see Hes. Th. 940-942;
Eur. Ba. 1ff.; Eur. Ba.
242ff.; Eur. Ba. 286ff.; Diod.
4.2.2ff.; Diod. 5.52.2; Philostratus, Im. i.13; Paus. 3.24.3; Paus. 9.5.2;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.325 （who copies Apollodorus without
mentioning him）; Scholiast on Pind. O. 2.25(44); Lucian,
Dial. Deorum ix.; Nonnus and Nicetas, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci,
Appendix Narrationum, lxxi. p. 385; Ov. Met.
3.259ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 167, 179; Fulgentius, Mytholog.
ii.15; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. i.12; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 38ff., 102 (First Vatican Mythographer 120;
Second Vatican Mythographer 79). Now Zeus had agreed to do for her
whatever she asked, and deceived by Hera she asked that he would come to her as he came
when he was wooing Hera. Unable to refuse, Zeus came to her bridal chamber in a chariot,
with lightnings and thunderings, and launched a thunderbolt. But Semele expired of fright,
and Zeus, snatching the sixth-month abortive childSo the
infant Dionysus is described by the Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiv.325, who
however may be copying Apollodorus, though he refers to the Bacchae of
Euripides. But Lucian, Dial. Deorum. ix.2 and Nonnus, in Westermann's
Mythographi Graeci, p. 385, speak of the infant as a seventh-month child at
birth. from the fire, sewed it in his thigh. On the death of Semele the other
daughters of Cadmus spread a report that Semele had bedded with a mortal man, and had
falsely accused Zeus, and that therefore she had been blasted by thunder. But at the
proper time Zeus undid the stitches and gave birth to Dionysus, and entrusted him to
Hermes. And he conveyed him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to rear him as a
girl.So Achilles is said to have been dressed in his
youth as a girl at the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros. See below, Apollod. 3.13.8 note. These traditions may embody
reminiscences of an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye.
See “Frazer, The Youth of Achilles,” The Classical
Review, vii. （1893）, pp. 292.ff., and Frazer,
note on Paus. i.22.6. But Hera indignantly drove them mad, and Athamas
hunted his elder son Learchus as a deer and killed him,Compare Paus. 1.44.7; Paus.
9.34.7; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 229; Scholiast on Hom.
Od. v.334; Hyginus, Fab. 2, 4; Ovid, Fasti vi.489ff.;
Ov. Met. 4.512ff.; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. i.12; Serv. Verg. A. 5.241;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 102 （Second Vatican
Mythographer 79）. and Ino threw Melicertes into a boiling cauldron,Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 229; Scholiast on Pind. I., Arg. p. 514, ed.
Boeckh. then carrying it with the dead child she sprang into the deep. And
she herself is called Leucothea, and the boy is called Palaemon, such being the names they
get from sailors; for they succour storm-tossed mariners.On
Ino and Melicertes see also Paus. 1.42.6, Paus. 1.44.7ff., Paus. 2.1.3,
Paus. 4.34.4; Zenobius, Cent. iv.38;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 107, 229-231; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
viii.86, Od. v.334; Scholiast on Eur. Med. 1284; Hyginus,
Fab. 2, 4; Ov. Met. 4.519-542; Ovid,
Fasti vi.491ff.; Serv. Verg. A. 5.241;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. i.12; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 102 （Second Vatican Mythographer
79）. And the Isthmian games were instituted by Sisyphus in
honor of Melicertes.On the foundation of the Isthmian games
in honour of Melicertes, see Paus. 1.44.8, Paus. 2.1.3; Scholiasts on Pind. I., Arg. pp. 514, 515,
ed. Boeckh; Scholiasts on Eur. Med. 1284; Clement of
Alexandria, Protrept. ii.34, p. 29, ed. Potter; Zenobius, Cent.
iv.38; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 107, 229-231; Hyginus,
Fab. 2. But Zeus eluded the wrath of Hera by turning Dionysus into a
kid,Dionysus bore the title of Kid. See Hesychius,
s.v. *)/erifos o( Dio/nusos; Stephanus
Byzantius, s.v. *)akrw/reia. When the gods fled
into Egypt to escape the fury of Typhon,
Dionysus is said to have been turned into a goat. See Ant. Lib. 28; Ov. Met. 5.39; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed.
Bode, i. p. 29 (First Vatican Mythographer 86). As a god of fertility, Dionysus
appears to have been conceived as embodied, now in the form of a goat, now in the form
of a bull; and his worshippers accordingly entered into communion with him by rending
and devouring live goats and bulls. See Spirits of the Corn and of the
Wild, i.12ff., ii.1ff. The goat was the victim regularly sacrificed in
the rites of Dionysus, because the animal injured the vine by gnawing it; but the reason
thus alleged for the sacrifice may have been a later interpretation. See Verg. G. 2.380-384, who refers the origin both of tragedy
and of comedy to these sacrifices of goats in honour of the wine-god. Compare
Varro, Re. Rust. i.2.19; Ovid, Fasti i.353ff.;
Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium 30; Serv. Verg. A. 3.118. and Hermes took him and brought him to the nymphs
who dwelt at Nysa in Asia, whom Zeus afterwards changed into stars and named
them the Hyades.Apollodorus seems here to be following
Pherecydes, who related how the infant Dionysus was nursed by the Hyades. See the
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xviii.486; Hyginus, Ast. ii.21;
Scholiast on Germanicus, Aratea （in Martianus Capella, ed. Fr.
Eyssenhardt, p. 396）; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C.
Müller, i.84. Frag. 46. Nothing could be more appropriate than that
the god of the vine should be nursed by the nymphs of the rain. According to Diod.
3.59.2, Diod. 3.64.5, Diod. 3.65.7, Diod.
3.66.3, Nysa, the place where the
nymphs reared Dionysus, was in Arabia, which is
certainly not a rainy country; but he admits （Diod. 3.66.4,
Diod. 3.67.5） that others placed Nysa in Africa, or, as he calls
it, Libya, away in the west beside the great
ocean. Herodotus speaks of Nysa as
“in Ethiopia, above Egypt” （Hdt.
2.146）, and he mentions “the Ethiopians who dwell about
sacred Nysa and hold the festivals in honor of
Dionysus” （ Hdt. 3.97）. But in
fact Nysa was sought by the ancients in many
different and distant lands and was probably mythical, perhaps invented to explain the
name of Dionysus. See Stephanus Byzantius and Hesychius, s.v. *Nu/sa; A. Wiedemann on Herodotus,
ii.146; T. W. Allen and E. E. Sikes on HH to Dion. i.8, p.
4.
Autonoe and Aristaeus had a son Actaeon, who was bred by Chiron to be a hunter and then
afterwards was devoured on Cithaeron by his own dogs.As to
Actaeon and his dogs, see Diod. 4.3-5; Nonnus, Dionys.
v.287ff.; Palaephatus, De incredib. 3; Nonnus, in Westermann's
Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, 6, p. 360; Hyginus, Fab.
181; Ov. Met. 3.138ff.; Fulgentius,
Mytholog. iii.3; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 103
（Second Vatican Mythographer 81）. Hyginus and Ovid give lists
of the dogs' names. He perished in that way, according to Acusilaus, because Zeus
was angry at him for wooing Semele; but according to the more general opinion, it was
because he saw Artemis bathing. And they say that the goddess at once transformed him into
a deer, and drove mad the fifty dogs in his pack, which devoured him unwittingly. Actaeon
being gone, the dogs sought their master howling lamentably, and in the search they came
to the cave of Chiron, who fashioned an image of Actaeon, which soothed their grief.
[ The names of Actaeon's dogs from the . . . . So
Now surrounding his fair body, as it were that of a beast,
The strong dogs rent it. Near Arcena first.
. . . . after her a mighty brood,
Lynceus and Balius goodly-footed, and Amarynthus. —
And these he enumerated continuously by name.
And then Actaeon perished at the instigation of Zeus.
For the first that drank their master's black blood
Were Spartus and Omargus and Bores, the swift on the track.
These first ate of Actaeon and lapped his blood.
And after them others rushed on him eagerly . . . .
To be a remedy for grievous pains to men. ]
unknown
Dionysus discovered the vine,As to the discovery of the
vine by Dionysus and the wanderings of the god, see Diod. 3.62ff.,
Diod. 4.1.6ff., Diod. 4.2.5ff.; Strab. 15.1.7-9
The story of the rovings of Dionysus, and in particular of his journey to India, was probably suggested by a simple observation of
the wide geographical diffusion of the vine. Wherever the plant was cultivated and wine
made from the grapes, there it would be supposed that the vine-god must have tarried,
dispensing the boon or the bane of his gifts to mortals. There seems to be some reason
to think that the original home of the vine was in the regions to the south of the
Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the Caspian Sea,
where the plant still grows wild “with the luxuriant wildness of a tropical
creeper, clinging to tall trees and producing abundant fruit without pruning or
cultivation.” See A. de Candolle, Origin of Cultivated
Plants （London, 1884）, pp. 191ff. Compare A.
Engler, in Victor Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem Ubergang aus
Asien （Berlin, 1902）, pp. 85ff. But these regions
are precisely those which Dionysus was supposed to have traversed on his journeys.
Certainly the idea of the god's wanderings cannot have been suggested, as appears to be
sometimes imagined, by the expedition of Alexander the Great to India （see F. A. Voigt, in W. H.
Roscher's Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie,
i.1087）, since they are described with geographical precision by
Euripides, who died before Alexander the Great was born. In his famous play, The
Bacchae （Eur. Ba. 13-20）, the
poet introduces the god himself describing his journey over Lydia, Phrygia, Bactria, Media, and all Asia. And by Asia the poet did
not mean the whole continent of Asia as we
understand the word, for most of it was unknown to him; he meant only the southern
portion of it from the Mediterranean to the Indus, in great part of which the vine appears to be native. and
being driven mad by HeraCompare Eur.
Cyc. 3ff. he roamed about Egypt
and
Syria. At first he was received by Proteus, king
of Egypt,The visit
of Dionysus to Egypt was doubtless invented to
explain the close resemblance which the ancients traced between the worships of Osiris
and Dionysus. See Hdt. 2.42; Hdt.
2.49, and Hdt. 2.144; Diod. 1.11.3,
Diod. 1.13.5, Diod. 1.96.5, Diod. 4.1.6;
Plut. Isis et Osiris 28, 34, and 35; Tibullus 1.7.29ff. For
the same reason Nysa, the place where Dionysus
was supposed to have been reared, was by some people believed to be in the neighbourhood
of Egypt. See HH Dion.
8ff.; Diod. 1.15.6, Diod. 4.2.3. but afterwards
he arrived at Cybela in Phrygia.For the association of Dionysus with Phrygia, see Eur. Ba.
58ff.; Eur. Ba. 78ff., where the chorus of
Bacchanals is represented escorting Dionysus from the mountains of Phrygia to Greece. According to one account, Dionysus was reared by the great Phrygian
goddess Rhea （Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *ma/staura）. These legends were probably intended to explain the
resemblances between the Bacchic and the Phrygian religions, especially in respect of
their wild ecstatic and orgiastic rites. And there, after he had been purified by
Rhea and learned the rites of initiation, he received from her the costume and hastened
through Thrace against the Indians. But Lycurgus,
son of Dryas, was king of the Edonians, who dwell beside the river Strymon, and he was the
first who insulted and expelled him.For the story of the
hostility of Lycurgus to Dionysus, see Hom. Il.
6.129ff., with the Scholia; Soph. Ant. 955ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 273; Hyginus, Fab. 132;
Serv. Verg. A. 3.14; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 39 (First Vatican Mythographer 122). According to
Sophocles, it would seem that Lycurgus suffered nothing worse at the hands of his
subjects than imprisonment in a cave, where his frenzy gradually subsided. According to
Hyginus, Servius, and the First Vatican Mythographer, the furious king, in attempting to
cut down the vines, lopped off one of his own feet or even both his legs. It appears to
be a common belief that a woodman who cuts a sacred tree with an axe wounds himself in
so doing. See W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, pp. 36ff. It is said
that when the missionary Jerome of Prague was
preaching to the heathen Lithuanians and persuading them to cut down their sacred woods,
one of the converts, moved by his exhortation, struck at an ancient oak with an axe, but
wounded himself in the legs and fell to the ground. See Aeneas Sylvius, Opera
（Basel, 1571）, p. 418 [wrongly numbered
420]. The accident to this zealous convert closely resembles the one
which is said to have befallen the Edonian king in a similar attempt on the sacred
vine. Dionysus took refuge in the sea with Thetis, daughter of Nereus, and the
Bacchanals were taken prisoners together with the multitude of Satyrs that attended him.
But afterwards the Bacchanals were suddenly released, and Dionysus drove Lycurgus mad. And
in his madness he struck his son Dryas dead with an axe, imagining that he was lopping a
branch of a vine, and when he had cut off his son's extremities,Greek murderers used to cut off the extremities, such as the
ears and noses, of their victims, fasten them on a string, and tie the string round the
necks and under the armpits of the murdered men. One motive assigned for this custom,
and probably the original one, was the wish by thus mutilating the dead man to weaken
him so that he, or rather his ghost, could not take vengeance on his murderer
（i(/na, fasi/n, a)sqenh\s ge/noito pro\s to\
a)ntiti/sasqai to\n fone/a, Scholiast on Soph. El. 445;
dia\ tou/twn w(/sper th\n du/namin e)kei/nwn
[scil. tw=n a)naireqe/ntwn] a)fairou/menoi, dia\
to\ mh\ paqei=n e)s u(/stero/n ti deino\n par' e)kei/nwn, Suidas, s.v.
masxalisqh=nai）. On this barbarous
custom see the Scholiast on Soph. El. 445; Suidas, s.v. masxalisqh=nai）; Hesychius and Photius,
Lexicon, s.v. masxali/smata;; Scholiast
on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.477. According to one account （Scholiast
on Soph. El. 445）, the murderer fastened the extremities of his victim
about his own person, but the better attested and more probable account is that he tied
them about the mutilated body of his victim. Compare E. Rohde,
Psyche(3), i.322-326; Jebb on Soph. El. 445, with the
Appendix, pp. 211ff. The practice is perhaps illustrated by an original drawing
in the Ambrosian manuscript of the Iliad, which represents the Homeric
episode of Dolon （Hom. Il.
10.314ff.）; in the drawing the corpse of the slain Dolon is depicted
shorn of its feet and hands, which lie beside it, while Ulysses holds Dolon's severed
head in his hand. See Annali dell' Instituto di Correspondenza
Archeologica （Rome, 1875）, tav. d'agg. R.;
Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums,
i.460ff., fig. 506. It appears to be a widespread belief that the ghost of one
who has died a violent death is dangerous to his slayer, but that he can be rendered
powerless for mischief by maiming his body in such a way as would have disabled him in
life. For example, some of the Australian aborigines used to cut off the thumbs of the
right hands of dead enemies to prevent their ghosts from throwing spears. See A.
Oldfield, “The Aborigines of Australia,” Transactions of
the Ethnological Society of London, iii. （1865） p.
287. In Travancore the spirits of murderers who have been hanged are thought to
be very mischievous; hence, in order to prevent them from doing harm, it used to be
customary to cut off the heels of the criminal with a sword or to hamstring him as he
swung on the gallows. See S. Mateer, The Land of Charity
（London, （1871）, pp. 203ff. In Armenia, when a person falls sick soon after the death
of a member of the family, it is supposed that the sickness is caused by the dead man,
who cannot rest in his grave until he has drawn away one of his kinsfolk to the spirit
land. To prevent this catastrophe, the body of the deceased is disinterred and
decapitated, and to make assurance doubly sure the head is smashed or a needle is stuck
into it and into the heart. See Manuk Abeghian, Der armenische
Volksglaube （Leipsig, 1899）, p. 11. In some parts of
West Africa it is similarly customary to disinter and decapitate a corpse of a person
whose ghost is supposed to be causing sickness, “because the deceased, having
his head cut off, will not have the same strength as before, and consequently will not
be in a position to trouble him （the patient）.” See J.
B. Labat, Relation Historique de l'Ethiopie Occidentale
（Paris, 1732）, i.208. he recovered his senses.So Orestes, driven mad by the Furies of his murdered mother, is
said to have recovered his senses on biting off one of his own fingers （Paus. 8.34.2）. By the sacrifice he may be supposed to
have appeased the anger of his mother's ghost, who was thought to be causing his
madness. Compare Folk-Lore in the Old Testament,
iii.240ff. But the land remaining barren, the god declared oracularly that
it would bear fruit if Lycurgus were put to death. On hearing that, the Edonians led him
to Mount Pangaeum and bound him, and there by the will of Dionysus he died,
destroyed by horses.The king thus done to death was perhaps
supposed to die in the character of the god; for Dionysus himself was said to have been
rent in pieces by the Titans. See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed.
ii.98ff.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
i.24ff.
Having traversed Thrace and the whole of
India and set up pillars there,Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades viii.582ff. he
came to Thebes, and forced the women to
abandon their houses and rave in Bacchic frenzy on Cithaeron. But Pentheus, whom Agave
bore to Echion, had succeeded Cadmus in the kingdom, and he attempted to put a stop to
these proceedings. And coming to Cithaeron to spy on the Bacchanals, he was torn limb from
limb by his mother Agave in a fit of madness; for she thought he was a wild beast.In these lines Apollodorus has summarized the argument of the
Bacchae of Euripides; for the death of Pentheus, see Eur. Ba. 1043ff. Compare Hyginus, Fab. 184;
Ov. Met. 3.511ff., especially 701ff.; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 103 （Second Vatican Mythographer
83）. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy on the subject of Pentheus
（TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 60ff.）. And having
shown the Thebans that he was a god, Dionysus came to Argos, and there again, because they did not honor him, he drove the women
mad, and they on the mountains devoured the flesh of the infants whom they carried at
their breasts.The reference is to the madness of the
daughters of Proetus. See above, Apollod. 2.2.2
note.
And wishing to be ferried across from Icaria to Naxos
he hired a pirate ship of Tyrrhenians. But when they had put him on board, they sailed
past Naxos and made for Asia, intending to sell him. Howbeit, he turned the mast
and oars into snakes, and filled the vessel with ivy and the sound of flutes. And the
pirates went mad, and leaped into the sea, and were turned into dolphins.The story of Dionysus and the pirates is the theme of the HH Dion. Compare Ov. Met. 3.581ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 134; Hyginus, Ast. ii.17; Serv. Verg. A. 1.67; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 39, 133 (First Vatican Mythographer 123; Second Vatican
Mythographer 171). Thus men perceived that he was a god and honored him;
and having brought up his mother from Hades and named her Thyone, he ascended up with her
to heaven.Compare Diod. 4.25.4. Dionysus is
said to have gone down to hell to fetch up his mother Semele at Lerna, where he plunged into the Alcyonian Lake, a
pool which was supposed to be bottomless and therefore to afford an easy access to the
nether world. See Paus. 2.37.5; and for a description of
the pool as it is at the present time, see Frazer's commentary on Pausanias, vol.
v. pp. 604ff. Never having been in hell before, Dionysus did not know how to go
there, and he was reduced to the necessity of asking the way. A certain Prosymnus
pointed it out to the deity on condition of receiving a certain reward. When Dionysus
returned from the lower world, he found that his guide had died in the meantime; but he
punctually paid the promised reward to the dead man at his grave with the help of a
branch of fig wood, which he whittled into an appropriate shape. This story was told to
explain the similar implements which figured prominently in the processions of Dionysus.
See Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii.34, pp. 29ff., ed. Potter;
Nonnus, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, xxii.1, p.
368; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 212; Arnobius, Adversus
Nationes v.28; Hyginus, Ast. ii.5. Pausanias calls the god's guide
Polymnus, unless that form of the name is the mistake of a copyist for Prosymnus, as
seems to be suggested by the epithet Prosymna, which was applied to Demeter in the sacred grove at Lerna, where Dionysus also had an image. See Paus. 2.37.1. However, Hyginus gives Hypolipnus as the name of
the guide to hell. Every year the descent of the god through the deep water was
celebrated with nocturnal rites on the reedy margin of the pool （Paus. 2.37.6）. The pious Pausanias shrank from
divulging the nature of the rites; but from Plutarch we learn that a lamb was thrown
into the lake as an offering to the warder of hell, while on trumpets hidden in the
god's leafy emblems the buglers blew blasts which, startling the stillness and darkness
of night, were believed to summon up the lost Dionysus from the watery depths. See
Plut. Isis et Osiris 35. Perhaps in answer to this bugle call an actor,
dressed in the vine-god's garb, may have emerged dripping from the pool to receive the
congratulations of the worshippers on his rising from the dead. However, according to
others, the resurrection of Dionysus and his mother took place, not in the gloomy swamp
at Lerna, but on the beautiful, almost
landlocked, bay of Troezen, where nowadays
groves of oranges and lemons, interspersed with the dark foliage of tall cypresses,
fringe the margin of the calm blue water at the foot of the rugged mountains. See Paus. 2.31.2. Plutarch has drawn a visionary picture of the
scene of the ascension. It was, he says, a mighty chasm like the caves sacred to
Bacchus, mantled with woods and green grass and blooming flowers of every sort, and
exhaling a delicious, an intoxicating, perfume, while all about it the souls of the
departed circled and stooped upon the wing like flights of birds, but did not dare to
cross its tremendous depth. It was called the Place of Forgetfulness. See Plut. De
sera numinis vindicta 22, pp. 565ff. A pretty story was told of the device by
which Dionysus induced the grim warden of the dead to release the soul of his mother
from the infernal gaol. It is said that Hades consented to set her free provided that
her son would send of his best beloved to replace her shade in the world of shadows. Now
of all the things in the world the dearest to Dionysus were the ivy, the vine, and the
myrtle; so of these he sent the myrtle, and that is why the initiated in his rites
wreathed their brows with myrtle leaves. See Scholiast on Aristoph. Frogs
330. The harrying of hell is the theme of Aristophanes's amusing comedy
The Frogs.
But Cadmus and Harmonia quitted Thebes and
went to the Encheleans. As the Encheleans were being attacked by the Illyrians, the god
declared by an oracle that they would get the better of the Illyrians if they had Cadmus
and Harmonia as their leaders. They believed him, and made them their leaders against the
Illyrians, and got the better of them. And Cadmus reigned over the Illyrians, and a son
Illyrius was born to him. But afterwards he was, along with Harmonia, turned into a
serpent and sent away by Zeus to the Elysian Fields.As to
the departure of Cadmus and Harmonia to Illyria
and their transformation into snakes in that country, where their tomb was shown in
later ages, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.516ff.; Dionysius, Perieg.
390ff., with the commentary of Eustathius, Comm. on Dionysius Perieg.
v.391; Strab. 1.2.39, Strab. 7.7.8; Paus. 9.5.3; Athenaeus xi.5,
p. 462 B; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *durra/xion; Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.393ff.; Ov. Met. 4.563-603; Hyginus, Fab. 6;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.290; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 48 (First Vatican Mythographer 150).
Euripides mentions the transformation of the couple into snakes, but without speaking of
their banishment to Illyria （Eur. Ba. 1530ff.）, probably because there is a long
lacuna in this part of the text. According to Hyginus, the transformation of the two
into serpents was a punishment inflicted by Ares on Cadmus for killing his sacred dragon
which guarded the spring at Thebes, which
Hyginus absurdly calls the Castalian spring. It is a common belief, especially among the
Bantu tribes of South Africa, that human beings
at death are turned into serpents, which often visit the old home. There is some reason
to think that the ancestors of the Greeks may have shared this widespread superstition,
of which the traditional transformation of Cadmus and Harmonia would thus be an isolated
survival. See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed. i.82ff.
Polydorus, having become king of Thebes,
married Nycteis, daughter of Nycteus, son of Chthonius, and begat Labdacus, who perished
after Pentheus because he was like-minded with him.Compare
Eur. Ph. 8; Paus. 2.6.2,
Paus. 9.5.4ff. Apollodorus implies that Labdacus was
murdered by the Bacchanals because he set himself against the celebration of their
orgiastic rites. But there seems to be no express mention of his violent death in
ancient writers. But Labdacus having left a year -old son, Laius, the government
was usurped by Lycus, brother of Nycteus, so long as Laius was a child. Both of themThat is, the two brothers Lycus and Nycteus. had fled
[ from
Euboea] because they had killed
Phlegyas, son of Ares and Dotis the
Boeotian,This Phlegyas is supposed to be Phlegyas, king
of Orchomenus, whom Paus. 9.36.1 calls a son of Ares and
Chryse. If this identification is right,
the words “from Euboea”
appear to be wrong, as Heyne pointed out, since Orchomenus is not in Euboea but in
Boeotia. But there were many places called
Euboea, and it is possible that one of them
was in Boeotia. If that was so, we may
conjecture that the epithet “Boeotian,” which, applied to Dotis, seems superfluous, was applied by Apollodorus to
Euboea and has been misplaced by a copyist.
If these conjectures are adopted, the text will read thus: “Both of them fled
from Euboea in Boeotia because they had killed Phlegyas, son of Ares and
Dotis, and they took up their abode at Hyria.” As to the various places called
Euboea, see Stephanus Byzantius, s.v.
*eu)/boia; W. Pape,
Wörterbuch der griechischen Eigennamen, s.v. *eu)/boia. and they took up their abode at
Hyria, and thence having come to Thebes, they were enrolled as citizens through their
friendship with Pentheus. So after being chosen commander-in-chief by the Thebans, Lycus
compassed the supreme power and reigned for twenty years, but was murdered by Zethus and
Amphion for the following reason. Antiope was a daughter of Nycteus, and Zeus had
intercourse with her.With the following story of Antiope
and Dirce compare Paus. 2.6.1ff., Paus. 9.25.3; Malalas, Chr. ii. pp. 45-49, ed. L. Dindorf;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.1090; Nicolaus Damascenus, frag.
11, in Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, iii.365ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 7, 8; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
i. pp. 32, 99ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 97; Second Vatican Mythographer
74). Euripides wrote a tragedy Antiope, of which Hyginus,
Fab. 8 gives a summary. Many fragments of the play have been preserved. See
TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 410ff. In his version of the story Apollodorus
seems to have followed Euripides. The legend is commemorated in the famous group of
statuary called the Farnese bull, which is now
in the museum at Naples. See Baumeister,
Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, i.107, fig.
113. When she was with child, and her father threatened her, she ran away to
Epopeus at Sicyon and was married to him. In a
fit of despondency Nycteus killed himself, after charging Lycus to punish Epopeus and
Antiope. Lycus marched against Sicyon, subdued
it, slew Epopeus, and led Antiope away captive. On the way she gave birth to two sons at Eleurethae in Boeotia. The
infants were exposed, but a neatherd found and reared them, and he called the one Zethus
and the other Amphion. Now Zethus paid attention
to cattle-breeding, but Amphion practised
minstrelsy, for Hermes had given him a lyre.Compare Paus. 9.5.7ff. The two brothers are said to have quarrelled,
the robust Zethus blaming Amphion for his
passionate addiction to music and urging him to abandon it for what he deemed the more
manly pursuits of agriculture, cattle-breeding and war. The gentle
Amphion yielded to these exhortations so far as to cease
to strum the lyre. See Dio Chrysostom lxxiii. vol. ii. p. 254, ed. L.
Dindorf; Hor. Epist. i.18.41-44; TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
414-416, frag. 184-188. The discussion between the two brothers, the one
advocating the practical life and the other the contemplative or artistic, seems to have
been famous. It is illustrated by a fine relief in which we see
Amphion standing and holding out his lyre eagerly for
the admiration of his athletic brother, who sits regarding it with an air of smiling
disdain. See W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der griech, und röm.
Mythologie, i.311. But Lycus and his wife Dirce imprisoned
Antiope and treated her despitefully. Howbeit, one day her bonds were loosed of
themselves, and unknown to her keepers she came to her sons cottage, begging that they
would take her in. They recognized their mother and slew Lycus, but Dirce they tied to a
bull, and flung her dead body into the spring that is called Dirce after her. And having
succeeded to the sovereignty they fortified the city, the stones following Amphion's
lyreCompare Hom. Od.
11.260-265 （who does not mention the miracle of the music）;
Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.735-741; Paus. 9.5.6-8;
Prop. i.9.10, iv.2.3ff.;
Hor. Carm. 3.11.2, Hor. Ars. 394-396. Apollonius represents Zethus staggering under the load
of a mountain, while Amphion strolls along drawing a cliff twice as large after him by
singing to his golden lyre. He seems to have intended to suggest the feebleness of brute
strength by comparison with the power of genius.; and they expelled Laius.As to the banishment and restoration of Laius, see Paus. 9.5.6; Paus. 9.5.9;
Hyginus, Fab. 9. He resided in Peloponnese, being hospitably received by Pelops; and while he taught
Chrysippus, the son of Pelops, to drive a chariot, he conceived a passion for the lad and
carried him off.Compare Athenaeus xiii.79, pp.
602ff., who says that Laius carried off Chrysippus in his chariot to Thebes. Chrysippus is said to have killed himself for
shame. See the Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1760.
Zethus married Thebe, after whom the city of Thebes is named; and Amphion married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus,For the story of Niobe and her children, see Hom. Il. 24.602ff.; Diod. 4.74; Paus. 1.21.3; Paus. 2.21.9;
Paus. 5.11.2; Paus.
5.16.4; Paus. 8.2.5; Paus.
8.2.7; Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.416ff.; Ov.
Met. 6.146ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 9, 11; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. iii.191; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
p. 50 (First Vatican Mythographer 156). Great diversity of opinion prevailed
among the ancients with regard to the number of Niobe's children. Diodorus, Ovid,
Hyginus, Lactantius Placidus, and the First Vatican Mythographer agree with Apollodorus
as to the seven sons and seven daughters of Niobe, and from the Scholiast on Eur.
Ph. 159, we learn that Aeschylus, Euripides, and Aristophanes in lost plays
adopted the same numbers, but that Pherecydes agreed with Homer in reckoning six sons
and six daughters, while Hellanicus allowed the lady no more than four sons and three
daughters. On the other hand, Xanthus the
Lydian, according to the same Scholiast, credited her with a score of children, equally
divided between the two sexes. Herein he probably followed the authority of Hesiod
（see Apollodorus, below）, and the same liberal computation is said to
have been accepted by Bacchylides, Pindar, and Mimnermus, while Sappho reduced the
figure to twice nine, and Alcman to ten all told （Aulus Gellius
xx.70; Ael., Var. Hist. xii.36）. Aeschylus and Sophocles
each wrote a tragedy Niobe, of which some fragments remain. See TGF
(Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 50ff., 228ff.; The Fragments of
Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.94ff., frag. 442-451. The subject is
rendered famous by the fine group of ancient statuary now in the Uffizi gallery at
Florence. See Baumeister,
Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, iii.1674ff.
Antiquity hesitated whether to assign the group to Scopas or Praxiteles
（Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi.28）, and modern opinion is
still divided on the question. See Frazer on Paus. ii.29.9 （vol. iii. p.
201）. The pathetic character of the group may perhaps be held to speak
in favour of Scopas, who seems to have excelled in the portrayal of the sterner, sadder
emotions, while Praxiteles dwelt by preference on the brighter, softer creations of the
Greek religious imagination. This view of the sombre cast of the genius of Scopas is
suggested by the subjects which he chose for the decoration of the temple of Athena Alea
at Tegea （Paus. 8.45.5-7）, and by the scanty remains of the sculptures which
have been found on the spot. See Frazer, commentary on Pausanias, vol. iv. pp.
426ff. However, the late historian of Greek sculpture, Professor M. Collignon,
denied that the original of this famous group, which he regarded as a copy, was either
by Scopas or Praxiteles. He held that it belongs to an Asiatic school of sculpture
characterized by picturesque grouping, and that it could not have been executed before
the third century B.C. To the same school he would assign another famous group of
sculpture, that of Dirce and the bull （above, Frazer on Apollod.
3.5.5）. See M. Collignon, Histoire de la Sculpture Grecque
(Paris, 1892-1897), ii.532ff. The tomb of the children of Niobe was shown at
Thebes （Paus. 9.16.7; compare Eur. Ph.
159ff.）; but according to Statius, Theb. vi.124ff. the
Mater Dolorosa carried the ashes of her dead children in twice six urns to be buried on
her native Mount Sipylus. Thus the poet dutifully follows Homer in regard to the number
of the children. who bore seven sons, Sipylus, Eupinytus, Ismenus, Damasichthon,
Agenor, Phaedimus, Tantalus, and the same number of daughters, Ethodaia （ or, as
some say, Neaera）, Cleodoxa, Astyoche,
Phthia, Pelopia, Astycratia, and
Ogygia, But Hesiod says that they had ten sons and ten daughters; Herodorus
that they had two male children and three female; and Homer that they had six sons and six
daughters. Being blessed with children, Niobe said that she was more blessed with children
than Latona. Stung by the taunt,
Latona incited Artemis and Apollo against them, and
Artemis shot down the females in the house, and Apollo killed all the males together as
they were hunting on Cithaeron. Of the males
Amphion alone was saved, and of the females Chloris the elder, whom Neleus
married. But according to Telesilla there were saved Amyclas and Meliboea,Compare Paus. 2.21.9, Paus. 5.16.4, according to whom Meliboea was the original name
of Chloris; but she turned pale with fear at the slaughter of her brothers and sisters,
and so received the name of Chloris, that is, the Pale Woman. As to the marriage of
Chloris with Neleus, see Hom. Od. 11.281ff. and
Amphion also was shot by them.The ancients differed as to the death of Amphion. According to
one account, he went mad （Lucian, De Saltatione 41）, and
in attempting to attack a temple of Apollo, doubtless in order to avenge the death of
his sons on the divine murderer, he was shot dead by the deity （Hyginus,
Fab. 9）. According to Ov. Met.
6.271ff., he stabbed himself for grief. But Niobe herself quitted
Thebes and went to her father Tantalus at
Sipylus, and there, on praying to Zeus, she was transformed into a stone, and tears flow
night and day from the stone.
After Amphion's death Laius succeeded to the
kingdom. And he married a daughter of Menoeceus; some say that she was Jocasta, and some
that she was Epicasta.For the tragic story of Laius,
Jocasta or Epicasta, and their son Oedipus, see Hom. Od.
11.271-280, with the Scholiast on Hom. Od. 11.271; Eur. Ph. 1-62; Diod. 4.64; Paus. 9.2.4; Paus. 9.5.10ff.; Paus. 10.5.3ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 1760;
Hyginus, Fab. 66, 67. In Homer the mother of Oedipus is named Epicasta;
later writers call her Jocasta. The mournful tale of Oedipus is the subject of
Sophocles's two great tragedies, the Oedipus Tyrannus and the
Oedipus Coloneus. It is also the theme of
Seneca's tragedy Oedipus. From the Scholiast on Hom.
Od. 11.271-280 we learn that the story was told by Androtion. Apollodorus's
version of the legend closely follows Sophocles and is reproduced by Zenobius,
Cent. ii.68 in a somewhat abridged form with certain verbal changes, but as
usual without acknowledgment. Some parallel stories occur in the folklore of other
peoples. See Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “The Oedipus
Legend.” The oracle had warned him not to beget a son, for
the son that should be begotten would kill his father; nevertheless, flushed with wine, he
had intercourse with his wife. And when the babe was born he pierced the child's ankles
with brooches and gave it to a herdsman to expose. But the herdsman exposed it on
Cithaeron; and the neatherds of Polybus, king of Corinth, found the infant and brought it to his wife Periboea.Sophocles calls her Merope （Soph. OT 775）, and so does Seneca, Oedipus 272, 661,
802. But, according to Pherecydes, the wife of Polybus was Medusa, daughter of
Orsilochus （Scholiast on Soph. OT 775）. She
adopted him and passed him off as her own, and after she had healed his ankles she called
him Oedipus, giving him that name on account of his swollen feet.The name Oedipus was interpreted to mean “swollen foot.”
As to the piercing of the child's ankles, see Soph. OT
718; Eur. Ph. 26ff.; Diod. 4.64.1;
Paus. 10.5.3; Hyginus, Fab. 66;
Seneca, Oedipus 812. When the boy grew up and excelled his fellows
in strength, they spitefully twitted him with being supposititious. He inquired of
Periboea, but could learn nothing; so he went to Delphi and inquired about his true parents. The god told him not to go to his
native land, because he would murder his father and lie with his mother. On hearing that,
and believing himself to be the son of his nominal parents, he left Corinth, and riding in a chariot through Phocis he fell in with Laius driving in a chariot in a
certain narrow road.The “narrow road”
is the famous Cleft Way （Paus.
10.5.3ff.） now called the Crossroad of Megas （Stavrodromi tou Mega）, where the road from
Daulis and the road from Thebes and Lebadea meet and unite in the single road ascending through the long valley
to Delphi. At this point the pass, shut in
on either hand by lofty and precipitous mountains, presents one of the wildest and
grandest scenes in all Greece; the towering
cliffs of Parnassus on the northern side of the
valley are truly sublime. Not a trace of human habitation is to be seen. All is solitude
and silence, in keeping with the tragic memories of the spot. Compare Frazer,
commentary on Paus. 10.5.3 （vol. v. pp. 231ff.） As to the
Cleft Way or Triple Way, as it was also called, and the fatal encounter of the father
and son at it, see Soph. OT 715ff.; Soph. OT 1398ff.; Eur. Ph.
37ff.; Seneca, Oedipus 276ff. And when Polyphontes, the herald of Laius, ordered him to make way and killed one of his horses
because he disobeyed and delayed, Oedipus in a rage killed both Polyphontes and Laius, and
arrived in Thebes. Laius was buried by Damasistratus, king of Plataea,Compare Paus. 9.5.4. and Creon, son of Menoeceus, succeeded to
the kingdom. In his reign a heavy calamity befell Thebes. For Hera sent the Sphinx,As to the
Sphinx and her riddle, see Hes. Th. 326ff. （who
says that she was the offspring of Echidna and Orthus）; Soph. OT 391ff.; Eur. Ph. 45ff.; Diod.
4.64.3ff.; Paus. 9.26.2-4; Scholiast on
Eur. Ph. 45; Hyginus, Fab. 67; Seneca, Oedipus 92ff.
The riddle is quoted in verse by several ancient writers. See Athenaeus x.81, p.
456 B; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 7; Anth. Pal.
xiv.64; Argument to Soph. OT, p. 6, ed. R. C. Jebb; Argument
to Eur. Ph.; and Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 50 （Scholia in Euripiden,
ed. E. Schwartz, vol. i. pp. 243ff. 256）. Outside of Greece the riddle seems to be current in more or less
similar forms among various peoples. Thus it is reported among the Mongols of the
Selenga （R. G. Latham,
Descriptive Ethnology, i.325）, and in Gascony （J. F. Bladé,
Contes populaires de la Gascogne, i.3-14）. Further,
it has been recently recorded, in a form precisely similar to the Greek, among the
tribes of British Central Africa: the
missionary who reports it makes no reference to the riddle of the Sphinx, of which he
was apparently ignorant. See Donald Fraser, Winning a primitive
people （London, 1914） p. 171, “What is it
that goes on four legs in the morning, on two at midday, and on three in the evening?
Answer: A man, who crawls on hands and knees in childhood, walks erect when grown, and
with the aid of a stick in his old age.” whose mother was Echidna and
her father Typhon; and she had the face of a woman, the breast and feet and tail of a
lion, and the wings of a bird. And having learned a riddle from the Muses, she sat on
Mount Phicium, and propounded it to the Thebans. And the riddle was this:— What
is that which has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and
three-footed? Now the Thebans were in possession of an oracle which declared that they
should be rid of the Sphinx whenever they had read her riddle; so they often met and
discussed the answer, and when they could not find it the Sphinx used to snatch away one
of them and gobble him up. When many had perished, and last of all Creon's son Haemon,
Creon made proclamation that to him who should read the riddle he would give both the
kingdom and the wife of Laius. On hearing that, Oedipus found the solution, declaring that
the riddle of the Sphinx referred to man; for as a babe he is four-footed, going on four
limbs, as an adult he is two-footed, and as an old man he gets besides a third support in
a staff. So the Sphinx threw herself from the citadel, and Oedipus both succeeded to the
kingdom and unwittingly married his mother, and begat sons by her, Polynices and Eteocles,
and daughters, Ismene and Antigone.Compare Eur. Ph. 55ff.; Diod. 4.64.4; Hyginus,
Fab. 67. But some say the children were borne to him by Eurygania,
daughter of Hyperphas.This account is adopted by Paus. 9.5.10ff.; and by the Scholiast on Eur. Ph.
1760, who cites Pisander as his authority. According to another version, Oedipus,
after losing Jocasta, married Astymedusa, who falsely accused her stepsons of attempting
her virtue. See Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.376; Eust. on Homer, Il.
iv.376, p. 369; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 53.
When the secret afterwards came to light, Jocasta hanged
herself in a noose,Compare Hom.
Od. 11.277ff.; Soph. OT 1235ff. According to
Seneca, in one passage （Sen.
Oedipus, 1034ff.）, Jocasta stabbed herself to death on the discovery
of her incest. But Euripides makes Jocasta survive her two sons and stab herself to
death on their dead bodies. See Eur. Ph. 1455-1459.
Herein he was perhaps followed by Seneca in his
tragedy, for in the fragments of that play （
Seneca, Oedipus 443ff.） Seneca represents Jocasta
attempting to make peace between Eteocles and Polynices on the battlefield; but the
conclusion of the play is lost. Similarly Statius describes how Jocasta vainly essayed
to reconcile her warring sons, and how she stabbed herself to death on learning that
they had fallen by each other's hands. See Statius, Theb. vii.474ff.,
xi.634ff. and Oedipus was driven from Thebes, after he had put out his eyes and cursed his
sons, who saw him cast out of the city without lifting a hand to help him.A curious and probably very ancient legend assigned a different
motive for the curses of Oedipus. It is said that his sons used to send him as his
portion the shoulder of every sacrificial victim, but that one day by mistake they sent
him the haunch (i)sxi/on) instead of the shoulder, which
so enraged him that he cursed them, praying to the gods that his sons might die by each
other's hands. This story was told by the author of the epic
Thebaid
. See Scholiast on Soph. OC 1375; Zenobius, Cent.
v.43. A different cause of his anger is assigned by Athenaeus xi.14, pp.
465ff., also on the authority of the author of the
Thebaid
. And having come with Antigone to Colonus in Attica, where is the
precinct of the Eumenides, he sat down there as a suppliant, was kindly received by
Theseus, and died not long afterwards.The coming of Oedipus
and Antigone to Colonus Hippius in Attica,
together with the mysterious death of Oedipus, are the subject of Sophocles's noble
tragedy, Oedipus Coloneus. As to the sanctuary of the Eumenides, see that
play, Soph. OC 36ff. The knoll of Colonus is situated over a mile from Athens, and it is doubtful whether the poet intended
to place the death and burial of Oedipus at Colonus or at Athens itself,
where in later times the grave of Oedipus was shown in a precinct of the Eumenides,
between the Acropolis and the Areopagus （Paus.
1.28.7）. See Frazer, notes on Paus. i.28.7, i.30.2, vol. ii. pp.
366ff., 393ff.; R. C Jebb on Soph. OC pp. xxx.ff.
Now Eteocles and Polynices made a compact with each other concerning the kingdom and
resolved that each should rule alternately for a year at a time.That is, they were to reign in alternate years. Compare Eur. Ph. 69ff.; Eur. Ph.
473ff.; Diod. 4.65.1; Zenobius, Cent. i.30;
Hyginus, Fab. 67; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
pp. 48ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 152). In this and the sequel
Zenobius, Cent. i.30 closely follows Apollodorus and probably copied from
him. Some say that Polynices was the first to rule, and that after a year he
handed over the kingdom to Eteocles; but some say that Eteocles was the first to rule, and
would not hand over the kingdom. So, being banished from Thebes, Polynices came to Argos,
taking with him the necklace and the robe.That
is, the necklace and the robe which Cadmus had given to Harmonia at their marriage. See
above, Apollod. 3.4.2. The king of Argos was Adrastus, son of Talaus; and Polynices went up
to his palace by night and engaged in a fight with Tydeus, son of Oeneus, who had fled
from Calydon.See above Apollod.
1.8.5. At the sudden outcry Adrastus appeared and parted them, and
remembering the words of a certain seer who told him to yoke his daughters in marriage to
a boar and a lion,Adrastus received the oracle from Apollo.
See Eur. Ph. 408ff.; Eur.
Supp. 132ff. In these passages the poet describes the nocturnal brawl between
the two exiled princes at the gate of the palace, and their reconciliation by Adrastus.
Compare Zenobius, Cent. i.30; Hyginus, Fab. 69; and the
elaborate description of Statius, Theb. i.370ff. The words of the oracle
given to Adrastus are quoted by the Scholiast on
Eur. Ph. 409. According to one interpretation the boar on the shield of Tydeus
referred to the Calydonian boar, while the lion on the shield of Polynices referred to
the lion-faced sphinx. Others preferred to suppose that the two chieftains were clad in
the skins of a boar and a lion respectively. See Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 409;
Hyginus, Fab. 69. he accepted them both as bridegrooms, because
they had on their shields, the one the forepart of a boar, and the other the forepart of a
lion.As to the devices which the Greeks painted on their
shields, as these are described by ancient writers or depicted in vase-paintings, see
G. H. Chase, “The Shield Devices of the Greeks,” HSCP, vol.
xiii. pp. 61-127. From the evidence collected in this essay (pp. 98, 112ff.) it
appears that both the boar and the lion are common devices on shields in
vase-paintings. And Tydeus married Deipyle, and Polynices married ArgiaCompare Diod. 4.65.3; Scholiast on Eur. Ph.
409; Hyginus, Fab. 69; Statius, Theb.
ii.201ff.; and Adrastus promised that he would restore them both to their
native lands. And first he was eager to march against Thebes, and he mustered the chiefs.
But Amphiaraus, son of Oicles, being a seer and foreseeing that all who joined in the
expedition except Adrastus were destined to perish, shrank from it himself and discouraged
the rest. However, Polynices went to Iphis, son of Alector, and begged to know how
Amphiaraus could be compelled to go to the war. He answered that it could be
done if Eriphyle got the necklace.For the story of the
treachery of Eriphyle to her husband Amphiaraus, see also Diod. 4.65.5ff.;
Paus. 5.17.7ff.; Paus.
9.41.2; Scholiast on Hom. Od. 11.326 （who refers to
Asclepiades as his authority）; Hyginus, Fab. 73; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 49 (First Vatican Mythographer 152).
The story is alluded to but not told by Hom. Od.
11.326ff.; Hom. Od. 15.247; Soph. Elec. 836ff.）, and Hor. Carm. 3.16.11-13. Sophocles wrote a tragedy
Eriphyle, which was perhaps the same as his Epigoni. See
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp.
129ff. Now Amphiaraus had forbidden Eriphyle to accept gifts from
Polynices; but Polynices gave her the necklace and begged her to persuade Amphiaraus to go
to the war; for the decision lay with her, because once, when a difference arose between
him and Adrastus, he had made it up with him and sworn to let Eriphyle decide any future
dispute he might have with Adrastus.Compare Diod.
4.65.6; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.326; Scholiast on Pind. N.
9.13(30). As the sister of Adrastus （see above, Apollod. 1.9.13） and the wife of Amphiaraus, the
traitress Eriphyle might naturally seem well qualified to act as arbiter between
them. Accordingly, when war was to be made on Thebes, and the measure was advocated by Adrastus and opposed by
Amphiaraus, Eriphyle accepted the necklace and persuaded him to march with Adrastus. Thus
forced to go to the war, Amphiaraus laid his commands on his sons, that, when they were
grown up, they should slay their mother and march against Thebes.
Having mustered an army with seven leaders, Adrastus hastened to wage war on Thebes. The leaders were theseFor lists of the seven champions who marched against Thebes, see Aesch. Seven
375ff.; Soph. OC 1309ff.; Eur. Ph. 1090ff. and Eur. Supp.
857ff.; Diod. 4.65.7; Hyginus, Fab. 70.:
Adrastus, son of Talaus; Amphiaraus, son of Oicles; Capaneus, son of
Hipponous; Hippomedon, son of Aristomachus, but some say of Talaus. These came from
Argos; but Polynices, son of Oedipus, came
from Thebes; Tydeus, son of Oeneus, was an
Aetolian; Parthenopaeus, son of Melanion, was an Arcadian. Some, however, do not reckon
Tydeus and Polynices among them, but include Eteoclus, son of Iphis,The place of Eteocles among the Seven Champions is recognized by Aesch. Seven 458ff., Soph. OC
1316, and Euripides in one play （Eur. Supp.
871ff.）, but not in another （Eur.
Ph. 1090ff.）; and he is omitted by Hyginus, Fab. 70. His
right to rank among the Seven seems to have been acknowledged by the Argives themselves,
since they included his portrait in a group of statuary representing the Champions which
they dedicated at Delphi. See Paus. 10.10.3. and MecisteusBrother of Adrastus. See Apollod.
1.9.13. in the list of the seven.
Having come to Nemea, of which Lycurgus was
king, they sought for water; and Hypsipyle showed them the way to a spring, leaving behind
an infant boy Opheltes, whom she nursed, a child of Eurydice and Lycurgus.As to the meeting of the Seven Champions with Hypsipyle at
Nemea, the death of Opheltes, and the
institution of the Nemean games, see Scholiast on Pind. N., Arg. pp. 424ff. ed.
Boeckh; Bacch. 8.10ff. [9], ed. Jebb;
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. ii.34, p. 29, ed. Potter, with the
Scholiast; Hyginus, Fab. 74, 273; Statius, Theb.
iv.646-vi.; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iv.717;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode. vol. i. p. 123 （Second
Vatican Mythographer 141）. The institution of the Nemean games in
honour of Opheltes or Archemorus was noticed by Aeschylus in a lost play. See TGF
(Nauck 2nd ed.), p. 49. The judges at the Nemean games wore dark-coloured robes
in mourning, it is said, for Opheltes （Scholiast on Pind. N., Arg. p.
425, ed. Boeckh）; and the crown of parsley bestowed on the victor is
reported to have been chosen for the same sad reason （Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.68）. However, according to another account, the
crowns at Nemea were originally made of
olive, but the material was changed to parsley after the disasters of the Persian war
（Scholiast on Pind. N., Arg. p. 425）. The grave of
Opheltes was at Nemea, enclosed by a stone
wall; and there were altars within the enclosure （Paus.
2.15.3）. Euripides wrote a tragedy Hypsipyle, of which
many fragments have recently been discovered in Egyptian papyri. See TGF (Nauck
2nd ed.), pp. 594ff.; A. S. Hunt, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta
Papyracea nuper reperta （Oxford, no date, no pagination）. In
one of these fragments (col. iv.27ff.) it is said that Lycurgus was chosen from all
Asopia to be the warder （*klhdou=xos）
of the local Zeus. There were officials bearing the same title （kleidou=xoi） at Olympia （Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum
Graecarum 1021, vol. ii. p. 168） in Delos （Dittenberger, Orientis
Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. i. p. 252, No. 170）, and
in the worship of Aesculapius at Athens
（E. S. Roberts and E. A. Gardner, Introduction to Greek
Epigraphy, Part ii. p. 410, No. 157）. The duty from which
they took their title was to keep the keys of the temple. A fine relief in the Palazzo
Spada at Rome represents the serpent coiled
round the dead body of the child Opheltes and attacked by two of the heroes, while in
the background Hypsipyle is seen retreating, with her hands held up in horror and her
pitcher lying at her feet. See W. H. Roscher, Lexikon der griech. und
röm. Mythologie, i.473; Baumeister, Denkmaler des
klassichen Altertums, i.113, fig. 119. The death of Opheltes or Archemorus is
also the subject of a fine vase-painting, which shows the dead boy lying on a bier and
attended by two women, one of whom is about to crown him with a wreath of myrtle, while
the other holds an umbrella over his head to prevent, it has been suggested, the sun's
rays from being defiled by falling on a corpse. Amongst the figures in the painting,
which are identified by inscriptions, is seen the mother Eurydice standing in her palace
between the suppliant Hypsipyle on one side and the dignified Amphiaraus on the other.
See E. Gerhard, “Archemoros,” Gesammelte
Abhandlungen (Berlin, 1866- 1868) i.5ff., with Abbildungen, taf. i.;
K. Friederichs, Praxiteles und die Niobegruppe （Leipzig,
1855）, pp. 123ff.; Baumeister, op. cit. i.114, fig.
120. For the Lemnian women, afterwards learning that Thoas had
been saved alive,See above, Apollod. 1.9.17. put him to death and sold Hypsipyle into slavery;
wherefore she served in the house of Lycurgus as a purchased bondwoman. But while she
showed the spring, the abandoned boy was killed by a serpent. When Adrastus and his party
appeared on the scene, they slew the serpent and buried the boy; but Amphiaraus told them
that the sign foreboded the future, and they called the boy Archemorus.That is, “beginner of doom”; hence
“ominous,” “foreboding.” The name is so
interpreted by Bacch. 8.14, ed. Jebb, sa=ma me/llontos fo/nou）, by the Scholiast on
Pind. N., Arg. pp. 424ff. ed. Boeckh, and by Lactantius Placidus in his
commentary on Statius, Theb. iv 717. They celebrated the Nemean
games in his honor; and Adrastus won the horse race, Eteoclus the footrace, Tydeus the
boxing match, Amphiaraus the leaping and quoit-throwing match, Laodocus the
javelin-throwing match, Polynices the wrestling match, and Parthenopaeus the archery
match.
When they came to Cithaeron, they sent Tydeus to tell Eteocles in advance that he must
cede the kingdom to Polynices, as they had agreed among themselves. As Eteocles paid no
heed to the message, Tydeus, by way of putting the Thebans to the proof,
challenged them to single combat and was victorious in every encounter; and though the
Thebans set fifty armed men to lie in wait for him as he went away, he slew them all but
Maeon, and then came to the camp.For the embassy of Tydeus
to Thebes and its sequel, see Hom. Il. 4.382-398; Hom. Il.
5.802-808, with the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 4.376; Diod.
4.65.4; Statius, Theb. ii.307ff.
Having armed themselves, the Argives approached the wallsThe siege of Thebes by the Argive army under the Seven Champions is the subject of
two extant Greek tragedies, the Seven against <placeName key="perseus,Thebes" authname="perseus,Thebes">Thebes</placeName> of Aeschylus, and the Phoenissae of
Euripides. In both of them the attack on the seven gates by the Seven Champions is
described. See the Aesch. Seven 375ff.; Eur. Ph. 105ff.; Eur. Ph.
1090ff. The siege is also the theme of Statius's long-winded and bombastic
epic, the
Thebaid
. Compare also Diod. 4.65.7-9; Paus.
1.39.2; Paus. 2.20.5; Paus.
8.25.4; Paus. 10.10.3; Hyginus, Fab. 69,
70. The war was also the subject of two lost poems of the same name, the
Thebaid
of Callinus, an early elegiac poet, and the
Thebaid
of Antimachus, a contemporary of Plato. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta,
ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 9ff., 275ff. As to the seven gates of Thebes, see Paus.
9.8.4-7, with Frazer, commentary （vol. iv. pp.
35ff.）. The ancients were not entirely agreed as to the names of the
gates.; and as there were seven gates, Adrastus was stationed at the Homoloidian
gate, Capaneus at the Ogygian, Amphiaraus at the Proetidian, Hippomedon at the Oncaidian,
Polynices at the Hypsistan,That is, “the Highest
Gate.” Parthenopaeus at the Electran, and Tydeus at the Crenidian.That is, “the Fountain Gate.”
Eteocles on his side armed the Thebans, and having appointed leaders to match those of the
enemy in number, he put the battle in array, and resorted to divination to learn how they
might overcome the foe. Now there was among the Thebans
a soothsayer, Tiresias, son of Everes and a nymph Chariclo, of the family of Udaeus, the
Spartan,That is, one of the
Sparti, the men who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus. See
above Apollod. 3.4.1. and he had lost the sight
of his eyes. Different stories are told about his blindness and his power of soothsaying.
For some say that he was blinded by the gods because he revealed their secrets to men.
But Pherecydes says that he was blinded by AthenaThe blinding of Tiresias by Athena is described by Callimachus in his hymn,
The Baths of Pallas. He tells how the nymph Chariclo, mother of
Tiresias, was the favourite attendant of Athena, who carried her with her wherever she
went, often mounting the nymph in her own car. One summer day, when the heat and
stillness of noon reigned in the mountains, the goddess and the nymph had stripped and
were enjoying a cool plunge in the fair-flowing spring of Hippocrene on Mount Helicon.
But the youthful Tiresias, roaming the hills with his dogs, came to slake his thirst at
the bubbling spring and saw what it was not lawful to see. The goddess cried out in
anger, and at once the eyes of the intruder were quenched in darkness. His mother, the
nymph, reproached the goddess with blinding her son, but Athena explained that she had
not done so, but that the laws of the gods inflicted the penalty of blindness on anyone
who beheld an immortal without his or her consent. To console the youth for the loss of
his sight the goddess promised to bestow on him the gifts of prophecy and divination,
long life, and after death the retention of his mental powers undimmed in the world
below. See Callimachus, Baths of Pallas 57-133. In this account Callimachus
probably followed Pherecydes, who, as we learn from the present passage of Apollodorus,
assigned the same cause for the blindness of Tiresias. It is said that Erymanthus, son
of Apollo, was blinded because he saw Aphrodite bathing. See Ptolemy Hephaest.,
Nov. Hist. i. in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, p. 183.; for Chariclo
was dear to Athena and Tiresias saw the goddess stark naked, and she covered his
eyes with her hands, and so rendered him sightless. And when Chariclo asked her to restore
his sight, she could not do so, but by cleansing his ears she caused him to understand
every note of birds; and she gave him a staff of cornel-wood,According to the MSS., it was a blue staff. See Critical Note. As to the
cornel-tree in ancient myth and fable, see C. Boetticher, Der Baumkultus
der Hellenen （Berlin, 1856）, pp. 130ff.
wherewith he walked like those who see. But Hesiod says that he beheld snakes
copulating on Cyllene, and that having wounded them he was turned from a man into a woman,
but that on observing the same snakes copulating again, he became a man.This curious story of the double change of sex experienced by
Tiresias, with the cause of it, is told also by Phlegon, Mirabilia 4;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 683; Eustathius on Hom. Od. 10.492,
p. 1665; Scholiast on Hom. Od. x.494; Ant. Lib. 17;
Ov. Met. 3.316ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 75;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. ii.95; Fulgentius, Mytholog.
ii.8; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 5, 104, 169
(First Vatican Mythographer 16; Second Vatican Mythographer 84; Third Vatican
Mythographer iv.8). Phlegon says that the story was told by Hesiod,
Dicaearchus, Clitarchus, and Callimachus. He agrees with Apollodorus, Hyginus,
Lactantius Placidus, and the Second Vatican Mythographer in laying the scene of the
incident on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia; whereas
Eustathius and Tzetzes lay it on Mount Cithaeron in Boeotia, which is more appropriate for a Theban seer. According to
Eustathius and Tzetzes, it was by killing the female snake that Tiresias became a woman,
and it was by afterwards killing the male snake that he was changed back into a man.
According to Ovid, the seer remained a woman for seven years, and recovered his male sex
in the eighth; the First Vatican Mythographer says that he recovered it after eight
years; the Third Vatican Mythographer affirms that he recovered it in the seventh year.
All the writers I have cited, except Antoninus Liberalis, record the verdict of Tiresias
on the question submitted to him by Zeus and Hera, though they are not all agreed as to
the precise mathematical proportion expressed in it. Further, they all, except Antoninus
Liberalis, agree that the blindness of Tiresias was a punishment inflicted on him by
Hera （Juno） because his answer to the question was displeasing to her.
According to Phlegon, Hyginus, Lactantius Placidus, and the Second Vatican Mythographer
the life of Tiresias was prolonged by Zeus （Jupiter） so as to last
seven ordinary lives. The notion that it is unlucky to see snakes coupling appears to be
widespread. In Southern India “the sight of two snakes coiled round each other
in sexual congress is considered to portend some great evil”
（E. Thurston, Ethnographic Notes in Southern India,
Madras, 1906, p. 293）. The Chins of Northeastern India think that
“one of the worst omens that it is possible to see is two snakes copulating,
and a man who sees this is not supposed to return to his house or to speak to anyone
until the next sun has risen” （B. S. Carey and H. N. Tuck,
The Chin Hills, vol. i. Rangoon, 1896, p. 199）.
“It is considered extremely unlucky for a Chin to come upon two snakes
copulating, and to avoid ill-fortune he must remain outside the village that night,
without eating cooked food; the next morning he may proceed to his house, but, on
arrival there, must kill a fowl and, if within his means, hold a feast. If a man omits
these precautions and is found out, he is liable to pay compensation of a big mythun, a pig, one blanket, and one bead, whatever his means, to
the first man he brings ill-luck to by talking to him. Before the British occupation, if
the man, for any reason, could not pay the compensation, the other might make a slave of
him, by claiming a pig whenever one of his daughters married”
（W. R. Head, Haka Chin Customs, Rangoon, 1917, p.
44）. In the Himalayas certain
religious ceremonies are prescribed when a person has seen snakes coupling
（Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1884, pt.
i. p. 101; the nature of the ceremonies is not described）. In
Timorlaut, one of the East Indian Islands, it is deemed an omen of great misfortune if a
man dreams that he sees snakes coupling （J. G. F. Riedel, De
sluik- en kroesharige rassen tusschen Selebes en Papua, The Hague, 1886, p.
285）. Similarly in Southern India there prevails “a
superstitious belief that, if a person sees two crows engaged in sexual congress, he
will die unless one of his relations sheds tears. To avert this catastrophe, false news
as to the death are sent by the post or telegraph, and subsequently corrected by a
letter or telegram announcing that the individual is alive” （E.
Thurston, op. cit. p. 278）. A similar belief as to the dire effect of
seeing crows coupling, and a similar mode of averting the calamity, are reported in the
Central Provinces of India （M. R. Pedlow,
“Superstitions among Hindoos in the Central Provinces,” The
Indian Antiquary, xxix. Bombay, 1900, p. 88）. Hence,
when Hera and Zeus disputed whether the pleasures of love are felt more by
women or by men, they referred to him for a decision. He said that if the pleasures of
love be reckoned at ten, men enjoy one and women nine. Wherefore Hera blinded him, but
Zeus bestowed on him the art of soothsaying.
The saying of Tiresias to Zeus and Hera.
Of ten parts a man enjoys one only;
But a woman enjoys the full ten parts in her heart.
These lines are also quoted by Tzetzes
（Scholiast on Lycophron 683） from a poem
Melampodia; they are cited also by the Scholiast on Hom. Od.
10.494.
He also lived to a great age.
So when the Thebans sought counsel of him, he said that they should be victorious if
Menoeceus, son of Creon, would offer himself freely as a sacrifice to Ares. On hearing
that, Menoeceus, son of Creon, slew himself before the gates.As to the voluntary sacrifice of Menoeceus, see Eur.
Ph. 911ff.; Paus. 9.25.1; Cicero, Tusc.
Disp. i.48.116; Hyginus, Fab. 68; Statius, Theb.
10.589ff. But a battle having taken place, the Cadmeans were chased in a
crowd as far as the walls, and Capaneus, seizing a ladder, was climbing up it to the
walls, when Zeus smote him with a thunderbolt.As to the
death of Capaneus, compare Aesch. Seven 423ff.; Eur. Ph. 1172ff.; Eur. Supp.
496ff.; Diod. 4.65.8; Hyginus, Fab. 71;
Statius, Theb. x.827ff.
When that befell, the Argives turned to flee. And as
many fell, Eteocles and Polynices, by the resolution of both armies, fought a
single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.As to
the single combat and death of Eteocles and Polynices, see Aesch. Seven 804ff.; Eur. Ph. 1356ff.;
Diod. 4.65.8; Paus. 9.5.12; Hyginus,
Fab. 71; Statius, Theb. xi.447-579. In another fierce
battle the sons of Astacus did doughty deeds; for
Ismarus slew Hippomedon,According to Statius, Theb.
ix.455-539, Hippomedon was overwhelmed by a cloud of Theban missiles after
being nearly drowned in the river Ismenus. Leades slew Eteoclus, and Amphidicus
slew Parthenopaeus. But Euripides says that Parthenopaeus was slain by Periclymenus, son
of Poseidon.As to the death of Parthenopaeus, see Eur. Ph. 1153ff. In the
Thebaid
, also, Periclymenus was represented as the slayer of Parthenopaeus. See Paus. 9.18.6. And Melanippus, the remaining one of the
sons of Astacus, wounded Tydeus in the belly. As
he lay half dead, Athena brought a medicine which she had begged of Zeus, and by which she
intended to make him immortal. But Amphiaraus hated Tydeus for thwarting him by persuading
the Argives to march to Thebes; so when he
perceived the intention of the goddess he cut off the head of Melanippus and gave it to
Tydeus, who, wounded though he was, had killed him. And Tydeus split open the head and
gulped up the brains. But when Athena saw that, in disgust she grudged and withheld the
intended benefit.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 1066; Scholiast on Pind. N. 10.7(12); Scholiast on
Hom. Il. v.126. All these writers say that it was Amphiaraus, not Tydeus, who
killed as well as decapitated Melanippus. Pausanias also （Paus. 9.18.1） represents Melanippus as slain by
Amphiaraus. Hence Heyne was perhaps right in rejecting as an interpolation the words
“who, wounded though he was, had killed him.” See the Critical Note.
The story is told also by Statius, Theb. viii.717-767 in his usual diffuse
style; but according to him it was Capaneus, not Amphiaraus, who slew and beheaded
Melanippus and brought the gory head to Tydeus. The story of Tydeus's savagery is
alluded to more than once by Ovid, Ibis 427ff., 515ff., that curious work
in which the poet has distilled the whole range of ancient mythology for the purpose of
commination. With this tradition of cannibalism on the field of battle we may compare
the custom of the ancient Scythians, who regularly decapitated their enemies in battle
and drank of the blood of the first man they slew （Hdt.
4.64）. It has indeed been a common practice with savages to swallow
some part of a slain foe in order with the blood, or flesh, or brains to acquire the
dead man's valour. See for example L. A. Millet-Mureau, Voyage de la
Perouse autour du Monde （Paris, 1797）, ii.272
（as to the Californian Indians）; Fay-Cooper Cole, The
Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao （Chicago, 1913）,
pp. 94, 189 （as to the Philippine Islanders）. I have cited
many more instances in Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
ii.148ff. The story of the brutality of Tydeus to Melanippus may contain a
reminiscence of a similar custom. From the Scholiast on Hom. Il. v.126 we
learn that the story was told by Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus may be following in the
present passage. The grave of Melanippus was on the road from Thebes to Chalcis （Paus. 9.18.1）, but
Clisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon,
“fetched Melanippus” （e)phga/geto
to\n Mela/nippon ） to Sicyon and dedicated a precinct to him in the Prytaneum or town-hall;
moreover, he transferred to Melanippus the sacrifices and festal honours which till then
had been offered to Adrastus, the foe of Melanippus. See Hdt.
5.67. It is probable that Clisthenes, in “fetching
Melanippus,” transferred the hero's bones to the new shrine at Sicyon, following a common practice of the ancient
Greeks, who were as anxious to secure the miraculous relics of heroes as modern
Catholics are to secure the equally miraculous relics of saints. The most famous case of
such a translation of holy bones was that of Orestes, whose remains were removed from
Tegea to Sparta （Hdt. 1.67ff.）.
Pausanias mentions many instances of the practice. See the Index to my translation
of Pausanias, s.v. “Bones,” vol. vi. p. 31. It was, no
doubt, unusual to bury bones in the Prytaneum, where was the Common Hearth of the city
（Pollux ix.40; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, ii.467,
lines 6, 73; Frazer, note on Paus. viii.53.9, vol. iv. pp.
441ff.）; but at Mantinea
there was a round building called the Common Hearth in which
Antinoe, daughter of Cepheus, was said to be buried
（Paus. 8.9.5）; and the graves of not a
few heroes and heroines were shown in Greek temples. See Clement of Alexandria,
Protrept. iii.45, pp. 39ff., ed. Potter. The subject of relic worship in
antiquity is exhaustively treated by Fr. Pfister, Der Reliquienkult im
Altertum （Giessen, 1909-1912）.
Amphiaraus fled beside the river Ismenus, and before Periclymenus could wound him in the
back, Zeus cleft the earth by throwing a thunderbolt, and Amphiaraus vanished with his
chariot and his charioteer Baton, or, as some say, Elato;Compare Pind. N. 9.24(59)ff.; Pind. N. 10.8(13); Eur. Supp. 925ff.;
Diod. 4.65.8; Strab. 9.2.11; Paus. 1.34.2; Paus. 2.23.2;
Paus. 9.8.3; Paus. 9.19.4;
Statius, Theb. vii.789-823. The reference to Periclymenus clearly proves
that Apollodorus had here in mind the first of these passages of Pindar. Pausanias
repeatedly mentions Baton as the charioteer of Amphiaraus （Paus. 2.23.2; Paus. 5.17.8;
Paus. 10.10.3）. Amphiaraus was believed to be
swallowed up alive, with his chariot and horses, and so to descend to the nether world.
See Eur. Supp. 925ff.; Statius, Theb.
viii.1ff.; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 49 (First
Vatican Mythographer 152). Hence Sophocles speaks of him as reigning fully
alive in Hades （Soph. Elec. 836ff.）.
Moreover, Amphiaraus was deified （Paus. 8.2.4;
Cicero, De divinatione i.40.88）, and as a god he had a famous
oracle charmingly situated in a little glen near Oropus in Attica. See Paus. 1.34, with
（Frazer, commentary on Paus., vol. ii. pp. 466ff.）. The
exact spot where Amphiaraus disappeared into the earth was shown not far from Thebes on the road to Potniae. It was a small enclosure with pillars in
it. See Paus. 9.8.3. As the ground was split open by a
thunderbolt to receive Amphiaraus （Pind. N.
9.24(59)ff.; Pind. N. 10.8(13)ff.）, the
enclosure with pillars in it was doubtless one of those little sanctuaries, marked off
by a fence, which the Greeks always instituted on ground struck by lightning. See Frazer
on Apollod. 3.7.1. and Zeus made him immortal. Adrastus alone was
saved by his horse Arion. That horse Poseidon begot on Demeter, when in the likeness of a
Fury she consorted with him.Arion, the swift steed of
Adrastus, is mentioned by Homer, who alludes briefly to the divine parentage of the
animal （Hom. Il. 22.346ff.）, without
giving particulars to the quaint and curious myth with which he was probably acquainted.
That myth, one of the most savage of all the stories of ancient Greece, was revealed by later writers. See Paus. 8.25.4-10; Paus. 8.42.1-6;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 153; compare Scholiast on Hom. Il.
23.346. The story was told at two places in the highlands of Arcadia: one was Thelpusa in the beautiful vale of the
Ladon: the other was Phigalia,
where the shallow cave of the goddess mother of the horse was shown far down the face of
a cliff in the wild romantic gorge of the Neda. The cave still exists, though the
goddess is gone: it has been converted into a tiny chapel of Christ and
St. John. See Frazer, commentary on Pausanias,
vol. iv. pp. 406ff. According to Diod. 4.65.9 Adrastus returned to
Argos. But Pausanias says （Paus. 1.43.1） that he died at Megara of old age and grief at his son's death, when
he was leading back his beaten army from Thebes: Pausanias informs us also that Adrastus was worshipped, doubtless
as a hero, by the Megarians, Hyginus, Fab. 242 tells a strange story that
Adrastus and his son Hipponous threw themselves into the fire in obedience to an oracle
of Apollo.
Having succeeded to the kingdom of Thebes,
Creon cast out the Argive dead unburied, issued a
proclamation that none should bury them, and set watchmen. But Antigone, one of the
daughters of Oedipus, stole the body of Polynices, and secretly buried it, and having been
detected by Creon himself, she was interred alive in the grave.Apollodorus here follows the account of Antigone's heroism and doom as they
are described by Sophocles in his noble tragedy, the Antigone. Compare
Aesch. Seven 1005ff. A different version of the
story is told by Hyginus, Fab. 72. According to him, when Antigone was
caught in the act of performing funeral rites for her brother Polynices, Creon handed
her over for execution to his son Haemon, to whom she had been betrothed. But Haemon,
while he pretended to put her to death, smuggled her out of the way, married her, and
had a son by her. In time the son grew up and came to Thebes, where Creon detected him by the bodily mark which all descendants
of the Sparti or Dragon-men bore on their
bodies. In vain Herakles interceded for Haemon with his angry father. Creon was
inexorable; so Haemon killed himself and his wife Antigone. Some have thought that in
this narrative Hyginus followed Euripides, who wrote a tragedy Antigone,
of which a few fragments survive. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
404ff. Adrastus fled to AthensAs to the flight of Adrastus to
Athens, and the intervention of the
Athenians on his behalf see Isoc. 4.54-58; Isoc. 12.168-174; Paus. 1.39.2;
Plut. Thes. 29; Statius, Theb.
xii.464ff., （who substitutes Argive matrons as suppliants instead of Adrastus）. The story is
treated by Euripides in his extant play The Suppliants, which, on the
whole, Apollodorus follows. But whereas Apollodorus, like Statius, lays the scene of the
supplication at the altar of Mercy in Athens, Euripides lays it at the altar of Demeter in Eleusis （Eur. Supp.
1ff.）. In favour of the latter version it may be said that the graves
of the fallen leaders were shown at Eleusis, near the Flowery Well （Paus.
1.39.1ff.; Plut. Thes. 29）; while the
graves of the common soldiers were at Eleutherae, which is on the borders of Attica and Boeotia, on the direct road from Eleusis to Thebes
（Eur. Supp. 756ff.; Plut. Thes. 29）. Tradition varied also on the question how the
Athenians obtained the permission of the Thebans to bury the Argive dead. Some said that Theseus led an army to
Thebes, defeated the Thebans, and
compelled them to give up the dead Argives for burial. This was the version adopted by
Euripides, Statius, and Apollodorus. Others said that Theseus sent an embassy and by
negotiations obtained the voluntary consent of the Thebans to his carrying off the dead.
This version, as the less discreditable to the Thebans, was very naturally adopted by
them （Paus. 1.39.2） and by the patriotic
Boeotian Plutarch, who expressly rejects Euripides's account of the Theban defeat.
Isocrates, with almost incredible fatuity, adopts both versions in different passages of
his writings and defends himself for so doing （Isoc.
12.168-174）. Lysias, without expressly mentioning the flight of
Adrastus to Athens, says that the Athenians
first sent heralds to the Thebans with a request for leave to bury the Argive dead, and that when the request was refused, they
marched against the Thebans, defeated them in battle, and carrying off the Argive dead buried them at Eleusis. See Lys.
2.7-10. and took refuge at the altar of Mercy,As to the altar of Mercy at Athens see above Apollod. 2.8.1; Paus. 1.17.1, with my note （vol. ii. pp.
143ff.）; Diod. 13.22.7; Statius, Theb.
xii.481-505. It is mentioned in a late Greek inscription found at Athens （Corpus Inscriptionum
Atticarum, iii.170; G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta
792）. The altar, though not mentioned by early writers, was in later
times one of the most famous spots in Athens. Philostratus says that the Athenians built an altar of Mercy as the
thirteenth of the gods, and that they poured libations on it, not of wine, but of tears
（Philostratus, Epist. 39）. In this fancy he perhaps
copied Statius, Theb. xii.488, “lacrymis
altaria sudant”. and laying on it the suppliant's
boughThe branch of olive which a suppliant laid on the
altar of a god in token that he sought the divine protection. See Andoc. 1.110ff.; Jebb on Sophocles, OT 3. he prayed that
they would bury the dead. And the Athenians marched with Theseus, captured Thebes, and gave the dead to their kinsfolk to bury.
And when the pyre of Capaneus was burning, his wife Evadne, the daughter of Iphis, thew
herself on the pyre, and was burned with him.For the death
of Evadne on the pyre of her husband Capaneus, see Eur. Supp.
1034ff.; Zenobius, Cent. i.30; Prop.
i.15.21ff.; Ovid, Tristia v.14.38; Ovid,
Pont. iii.1.111ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 243; Statius, Theb.
xii.800ff., with the note of Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. v.
801; Martial iv.75.5. Capaneus had been killed by a thunderbolt as
he was mounting a ladder at the siege of Thebes. See Apollod. 3.6.7. Hence his body
was deemed sacred and should have been buried, not burned, and the grave fenced off;
whereas the other bodies were all consumed on a single pyre. See Eur. Supp. 934-938, where sumph/cas
ta/fon refers to the fencing in of the grave. So the tomb of Semele, who was
also killed by lightning, seems to have stood within a sacred enclosure. See Eur. Ba. 6-11. Yet, inconsistently with the foregoing passage,
Euripides appears afterwards to assume that the body of Capaneus was burnt on a pyre
（Eur. Supp. 1000ff.）. The rule that
a person killed by a thunderbolt should be buried, not burnt, is stated by Pliny,
Nat. Hist. ii.145 and alluded to by Tertullian, Apologeticus 48.
An ancient Roman law, attributed to Numa, forbade the celebration of the usual obsequies
for a man who had been killed by lightning. See Festus, s.v.
“Occisum,” p. 178, ed. C. O. Müller. It is true
that these passages refer to the Roman usage, but the words of Eur. Supp. 934-938 seem to imply that the Greek practice was similar, and this
is confirmed by Artemidorus, who says that the bodies of persons killed by lightning
were not removed but buried on the spot （Artemidorus, Onirocrit.
ii.9）. The same writer tells us that a man struck by lightning was not
deemed to be disgraced, nay, he was honoured as a god; even slaves killed by lightning
were approached with respect, as honoured by Zeus, and their dead bodies were wrapt in
fine garments. Such customs are to some extent explained by the belief that Zeus himself
descended in the flash of lightning; hence whatever the lightning struck was naturally
regarded as holy. Places struck by lightning were sacred to Zeus the Descender
（*zeu\s kataiba/ths ） and were
enclosed by a fence. Inscriptions marking such spots have been found in various parts of
Greece. See Pollux ix.41; Paus. 5.14.10, with （Frazer, Paus. vol. iii.
p. 565, vol. v. p. 614）. Compare E. Rohde,
Psyche(3), i.320ff.; H. Useher,
“Keraunos,” Kleine Schriften, iv.477ff.,
（who quotes from Clemens Romanus and Cyrillus more evidence of the worship of
persons killed by lightning）; Chr. Blinkenberg, The Thunder-weapon
in Religion and Folklore （Cambridge, 1911）, pp.
110ff. Among the Ossetes of the Caucasus
a man who has been killed by lightning is deemed very lucky, for they believe that he
has been taken by St. Elias to himself. So the survivors raise cries of joy and sing and
dance about him. His relations think it their duty to join in these dances and
rejoicings, for any appearance of sorrow would be regarded as a sin against St. Elias
and therefore punishable. The festival lasts eight days. The deceased is dressed in new
clothes and laid on a pillow in the exact attitude in which he was struck and in the
same place where he died. At the end of the celebrations he is buried with much
festivity and feasting, a high cairn is erected on his grave, and beside it they set up
a tall pole with the skin of a black he-goat attached to it, and another pole, on which
hang the best clothes of the deceased. The grave becomes a place of pilgrimage. See
Julius von Klaproth, Reise in den Kaukasus und nach Georgien
（Halle and Berlin, 1814）, ii.606; A. von Haxthausen,
Transkaukasia （Leipsig, 1856）, ii.21ff.
Similarly the Kafirs of South Africa
“have strange notions respecting the lightning. They consider that it is
governed by the umshologu, or ghost, of the greatest and
most renowned of their departed chiefs, and who is emphatically styled the inkosi; but they are not at all clear as to which of their
ancestors is intended by this designation. Hence they allow of no lamentation being made
for a person killed by lightning, as they say that it would be a sign of disloyalty to
lament for one whom the inkosi had sent for, and whose
services he consequently needed; and it would cause him to punish them, by making the
lightning again to descend and do them another injury.” Further, rites of
purification have to be performed by a priest at the kraal where the accident took
place; and till these have been performed, none of the inhabitants may leave the kraal
or have intercourse with other people. Meantime their heads are shaved and they must
abstain from drinking milk. The rites include a sacrifice and the inoculation of the
people with powdered charcoal. See “Mr. Warner's Notes,” in
Col. Maclean's Compendium of Kafir Laws and Customs （Cape
Town, 1866）, pp. 82-84. Sometimes, however, the ghosts of persons who
have been killed by lightning are deemed to be dangerous. Hence the Omahas used to slit
the soles of the feet of such corpses to prevent their ghosts from walking about. See
J. Owen Dorsey, “A Study of Siouan Cults,” Eleventh
Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology （Washington,
1894）, p. 420. For more evidence of special treatment accorded to the
bodies of persons struck dead by lightning, see A. B. Ellis, The
Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast （London, 1890）, p.
39ff.; A. B. Ellis, The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave
Coast （London, 1894）, p. 49; Rev. J. H. Weeks,
“Notes on some customs of the Lower Congo people,”
Folk-Lore, xx. （1909）, p. 475; Rendel
Harris, Boanerges （Cambridge, 1913）, p. 97;
A. L. Kitching, On the backwaters of the Nile （London,
1912）, pp. 264ff. Among the Barundi of Central Africa, a man or woman
who has been struck, but not killed, by lightning becomes thereby a priest or priestess
of the god Kiranga, whose name he or she henceforth bears and of whom he or she is
deemed a bodily representative. And any place that has been struck by lightning is
enclosed, and the trunk of a banana-tree or a young fig-tree is set up in it to serve as
the temporary abode of the deity who manifested himself in the lightning. See H.
Meyer, Die Barundi （Leipsig, 1916）, pp. 123,
135.
Ten years afterwards the sons of the fallen, called the Epigoni, purposed to march
against Thebes to avenge the death
of their fathers;The war of the Epigoni against Thebes is narrated very similarly by Diod.
4.66. Compare Paus. 9.5.10ff., Paus. 9.8.6, Paus. 9.9.4ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 70. There was an epic poem on the subject, called
Epigoni, which some people ascribed to Homer （Hdt. 4.32; Biographi Graeci, ed. A. Westermann, pp.
42ff.）, but others attributed it to Antimachus （Scholiast
on Aristoph. Peace 1270）. Compare Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta,
ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 13ff. Aeschylus and Sophocles both wrote tragedies on the
same subject and with the same title, Epigoni. See TGF (Nauck 2nd
ed.), pp. 19, 173ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A.
C. Pearson, i.129ff. and when they consulted the oracle, the god
predicted victory under the leadership of Alcmaeon. So Alcmaeon joined the expedition,
though he was loath to lead the army till he had punished his mother; for Eriphyle had
received the robe from Thersander, son of Polynices, and had persuaded her sons alsoThe sons of Eriphyle were Alcmaeon and Amphilochus, as we learn
immediately. The giddy and treacherous mother persuaded them, as she had formerly
persuaded her husband Amphiaraus, to go to the war, the bauble of a necklace and the
gewgaw of a robe being more precious in her sight than the lives of her kinsfolk. See
above, Apollod. 3.6.2; and as to the necklace and robe,
see Apollod. 3.4.2; Apollod.
3.6.1-2; Diod. 4.66.3. to go to the war. Having chosen
Alcmaeon as their leader, they made war on Thebes. The men who took part in the expedition were these: Alcmaeon and
Amphilochus, sons of Amphiaraus; Aegialeus, son of Adrastus; Diomedes, son of Tydeus;
Promachus, son of Parthenopaeus; Sthenelus, son of Capaneus; Thersander, son of Polynices;
and Euryalus, son of Mecisteus. They first laid waste
the surrounding villages; then, when the Thebans advanced against them, led by
Laodamas, son of Eteocles, they fought bravely,The battle
was fought at a place called Glisas, where
the graves of the Argive lords were shown down
to the time of Pausanias. See Paus. 9.5.13; Paus. 9.8.6; Paus. 9.9.4; Paus. 9.19.2; Scholiast on Pind. P. 8.48(68), who
refers to Hellanicus as his authority. and though Laodamas killed Aegialeus, he
was himself killed by Alcmaeon,According to a different
account, King Laodamas did not fall in the battle, but after his defeat led a portion of
the Thebans away to the Illyrian tribe of the Encheleans, the same people among whom his
ancestors Cadmus and Harmonia had found their last home. See Hdt.
5.61; Paus. 9.5.13; Paus.
9.8.6. As to Cadmus and Harmonia in Illyria, see above, Apollod. 3.5.4.
and after his death the Thebans fled in a body within the walls. But as Tiresias told them
to send a herald to treat with the Argives, and themselves to take to flight, they did
send a herald to the enemy, and, mounting their children and women on the wagons,
themselves fled from the city. When they had come by night to the spring called Tilphussa,
Tiresias drank of it and expired.See Paus. 9.33.1, who says that the grave of Tiresias was at the spring. But there
was also a cenotaph of the seer on the road from Thebes to Chalcis
（Paus. 9.18.4）. Diod.
4.67.1 agrees with Pausanias and Apollodorus in placing the death of Tiresias at
Mount Tilphusium, which was beside the spring Tilphussa, in the territory of
Haliartus. After travelling far the Thebans built the city of Hestiaea and took up
their abode there. But the Argives, on learning
afterwards the flight of the Thebans, entered the city and collected the booty, and pulled
down the walls. But they sent a portion of the booty to Apollo at Delphi and with it Manto, daughter of Tiresias; for
they had vowed that, if they took Thebes, they
would dedicate to him the fairest of the spoils.Compare
Diod. 4.66.6 （who gives the name of Tiresias's daughter as
Daphne, not Manto）; Paus. 7.3.3; Paus. 9.33.2;
Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.308.
After the capture of Thebes, when Alcmaeon
learned that his mother Eriphyle had been bribed to his undoing also,That is, as well as to the undoing of his father Amphiaraus.
See above, Apollod. 3.6.2. he was more incensed
than ever, and in accordance with an oracle given to him by Apollo he killed his
mother.Compare Thuc.
2.102.7ff.; Diod. 4.65.7; Paus.
8.24.7ff.; Ov. Met. 9.407ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
73. Sophocles and Euripides both wrote tragedies called
Alcmaeon, or rather Alcmeon, for that appears to be the
more correct spelling of the name. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 153ff.,
379ff.; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
i. pp. 68ff. Some say that he killed her in conjunction with his brother
Amphilochus, others that he did it alone. But Alcmaeon was visited by the Fury of his
mother's murder, and going mad he first repaired to OiclesOicles was the father of Amphiaraus, and therefore the grandfather of Alcmaeon. See
Apollod. 1.8.2. in Arcadia, and thence to Phegeus at Psophis. And having been purified by him he married
Arsinoe, daughter of Phegeus,Paus. 8.24.8 and Prop.
i.15.19 call her Alphesiboea. and gave her the necklace and the robe.
But afterwards the ground became barren on his account,So
Greece is said to have been afflicted with a
dearth on account of a treacherous murder committed by Pelops. See below, Apollod. 3.12.6. Similarly the land of Thebes was supposed to be visited with barrenness of
the soil, of cattle, and of women because of the presence of Oedipus, who had slain his
father and married his mother. See Soph. OT 22ff.; Soph. OT 96ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 67. The notion that
the shedding of blood, especially the blood of a kinsman, is an offence to the earth,
which consequently refuses to bear crops, seems to have been held by the ancient
Hebrews, as it is still apparently held by some African peoples. See
Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.82ff. and the
god bade him in an oracle to depart to Achelous and to stand another trial on the river
bank.The text is here uncertain. See the Critical
Note. At first he repaired to Oeneus at Calydon and was entertained by him; then he
went to the Thesprotians, but was driven away from the country; and finally he went to the
springs of Achelous, and was purified by him,Achelous here
seems to be conceived partly as a river and partly as a man, or rather a god.
and received Callirrhoe, his daughter, to wife. Moreover he colonized the
land which the Achelous had formed by its silt, and he took up his abode there.Compare Thuc. 2.102.7ff.; Paus. 8.24.8ff. As to the formation of new land by the deposit
of alluvial soil at the mouth of the Achelous, compare Hdt.
2.10. But afterwards Callirrhoe coveted the necklace and robe, and said
she would not live with him if she did not get them. So away Alcmaeon hied to Psophis and told Phegeus how it had been predicted
that he should be rid of his madness when he had brought the necklace and the robe to
Delphi and dedicated them.According to Ephorus, or his son Demophilus, this oracle was
really given to Alcmaeon at Delphi. See
Athenaeus vi.22, p. 232 DF, where the words of the oracle are
quoted. Phegeus believed him and gave them to him. But a servant having let out
that he was taking the things to Callirrhoe, Phegeus commanded his sons, and they lay in
wait and killed him.His grave was overshadowed by tall
cypresses, called the Maidens, in the bleak upland valley of Psophis. See Paus.
8.24.7. A quiet resting-place for the matricide among the solemn Arcadian
mountains after the long fever of the brain and the long weary wanderings. The valley,
which I have visited, somewhat resembles a Yorkshire dale, but is far wilder and more solitary. When
Arsinoe upbraided them, the sons of Phegeus clapped her
into a chest and carried her to Tegea and gave
her as a slave to Agapenor, falsely accusing her of Alcmaeon's murder. Being apprized of Alcmaeon's untimely end and courted by Zeus,
Callirrhoe requested that the sons she had by Alcmaeon might be full grown in order to
avenge their father's murder. And being suddenly full-grown, the sons went forth to right
their father's wrong.Compare Ov.
Met. 9.413ff. Now Pronous and Agenor, the sons of Phegeus,Paus. 8.24.10 calls them Temenus
and Axion. carrying the necklace and robe to Delphi to dedicate them, turned in at the house of Agapenor at the same
time as Amphoterus and Acarnan, the sons of Alcmaeon; and the sons of
Alcmaeon killed their father's murderers, and going to Psophis and entering the palace they slew both Phegeus and his wife. They
were pursued as far as Tegea, but saved by the
intervention of the Tegeans and some Argives, and the Psophidians took to flight.
Having acquainted their mother with these things, they
went to Delphi and dedicated the necklace and
robeAccording to Paus.
8.24.10; Paus. 9.41.2, it was the sons of Phegeus,
not the sons of Alcmaeon, who dedicated the necklace at Delphi. The necklace, or what passed for it, was preserved at Delphi in the sanctuary of Forethought Athena as late
as the Sacred War in the fourth century B.C., when it was carried off, with much more of
the sacred treasures, by the unscrupulous Phocian leader, Phayllus. See
Parthenius, Narrat. 25 （who quotes Phylarchus as his
authority）; Athenaeus vi.22, p. 232 DE （who quotes the
thirtieth book of the history of Ephorus as his authority）. according to
the injunction of Achelous. Then they journeyed to Epirus, collected settlers, and colonized Acarnania.Compare Thuc. 2.102.9; Paus. 8.24.9, who similarly
derive the name of Acarnania from Acarnan, son
of Alcmaeon. Pausanias says that formerly the people were called Curetes.
But Euripides saysThe reference is no doubt to one of the
two lost tragedies which Euripides composed under the title Alcmaeon. See
TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 479ff. that in the time of his madness
Alcmaeon begat two children, Amphilochus and a daughter Tisiphone, by Manto, daughter of
Tiresias, and that he brought the babes to Corinth and gave them to Creon, king of Corinth, to bring up; and that on account of her extraordinary comeliness
Tisiphone was sold as a slave by Creon's spouse, who feared that Creon might make her his
wedded wife. But Alcmaeon bought her and kept her as a handmaid, not knowing that she was
his daughter, and coming to Corinth to get
back his children he recovered his son also. And Amphilochus colonized
Amphilochian Argos in obedience to
oracles of Apollo.Amphilochian Argos was a city of
Aetolia, situated on the Ambracian Gulf. See
Thuc. 2.68.3, who represents the founder Amphilochus as
the son of Amphiaraus, and therefore as the brother, not the son, of Alcmaeon. As to
Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus, see above, Apollod.
3.7.2.
Let us now return to Pelasgus, who, Acusilaus says, was a son of Zeus and Niobe, as we
have supposed,See above, Apollod.
2.1.1. but Hesiod declares him to have been a son of the soil. He had a
son LycaonThe following passage about Lycaon and his sons,
down to and including the notice of Deucalion's flood, is copied, to a great extent
verbally, by Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron 481）, who
mentions Apollodorus by name as his authority. For another and different list of
Lycaon's sons, see Paus. 8.3.1ff., who calls Nyctimus the
eldest son of Lycaon, whereas Apollodorus calls him the youngest （see
below）. That the wife of Pelasgus and mother of Lycaon was Cyllene is affirmed
by the Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1645. by
Meliboea, daughter of Ocean or, as others say, by a
nymph Cyllene; and Lycaon, reigning over the Arcadians, begat by many wives fifty sons, to
wit: Melaeneus, Thesprotus, Helix, Nyctimus, Peucetius, Caucon, Mecisteus, Hopleus,
Macareus, Macednus, Horus, Polichus, Acontes, Evaemon, Ancyor, Archebates, Carteron,
Aegaeon, Pallas, Eumon, Canethus, Prothous, Linus, Coretho, Maenalus, Teleboas, Physius,
Phassus, Phthius, Lycius, Halipherus, Genetor, Bucolion, Socleus, Phineus, Eumetes,
Harpaleus, Portheus, Plato, Haemo, Cynaethus, Leo, Harpalycus, Heraeeus, Titanas,
Mantineus, Clitor, Stymphalus, Orchomenus,
These exceeded all men in pride and impiety; and Zeus, desirous of putting
their impiety to the proof, came to them in the likeness of a day-laborer. They offered
him hospitality and having slaughtered a male child of the natives, they mixed his bowels
with the sacrifices, and set them before him, at the instigation of the elder brother
Maenalus.With this and what follows compare
Nicolaus Damascenus, Frag. 43 （Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C.
Müller, iii.378; Suidas, s.v. *luka/wn）: “Lycaon, son of Pelasgus and king of
Arcadia, maintained his father's institutions
in righteousness. And wishing like his father to wean his subjects from unrighteousness
he said that Zeus constantly visited him in the likeness of a stranger to view the
righteous and the unrighteous. And once, as he himself said, being about to receive the
god, he offered a sacrifice. But of his fifty sons, whom he had, as they say, by many
women, there were some present at the sacrifice, and wishing to know if they were about
to give hospitality to a real god, they sacrificed a child and mixed his flesh with that
of the victim, in the belief that their deed would be discovered if the visitor was a
god indeed. But they say that the deity caused great storms to burst and lightnings to
flash, and that all the murderers of the child perished.” A similar version of
the story is reported by Hyginus, Fab. 176, who adds that Zeus in his wrath
upset the table, killed the sons of Lycaon with a thunderbolt, and turned Lycaon himself
into a wolf. According to this version of the legend, which Apollodorus apparently
accepted, Lycaon was a righteous king, who ruled wisely like his father Pelasgus before
him （see Paus. 8.1.4-6）, but his virtuous
efforts to benefit his subjects were frustrated by the wickedness and impiety of his
sons, who by exciting the divine anger drew down destruction on themselves and on their
virtuous parent, and even imperilled the existence of mankind in the great flood. But
according to another, and perhaps more generally received, tradition, it was King Lycaon
himself who tempted his divine guest by killing and dishing up to him at table a human
being; and, according to some, the victim was no other than the king's own son Nyctimus.
See Clement of Alexandria, Protrept.
ii.36, p. 31, ed. Potter; Nonnus, Dionys. xviii.20ff.;
Arnobius, Adversus Nationes iv.24. Some, however, said that the victim
was not the king's son, but his grandson Arcas, the son of his daughter Callisto by
Zeus. See Eratosthenes, Cat. 8; Hyginus, Ast. ii.4;
Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, p. 387 （in Martianus Capella, ed.
Fr. Eyssenhardt）. According to Ov. Met.
1.218ff., the victim was a Molossian hostage. Others said simply that Lycaon
set human flesh before the deity. See Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb.
xi.128; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.5 (First Vatican
Mythographer 17). For this crime Zeus changed the wicked king into a wolf,
according to Hyginus, Ovid, the Scholiast on Caesar Germanicus, and the First Vatican
Mythographer; but, on the other hand, Clement of Alexandria, Nonnus, Eratosthenes, and
Arnobius say nothing of such a transformation. The upsetting of the table by the
indignant deity is recorded by Eratosthenes, Cat. 8 as well as by
Hyginus, Ast. ii.4 and Apollodorus. A somewhat different account of the
tragical occurrence is given by Pausanias, who says （Paus. 8.2.3） that Lycaon brought a human babe to the altar of Lycaean
Zeus, after which he was immediately turned into a wolf. These traditions were told to
explain the savage and cruel rites which appear to have been performed in honour of
Lycaean Zeus on Mount Lycaeus down to the second century of our era or later. It seems
that a human victim was sacrificed, and that his inward parts （spla/gxnon）, mixed with that of animal victims, was
partaken of at a sort of cannibal banquet by the worshippers, of whom he who chanced to
taste of the human flesh was believed to be changed into a wolf and to continue in that
shape for eight years, but to recover his human form in the ninth year, if in the
meantime he had abstained from eating human flesh. See Plat.
Rep. 8.565d-e; Paus. 8.2.6. According to another
account, reported by Varro on the authority of a Greek writer Euanthes, the werewolf was
chosen by lot, hung his clothes on an oak tree, swam across a pool, and was then
transformed into a wolf and herded with wolves for nine years, afterwards recovering his
human shape if in the interval he had not tasted the flesh of man. In this account there
is no mention of cannibalism. See Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii.81;
Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.17. A certain Arcadian boxer, named
Damarchus, son of Dinnytas, who won a victory at Olympia, is said to have been thus transformed into a wolf at the
sacrifice of Lycaean Zeus and to have been changed back into a man in the tenth year
afterwards. Of the historical reality of the boxer there can be no reasonable doubt, for
his statue existed in the sacred precinct at Olympia, where it was seen by Pausanias; but in the inscription on it,
which Pausanias copied, there was no mention made of the man's transformation into a
wolf. See Paus. 6.8.2. However, the transformation was
recorded by a Greek writer, Scopas, in his history of Olympic victors, who called the
boxer Demaenatus, and said that his change of shape was caused by his partaking of the
inward parts of a boy slain in the Arcadian sacrifice to Lycaean Zeus. Scopas also spoke
of the restoration of the boxer to the human form in the tenth year, and mentioned that
his victory in boxing at Olympia was
subsequent to his experiences as a wolf. See Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii.82;
Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.17. The continuance of human sacrifice
in the rites of Lycaean Zeus on Mount Lycaeus is hinted at by Paus. 8.38.7 in the second century of our era, and asserted by Porphyry,
（De abstinentia ii.27: Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii,
iv.16.6） in the third century. From these fragmentary notices it is
hardly possible to piece together a connected account of the rite; but the mention of
the transformation of the cannibal into a wolf for eight or nine years suggests that the
awful sacrifice was offered at intervals either of eight or of nine years. If the
interval was eight years, it would point to the use of that eight years' cycle which
played so important a part in the ancient calendar of the Greeks, and by which there is
reason to think that the tenure of the kingship was in some places regulated. Perhaps
the man who was supposed to be turned into a wolf acted as the priest, or even as the
incarnation, of the Wolf God for eight or nine years till he was relieved of his office
at the next celebration of the rites. The subject has been learnedly discussed by
A. B. Cook (Zeus, i.63-99);. He regards Lycaean Zeus as a
god of light rather than of wolves, and for this view there is much to be said. See
Frazer on Paus. 8.38.7 （vol. iv. pp. 385ff.）. The view would be
confirmed if we were sure that the solemn sacrifice was octennial, for the octennial
period was introduced in order to reconcile solar and lunar time, and hence the
religious rites connected with it would naturally have reference to the great celestial
luminaries. As to the octennial period, see the note on Apollod. 2.5.11. But with this view of the festival it is difficult to
reconcile the part played by wolves in the myth and ritual. We can hardly suppose with
some late Greek writers, that the ancient Greek word for a year, luka/bas, was derived from lu/kos,
“a wolf,” and bai/nw, “to
walk.” See Ael., Nat. Anim. x.26; Artemidorus, Onirocrit.
ii.12; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xiv.161, p. 1756. But Zeus in
disgust upset the table at the place which is still called Trapezus,As to the
town of Trapezus, see Paus. 8.3.3; Paus. 8.5.4; Paus. 8.27.4-6; Paus. 8.29.1;
Paus. 8.31.5. The name is derived by Apollodorus from
the Greek tra/peza, “a table.”
Compare Eratosthenes, Cat. 8. and blasted Lycaon and his sons by
thunderbolts, all but Nyctimus, the youngest; for Earth was quick enough to
lay hold of the right hand of Zeus and so appease his wrath. But when Nyctimus succeeded to the kingdom, there occurred the flood in
the age of Deucalion;See above, Apollod. 1.7.2. some said that it was occasioned by the impiety of
Lycaon's sons.
But Eumelus and some others say that Lycaon had also a daughter Callisto;As to the love of Zeus for Callisto, daughter of Lycaon, her
transformation into a bear, and finally into the constellation of the Bear, see Paus. 1.25.1; Paus. 8.3.6ff.;
Eratosthenes, Cat. 1; Libanius, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci,
Appendix Narrationum, 34, p. 374; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
481; Hyginus, Fab. 155, 176, and 177; Ov.
Met. 2.409-507; Serv. Verg. G. 1.138;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iii.685; Scholia in Caesaris
Germanici Aratea, p. 381, ed. F. Eyssenhardt （in his edition of
Martianus Capella）; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 5
(First Vatican Mythographer 17; vol. ii. p. 94, Second Vatican Mythographer
58). The transformation of Callisto into a bear is variously ascribed to the
amorous Zeus himself, to the jealous Hera, and to the indignant Artemis. The descent of
the Arcadians from a bear-woman through a son Arcas, whose name was popularly derived
from the Greek a)/rktos, “a bear,”
has sometimes been adduced in favour of the view that the Arcadians were a totemic
people with the bear for their totem. See Andrew Lang, Myth, Ritual and
Religion （London, 1887）, ii.211ff. though
Hesiod says she was one of the nymphs, Asius that she was a daughter of Nycteus, and
Pherecydes that she was a daughter of Ceteus.The Tegean
historian Araethus also described the mother of Arcas as the daughter of Ceteus;
according to him she was the granddaughter, not the daughter, of Lycaon, and her name
was Megisto, not Callisto. But he agreed in the usual tradition that the heroine had
been transformed into a bear, and he seems to have laid the scene of the transformation
at Nonacris in northern Arcadia. See
Hyginus, Ast. ii.1. According to a Scholiast on Eur. Or.
1646, Callisto, mother of Arcas, was a daughter of Ceteus by Stilbe. She
was a companion of Artemis in the chase, wore the same garb, and swore to her to remain a
maid. Now Zeus loved her and, having assumed the likeness, as some say, of Artemis, or, as
others say, of Apollo, he shared her bed against her will, and wishing to escape the
notice of Hera, he turned her into a bear. But Hera persuaded Artemis to shoot her down as
a wild beast. Some say, however, that Artemis shot her down because she did not keep
her maidenhood. When Callisto perished, Zeus snatched the babe, named it
Arcas, and gave it to Maia to bring up in
Arcadia; and Callisto he turned into a star and
called it the Bear.
Arcas had two sons, Elatus and Aphidas, by Leanira, daughter of Amyclas, or by Meganira,
daughter of Croco, or, according to Eumelus, by a nymph Chrysopelia.As to the sons of Arcas, and the division of Arcadia among them, see Paus. 8.4.1ff.
According to Pausanias, Arcas had three sons, Azas, Aphidas, and Elatus by Erato, a
Dryad nymph; to Azas his father Arcas assigned the district of Azania, to Aphidas the
city of Tegea, and to Elatus the mountain of
Cyllene. These divided the land between them, but Elatus had all the power, and
he begat Stymphalus and Pereus by Laodice, daughter of Cinyras, and Aphidas had a son
Aleus and a daughter Stheneboea, who was married to Proetus. And Aleus had a daughter Auge
and two sons, Cepheus and Lycurgus, by Neaera, daughter of Pereus. Auge was seduced by
HerculesFor the story of Auge and Telephus, see above,
Apollod. 2.7.4. and hid her babe in the
precinct of Athena, whose priesthood she held. But the land remaining barren, and the
oracles declaring that there was impiety in the precinct of Athena, she was detected and
delivered by her father to Nauplius to be put to death, and from him Teuthras, prince of
Mysia, received and married her. But the babe,
being exposed on Mount Parthenius, was suckled by a doe and hence called Telephus. Bred by
the neatheards of Corythus, he went to Delphi
in quest of his parents, and on information received from the god he repaired to
Mysia and became an adopted son of Teuthras, on
whose death he succeeded to the princedom.
Lycurgus had sons, Ancaeus, Epochus, Amphidamas, and Iasus,Compare Paus. 8.4.10, who mentions only the first two of
these four sons. by Cleophyle or Eurynome. And Amphidamas had a son Melanion and
a daughter Antimache, whom Eurystheus married. And Iasus had a daughter AtalantaFor the story of Atalanta, and how her suitor won her by the
bait of the golden apples, see Theocritus ii i.40-42; Hyginus, Fab.
185; Ov. Met. 10.560-680; Serv. Verg. A. 3.113; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 14, 91 (First Vatican Mythographer 39; Second Vatican
Mythographer 47). As Apollodorus points out, there was a difference of opinion
as to the name of Atalanta's father. According to Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis
215 and the First and Second Vatican Mythographers （Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 54, 124）, he was Iasius;
according to Ael., Var. Hist. xiii.1, he was Iasion. Prop. i.1.10 seems to agree with Apollodorus that her father was Iasus, for he
calls Atalanta by the patronymic Iasis. But according to Diod. 4.34.4,
Diod. 4.65.4, Paus. 8.35.10, Hyginus, and
Ovid, her father was Schoeneus. Hesiod also called him Schoeneus （see
Apollodorus, below）, and the later writers just mentioned probably accepted the
name on his authority. According to Euripides, as we learn from Apollodorus
（see below）, the name of the heroine's father was Maenalus. The
suckling of Atalanta by the bear, and the unsuccessful assault on her by the two
centaurs, Hylaeus and Rhoecus, are described, with a wealth of picturesque detail, by
Aelian （Ael., Var. Hist. xiii.1）, who does not, however,
mention her wedding race. The suitor who won the coy maiden's hand by throwing down the
golden apples is called Hippomenes by most writers （Theocritus, Hyginus, Ovid,
Servius, First and Second Vatican Mythographers）. Herein later writers may have
followed Euripides, who, as we learn from Apollodorus （see below）,
also called the successful suitor Hippomanes. But by Prop.
i.1.9 and Ovid, Ars Am. ii.188 the lover is called
Milanion, which nearly agrees with the form Melanion adopted by Apollodorus. Pausanias
seems also to have agreed with Apollodorus on this point, for he tells us
（Apollod. 3.12.9） that
Parthenopaeus, who was a son of Atalanta （see below）, had Melanion for
his father. by Clymene, daughter of Minyas. This Atalanta was exposed by her
father, because he desired male children; and a she bear came often and gave her suck,
till hunters found her and brought her up among themselves. Grown to womanhood, Atalanta
kept herself a virgin, and hunting in the wilderness she remained always under arms. The
centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus tried to force her, but were shot down and killed by her. She
went moreover with the chiefs to hunt the Calydonian boar, and at the games held in honor
of Pelias she wrestled with Peleus and won. Afterwards she discovered her
parents, but when her father would have persuaded her to wed, she went away to a place
that might serve as a racecourse, and, having planted a stake three cubits high in the
middle of it, she caused her wooers to race before her from there, and ran herself in
arms; and if the wooer was caught up, his due was death on the spot, and if he was not
caught up, his due was marriage. When many had already perished, Melanion came to run for
love of her, bringing golden apples from Aphrodite,According to Ov. Met. 10.644ff. the goddess brought
the golden apples from her sacred field of Tamasus, the richest land in Cyprus; there in the midst of the field grew a wondrous
tree, its leaves and branches resplendent with crackling gold, and from its boughs
Aphrodite plucked three golden apples. But, according to others, the apples came from
the more familiar garden of the Hesperides. See Serv. Verg. A.
3.113; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 14 (First
Vatican Mythographer 39). and being pursued he threw them down, and she,
picking up the dropped fruit, was beaten in the race. So Melanion married her. And once on
a time it is said that out hunting they entered into the precinct of Zeus, and there
taking their fill of love were changed into lions.The
sacrilege and its punishment are recorded also by Hyginus, Fab. 185; Serv. Verg. A. 3.113; and the First Vatican Mythographer
（Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 14, (Fab.
39). The reason why the lovers were turned into a lion and a lioness for their
impiety is explained by the ancient mythographers to be that lions do not mate with each
other, but with leopards, so that after their transformation the lovers could never
repeat the sin of which they had been guilty. For this curious piece of natural history
they refer to Pliny's Natural History; but all that Pliny, in the form in
which he has come down to us, appears to affirm on this subject is, that when a lioness
forgot her dignity with a leopard, her mate easily detected and vigorously punished the
offence （Pliny, Nat. Hist. viii.43）. What would have
happened if the lion had similarly misbehaved with a leopardess is not mentioned by the
natural historian. But Hesiod and some others have said that Atalanta was not a
daughter of Iasus, but of Schoeneus; and Euripides says that she was a
daughter of Maenalus, and that her husband was not Melanion but Hippomenes.See above, note on p. 399. It may have been in his lost
tragedy, Meleager, that Euripides named the father and husband of
Atalanta. She is named in one of the existing fragments （No. 530） of
the play. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 525ff. And by Melanion, or
Ares, Atalanta had a son Parthenopaeus, who went to the war against Thebes.See above, Apollod. 3.6.3. According to others, the father of
Parthenopaeus was neither Melanion nor Ares, but Meleager. See Hyginus, Fab. 70,
99, and 270; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 54, 125
(First Vatican Mythographer 174; Second Vatican Mythographer 144).
Atlas and Pleione, daughter of Ocean, had seven daughters called the Pleiades, born to
them at Cyllene in Arcadia, to wit: Alcyone,
Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and
Maia.As to the Pleiades, see Aratus,
Phaenomena 254-268; Eratosthenes, Cat. 23; Quintus
Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiii.551ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xviii.486; Scholiast on Pind. N. 2.10(16); Scholiast on Ap.
Rhod., Argon. iii.226; Hyginus, Ast. ii.21; Hyginus, Fab.
192; Ovid, Fasti iii.105, iv.169-178; Serv. Verg. G. 1.138, and Serv. Verg. A.
1.744; Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, p. 397, ed. F. Eyssenhardt
（in his edition of Martianus Capella）; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 73 (First Vatican Mythographer 234). There
was a general agreement among the ancients as to the names of the seven Pleiades.
Aratus, for example, gives the same names as Apollodorus and in the same order. However,
with the exception of Maia, a different list of
names is given by the Scholiast on Theocritus xiii.25, who tells us
further, on the authority of Callimachus, that they were the daughters of the queen of
the Amazons. As their father was commonly said to be Atlas, they were sometimes called
Atlantides （Apollodorus, below; Diod. 3.60.4; compare Hes. WD 382）. But there was much diversity of opinion
as to the origin of the name Pleiades. Some derived it from the name of their mother
Pleione; but the most probable view appears to be that the name comes from plei=n, “to sail,” because in the
Mediterranean area these stars were visible at night during the summer, from the middle
of May till the beginning of November, which coincided with the sailing season in
antiquity. This derivation of the name was recognized by some of the ancients
（Serv. Verg. G. 1.138）. With regard
to the number of the Pleiades, it was generally agreed that there were seven of them,
but that one was invisible, or nearly so, to the human eye. Of this invisibility two
explanations were given. Some thought that Electra, as the mother of Dardanus, was so
grieved at the fall of Troy that she hid her
face in her hands; the other was that Merope, who had married a mere man, Sisyphus, was
so ashamed of her humble, though honest, lot by comparison with the guilty splendour of
her sisters, who were all of them paramours of gods, that she dared not show herself.
These alternative and equally probable theories are stated, for example, by Ovid and
Hyginus. The cause of the promotion of the maidens to the sky is said to have been that
for seven or even twelve years the hunter Orion pursued them with his unwelcome
attentions, till Zeus in pity removed pursuer and pursued alike to heaven, there to
shine as stars for ever and to continue the endless pursuit. The bashful or mournful
Pleiad, who hid her light, is identified by modern astronomers with Celaeno, a star of
almost the seventh magnitude, which can be seen now, as in antiquity, in clear moonless
nights by persons endowed with unusually keen sight. See A. von Humboldt,
Cosmos, translated by E. Sabine, iii.47ff. Of these, Sterope was married to Oenomaus,Compare Paus. 5.10.6. According to another account, Sterope or
Asterope, as she is also called, was not the wife but the mother of Oenomaus by the god
Ares. See Eratosthenes, Cat. 23; Hyginus, Ast. ii.21;
Hyginus, Fab. 84, 159; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed.
Bode, i. p. 73 (First Vatican Mythographer 234). and Merope to Sisyphus.
And Poseidon had intercourse with two of them, first with Celaeno, by whom he had Lycus,
whom Poseidon made to dwell in the Islands of the Blest, and second with Alcyone, who bore
a daughter, Aethusa, the mother of Eleuther by Apollo, and two sons Hyrieus and Hyperenor.
Hyrieus had Nycteus and Lycus by a nymph Clonia; and Nycteus had Antiope by Polyxo; and
Antiope had Zethus and Amphion by Zeus.See above, Apollod. 3.5.5. And Zeus consorted with the other
daughters of Atlas.
Maia, the eldest, as the fruit of her
intercourse with Zeus, gave birth to Hermes in a cave of Cyllene.The following account of the birth and youthful exploits of Hermes is based,
whether directly or indirectly, on the beautiful Homeric Hymn to Hermes,
though it differs from the hymn on a few minor points, as to which Apollodorus may have
used other sources. Compare The Homeric Hymns, ed. T. W. Allen and
E. E. Sikes, pp. 130ff. Among the other literary sources to which Apollodorus
may have had recourse was perhaps Sophocles's satyric play Ichneutae, or The
Trackers. See below. He was laid in swaddling-bands on the winnowing
fan,Compare the HH Herm. 21;
HH Herm. 63; HH Herm. 150ff.; HH Herm. 254; HH Herm. 290; HH Herm. 358; Sophocles, Ichneutae 269 （The
Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, ii.258）. So
Dionysus at birth is said to have been laid on a winnowing-fan （Serv. Verg. G. 1.166）: hence he got the surname of
“He of the Winnowing-fan” （*likni/ths, Plut. Isis et Osiris 35）. These traditions
as to the gods merely reflected an ancient Greek custom of placing newborn children in
winnowing-fans “as an omen of wealth and fruitfulness”
（plou=ton kai\ karpou\s
oi)wnizo/menoi）. See the Scholiast on Callimachus, Hymn 1.48
（Callimachea, ed. O. Schneider, i.109）. As to the symbolism
of the custom, see W. Mannhardt, “Kind und Korn,”
Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 351-374; Miss J. E.
Harrison, “Mystica Vannus Iacchi,” JHS xxiii.
（1903）, pp. 292-324. The custom was not confined to ancient
Greece, but has been widely practised in
India and other parts of the east down to
modern times. The motives assigned or implied for it are various. Sometimes it seems to
have been intended to ensure the wealth and prosperity of the infant, sometimes to guard
it against the evil eye and other dangerous influences. See Spirits of the
Corn and of the Wild, i.5-11. To quote a single example, among the
Brahuis of Baluchistan, “most good
parents keep their babe for the first six days in a chaj, or winnowing-basket, that God may vouchsafe them full as many children
as the basket can hold grain . . . But some folk will have nothing to do with a
winnowing-basket; it harbours epilepsy, they say, though how or why I am at a loss to
think. So they lay the child in a sieve, that good luck may pour upon him as abundantly
as grain pours through a sieve” （Denys Bray, The
Life-History of a BrāhūīLondon, 1913, p.
13）. The substitution of a corn-sieve for a winnowing-fan seems to be
common elsewhere. but he slipped out and made his way to Pieria and stole the kine which Apollo was
herding.Compare HH Herm. 22ff.;
Ant. Lib. 23; Ov. Met. 2.680ff. The theft
of cattle by the infant Hermes was the subject of Sophocles's satyric drama
Ichneutae, or The Trackers, of which some considerable fragments have
been discovered in recent years. The scene of the play is laid on Mount Cyllene. Apollo
appears and complains of the loss of the cattle, describes how he has come from
Thessaly and through Boeotia in search of them, and offers a reward to anyone
who will help him to find the missing beasts. The proclamation reaches the ears of
Silenus, who hurries to the scene of action and warmly proffers the services of himself
and his Satyrs in the search, only stipulating that the reward shall take the solid
shape of cash down. His offer being accepted, the Satyrs at once open on the scent like
sleuth-hounds and soon discover confused tracks of cattle pointing in different
directions. But in the very heat of this discovery they are startled by a strange sound,
the like of which they had never heard before. It is, in fact, the muffled sound of the
lyre played by the youthful Hermes in the cave. At this point the nymph Cyllene issues
from the cavern and upbraids the wild creatures with the hubbub they are raising in the
stillness of the green wooded hills. The Satyrs tender a humble apology for their
intrusion, but request to know the meaning of the strange sounds that proceed from the
bowels of the earth. In compliance with their request the nymph explains how Zeus had
secretly begotten Hermes on Maia in the cave,
how she herself was acting temporarily as nurse to the child, how the infant grew at an
astonishing and even alarming rate, and how, being detained in the cave by his father's
orders, he devoted his leisure hours to constructing out of a dead beast a curious toy
which emitted musical notes. Being pressed for a fuller explanation she describes how
Hermes made the lyre out of a tortoise shell, how the instrument was “his only
balm of grief, his comforter,” and how the child was transported with delight
at the ravishing sweetness of the tones which spoke to him from the dead beast. Unmoved
by this touching description, the Satyrs at once charge the precocious infant with
having stolen the cattle. His nurse indignantly repels the charge, stoutly declaring
that the poor child had inherited no propensity to thieving either from its father or
from its mother, and recommending his accusers to go and look for the thief elsewhere,
since at their age, with their long beards and bald heads, they ought to know better
than to trump up such ridiculous accusations, for which they may yet have to smart. The
nurse's passionate defence of her little charge makes no more impression on the Satyrs
than her previous encomium on his musical talent: indeed their suspicions are quickened
by her reference to the hides which the infant prodigy had used in the construction of
the lyre, and they unhesitatingly identify the skins in question with those of the
missing cattle. Strong in this conviction, they refuse to budge till the culprit has
been made over to them. At this point the Greek text begins to fail; we can just catch a
few disjointed fragments of a heated dialogue between the nurse and the satyrs; the
words “cows,” “thief,”
“rascal,” and so forth, occur with painful iteration, then all is
silence. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i.
pp. 224-270. From this seemingly simple piece of mild buffoonery Miss J. E.
Harrison would extract a ritual of serious and indeed solemn significance, of which,
however, she admits that the author of the play was himself probably quite unconscious.
See her learned essay in Essays and Studies presented to William
Ridgeway, ed. E. C. Quiggin （Cambridge, 1913）, pp.
136ff. And lest he should be detected by the tracks, he put shoes on their feet and brought them to Pylus, and hid the rest in a cave; but two he
sacrificed and nailed the skins to rocks, while of the flesh he boiled and ate some,In the HH Herm. 115ff. we are told
that Hermes roasted the flesh of two oxen and divided it into twelve portions
（for the twelve gods）, but that in spite of hunger he ate none of it
himself. and some he burned. And quickly he departed to Cyllene. And before the
cave he found a tortoise browsing. He cleaned it out, strung the shell with chords made
from the kine he had sacrificed, and having thus produced a lyre he invented also a
plectrum.Compare Sophocles, Ichneutae 278ff.
（The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson,
ii.259）. In the HH Herm. 22ff., the invention
of the lyre by Hermes precedes his theft of the cattle. But Apollo came to
PylusIn the HH Herm. 185ff. it
is to Onchestus in Boeotia, not to Pylus, that
Apollo goes at first to inquire after the missing cattle. in search of the kine,
and he questioned the inhabitants. They said that they had seen a boy driving cattle, but
could not say whither they had been driven, because they could find no track. Having
discovered the thief by divination,Compare the HH Herm. 213ff., where it is said that Apollo discovered Hermes to
be the thief through observing a certain long-winged bird. Apollo came to
Maia at Cyllene and accused Hermes. But she
showed him the child in his swaddling-bands. So Apollo brought him to Zeus, and claimed
the kine; and when Zeus bade him restore them, Hermes denied that he had them, but not
being believed he led Apollo to Pylus and restored the kine. Howbeit, when Apollo heard
the lyre, he gave the kine in exchange for it. And while Hermes pastured them, he again
made himself a shepherd's pipe and piped on it.Compare the
HH Herm. 511ff., where, however, nothing is said about an
attempt of Apollo to get the pipes from Hermes, or about an exchange of the pipes for
the golden wand. However, there is a lacuna in the hymn after verse 526, and the missing
passage may have contained the exchange in question and the request of Hermes for the
gift of divination, both of which are mentioned by Apollodorus but omitted in the hymn
as it stands at present. See Allen and Sikes on the HH Herm. 526ff., in their
edition of the Homeric Hymns, p. 190. And wishing to get the
pipe also, Apollo offered to give him the golden wand which he owned while he herded
cattle.For the gift of the golden wand, see HH Herm. 527ff. But Hermes wished both to get the wand for
the pipe and to acquire the art of divination. So he gave the pipe and learned the art of
divining by pebbles.Compare the HH Herm.
552ff. The reference is to the divining pebbles called qri/ae, which were personified as three winged sisters who dwelt on
Parnassus, and are said to have been the
nurses of Apollo. See Zenobius, Cent. v.75; Callimachus, Hymn to
Apollo 45, with the Scholiast; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *qri/a, p. 455.45; Hesychius, s.v. qriai/; Anecdota Graeca, ed. Bekker, i.265.11,
s.v*qria/sion pedi/on.. According to one
account, the divining pebbles were an invention of Athena, which so disgusted Apollo
that Zeus caused that mode of divination to fall into discredit, though it had been in
high repute before; and Apollo vented his spite at the practitioners of a rival art by
saying that “There be many that cast pebbles, but few prophets.” See
Zenobius, Cent. v.75; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *qri/a. This tradition may perhaps be accepted as
evidence that in time the simple mode of divination by pebbles went out of fashion,
being cast into the shade by the far more stately and imposing ritual of the frenzied
prophetesses at Delphi, whose wild words
were accepted as the very utterances of the deity. However, we are informed that in the
temple at Delphi there were divining pebbles
in a bowl on a tripod, and that when an inquirer applied to the oracle, the pebbles
danced about in the bowl, while the inspired priestess prophesied. See Nonnus, in
Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum 67, p. 384; Suidas,
s.v. *puqw/. As to Greek divination by pebbles,
see A. Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la Divination dans
l'Antiquité, i.192,ff.; and Frazer, note on Paus.
7.25.10 （vol. iv. pp. 172ff.） And Zeus appointed him
herald to himself and to the infernal gods.
Taygete had by Zeus a son Lacedaemon, after whom
the country of Lacedaemon is called.Compare Paus. 3.1.2;
Scholiast on Eur. Or. 626.
Lacedaemon and
Sparta, daughter of Eurotas （ who was a son of
Lelex,According to Paus. 3.1.1, Eurotas was a son of Myles, who was a son of
Lelex. a son of the soil, by a Naiad
nymph Cleocharia）, had a son Amyclas and a daughter Eurydice, whom Acrisius
married. Amyclas and Diomede, daughter of Lapithus, had sons, Cynortes and Hyacinth.Compare Paus. 3.1.3. They
say that this Hyacinth was beloved of Apollo and killed by him involuntarily with the cast of a quoit.See above, Apollod. 1.3.3; Nicander, Ther. 901ff., with the
Scholiast on Lycophron 902; Paus. 3.1.3; Paus. 3.19.5; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.241ff.; Ov. Met. 10.161-219; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxi.66;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 37, 135ff. （First
Vatican Mythographer 117; Second Vatican Mythographer 181）. The tomb
of Hyacinth was shown at Amyclae under the great image of Apollo; a bronze door opened
into the tomb, and sacrifices were there offered to him as a hero. See Paus. 3.19.3. Compare Adonis, Attis,
Osiris, 3rd ed., i.313ff. Cynortes had a son Perieres, who
married Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus, as Stesichorus says, and she bore Tyndareus,
Icarius, Aphareus, and Leucippus.See above, Apollod. 1.9.5, where Apollodorus represents Perieres as the
son of Aeolus （compare Apollod.
1.7.3）, though he adds that many people regarded him as the son of
Cynortas. See below Apollod. 3.10.4 note.
Aphareus and Arene, daughter of Oebalus, had
sons Lynceus and Idas and Pisus; but according to many, Idas is said to have been gotten
by Poseidon. Lynceus excelled in sharpness of sight, so that he could even see things
underground.Compare Pind. N.
10.62(116); Paus. 4.2.7 （who seems to
have misunderstood the foregoing passage of Pindar）; Tzetzes, Scholiast
on Lycophron 553; Hyginus, Fab. 14, p. 42, ed. Bunte.
Leucippus had daughters, Hilaira and Phoebe: these the Dioscuri carried off and
married.See below, Apollod.
3.11.2. Besides them Leucippus begat
Arsinoe: with her Apollo had intercourse, and she bore Aesculapius. But
some affirm that Aesculapius was not a son of
Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus, but that he was a son of Coronis, daughter of
Phlegyas in Thessaly.The ancients were divided with regard to the mother of Aesculapius, some
maintaining that she was a Messenian woman
Arsinoe, daughter of Leucippus, others that she was a Thessalian woman
Coronis, daughter of Phlegyas. See the Scholiast on Pind. P. 3.8(14), who
quotes authorities on both sides: amongst the champions of
Arsinoe were Asclepiades and an Argive writer named Socrates. The claims of the Messenian Arsinoe were
naturally supported by patriotic Messenians, who looked on the god and his sons as in a
sense their fellow countrymen. See Paus. 2.26.3-7; Paus. 4.3.2; Paus. 4.31.12.
Apollodorus apparently accepted the Messenian view. But on the other side a long array
of authorities declared in favour of Coronis, and her claim to be the mother of the god
had the powerful support of the priesthood of Aesculapius at Epidaurus, one of the principal seats of the worship of
the healing god. See the HH Ascl.; Pind.
P. 3.8(14)ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.616ff.; Diod.
4.71.1, Diod. 5.74.6; Paus. 2.26.3-7;
Hyginus, Fab. 202; Hyginus, Ast. ii.40; Serv. Verg. A. 6.617; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. iii.506; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 17,
37 (First Vatican Mythographer 46, 115). Pausanias, who expressly rejects the
claim of Arsinoe, quotes in favour of Coronis a
Delphic oracle, which he regards as decisive: for who should know the true mother of
Aesculapius better than his own father Apollo? The testimony of the deity for once was
quite unambiguous. It ran thus:— “O born to be the world's great
joy, Aesculapius, Offspring of love, whom Phlegyas' daughter, fair Coronis, bore to me
in rugged Epidaurus.” See Paus. 2.26.7. In modern times the stones of Epidaurus, if we may say so, have risen up to testify to
the truth of this oracle. For in the course of the modern excavations at the great
Epidaurian sanctuary of Aesculapius there was discovered a limestone tablet inscribed
with a hymn in honour of Apollo and Aesculapius, in which the family tree of the junior
god is set out with the utmost precision, and it entirely confirms the Delphic oracle.
The author of the hymn was a certain native of Epidaurus, by name Isyllus, a man of such scrupulous accuracy that before
publishing his hymn he took the precaution of submitting it to the fount of knowledge at
Delphi with an inquiry whether the god
would sanction its publication. The deity granted his permission in very cordial terms;
hence we may look on the hymn as an authentic document bearing the imprimatur of the
Delphic Apollo himself. In it the pedigree of Aesculapius is traced as follows: Father
Zeus bestowed the hand of the Muse Erato on Malus in holy matrimony （o(si/oisi ga/mois.） The pair had a daughter Cleophema,
who married Phlegyas, a native of Epidaurus;
and Phlegyas had by her a daughter Aegla, otherwise known as Coronis, whom Phoebus of
the golden bow beheld in the house of her grandfather Malus, and falling in love he got
by her a child, Aesculapius. See *)efhmeri\s
a)rxaiologikh/, iii. （1885） coll. 65ff.; H.
Collitz and F. Bechtel, Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften,
iii.1, pp. 162ff., No. 3342. And they say that Apollo loved
her and at once consorted with her, but that she, against her father's judgment, preferred
and cohabited with Ischys, brother of Caeneus. Apollo cursed the raven that brought the
tidings and made him black instead of white, as he had been before; but he killed Coronis.
As she was burning, he snatched the babe from the pyre and brought it to Chiron, the
centaur,The story how Coronis played her divine lover
false and was killed by him, and how the god rescued his child from the burning pyre and
carried him to Chiron, is told by Pind. P. 3.8(14)ff.
Compare the Scholiast on this passage of Pindar, especially 27(48); Paus. 2.26.6 （according to whom it was Hermes, not
Apollo, who snatched the child from the burning pyre）; Hyginus, Fab.
202; Hyginus, Ast. ii.40; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. iii.506; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 17,
37, and 118 (First Vatican Mythographer 46, 115; Second Vatican Mythographer
128). All these writers, except Pindar and Pausanias, relate the story of the
tell-tale raven and his punishment. The story is also told by Ov. Met. 2.534ff. and Ant. Lib. 20, but neither of them mentions
Aesculapius. It was narrated by Pherecydes, who may have been the source from which the
other writers drew their information. See Scholiast on Pind. P. 3.34(59).
The name of the human lover of Coronis is given as Ischys, son of Elatus, by Pindar and
Pausanias in agreement with Apollodorus. But Antoninus Liberalis calls him Alcyoneus;
Lactantius Placidus and the Second Vatican Mythographer call him Lycus; and the First
Vatican Mythographer describes him （Hyginus, Fab. 115）
simply as the son of Elatus. As to the connexion of Coronis with the raven or the crow
in Greek legendary lore, see Frazer, note on Paus. ii.17.11 （vol. iii.
pp. 72ff.）. Compare D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary
of Greek Birds, p. 93. by whom he was brought up
and taught the arts of healing and hunting. And having become a surgeon, and carried the
art to a great pitch, he not only prevented some from dying, but even raised up the dead;
for he had received from Athena the blood that flowed from the veins of the Gorgon, and
while he used the blood that flowed from the veins on the left side for the bane of
mankind, he used the blood that flowed from the right side for salvation, and by that
means he raised the dead.Compare Zenobius, Cent.
i.18, who probably copied Apollodorus. According to Eur.
Ion 999ff., Pallas gave Erichthonius two drops of the Gorgon's blood, one of
them a deadly poison, the other a powerful medicine for the healing of diseases.
I found some who are reported to have been raised by him,For other lists of dead men whom Aesculapius is said to have restored to life, see
Sextus Empiricus, p. 658, ed. Bekker; Scholiast on Pind. P.
3.54(96); Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1. These two Scholiasts mention
that according to Pherecydes the people who died at Delphi were raised from the dead by Aesculapius. To the list of dead men
whom Aesculapius restored to life, Propertius adds Androgeus, son of Minos
（Prop. ii.1.61ff.）. to wit,
Capaneus and Lycurgus,The resurrection of these two men by
the power of Aesculapius is mentioned also, on the authority of Stesichorus, by the
Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1, and the Scholiast on Pind. P.
3.54(96). Otherwise the event is apparently not noticed by ancient writers, and
of the many legendary persons who bore the name of Lycurgus we do not know which is
referred to. Heyne conjectured that the incident took place in the war of the Epigoni
against Thebes, when Capaneus, one of the
original Seven against Thebes, and Lycurgus,
son of Pronax （as to whom see Apollod.
1.9.13） may have been restored to life by Aesculapius. This conjecture
is confirmed by a passage of Sextus Empiricus （p. 658 ed.
Bekker）, where we read: “Stesichorus in his
Eriphyle says that he （Aesculapius） raised up some of
those who fell at Thebes.”
as Stesichorus says in the Eriphyle; Hippolytus,As to the restoration of Hippolytus to life by Aesculapius see Pind. P. 3.54(96)ff., with the Scholiast; Sextus
Empiricus, p. 658, ed. Bekker （who quotes as his authority Staphylus
in his book on the Arcadians）; Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1
（who quotes Apollodorus as his authority）; Eratosthenes, Cat.
6; Hyginus, Fab. 49; Hyginus, Ast. ii.14;
Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. iv.434, vi.353(375). After his
resurrection Hippolytus is said to have gone to dwell at Aricia, on the Alban Hills, near Rome, where he reigned as a king and dedicated a precinct to Diana. See
Paus. 2.27.4; Verg. A.
7.761ff., with the commentary of Servius; Ovid, Fasti iii.263ff.,
v.735ff.; Ov. Met. 15.297ff.; Scholiast on
Persius, Sat. vi.56, pp. 347ff., ed. O. Jahn; Lactantius, Divin. Inst.
i.17; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 118
（Second Vatican Mythographer 128）. The silence of Apollodorus
as to this well-known Italian legend, which was told to account for the famous
priesthood of Diana at Aricia, like his
complete silence as to Rome, which he never
mentions, tends to show that Apollodorus either deliberately ignored the Roman empire or
wrote at a time when there was but little intercourse between Greece and that part of Italy which was under Roman rule. as the author of the Naupactica reports; Tyndareus, as Panyasis says;For the raising of Tyndareus from the dead by Aesculapius see
also Sextus Empiricus, p. 658, ed. Bekker; Scholiast on Eur. Alc.
1 （both these writers cite Panyasis as their authority）;
Lucian, De saltatione 45; Zenobius, Cent. i.47; Pliny,
Nat. Hist. xxix.3. Hymenaeus, as the Orphics report; and Glaucus, son of
Minos,See above, Apollod.
3.3.1. as Melesagoras relates. But Zeus,
fearing that men might acquire the healing art from him and so come to the rescue of each
other, smote him with a thunderbolt.This account of the
death of Aesculapius, the revenge of Apollo, and his servitude with Admetus is copied
almost verbally by Zenobius, Cent. i.18, but as usual without
acknowledgment. Compare Pherecydes, quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1;
Pind. P. 3.54(96)ff.; Eur. Alc.
1ff.; Eur. Alc. 123ff.; Diod.
4.71.1-3; Hyginus, Fab. 49; Serv. Verg. A.
7.761; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 17 (First
Vatican Mythographer 46). According to Diod. 4.71.1-3 Aesculapius
as a physician was so successful in his practice that the death-rate was perceptibly
lowered, and Hades accused the doctor to Zeus of poaching on his preserves. The
accusation angered Zeus, and he killed Aesculapius with a thunderbolt. According to
Pherecydes, with whom Apollodorus agrees, the period of Apollo's servitude with Admetus
was one year; according to Servius and the First Vatican Mythographer it was nine years.
This suggests that the period may have been what was called a
“great” or “eternal” year, which included eight
ordinary years. See above, Apollod. 3.4.2, with the note
on Apollod. 2.5.11. According to one account the motive
for Apollo's servitude was his love for Admetus. See Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo
45ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1, quoting Rhianus as his authority.
Apollo is said to have served Branchus as well as Admetus （Philostratus,
Epist. 57）, and we have seen that he served Laomedon. See above, Apollod. 2.5.9 note. Angry on that account, Apollo
slew the Cyclopes who had fashioned the thunderbolt for Zeus.According to Pherecydes, quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1,
it was not the Cyclopes but their sons whom Apollo slew. The passage of Pherecydes, as
quoted by the Scholiast, runs as follows: “To him” （that
is, to Admetus） “came Apollo, to serve him as a thrall for a year, at
the command of Zeus, because Apollo had slain the sons of Brontes, of Steropes, and of
Arges. He slew them out of spite at Zeus,
because Zeus slew his son Aesculapius with a thunderbolt at Pytho; for by his remedies Aesculapius raised the dead.”
But Zeus would have hurled him to Tartarus; however, at the intercession of
Latona he ordered him to serve as a thrall to a
man for a year. So he went to Admetus, son of Pheres, at Pherae, and served him as a
herdsman, and caused all the cows to drop twins.See
Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “Apollo and the Kine of
Admetus.”
But some say that Aphareus and Leucippus were sons of Perieres, the son of Aeolus, and
that Cynortes begat Perieres, and that Perieres begat Oebalus, and that Oebalus begat
Tyndareus, Hippocoon, and Icarius by a Naiad nymph
Batia.As to these genealogies see above,
Apollod. 1.7.3; Apollod.
1.9.5; Apollod. 2.4.5; Apollod. 3.10.3; Paus.
2.21.7; Paus. 3.1.3ff.; Paus.
4.2.2 and Paus. 4.2.4; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 284, 511. Pausanias consistently represents Perieres as the son of
Aeolus, and this tradition had the support of Hesiod （quoted by Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 284）. On the other hand Tzetzes represents
Perieres as the son of Cynortes （Scholiast on Lycophron
511）. Apollodorus here and elsewhere （Apollod. 1.9.5） mentions both traditions without deciding between
them. In two passages （Apollod. 1.7.3; Apollod. 1.9.5） he asserts or implies that the
father of Perieres was Aeolus; in another passage （Apollod. 3.10.3） he asserts that the father of Perieres was Cynortes.
In the present passage he seems to say that according to one tradition there were two
men of the name of Perieres: one of them was the son of Aeolus and father of Aphareus
and Leucippus; the other was the son of Cynortes and father of Oebalus, who married the
nymph Batia and became by her the father of
Tyndareus, Hippocoon, and Icarius. Pausanias says that Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus,
first married Perieres and had by him two sons, Aphareus and Leucippus, and that after
his death she married Oebalus, son of Cynortas （Cynortes）, and had by
him a son Tyndareus. See Paus. 2.21.7; Paus. 3.1.4; Paus. 4.2.4.
Apollodorus, on the other hand, represents Perieres as the father not only of Aphareus
and Leucippus, but also of Tyndareus and Icarius by Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus. See
above, Apollod. 1.9.5; Apollod. 3.10.3. Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron
511） agrees with him as to the sons, but makes Perieres the son of
Cynortas instead the son of Aeolus. Thus there were two traditions as to the father of
Tyndareus; according to one, his father was Perieres, according to the other, he was
Oebalus. But the two traditions were agreed as to the mother of Tyndareus, whom they
represented as Gorgophone, daughter of Perseus. According to another account, which may
have been intended to reconcile the discrepant traditions as to the father of Tyndareus,
Oebalus was the son of Perieres and the father of Tyndareus, Icarius,
Arene, and the bastard Hippocoon, whom he had by
Nicostrate. See Scholiast on Eur. Or. 457; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
ii.581. This account is mentioned, but apparently not accepted, by Apollodorus
in the present passage, though he says nothing about the daughter
Arene and the bastardy of Hippocoon. If we accept this
last version of the genealogy, Tyndareus was descended both from Oebalus and Perieres,
being the son of Oebalus and the grandson of Perieres. In a recently discovered fragment
of the Catalogues of Hesiod, that poet calls Tyndareus an Oebalid,
implying that his father was Oebalus. See Griechische Dichterfragmente, i.,
Epische und elegische Fragmente, bearbeitet von W. Schubart und U. von
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff （Berlin, 1907）, p. 30, line 38 (Berliner
Klassikertexte 1); Hes. Frag. 68.38.
Now Hippocoon had sons, to wit: Dorycleus, Scaeus, Enarophorus, Eutiches, Bucolus,
Lycaethus, Tebrus, Hippothous, Eurytus, Hippocorystes, Alcinus, and Alcon.
With the help of these sons Hippocoon expelled Icarius and Tyndareus from Lacedaemon.As to the
banishment of Tyndareus and his restoration by Herakles, see Diod. 4.33.5;
Paus. 2.18.7; Paus.
3.1.4ff.; Paus. 3.21.4; Scholiast on Eur. Or.
457; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ii.581. According to the Scholiasts on
Euripides and Homer, Icarius joined Hippocoon in driving his brother Tyndareus out of
Sparta. They fled to Thestius and
allied themselves with him in the war which he waged with his neighbors; and Tyndareus
married Leda, daughter of Thestius. But afterwards, when Hercules slew Hippocoon and his
sons,See above, Apollod.
2.7.3. they returned, and Tyndareus succeeded to the kingdom.
Icarius and Periboea, a Naiad nymph,According to the
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xv.16, the wife of Icarius was Dorodoche, daughter
of Ortilochus; but he adds that according to Pherecydes she was Asterodia, daughter of
Eurypylus. had five sons, Thoas, Damasippus, Imeusimus, Aletes, Perileos,Perileos （Perilaus）, son of Icarius, is said
to have accused the matricide Orestes at the court of the Areopagus. See Paus. 8.34.4. and a daughter Penelope, whom Ulysses
married.Compare Paus.
3.12.1; Paus. 3.20.10ff. According to the former
of these passages, Ulysses won her hand in a footrace. As to races for brides, see Apollod. 3.9.2; Apollod.
E.2.5; and note on Apollod. 1.7.8.
Tyndareus and Leda had daughters, to wit, Timandra, whom Echemus married,Compare Paus. 8.5.1. and
Clytaemnestra, whom Agamemnon married; also another daughter Phylonoe, whom Artemis made
immortal. But Zeus in the form of a swan consorted with
Leda, and on the same night Tyndareus cohabited with her; and she bore Pollux and Helen to
Zeus, and Castor and Clytaemnestra to Tyndareus.Compare
Eur. Hel. 16ff.; Lucian, Dial. Deorum
xx.14; Lucian, Charidemus 7; Scholiast on Hom. Od.
xi.298; Hyginus, Fab. 77; Hyginus, Ast. ii.8;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 27, 64, 119ff., 163 (First
Vatican Mythographer 78, 204; Second Vatican Mythographer 132; Third Vatican
Mythographer 3.6). As the fruit of her intercourse with the swan, Leda is said
to have laid an egg, which in the time of Pausanias was still to be seen hanging by
ribbons from the roof of the temple of Hilaira and Phoebe at Sparta. See Paus. 3.16.1.
According to one account (First Vatican Mythographer 78), Castor, Pollux,
and Helen all emerged from a single egg; according to another account (First
Vatican Mythographer 204), Leda laid two eggs, one of which produced Castor and
Pollux, and the other Clytaemnestra and Helen. In heaven the twins Castor and Pollux had
each, if we may believe Lucian, half an egg on or above his head in token of the way in
which he had been hatched. See Lucian, Dial. Deorum xxvi.1. For the
distinction between Pollux and Castor, the former being regarded as the son of Zeus and
the latter as the son of Tyndareus, see Pind. N.
10.79(149)ff. According to Hesiod, both Pollux and Castor were sons of Zeus. See
Scholiast on Pind. N. 10.80(150). But some say that Helen was a daughter of Nemesis and Zeus; for that she, flying from the arms of Zeus,
changed herself into a goose, but Zeus in his turn took the likeness of a swan and so
enjoyed her; and as the fruit of their loves she laid an egg, and a certain shepherd found
it in the groves and brought and gave it to Leda; and she put it in a chest and kept it;
and when Helen was hatched in due time, Leda brought her up as her own daughter.With this variant story of the birth of Helen compare
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 88 （who may have followed
Apollodorus）; Eratosthenes, Cat. 25; Paus.
1.33.7ff.; Scholiast on Callimachus; Hyginus, Ast.
ii.8. According to Eratosthenes and the Scholiast on Callimachus, Hymn to
Artemis, 232, the meeting between Zeus and Nemesis, in the shape respectively
of a swan and a goose, took place at Rhamnus in Attica, where Nemesis had a famous sanctuary, the marble ruins of which may
still be seen in a beautiful situation beside the sea. The statue of the goddess at
Rhamnus was wrought by the hand of Phidias, and on the base he represented Leda bringing
the youthful Helen to her mother Nemesis. In modern times some of these marble reliefs
have been found on the spot, but they are too fragmentary to admit of being identified.
See Paus. 1.33.2-8, with Frazer's, commentary, vol.
ii. pp. 455ff. And when she grew into a lovely woman, Theseus carried
her off and brought her to Aphidnae.As to the captivity of
Helen at Aphidnae, and her rescue by her brothers Castor and Pollux, see Apollod. E.1.23; Hdt. 9.73;
Strab. 9.1.17; Diod. 4.63.2-5; Plut. Thes. 31ff.; Paus.
1.17.5; Paus. 1.41.3; Paus.
2.22.6; Paus. 3.18.4ff.; compare Paus. 5.19.3; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
503; Hyginus, Fab. 79. The story was told by the historian
Hellanicus （Scholiast on Hom. Il. iii.144）, and in part
by the poet Alcman （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
iii.242）. But when Theseus was in Hades, Pollux and Castor marched
against Aphidnae, took the city, got possession of Helen, and led Aethra, the mother of Theseus, away captive. Now the kings of
Greece repaired to Sparta to win the hand of Helen. The wooers were
these:For another list of the suitors of Helen, see
Hyginus, Fab. 81. Hesiod in his Catalogues gave a list of
the suitors of Helen, and of this list considerable fragments have been discovered in
recent years. They include the names of Menelaus, the two sons of Amphiaraus
（Alcmaeon and Amphilochus）, Ulysses, Podarces, son of Iphiclus,
Protesilaus, son of Actor, <Menestheus>, son of Peteos, Ajax of Salamis, Elephenor, son of Chalcodon, and Idomeneus, son
of Minos. Thus the list only partially agrees with that of Apollodorus, for it comprises
the names of Podarces and Idomeneus, which are omitted by Apollodorus, who also mentions
only one son of Amphiaraus, namely Amphilochus. Hyginus includes Idomeneus, but not
Podarces, nor the sons of Amphiaraus. In these recently discovered fragments Hesiod does
not confine himself to a bare list of names; he contrives to hit off the different
characters of the suitors by describing the different manners of their wooing. Thus the
canny and thrifty Ulysses brought no wedding presents, because he was quite sure he had
no chance of winning the lady. On the other hand, the bold Ajax was extremely liberal
with his offer of other people's property; he promised to give magnificent presents in
the shape of sheep and oxen which he proposed to lift from the neighbouring coasts and
islands. Idomeneus sent nobody to woo the lady, but came himself, trusting apparently to
the strength of his personal attractions to win her heart and carry her home with him a
blooming bride. See Griechische Dichterfragmente, i.,
Epische und elegische Fragmente, bearbeitet von W. Schubart und U.
von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff （Berlin, 1907）, pp. 28ff.
(Berliner Klassikertexte 1); Hes. Frag.
68.— Ulysses, son of
Laertes; Diomedes, son of Tydeus; Antilochus, son of Nestor; Agapenor, son of
Ancaeus; Sthenelus, son of Capaneus; Amphimachus, son of Cteatus; Thalpius, son of
Eurytus; Meges, son of Phyleus; Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus; Menestheus, son of Peteos;
Schedius and Epistrophus, sons of Iphitus; Polyxenus, son of Agasthenes; Peneleos, son of
Hippalcimus; Leitus, son of Alector; Ajax, son of Oileus; Ascalaphus and Ialmenus, sons of
Ares; Elephenor, son of Chalcodon; Eumelus, son of Admetus; Polypoetes, son of Perithous;
Leonteus, son of Coronus; Podalirius and Machaon, sons of Aesculapius; Philoctetes, son of
Poeas; Eurypylus, son of Evaemon; Protesilaus, son of Iphiclus; Menelaus, son of Atreus;
Ajax and Teucer, sons of Telamon; Patroclus, son of Menoetius. Seeing the multitude of them, Tyndareus feared that the
preference of one might set the others quarrelling; but Ulysses promised that, if he would
help him to win the hand of Penelope, he would suggest a way by which there would be no
quarrel. And when Tyndareus promised to help him, Ulysses told him to exact an oath from
all the suitors that they would defend the favoured bridegroom against any wrong that
might be done him in respect of his marriage. On hearing that, Tyndareus put the suitors
on their oath,Compare Hesiod, in Epische und
elegische Fragmente, ed. W. Schubart und U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, p.
33; Hes. Frag. 68.89ff.; Eur. IA 57ff.; Thuc. 1.9; Paus. 3.20.9; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.339; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 202. According to Paus.
3.20.9 the suitors took the oath standing on the severed pieces of a horse. As to
the custom of standing on the pieces of a sacrificial victim or passing between them at
the making of solemn covenants, see Folk-Lore in the Old Testament,
i.392ff. and while he chose Menelaus to be the bridegroom of Helen, he
solicited Icarius to bestow Penelope on Ulysses.
Now Menelaus had by Helen a daughter
Hermione and, according to some, a son Nicostratus;Homer definitely affirms （Hom. Od.
4.12-14; compare Hom. Il. 3.174ff.） that
Helen had only one child, her daughter
Hermione. But according to Hesiod, whose verses are quoted by the
Scholiast on Soph. El. 539, Helen afterwards bore a son Nicostratus to
Menelaus. Compare Scholiast on Hom. Od. iv.11, who tells us further that
according to more recent writers Helen had a son Corythus or Helenus by Alexander
（Paris）. According to
Dictys Cretensis v.5, Helen had three sons by Alexander, namely, Bunomus,
Corythus, and Idaeus, who were accidentally killed at Troy through the collapse of a vaulted roof. The Scholiast on Hom.
Il. iii.175, says that the Lacedaemonians worshipped two sons of Helen, to wit,
Nicostratus and Aethiolas. He further mentions, on the authority of Ariaethus, that
Helen had by Menelaus a son Maraphius, from whom the Persian family of the Maraphions
was descended. See Dindorf's edition of the Scholiast on the Iliad vol. i. pp.
147ff., vol. iii. p. 171. According to one account, Helen had a daughter by
Theseus before she was married to Menelaus; this daughter was Iphigenia; Helen entrusted
her to her sister Clytaemnestra, who reared the child and passed her off on her husband
Agamemnon as her own offspring. This account of the parentage of Iphigenia was supported
by the authority of Stesichorus and other poets. See Paus.
2.22.6ff.; Ant. Lib. 27. Sophocles represents Menelaus as having
two children before he sailed for Troy
（Soph. Elec. 539ff.）. and by a
female slave Pieris, an Aetolian, or, according to Acusilaus, by Tereis, he had
a son Megapenthes;Compare Hom. Od.
4.10-12. and by a nymph Cnossia, according to Eumelus, he had a son
Xenodamus.
Of the sons born to Leda Castor practised the art of war, and Pollux the art of
boxing;Compare Hom. Il.
3.237; Hom. Od. 11.300. and on account of
their manliness they were both called Dioscuri.That is,
“striplings of Zeus.” And wishing to marry the daughters of
Leucippus, they carried them off from Messene
and wedded them;The usual tradition seems to have been that
Idas and Lynceus, the sons of Aphareus, were engaged to be married to the daughters of
Leucippus, who were their cousins, since Aphareus and Leucippus were brothers
（see above, Apollod. 3.10.3）. They
invited to their wedding Castor and Pollux, who were cousins both to the bridegrooms and
the brides, since Tyndareus, the human father of Castor and Pollux （see above,
Apollod. 3.10.7）, was a brother of Aphareus
and Leucippus （see above, Apollod.
3.10.3）. But at the wedding Castor and Pollux carried off the brides,
and being pursued by the bridegrooms, Idas and Lynceus, they turned on their pursuers.
In the fight which ensued, Castor and Lynceus were slain, and Idas was killed by Zeus
with a thunderbolt. See Theocritus xxii.137ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
iii.243; Scholiast on Pind. N. 10.60(112); Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 546; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.686ff.;
Hyginus, Fab. 80; Ovid, Fasti v.699ff.; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 27 (First Vatican Mythographer 77).
According to Apollodorus, however, the fight between the cousins was occasioned by a
quarrel arising over the division of some cattle which they had lifted from Arcadia in a joint raid. This seems to have been the
version of the story which Pindar followed; for in his description of the fatal affray
between the cousins （Pind. N.
10.60(112)ff.） he speaks only of anger about cattle as the motive that
led Idas to attack Castor. The rape of the daughters of Leucippus by Castor and Pollux
was a favourite subject in art. See Paus. 1.18.1; Paus. 3.17.3; Paus. 3.18.11;
Paus. 4.31.9. The names of the damsels, as we learn from
Apollodorus, were Phoebe and Hilaira. Compare Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)/afidna; Prop.
i.2.15ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 80. At Sparta they had a sanctuary, in which young maidens officiated as
priestesses and were called Leucippides after the goddesses. See Paus. 3.16.1. From an obscure gloss of Hesychius, s.v. pwli/a, we may perhaps infer that these maiden
priestesses, like the goddesses, were two in number, and that they were called
“the colts of the Leucippides.” Further, since the name of
Leucippus, the legendary father of the goddesses, means simply “White
Horse,” it is tempting to suppose that the Leucippides, like their
priestesses, were spoken of and perhaps conceived as white horses. More than that,
Castor and Pollux, who carried off these white-horse maidens, if we may call them so,
were not only constantly associated with horses, but were themselves called White Horses
（leuko/pwloi）） by Pind. P. 1.66(126) and “White Colts of
Zeus” by Euripides in a fragment of his lost play the Antiope.
See S. Wide, Lakonische Kulte （Leipsig, 1893）,
pp. 331ff.; A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.442. These
coincidences can hardly be accidental. They point to the worship of a pair of brother
deities conceived as white horses, and married to a pair of sister deities conceived as
white mares, who were served by a pair of maiden priestesses called White Colts,
assisted apparently by a boy priest or priests; for a Laconian inscription describes a
certain youthful Marcus Aurelius Zeuxippus as “priest of the Leucippides and
neatherd （? bouago/r） of the
Tyndarids,” that is, of Castor and Pollux. See P. Cauer, Delectus
Inscriptionum Graecarum propter dialectum memorabilium, p. 17, No.
36; H. Collitz und F. Bechtel, Sammlung der griechischen
DialektInschriften, iii.2, pp. 40ff., No. 4499. and Pollux had
Mnesileus by Phoebe, and Castor had Anogon by Hilaira. And having driven booty
of cattle from Arcadia, in company with Idas and
Lynceus, sons of Aphareus, they allowed Idas to divide the spoil. He cut a cow in four and
said that one half of the booty should be his who ate his share first, and that the rest
should be his who ate his share second. And before they knew where they were, Idas had
swallowed his own share first and likewise his brother's, and with him had driven off the
captured cattle to Messene. But the Dioscuri
marched against Messene, and drove away that
cattle and much else besides. And they lay in wait for Idas and Lynceus. But Lynceus spied
Castor and discovered him to Idas, who killed him. Pollux chased them and slew Lynceus by
throwing his spear, but in pursuing Lynceus he was wounded in the head with a stone thrown
by him, and fell down in a swoon. And Zeus smote Idas with a thunderbolt, but Pollux he
carried up to heaven. Nevertheless, as Pollux refused to accept immortality while his
brother Castor was dead, Zeus permitted them both to be every other day among the gods and
among mortals.Compare Hom. Od.
11.298-304; Pind. N. 10.55(101)ff.,
75(141)ff.; Pind. P. 11.61(93)ff.;
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.302; Lucian, Dial. Deorum xxvi.;
Verg. A. 6.121ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 80;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.22; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode,
i. p. 120 （Second Vatican Mythographer 132）. The last of
these writers explains the myth to mean that when the star of the one twin is setting,
the star of the other is rising. It has been plausibly argued that in one of their
aspects the twins were identified with the Morning and Evening Stars respectively, the
immortal twin （Pollux） being conceived as the Morning Star, which is
seen at dawn rising up in the sky till it is lost in the light of heaven, while the
mortal twin （Castor） was identified with the Evening Star, which is
seen at dusk sinking into its earthy bed. See J. G. Welcker, Griechische
Götterlehre, i.606ff.; Rendel Harris, The
Dioscuri in the Christian Legends （London, 1903）, pp.
11ff. It would seem that this view of the Spartan twins was favoured by the
Spartans themselves, for after their great naval victory of Aegospotami, at which Castor and Pollux were said to have appeared
visibly in or hovering over the Spartan fleet, the victors dedicated at Delphi the symbols of their divine champions in the
shape of two golden stars, which shortly before the fatal battle of Leuctra fell down
and disappeared, as if to announce that the star of Sparta's fortune was about to set for ever. See Cicero, De
divinatione i.34.75, ii.32.68. The same interpretation of the twins would
accord well with their white horses （see the preceding note）, on which
the starry brethren might be thought to ride through the blue sky.
And when the Dioscuri were translated to the gods, Tyndareus sent for Menelaus to
Sparta and handed over the kingdom to him.
Electra, daughter of Atlas, had two sons, Iasion and Dardanus, by Zeus.This account of the parentage of Iasion had the authority of
Hellanicus （Scholiast on Hom. Od. v.125）. Compare
Diod. 5.48.2. Now Iasion loved Demeter, and in an attempt to
defile the goddess he was killed by a thunderbolt.Compare
Conon 21; Strab. 7 Fr. 50, ed.
Meineke; Hyginus, Ast. ii.4. A different turn is given to the
story by Homer, who represents the lovers meeting in a thrice-ploughed field
（Hom. Od. 5.125-128）. To the same
effect Hes. Th. 969-974 says that the thrice-ploughed
field where they met was in a fertile district of Crete, and that Wealth was born as the fruit of their love. Compare
Diod. 5.77.1ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 270. The Scholiast on
Hom. Od. v.125, attempts to rationalize the myth by saying that Iasion was the
only man who preserved seed-corn after the deluge. Grieved at his brother's
death, Dardanus left Samothrace and came to the
opposite mainland. That country was ruled by a king, Teucer, son of the river Scamander
and of a nymph Idaea, and the inhabitants of the country were called Teucrians after
Teucer. Being welcomed by the king, and having received a share of the land and the king's
daughter Batia, he built a city Dardanus, and
when Teucer died he called the whole country Dardania.As to
the migration of Dardanus from Samothrace to
Asia and his foundation of Dardania or
Dardanus, see Diod. 5.48.2ff.; Conon 21; Stephanus
Byzantius, s.v. *da/rdanos; compare Hom. Il. 20.215ff. According to one account he was driven
from Samothrace by a flood and floated to the
coast of the Troad on a raft. See
Lycophron, Cassandra 72ff., with the scholia of Tzetzes; Scholiast
on Hom. Il. xx.215. As to his marriage with
Batia, daughter of Teucer, and his succession to the kingdom, compare
Diod. 4.75.1. According to Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *da/rdanes,
Batia, the wife of Dardanus, was a daughter of Tros, not of Teucer.
And he had sons born to him, Ilus and
Erichthonius, of whom Ilus died childless,Compare
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 29. As to Erichthonius, son of Dardanus,
see Hom. Il. 20.219ff.; Diod. 4.75.2.
According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus (Ant. Rom. i.50.3) the names of the
two sons whom Dardanus had by his wife Batia
were Erichthonius and Zacynthus. and
Erichthonius succeeded to the kingdom and marrying Astyoche, daughter of Simoeis, begat
Tros.Compare Hom. Il.
20.230, who does not mention the mother of Tros. She is named Astyoche, daughter
of Simoeis, by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 29 in agreement with
Apollodorus. On succeeding to the kingdom, Tros called the country Troy after himself, and marrying Callirrhoe, daughter of
Scamander, he begat a daughter Cleopatra, and sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymede.Compare Hom. Il. 20.231ff.;
Diod. 4.75.3. The name of the wife of Tros is not mentioned by Homer and
Diodorus. She is called Callirrhoe, daughter of Scamander, by Tzetzes, Scholiast
on Lycophron 29 and the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 20.231, who refers
to Hellanicus as his authority. See Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem Townleyana,
ed. E. Maass, vol. ii. p. 321. This Ganymede, for the sake of his
beauty, Zeus caught up on an eagle and appointed him cupbearer of the gods in heaven;Compare Hom. Il. 20.232-235;
HH Aphr. 202ff. These early versions of the myth do not
mention the eagle as the agent which transported Ganymede to heaven. The bird figures
conspicuously in later versions of the myth and its representation in art. Compare
Lucian, Dial. Deorum iv.1; Verg. A.
5.252ff.; Ov. Met. 10.155ff.; Scriptores
rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 56, 139, 162, 256 (First Vatican
Mythographer 184; Second Vatican Mythographer 198; Third Vatican Mythographer 3.5,
15.11). and Assaracus had by his wife Hieromneme, daughter of Simoeis, a
son Capys; and Capys had by his wife Themiste, daughter of Ilus, a son Anchises, whom
Aphrodite met in love's dalliance, and to whom she bore AeneasCompare Hom. Il. 20.239ff.; Diod.
4.75.5. Neither writer names the wives of Assaracus and Capys. As to the love
of Aphrodite for Anchises, and the birth of Aeneas, see Hom.
Il. 2.819-821; Hom. Il. 5.311-313; Hes. Th. 1008-1010ff. and Lyrus, who died childless.
But Ilus went to Phrygia, and finding games held there by the king, he was victorious in
wrestling. As a prize he received fifty youths and as many maidens, and the king, in
obedience to an oracle, gave him also a dappled cow and bade him found a city
wherever the animal should lie down; so he followed the cow. And when she was come to what
was called the hill of the Phrygian Ate, she lay down; there Ilus built a city and called
it Ilium.This
legend of the foundation of Ilium by Ilus is
repeated by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 29. The site of Thebes is said to have been chosen in obedience to a
similar oracle. See above, Apollod. 3.4.1. Homer tells
us （Hom. Il. 20.215ff.） that the
foundation of Dardania on Mount Ida preceded
the foundation of Ilium in the plain. As to the
hill of Ate, compare Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)/ilion. And having prayed to Zeus that a sign might be
shown to him, he beheld by day the Palladium, fallen from heaven, lying before his tent.
It was three cubits in height, its feet joined together; in its right hand it held a spear
aloft, and in the other hand a distaff and spindle.As to
the antique image of Pallas, known as the Palladium, see Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.68ff., ii.66.5; Conon 34; Paus. 1.28.9; Paus. 2.23.5;
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iv.47, p. 42, ed. Potter; Malalas,
Chr. v. pp. 108ff., ed. L. Dindorf; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
355; Suidas, s.v. *palla/dion;
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *palla/dion, p.
649-50; Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.311; Verg.
A. 2.162ff.; Ovid, Fasti vi.417-436; Ov.
Met. 13.337-349; Silius Italicus, Punic. xiii.30ff.; Dictys
Cretensis v.5; Serv. Verg. A. 2.166;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 14ff., 45 (First Vatican
Mythographer 40, 142). The traditions concerning the Palladium which have come
down to us are all comparatively late, and they differ from each other on various
points; but the most commonly received account seems to have been that the image was a
small wooden one, that it had fallen from heaven, and that so long as it remained in
Troy the city could not be taken. The Greek
tradition was that the Palladium was stolen and carried off to the Greek camp by Ulysses
and Diomedes （see Apollod. E.5.10 and Apollod. E.5.13）, and that its capture by the
Greeks ensured the fall of Troy. The Roman
tradition was that the image remained in Troy
till the city was taken by the Greeks, when Aeneas succeeded in rescuing it and
conveying it away with him to Italy, where it
was finally deposited in the temple of Vesta at Rome. These two traditions are clearly inconsistent with each other, and
the Roman tradition further conflicts with the belief that the city which possessed the
sacred image could not be captured by an enemy. Hence in order to maintain the
genuineness of the image in the temple of Vesta, patriotic Roman antiquaries were driven
to various expedients. They said, for example, that an exact copy of the Palladium had
been publicly exposed at Troy, while the true
one was carefully concealed in a sanctuary, and that the unsuspicious Greeks had pounced
on the spurious image, while the knowing Aeneas smuggled away the genuine one packed up
with the rest of his sacred luggage （Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant.
Rom. i.68ff.）. Or they affirmed that the thief Diomedes had been
constrained to restore the stolen image to its proper owners （First
Vatican Mythographer 40, 142）; or that, warned by Athena in a dream,
he afterwards made it over to Aeneas in Italy
（Silius Italicus, Punic. xiii.30ff.）. But the Romans
were not the only people who claimed to possess the true Palladium; the Argives
maintained that it was with them （Paus.
2.23.5）, and the Athenians asserted that it was to be seen in their
ancient court of justice which bore the very name of Palladium. See Paus. 1.28.8ff.; Harpocration, s.vv. bouleu/sews and e)pi\
Palladi/w|; Suidas, s.v. e)pi\
Palladi/w|; Julius Pollux viii.118ff.; Scholiast
on Aeschin. 2.87, p. 298, ed, Schultz; Bekker's Anecdota Graeca, i. p.
311, lines 3ff. The most exact description of the appearance of the Palladium
is the one given by Apollodorus in the present passage, which is quoted, with the
author's name, by Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron 355）.
According to Dictys Cretensis v.5, the image fell from heaven at the time
when Ilus was building the temple of Athena; the structure was nearly completed, but the
roof was not yet on, so the Palladium dropped straight into its proper place in the
sacred edifice. Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iv.47, p. 42, ed. Potter,
mentions a strange opinion that the Palladium “was made out of the bones of
Pelops, just as the Olympian （image of Zeus was made） out of other
bones of an Indian beast,” that is, out of ivory. Pherecydes discussed the
subject of palladia in general; he described them as
“shapes not made with hands,” and derived the name from pa/llein, which he considered to be equivalent to ba/llein, “to throw, cast,” because these
objects were cast down from heaven. See Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
355; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *palla/dion,
p. 649.50. Apollodorus as usual confines himself to the Greek tradition; he
completely ignores the Romans and their claim to possess the Palladium.
The story told about the Palladium is as follows:The
following account of the origin of the Palladium was regarded as an interpolation by
Heyne, and his view has been accepted by Hercher and
Wagner. But the passage was known to Tzetzes, who quotes it
（Scholiast on Lycophron 355） immediately after his
description of the image, which he expressly borrowed from Apollodorus. They say
that when Athena was born she was brought up by Triton,Apparently the god of the river Triton, which was commonly supposed to be in Libya, though some people identified it with a small
stream in Boeotia. See Hdt. 4.180; Paus. 9.33.7; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 519; compare Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon.
i.109. who had a daughter Pallas; and that both girls practised the arts
of war, but that once on a time they fell out; and when Pallas was about to strike a blow,
Zeus in fear interposed the aegis, and Pallas, being startled, looked up, and so fell
wounded by Athena. And being exceedingly grieved for her, Athena made a wooden image in
her likeness, and wrapped the aegis, which she had feared, about the breast of it, and set
it up beside Zeus and honored it. But afterwards Electra, at the time of her
violation,See above, Apollod.
3.12.1. took refuge at the image, and Zeus threw the Palladium along
with AteHomer tells （Hom. Il. 19.126-131） how Zeus in anger swore that Ate should never
again come to Olympus, and how he seized her by
the head and flung her from heaven. into the Ilian country; and Ilus
built a temple for it, and honored it. Such is the legend of the Palladium.
And Ilus married Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus, and begat Laomedon,Compare Hom. Il. 20.236. Homer does not
mention the mother of Laomedon. According to one Scholiast on the passage she was
Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus, as Apollodorus has it; according to another she was
Batia, daughter of Teucer. But if the family
tree recorded by Apollodorus is correct, Batia
could hardly have been the wife of Ilus, since she was his great-grandmother. who
married Strymo, daughter of Scamander; but according to some his wife was Placia, daughter
of Otreus, and according to others she was Leucippe; and he begat five sons, Tithonus,
Lampus, Clytius, Hicetaon, Podarces,Compare Hom. Il. 20.237ff., with whom Apollodorus agrees as to
Laomedon's five sons. Homer does not mention Laomedon's wife nor his daughters.
According to a Scholiast on Hom. Il. iii.250, his wife's name was Zeuxippe
or Strymo; for the former name he cites the authority of the poet Alcman, for the latter
the authority of the historian Hellanicus. Apollodorus may have followed Hellanicus,
though he was acquainted with other traditions. According to Tzetzes
（Scholiast on Lycophron 18）, Priam and Tithonus were
sons of Laomedon by different mothers; the mother of Priam was Leucippe, the mother of
Tithonus was Strymo or Rhoeo, daughter of Scamander. The Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xi.1, speaks of Tithonus as a son of Laomedon by Strymo, daughter of
Scamander. and three daughters, Hesione, Cilla, and Astyoche; and by a nymph Calybe
he had a son Bucolion.Compare Hom.
Il. 6.23ff., who says that Bucolion was the eldest son of Laomedon, but
illegitimate and one of twins.
Now the Dawn snatched away Tithonus for love and brought him to Ethiopia, and there consorting with him she bore two sons,
Emathion and Memnon.As to the love of Dawn
（Eos） for Tithonus, see the HH Aphr.
218ff.; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 18; Scholiast on Hom.
Il. 11.1; Prop. ii.18.7-18, ed. Butler. Homer
speaks of Dawn （Aurora） rising from the bed of Tithonus
（Hom. Il. 11.1ff.; Hom.
Od. 5.1ff.）. According to the author of the Homeric hymn, Dawn
obtained from Zeus for her lover the boon of immortality; according to the Scholiast on
Homer, it was Tithonus himself who asked and obtained the boon from the loving goddess.
But the boon turned to be a bane; for neither he nor she had remembered to ask for
freedom from the infirmities of age. So when he was old and white-headed and could not
stir hand or foot, he prayed for death as a release from his sufferings; but die he
could not, for he was immortal. Hence the goddess in pity either shut him up in his
chamber and closed the shining doors on him, leaving him to lisp and babble there
eternally, or she turned him into a grasshopper, the most musical of insects, that she
might have the joy of hearing her lover's voice sounding for ever in her ears. The
former and sadder fate is vouched for by the hymn writer, the latter by the Scholiast.
Tzetzes perhaps lets us into the secret of the transformation when he tells us
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 18 that “the grasshoppers, like
the snakes, when they are old, slough their old age” （to\ gh=ras, literally “old age,” but
applied by the Greeks to the cast skins of serpents）. It is a widespread notion
among savages, which the ancestors of the Greeks apparently shared, that creatures which
cast their skins, thereby renew their youth and live for ever. See
Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.66ff. The ancient
Latins seem also to have cherished the same illusion, for they applied the same name
（senecta or senectus） to old age and to the cast skins of serpents.
But after that Ilium was captured by Hercules, as we have related a little before,See above, Apollod.
2.6.4. Podarces, who was called Priam, came to the throne, and he married
first Arisbe, daughter of Merops, by whom he had a son Aesacus, who married Asterope,
daughter of Cebren, and when she died he mourned for her and was turned into a bird.Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 224, who
seems to follow Apollodorus. The bird into which the mourner was transformed appears to
have been a species of diver. See Ov. Met. 11.749-795;
Serv. Verg. A. 4.254, Serv.
Verg. A. 5.128. But Priam handed over Arisbe to Hyrtacus and married a
second wife Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, or, as some say, of Cisseus, or, as others say, of
the river Sangarius and Metope.According to Hom. Il. 16.718ff. Hecuba was a daughter of Dymas,
“who dwelt in Phrygia by the streams
of Sangarius.” But Eur. Hec. 3 represents her as
a daughter of Cisseus, and herein he is followed by Verg. A. 7.320, x.705. The mythographers Hyginus and Tzetzes leave it an open
question whether Hecuba was a daughter of Cisseus or of Dymas. See Hyginus, Fab.
91, 111, 249; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron, Introd. p. 266, ed.
Muller. Compare the Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 3: “Pherecydes
writes thus: And Priam, son of Laomedon, marries Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, son of
Eioneus, son of Proteus, or of the river Sangarius, by a Naiad nymph Evagora. But some
have recorded that Hecuba's mother was Glaucippe, daughter of
Xanthus. But Nicander, in agreement with Euripides, says
that Hecuba was a daughter of Cisseus.” The Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xvi.718, says that according to Pherecydes the father of Hecuba was Dymas and
her mother was a nymph Eunoe, but that according to Athenion her father was Cisseus and
her mother Teleclia. Thus it would appear that after all we cannot answer with any
confidence the question with which the emperor Tiberius loved to pose the grammarians of
his time, “Who was Hecuba's mother?” See Suetonius, Tiberius
70. The first son born to her was Hector; and when a second babe was about to be born Hecuba dreamed she had brought forth a firebrand, and that the
fire spread over the whole city and burned it.For Hecuba's
dream and the exposure of the infant Paris, see
Pind. Pa. 8; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iii.325; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 86; Cicero, De divinatione i.21.42;
Hyginus, Fab. 91; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i.
p. 139 （Second Vatican Mythographer 197）. The dream is
alluded to, though not expressly mentioned, by Eur. Tro.
919ff. and Verg. A. 7.319ff. The warning given by
the diviner Aesacus is recorded also by Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron
224）, according to whom the sage advised to put both mother and child
to death. Eur. And. 293ff. represents Cassandra
shrieking in a prophetic frenzy to kill the ill-omened babe. The suckling of the infant
Paris for five days by a she-bear seems to be
mentioned only by Apollodorus. When Priam learned of the dream from Hecuba, he
sent for his son Aesacus, for he was an interpreter of dreams, having been taught by his
mother's father Merops. He declared that the child was begotten to be the ruin of his
country and advised that the babe should be exposed. When the babe was born Priam gave it
to a servant to take and expose on Ida; now the servant was named Agelaus. Exposed by him,
the infant was nursed for five days by a bear; and, when he found it safe, he took it up,
carried it away, brought it up as his own son on his farm, and named him
Paris. When he grew to be a young man,
Paris excelled many in beauty and strength, and was
afterwards surnamed Alexander, because he repelled robbers and defended the flocks.Apollodorus apparently derives the name Alexander from a)le/cw “to defend” and a)ndro/s, the genitive of “man.” As the
verb was somewhat archaic, he explains it by the more familiar bohqw=, if indeed the explanation be not a marginal gloss. See the Critical
Note. And not long afterwards he discovered his parents.
After him Hecuba gave birth to daughters, Creusa, Laodice,Laodice is mentioned by Homer as the fairest of Priam's
daughters and the wife of Helicaon （Hom. Il.
3.122ff.; Hom. Il. 6.252）.
Polyxena, and Cassandra. Wishing to gain Cassandra's favours, Apollo promised to teach her
the art of prophecy; she learned the art but refused her favours; hence Apollo deprived
her prophecy of power to persuade.Compare Aesch. Ag. 1202-1212; Hyginus, Fab. 93; Serv. Verg. A. 2.247; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 55, 139 (First Vatican Mythographer 180; Second Vatican
Mythographer 196). According to Serv. Verg. A.
2.247, Apollo deprived Cassandra of the power of persuading men of the truth of
her prophecies by spitting into her mouth. We have seen that by a similar procedure
Glaucus was robbed of the faculty of divination. See above, Apollod. 3.3.2. An entirely different account of the way in which Cassandra
and her twin brother Helenus acquired the gift of prophecy is given by a Scholiast
on Hom. Il. vii.44. He says that when the festival in honour of the birth of
the twins was being held in the sanctuary of the Thymbraean Apollo, the two children
played with each other there and fell asleep in the temple. Meantime the parents and
their friends, flushed with wine, had gone home, forgetting all about the twins whose
birth had given occasion to the festivity. Next morning, when they were sober, they
returned to the temple and found the sacred serpents purging with their tongues the
organs of sense of the children. Frightened by the cry which the women raised at the
strange sight, the serpents disappeared among the laurel boughs which lay beside the
infants on the floor; but from that hour Cassandra and Helenus possessed the gift of
prophecy. For this story the Scholiast refers to the authority of Anticlides. In like
manner Melampus is said to have acquired the art of soothsaying through the action of
serpents which licked his ears. See above, Apollod.
1.9.11. Afterwards Hecuba bore sons,Compare
Hom. Il. 14.248ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
90. Deiphobus, Helenus, Pammon, Polites, Antiphus, Hipponous, Polydorus, and
Troilus: this last she is said to have had by Apollo.
By other women Priam had sons, to wit, Melanippus, Gorgythion, Philaemon, Hippothous,
Glaucus, Agathon, Chersidamas, Evagoras, Hippodamas, Mestor, Atas, Doryclus, Lycaon,
Dryops, Bias, Chromius, Astygonus, Telestas, Evander, Cebriones, Mylius, Archemachus,
Laodocus, Echephron, Idomeneus, Hyperion, Ascanius, Democoon, Aretus, Deiopites, Clonius,
Echemmon, Hypirochus, Aegeoneus, Lysithous, Polymedon; and daughters, to wit, Medusa,
Medesicaste, Lysimache, and Aristodeme.
Now Hector married Andromache, daughter of Eetion,See
Hom. Il. 6.395ff., where it is said that Eetion was
king of Thebe in Cilicia. and Alexander
married Oenone, daughter of the river Cebren.For the loves
of Paris and Oenone, and their tragic end,
compare Conon 23; Parthenius, Narrat. 4; Ovid, Her.
v. She had learned from Rhea the art of prophecy, and warned Alexander not
to sail to fetch Helen; but failing to persuade him, she told him to come to her if he
were wounded, for she alone could heal him. When he had carried off Helen from Sparta and Troy was besieged, he was shot by Philoctetes with the bow of Hercules, and
went back to Oenone on Ida. But she, nursing her grievance, refused to heal him. So
Alexander was carried to Troy and died. But
Oenone repented her, and brought the healing drugs; and finding him dead she hanged
herself.
The Asopus river was a son of Ocean and Tethys, or, as Acusilaus says, of
Pero and Poseidon, or, according to some, of Zeus and
Eurynome. Him Metope, herself a daughter of the river
Ladon, married and bore two sons, Ismenus and Pelagon, and twenty daughters,
of whom one, Aegina, was carried off by
Zeus.As to the river-god Asopus and his family, see
Diod. 4.72.1-5; Paus. 2.5.1ff.; Paus. 5.22.6. According to Diodorus, Asopus was a son of Ocean
and Tethys; he married Metope, daughter of the
Ladon, by whom he had two sons and twelve daughters. Asopus, the father of
Aegina, is identified by Diodorus and
Pausanias with the Phliasian or Sicyonian river of that name; but the patriotic Boeotian
poet Pindar seems to claim the honour for the Boeotian Asopus （Pind. I. 8.16(35)ff., and he is naturally supported by his
Scholiast （Scholiast on Pind. I. 8.17(37)）, as well as by
Statius vii.315ff.） and his Scholiast, Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. vii.424. The Phliasians even went so far as to assert that their Asopus
was the father of Thebe, who gave her name to the Boeotian Thebes; but this view the
Thebans could not accept （Paus.
2.5.2）. In search of her Asopus came to Corinth, and learned from Sisyphus that the ravisher
was Zeus.Compare above, Apollod.
1.9.3; Paus. 2.5.1. Asopus pursued him, but
Zeus, by hurling thunderbolts, sent him away back to his own streams;Compare Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 78; Scholiast on Ap.
Rhod., Argon. i.117. hence coals are fetched to this day from the
streams of that river.According to Lactantius
Placidus on Statius, Theb. vii.315, live coals were to be found in the Asopus,
and Statius, in his windy style （Statius, Theb.
vii.325ff.）, talks of the “brave river blowing ashes of
thunderbolts and Aetnaean vapours from its panting banks to the sky,” which
may be a poetical description of river-mists. But both the poet and his dutiful
commentator here refer to the Boeotian Asopus, whereas Apollodorus probably refers to
the Phliasian river of that name. And having conveyed
Aegina to the island then named Oenone, but now called
Aegina after her, Zeus cohabited with her and
begot a son Aeacus on her.Compare Diod.
4.72.5; Paus. 2.29.2; Hyginus, Fab.
52. As to Oenone, the ancient name of Aegina, compare Pind. N. 4.46(75); Pind. N. 5.16(29); Pind. N.
8.7(12); Pind. I. 5.34(44); Hdt. 8.46; Strab. 8.6.16; Hyginus, Fab.
52. Another old name for Aegina was
Oenopia. See Pind. N. 8.21(45); Ov. Met. 7.472ff. As Aeacus was alone in the island, Zeus made the ants
into men for him.As to the transformation of the ants into
men see Hesiod, quoted by the Scholiast on Pind. N. 3.13(21); and by
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 176; Scholiast on Hom. Il.
i.180; Strab. 8.6.16; Hyginus, Fab.
52; Ov. Met. 7.614ff.; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 23, 142 (First Vatican Mythographer 67; Second
Vatican Mythographer 204). The fable is clearly based on the false etymology
which derived the name Myrmidons from mu/rmhkes,
“ants.” Strab. 8.6.16 attempted to
rationalize the myth. And Aeacus married Endeis, daughter of Sciron, by whom he
had two sons, Peleus and Telamon.Compare Plut. Thes. 10; Paus. 2.29.9;
Scholiast on Eur. Andr. 687. According to another account, Endeis, the
mother of Telamon and Peleus, was a daughter of Chiron. See Scholiast on Pind. N.
5.7(12); Scholiast on Hom. Il. xvi.14; Hyginus, Fab.
14. But Pherecydes says that Telamon was a friend, not a brother of
Peleus, he being a son of Actaeus and Glauce, daughter of Cychreus.This account of the parentage of Telamon, for which we have the authority of
the old writer Pherecydes （about 480 B.C.）,
is probably earlier than the one which represents him as a son of Aeacus. According to
it, Telamon was a native, not of Aegina, but of
Salamis, his mother Glauce being a daughter
of Cychreus, king of Salamis （as to
whom see below, Apollod. 3.12.7）. It is
certain that the later life of Telamon was associated with Salamis, where, according to one account （Diod.
4.72.7）, he married Glauce, daughter of Cychreus, king of Salamis, the very woman whom the other and perhaps later
version of the legend represented as his mother. See Jebb, Sophocles,
Ajax （Cambridge, 1896）, Introduction, Section 4, pp.
xviiff. Afterwards Aeacus cohabited with Psamathe, daughter of
Nereus, who turned herself into a seal to avoid his embraces, and he begot a son
Phocus.Compare Hes. Th.
1003ff.; Pind. N. 5.12(21); Scholiast on
Eur. Andr. 687, who mentions the transformation of the sea-nymph into a seal.
The children of Phocus settled in Phocis and gave their name to the country. See Paus. 2.29.2, Paus. 10.1.1,
Paus. 10.30.4. Thus we have an instance of a Greek
people, the Phocians, who traced their name and their lineage to an animal ancestress.
But it would be rash to infer that the seal was the totem of the Phocians. There is no
evidence that they regarded the seal with any superstitious respect, though the people
of Phocaea, in Asia Minor, who were Phocians by descent （Paus. 7.3.10）, put the figure of a seal on their earliest coins. But
this was probably no more than a punning badge, like the rose of Rhodes and the wild celery (se/linon) of Selinus. See
George Macdonald, Coin Types （Glasgow, 1905）,
pp. 17, 41, 50.
Now Aeacus was the most pious of men. Therefore, when Greece suffered from infertility on account of Pelops, because in a war with
Stymphalus, king of the Arcadians, being unable to conquer Arcadia, he slew the king under a pretence of friendship, and scattered his
mangled limbs, oracles of the gods declared that Greece would be rid of its present calamities if Aeacus would offer prayers
on its behalf. So Aeacus did offer prayers, and Greece was delivered from the dearth.Compare
Isoc. 9.14ff.; Diod. 4.61.1ff.; Paus. 2.29.7ff.; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vi.3.28,
p. 753; Scholiast on Pind. N. 5.9(17). Tradition ran that a
prolonged drought had withered up the fruits of the earth all over Greece, and that Aeacus, as the son of the sky-god Zeus,
was deemed the person most naturally fitted to obtain from his heavenly father the rain
so urgently needed by the parched earth and the dying corn. So the Greeks sent envoys to
him to request that he would intercede with Zeus to save the crops and the people.
“ Complying with their petition, Aeacus ascended the Hellenic mountain and
stretching out pure hands to heaven he called on the common god, and prayed him to take
pity on afflicted Greece. And even while he
prayed a loud clap of thunder pealed, and all the surrounding sky was overcast, and
furious and continuous showers of rain burst out and flooded the whole land. Thus was
exuberant fertility procured for the fruits of the earth by the prayers of
Aeacus” （Clement of Alexandria, Strom. vi.3.28, p.
753）. In gratitude for this timely answer to his prayers Aeacus is said
to have built a sanctuary of Zeus on Mount Panhellenius in Aegina （Paus. 2.30.4）. No
place could well be more appropriate for a temple of the rain-god; for the sharp peak of
Mount Panhellenius, the highest mountain of Aegina, is a conspicuous landmark viewed from all the neighbouring coasts
of the gulf, and in antiquity a cloud settling on the mountain was regarded as a sign of
rain （Theophrastus, De signis tempestat. i.24）. According
to Apollodorus, the cause of the dearth had been a crime of Pelops, who had
treacherously murdered Stymphalus, king of Arcadia, and scattered the fragments of his mangled body abroad. This crime
seems not to be mentioned by any other ancient writer; but Diodorus Siculus in like
manner traces the calamity to a treacherous murder. He says （Diod.
4.61.1） that to punish the Athenians for the assassination of his son
Androgeus, the Cretan king Minos prayed to Zeus that Athens might be afflicted with drought and famine, and that these evils
soon spread over Attica and Greece. Similarly Alcmaeon's matricide was believed to
have entailed a failure of the crops. See above, Apollod.
3.7.5 with the note. Even after his death Aeacus is honored in
the abode of Pluto, and keeps the keys of Hades.In some
late Greek verses, inscribed on the tomb of a religious sceptic at Rome, Aeacus is spoken of as the warder or key-holder
（kleidou=xos） of the infernal
regions; but in the same breath the poet assures us that these regions, with all their
inmates, were mere fables, and that of the dead there remained no more than the bones
and ashes. See Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. iii. p. 933,
No. 6298; G. Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus
conlecta 646. Elsewhere Pluto himself was represented in art holding in
his hand the key of Hades. See Paus. 5.20.3. According to
Isoc. 9.15, Aeacus enjoyed the greatest honours after
death, sitting as assessor with Pluto and Proserpine. Plato represents him as judging
the dead along with Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Triptolemus （Plat. Apol. 41a）, it being his special duty to try
the souls of those who came from Europe, while
his colleague Rhadamanthys dealt with those that came from Asia （Gorgias 79, p. 524A）; apparently no
provision was made for African ghosts. Lucian depicts Aeacus playing a less dignified
part in the lower world as a sort of ticket-collector or customhouse officer
（telw/nhs）, whose business it was to
examine the ghostly passengers on landing from the ferryboat, count them, and see that
they had paid the fare. See Lucian, Cataplus 4; Charon 2. Elsewhere he
speaks of Aeacus as keeping the gate of Hades （Lucian, Dialog. Mort.
xx.1）.
As Phocus excelled in athletic sports, his brothers Peleus and Telamon plotted against
him, and the lot falling on Telamon, he killed his brother in a match by throwing a quoit
at his head, and with the help of Peleus carried the body and hid it in a wood. But the
murder being detected, the two were driven fugitives from Aegina by Aeacus.As to the murder of Phocus
and the exile of Peleus and Telamon, see Diod. 4.72.6ff. （who
represents the death as accidental）; Paus.
2.29.9ff.; Scholiast on Pind. N. 5.14(25); Scholiast on Eur.
Andr. 687 （quoting verses from the Alcmaeonis）;
Scholiast on Hom. Il. xvi.14; Ant. Lib. 38; Plut.
Parallela 25; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175 （vol. i. pp.
444, 447, ed. Muller）; Hyginus, Fab. 14; Ov. Met. 11.266ff.; Lactantius Placidus on Statius,
Theb. ii.113, vii.344, xi.281. Tradition differed on several points as to the
murder. According to Apollodorus and Plutarch the murderer was Telamon; but according to
what seems to have been the more generally accepted view he was Peleus. （So
Diodorus, Pausanias, the Scholiast on Homer, one of the Scholiast on Eur. Andr.
687, Ovid, and in one passage Lactantius Placidus）. If Pherecydes was
right in denying any relationship between Telamon and Peleus, and in representing
Telamon as a Salaminian rather than an Aeginetan （see above）, it
becomes probable that in the original tradition Peleus, not Telamon, was described as
the murderer of Phocus. Another version of the story was that both brothers had a hand
in the murder, Telamon having banged him on the head with a quoit, while Peleus finished
him off with the stroke of an axe in the middle of his back. This was the account given
by the anonymous author of the old epic Alcmaeonis; and the same division
of labour between the brothers was recognized by the Scholiast on Pindar and Tzetzes,
though according to them the quoit was handled by Peleus and the cold steel by Telamon.
Other writers （Antoninus Liberalis and Hyginus） lay the murder at the
door of both brothers without parcelling the guilt out exactly between them. There seems
to be a general agreement that the crime was committed, or the accident happened, in the
course of a match at quoits; but Dorotheus （quoted by Plut. Parallela
25） alleged that the murder was perpetrated by Telamon at a boar hunt,
and this view seems to have been accepted by Lactantius Placidus in one place
（Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. ii.113）, though
in other places （Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. vii.344 and
xi.281） he speaks as if the brothers were equally guilty. But perhaps
this version of the story originated in a confusion of the murder of Phocus with the
subsequent homicide of Eurytion, which is said to have taken place at a boar-hunt,
whether the hunting of the Calydonian boar or another. See below, Apollod. 3.13.2 with the note. According to Pausanias the
exiled Telamon afterwards returned and stood his trial, pleading his cause from the deck
of a ship, because his father would not suffer him to set foot in the island. But being
judged guilty by his stern sire he sailed away, to return to his native land no more. It
may have been this verdict, delivered against his own son, which raised the reputation
of Aeacus for rigid justice to the highest pitch, and won for him a place on the bench
beside Minos and Rhadamanthys in the world of shades.
And Telamon betook himself to Salamis, to the court of Cychreus, son of Poseidon and
Salamis, daughter of Asopus. This Cychreus
became king of Salamis through killing a snake
which ravaged the island, and dying childless he bequeathed the kingdom to Telamon.Compare Diod. 4.72.4; Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 110, 175, 451. In the second of these passages （175,
vol. i. p. 444, ed. Muller） Tzetzes agrees closely with Apollodorus
and probably follows him. A somewhat different version of the legend was told by Hesiod.
According to him the snake was reared by Cychreus, but expelled from Salamis by Eurylochus because of the ravages it
committed in the island; and after its expulsion it was received at Eleusis by Demeter, who made it one of her
attendants. See Strab. 9.1.9. Others said that the snake
was not a real snake, but a bad man nicknamed Snake on account of his cruelty, who was
banished by Eurylochus and took refuge at Eleusis, where he was appointed to a minor office in the sanctuary of
Demeter. See Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *kuxrei=os
pa/gos; Eustathius, Commentary on Dionysius Perieg. 507
（Geographi Graeci Minores, ed. C. Müller, vol. ii. p.
314）. Cychreus was regarded as one of the guardian heroes of Salamis, where he was buried with his face to the west.
Sacrifices were regularly offered at his grave, and when Solon desired to establish the
claim of Athens to the possession of the
island, he sailed across by night and sacrificed to the dead man at his grave. See Plut. Sol. 9. Cychreus was worshipped also at Athens （Plut. Thes.
10）. It is said that at the battle of Salamis a serpent appeared among the Greek ships, and God announced to
the Athenians that this serpent was the hero Cychreus （Paus. 1.36.1）. The story may preserve a reminiscence of the belief
that kings and heroes regularly turn into serpents after death. The same belief possibly
explains the association of Erichthonius or Erechtheus and Cecrops with serpents at
Athens. See The Dying
God, pp. 86ff. On account of this legendary serpent Lycophron called
Salamis the Dragon Isle
（Lycophron, Cassandra 110）. And
Telamon married Periboea, daughter of Alcathus,Compare
Xen. Cyn. i.9; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xvi.14. According to
Diod. 4.72.7, Telamon first married Glauce, daughter of Cychreus, king of
Salamis, and on her death he wedded the
Athenian Eriboea, daughter of Alcathous, by whom he had Ajax. Pindar also mentions
Eriboea as the wife of Telamon: see Pind. I.
6.45(65). son of Pelops, and called his son Ajax, because when Hercules had
prayed that he might have a male child, an eagle appeared after the prayer.As to the prayer of Herakles and the appearance of the eagle in
answer to the prayer, see Pind. I. 6.35(51)ff.;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 455-461. Pindar followed by Apollodorus
and Tzetzes, derived the name Ajax from ai)eto/s
“an eagle.” A story ran that Herakles wrapt the infant Ajax in the
lion's skin which he himself wore, and that Ajax was thus made invulnerable except in
the armpit, where the quiver had hung, or, according to others, at the neck. Hence, in
describing the suicide of the hero, Aeschylus told how, when he tried to run himself
through the body, the sword doubled back in the shape of a bow, till some spirit showed
the desperate man the fatal point to which to apply the trenchant blade. See
Scholiast on Soph. Aj. 833; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
455-461; Scholiast on Hom. Il. 23.821. Plato probably had this
striking passage of the tragedy in his mind when he made Alcibiades speak of Socrates as
more proof against vice than Ajax against steel （Plat. Symp. 219e）. And having gone with Hercules on his
expedition against Troy, he received as a prize
Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, by whom he had a son Teucer.See above, Apollod. 2.6.4. As Hesione, the mother of
Teucer, was not the lawful wife of Telamon, Homer speaks of Teucer as a bastard
（Hom. Il. 8.283ff., with the Scholiast
on Hom. Il. 8.284）. According to another account, it was not Telamon
but his brother Peleus who went with Herakles to the siege of Troy. The poets were not consistent on this point.
Thus, while in two passages （Pind. N. 4.25(40);
Pind. I. 6.27(39)ff.） Pindar assigns to
Telamon the glory of the adventure, in another he transfers it to Peleus
（quoted by the Scholiast on Eur. Andr. 796; Pind. Fr. 172）. Euripides was equally inconsistent.
See his Eur. Tro. 804ff. （Telamon）,
contrasted with his Eur. And. 796ff.
（Peleus）.
Peleus fled to Phthia to the court of
Eurytion, son of Actor, and was purified by him, and he received from him his daughter
Antigone and the third part of the country.Compare
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175 （vol. i. pp. 444ff., 447, ed.
Muller）; Ant. Lib. 38; Diod. 4.72.6;
Scholiast on Aristoph. Cl. 1063; Eustathius on Hom. Il. ii.684, p.
321. There are some discrepancies in these accounts. According to Tzetzes and
the Scholiast on Aristophanes, the man who purified Peleus for the murder of Phocus was
Eurytus （not Eurytion）, son of Actor. According to Antoninus
Liberalis, he was Eurytion, son of Irus. According to Diodorus, he was Actor, king of
the country, who died childless and left the kingdom to Peleus. Eustathius agrees that
the host of Peleus was Actor, but says that he had a daughter Polymela, whom he bestowed
in marriage on Peleus along with the kingdom. From Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
pp. 444ff. we learn that the purification of Peleus by Eurytus
（Eurytion） was recorded by Pherecydes, whom Apollodorus may here be
following. And a daughter Polydora was born to him, who was wedded by
Borus, son of Perieres.See Hom.
Il. 16.173-178, who says that Polydora, daughter of Peleus, had a son
Menesthius by the river Sperchius, though the child was nominally fathered on her human
husband Borus, son of Perieres. Compare Heliodorus, Aeth. ii.34. Hesiod
also recognized Polydora as the daughter of Peleus （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
xvi.175）. Homer does not mention the mother of Polydora, but according
to Pherecydes she was Antigone, daughter of Eurytion （Scholiast on Hom.
Il. 16.173-178）. Hence it is probable that here, as in so many places,
Apollodorus followed Pherecydes. According to Staphylus, in the third book of his work
on Thessaly, the wife of Peleus and mother of
Polydora was Eurydice, daughter of Actor （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
16.173-178）. A little later on （Apollod. 3.13.4）
Apollodorus says that Peleus himself married Polydora, daughter of Perieres, and that
she had a son Menesthius by the river Sperchius, though the child was nominally fathered
on Peleus. In this latter passage Apollodorus seems to have fallen into confusion in
describing Polydora as the wife of Peleus, though in the present passage he had
correctly described her as his daughter. Compare Hofer, in W. H. Roscher,
Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie, iii.2641ff.
Thence he went with Eurytion to hunt the Calydonian
boar, but in throwing a dart at the hog he involuntarily struck and killed Eurytion.
Therefore flying again from Phthia he betook
him to Acastus at Iolcus and was purified by him.As to this
involuntary homicide committed by Peleus and his purification by Acastus, see above,
Apollod. 1.8.2; Scholiast on Aristoph. Cl.
1063; Ant. Lib. 38; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175
（vol. i. p. 447, ed. Muller）. The Scholiast on Aristophanes,
calls the slain man Eurytus, not Eurytion. Antoninus Liberalis and Tzetzes describe him
as Eurytion, son of Irus, not of Actor. They do not mention the hunt of the Calydonian
boar in particular, but speak of a boar-hunt or a hunt in general.
And at the games celebrated in honor of Pelias he
contended in wrestling with Atalanta.See above, Apollod. 3.9.2. And Astydamia, wife of Acastus, fell
in love with Peleus, and sent him a proposal for a meeting;The following romantic story of the wicked wife, the virtuous hero, and his miraculous
rescue from the perils of the forest, in which his treacherous host left him sleeping
alone and unarmed, is briefly alluded to by Pind. N.
4.54(88)ff.; Pind. N. 5.25(46)ff. It is told more
explicitly by the Scholiast on Pind. N. 4.54(88) and 59(95); the
Scholiast on Aristoph. Cl. 1063; and the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. i.224. But the fullest and clearest version of the tale is given by
Apollodorus in the present passage. Pindar calls the wicked wife Hippolyta or Hippolyta
Cretheis, that is, Hippolyta daughter of Cretheus. His Scholiast calls her Cretheis; the
Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, calls her Cretheis or Hippolyte; and the Scholiast on
Aristophanes, calls her first Hippolyte and afterwards Astydamia. The sword of Peleus,
which his faithless host hid in the cows' dung while the hero lay sleeping in the wood,
was a magic sword wrought by the divine smith Hephaestus and bestowed on Peleus by the
pitying gods as a reward for his chastity. With this wondrous brand the chaste hero,
like a mediaeval knight, was everywhere victorious in the fight and successful in the
chase. Compare Zenobius, Cent. v.20. The episode of the hiding of the sword
was told by Hesiod, some of whose verses on the subject are quoted by the
Scholiast on Pind. N. 4.59(95). The whole story of the adventures of
Peleus in the house of Acastus and in the forest reads like a fairy tale, and we can
hardly doubt that it contains elements of genuine folklore. These are well brought out
by W. Mannhardt in his study of the story. See his W. Mannhardt, Antike
Wald- und Feldkulte （Berlin, 1877）, pp.
49ff. and when she could not prevail on him she sent word to his
wife that Peleus was about to marry Sterope, daughter of Acastus; on hearing which the
wife of Peleus strung herself up. And the wife of Acastus falsely accused Peleus to her
husband, alleging that he had attempted her virtue. On hearing that, Acastus would not
kill the man whom he had purified, but took him to hunt on Pelion. There a contest taking place in regard to the hunt, Peleus cut out
and put in his pouch the tongues of the animals that fell to him, while the party of
Acastus bagged his game and derided him as if he had taken nothing. But he produced them
the tongues, and said that he had taken just as many animals as he had tongues.In fairy tales the hero often cuts out the tongues of a
seven-headed dragon or other fearsome beast, and produces them as evidence of his
prowess. See W. Mannhardt, Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, pp.
53ff.; Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
ii.269. When he had fallen asleep on Pelion, Acastus deserted him, and hiding his sword in the cows' dung,
returned. On arising and looking for his sword, Peleus was caught by the centaurs and
would have perished, if he had not been saved by Chiron, who also restored him his sword,
which he had sought and found.
Peleus married Polydora, daughter of Perieres, by whom he had a putative son Menesthius,
though in fact Menesthius was the son of the river Sperchius.See above, note on Apollod. 3.13.1.
Afterwards he married Thetis, daughter of Nereus,Compare Hom. Il. 18.83ff.;
Hom. Il. 18.432ff.; Pind. N.
4.61(100)ff.; Eur. IA 701ff.; Eur. IA 1036ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.805ff.;
Catul. 64; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed.
Bode, i. pp. 65, 142ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 207, 208; Second Vatican
Mythographer 205). for whose hand Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals; but
when Themis prophesied that the son born of Thetis would be mightier than his father, they
withdrew.See Pind. I.
8.27(58)ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.790ff.; Ov. Met. 11.217ff., who attributes the prophecy to Proteus. The present
passage of Apollodorus is quoted, with the author's name, by Tzetzes
（Scholiast on Lycophron 178）. But some say that when
Zeus was bent on gratifying his passion for her, Prometheus declared that the son borne to
him by her would be lord of heaven;Compare Aesch. PB 908ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.519;
Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica v.338ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 54;
Hyginus, Ast. ii.15. According to Hyginus, Zeus released Prometheus from
his fetters in gratitude for the warning which the sage had given him not to wed
Thetis. and others affirm that Thetis would not consort with Zeus because she had
been brought up by Hera, and that Zeus in anger would marry her to a mortal.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.790-798, a passage
which Apollodorus seems here to have had in mind. Chiron, therefore, having
advised Peleus to seize her and hold her fast in spite of her shape-shifting, he watched
his chance and carried her off, and though she turned, now into fire, now into water, and
now into a beast, he did not let her go till he saw that she had resumed her former
shape.As to the various shapes into which the reluctant
Thetis turned herself in order to evade the grasp of her mortal lover, see Pind. N. 4.62(101)ff.; Scholiast on Pind. N.
3.35(60); Scholiast on Pind. N. 4.62(101); Paus. 5.18.5; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica iii.618-624;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 175, 178 （vol. i. pp. 446, 457, ed.
Muller）; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.582; Ov. Met. 11.235ff. She is said to have changed into fire,
water, wind, a tree, a bird, a tiger, a lion, a serpent, and a cuttlefish. It was when
she had assumed the form of a cuttlefish （sepia） that Peleus at last
succeeded in seizing her and holding her fast （Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 175, 178 （vol. i. pp. 446, 457, ed.
Muller））. With the transformations which Thetis underwent in
order to escape from the arms of her lover we may compare the transformations which her
father Nereus underwent in order to escape from Herakles （above, Apollod. 2.5.11）, the transformations which the
river-god Achelous underwent in his tussle with the same doughty hero （above,
Apollod. 2.7.5, note）, and the
transformations which the sea-god Proteus underwent in order to give the slip to
Menelaus （Hom. Od. 4.354ff.）. All
these stories were appropriately told of water-spirits, their mutability reflecting as
it were the instability of the fickle, inconstant element of which they were born. The
place where Peleus caught and mastered his sea-bride was believed to be the southeastern
headland of Thessaly, which hence bore the name
of Sepia or the Cuttlefish. The whole coast of the Cape was sacred to Thetis and the
other Nereids; and after their fleet had been wrecked on the headland, the Persians
sacrificed to Thetis on the spot （Hdt.
7.191）. See further, Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “The
Marriage of Peleus and Thetis.” And he married her on Pelion, and there the gods celebrated the
marriage with feast and song.The Muses sang at the wedding
of Peleus and Thetis, according to Pind. P. 3.89(159)ff.
Catullus describes the Fates singing on the same occasion, and he has recorded their
magic song （Catul. 64.305ff.）.
And Chiron gave Peleus an ashen spear,Compare Hom. Il. 16.140-144, with the Scholiast on Hom. Il.
16.140, according to whom Chiron felled the ash-tree for the shaft, while
Athena polished it, and Hephaestus wrought （the blade）. For this
account the Scholiast refers to the author of the epic Cypria. and
Poseidon gave him horses, Balius and Xanthus, and
these were immortal.Compare Hom.
Il. 16.148ff.
When Thetis had got a babe by Peleus, she wished to make it immortal, and unknown to
Peleus she used to hide it in the fire by night in order to destroy the mortal element
which the child inherited from its father, but by day she anointed him with ambrosia.This account of how Thetis attempted to render Achilles
immortal, and how the attempt was frustrated by Peleus, is borrowed from Ap.
Rhod., Argon. iv.869ff. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 178
（vol. i. p. 458, ed. Muller）. According to another legend,
Thetis bore seven sons, of whom Achilles was the seventh; she destroyed the first six by
throwing them into the fire or into a kettle of boiling water to see whether they were
mortal or to make them immortal by consuming the merely mortal portion of their frame;
and the seventh son, Achilles, would have perished in like manner, if his father Peleus
had not snatched him from the fire at the moment when as yet only his anklebone was
burnt. To supply this missing portion of his body, Peleus dug up the skeleton of the
giant Damysus, the fleetest of all the giants, and, extracting from it the anklebone,
fitted it neatly into the ankle of his little son Achilles, applying drugs which caused
the new, or rather old, bone to coalesce perfectly with the rest. See Ptolemy
Hephaest., Nov. Hist. vi in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, p. 195;
Lycophron, Cassandra 178ff., with scholium of Tzetzes, Scholiast on
Lycophron 178 （vol. i. pp. 455ff.）; Scholiast on Hom.
Il. xvi.37; Scholiast on Aristoph. Cl. 1068, p. 443, ed. Fr.
Dubner; Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.816. A similar story is
told of Demeter and the infant son of Celeus. See above, Apollod. 1.5.1, with the note. But Peleus watched her, and, seeing the
child writhing on the fire, he cried out; and Thetis, thus prevented from
accomplishing her purpose, forsook her infant son and departed to the Nereids.Compare Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.875ff., who says that
when Thetis was interrupted by Peleus in her effort to make Achilles immortal, she threw
the infant screaming on the floor, and rushing out of the house plunged angrily into the
sea, and never returned again. In the Iliad Homer represents Thetis dwelling with her
old father Nereus and the sea-nymphs in the depths of the sea （Hom. Il. 1.357ff.; Hom. Il.
18.35ff.; Hom. Il. 14.83ff.）, while
her forlorn husband dragged out a miserable and solitary old age in the halls
（Hom. Il. 18.434ff.）. Thus the poet
would seem to have been acquainted with the story of the quarrel and parting of the
husband and wife, though he nowhere alludes to it or to the painful misunderstanding
which led to their separation. In this, as in many other places, Homer passes over in
silence features of popular tradition which he either rejected as incredible or deemed
below the dignity of the epic. Yet if we are right in classing the story of Peleus and
Thetis with the similar tales of the marriage of a man to a mermaid or other marine
creature, the narrative probably always ended in the usual sad way by telling how, after
living happily together for a time, the two at last quarrelled and parted for
ever. Peleus brought the child to Chiron, who received him and fed him on the
inwards of lions and wild swine and the marrows of bears,Compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xvi.37. According to Statius
（Achill. ii.382ff.）, Chiron fed the youthful Achilles not on
ordinary victuals, but on the flesh and marrows of lions. Philostratus says that his
nourishment consisted of honeycombs and the marrows of fawns
（Philostratus, Her. xx.2）, while the author of the
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)axilleu/s, p.
181 says that he was nurtured on the marrows of deer. Compare Eustathius on
Hom. Il. 1.1, p. 14. The flesh and marrows of lions, wild boars, and bears were
no doubt supposed to impart to the youthful hero who partook of them the strength and
courage of these animals, while the marrows of fawns or deer may have been thought to
ensure the fleetness of foot for which he was afterwards so conspicuous. It is thus that
on the principle of sympathetic magic many races seek to acquire the qualities of
certain animals by eating their flesh or drinking their blood; whereas they abstain from
eating the flesh of other animals lest they should, by partaking of it, be infected with
the undesirable qualities which these creatures are believed to possess. For example, in
various African tribes men eat the hearts of lions in order to become lionhearted, while
others will not eat the flesh of tortoises lest they should become slow-footed like
these animals. See Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,
ii.138ff. On the same principle the ancients believed that men could acquire the
art of divination by eating the hearts of ravens, moles, or hawks, because these
creatures were supposed to be endowed with prophetic powers. See Porphyry, De
abstinentia ii.48; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxx.19. So Medea is said to
have restored the aged Aeson to youth by infusing into his veins a decoction of the
liver of a long-lived stag and of the head of a crow that had survived nine generations
of men. See Ov. Met. 7.273ff. and named him
Achilles, because he had not put his lips to the breast;Apollodorus absurdly derives the name Achilles from a
（privative） and xei/lh,
“lips,” so that the word would mean “not lips.”
Compare Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)axilleu/s, p.
181,; Eustathius on Hom. Il. i.1, p. 14. but before that
time his name was Ligyron.
After that Peleus, with Jason and the Dioscuri, laid waste Iolcus; and he
slaughtered Astydamia, wife of Acastus, and, having divided her limb from limb, he led the
army through her into the city.As to the wicked behaviour
of Astydamia to Peleus, see above, Apollod. 3.13.3. But
it is probable that the cutting of the bad woman in pieces and marching between the
pieces into the city was more than a simple act of vengeance; it may have been a solemn
sacrifice or purification designed to ensure the safety of the army in the midst of a
hostile people. In Boeotia a form of public
purification was to cut a dog in two and pass between the pieces. See Plut.
Quaest. Rom. 111. A similar rite was observed at purifying a Macedonian army. A
dog was cut in two: the head and fore part were placed on the right, the hinder part,
with the entrails, was placed on the left, and the troops in arms marched between the
pieces. See Livy xli.6; Quintus Curtius, De gestis Alexandri Magni
x.9.28. For more examples of similar rites, and an attempt to explain them, see
Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, i.391ff. To the
instances there cited may be added another. When the Algerine pirates were at sea and in
extreme danger, it was their custom to sacrifice a sheep, cut off its head, extract its
entrails, and then throw them, together with the head, overboard; afterwards
“with all the speed they can （without skinning） they cut the
body in two parts by the middle, and then throw one part over the right side of the
ship, and the other over the left, into the sea, as a kind of propitiation.”
See Joseph Pitts, A true and faithful Account of the Religion and Manners
of the Mohammetans （Exon. 1704）, p. 14. As to the
capture of Iolcus by Peleus, see Pind. N. 3.34(59); Pind. N. 4.54(89)ff. In the former of these passages Pindar
says that Peleus captured Iolcus single-handed; but the Scholiast on the passage
affirms, on the authority of Pherecydes, that he was accompanied by Jason and the
Tyndarids （Castor and Pollux）. As this statement tallies with the
account given by Apollodorus, we may surmise that here, as often elsewhere, our author
followed Pherecydes. According to the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.224,
Peleus on his return to Iolcus put to death Acastus himself as well as his wicked wife.
When Achilles was nine years old, Calchas declared that Troy could not be taken without him; so Thetis, foreseeing that it was fated
he should perish if he went to the war, disguised him in female garb and entrusted him as
a maiden to Lycomedes.As to Achilles disguised as a girl at
the court of Lycomedes in Scyros, see Bion ii.5ff.; Philostratus
Junior, Im. 1; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.668; Hyginus, Fab.
96; Statius, Achill. i.207ff. The subject was painted by
Polygnotus in a chamber at the entrance to the acropolis of Athens （Paus. 1.22.6）.
Euripides wrote a play called The Scyrians on the same theme. See
TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 574ff. Sophocles composed a tragedy under the
same title, which has sometimes been thought to have dealt with the same subject, but
more probably it was concerned with Neoptolemus in Scyros and the mission of Ulysses and
Phoenix to carry him off to Troy. See
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp.
191ff. The youthful Dionysus, like the youthful Achilles, is said to have been
brought up as a maiden. See above, Apollod. 3.4.3, with
the note. One of the questions which the emperor Tiberius used solemnly to propound to
the antiquaries of his court was: What was the name of Achilles when he lived as a girl
among girls? See Suetonius Tiberius, 70. The question was solemnly answered
by learned men in various ways: some said that the stripling's female name was
Cercysera, others that it was Issa, and others
that it was Pyrrha. See Ptolemy Hephaest., Nov. Hist. i. in Westermann's
Mythographi Graeci, p. 183. Bred at his court, Achilles had
an intrigue with Deidamia, daughter of Lycomedes, and a son Pyrrhus was born to him, who
was afterwards called Neoptolemus. But the secret of Achilles was betrayed, and Ulysses,
seeking him at the court of Lycomedes, discovered him by the blast of a trumpet.The usual story was that the crafty Ulysses spread out baskets
and women's gear, mingled with arms, before the disguised Achilles and his girlish
companions in Scyros; and that while the real girls pounced eagerly on the feminine
gauds, Achilles betrayed his sex by snatching at the arms. See Philostratus
Junior, Im. i; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xix.326; Ov. Met. 13.162ff. Apollodorus tells us that Achilles was
detected by the sound of a trumpet. This is explained by Hyginus, Fab. 96,
who says that while Achilles was surveying the mingled trumpery and weapons, Ulysses
caused a bugle to sound and a clash of arms to be heard, whereupon Achilles, imagining
that an enemy was at hand, tore off his maidenly attire and seized spear and shield.
Statius gives a similar account of the detection （Statius, Achill.
ii.167ff.）. And in that way Achilles went to Troy.
He was accompanied by Phoenix, son of Amyntor. This Phoenix had been blinded by his
father on the strength of a false accusation of seduction preferred against him by his
father's concubine Phthia. But Peleus brought
him to Chiron, who restored his sight, and thereupon Peleus made him king of the
Dolopians.See Hom. Il.
9.437-484, with the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 9.448. But Homer says
nothing about the blinding of Phoenix by his angry father or his cure by Chiron; and
according to Homer the accusation of having debauched his father's concubine was not
false but true, Phoenix having been instigated to the deed by his mother, who was
jealous of the concubine. But variations from the Homeric narrative were introduced into
the story by the tragedians who handled the theme （Scholiast on Hom. Il.
9.437-484）. Sophocles and Euripides both wrote tragedies on the
subject under the same title of Phoenix; the tragedy of Euripides seems
to have been famous. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 286, 621ff.;
The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
ii.320ff. The blinding of Phoenix by his father Amyntor is alluded to by a poet
of the Greek anthology （Anth. Pal. iii.3）. Both the poet
and Apollodorus probably drew on Euripides, who from an allusion in Aristoph. Acharn. 421 is known to have represented
Phoenix as blind. Both the blinding and the healing of Phoenix are related by
Tzetzes （Scholiast on Lycophron 421）, who may have
followed Apollodorus. According to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 9.437-484, the
name of the concubine was Clytia; according to Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron
421, it was Clytia or Phthia.
Apollodorus calls her Phthia. The
Scholiast on Plato （Laws, xi. p. 931 B）, gives a
version of the story which agrees entirely with that of Apollodorus, and may have been
copied from it. The healing of Phoenix's eyes by Chiron is mentioned by Prop. ii.1.60.
Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of MenoetiusCompare Hom. Il. 11.785ff.
Homer does not mention the name of Patroclus's mother. and Sthenele, daughter of
Acastus; or the mother of Patroclus was Periopis, daughter of Pheres, or, as Philocrates
says, she was Polymele, daughter of Peleus. At Opus, in a quarrel over a game of dice,
Patroclus killed the boy Clitonymus, son of Amphidamas, and flying with his father he
dwelt at the house of PeleusSee Hom. Il. 23.84-90; compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. xii.1; Strab. 9.4.2; Ovid, Ex Ponto i.3.73ff. The name
of the slain lad was variously given as Clisonymus (Scholiast, l.c.) or Aeanes (Strabo
and Scholiast, ll.cc.) and became a minion of Achilles.
Cecrops, a son of the soil, with a body compounded of man and serpent, was the first king
of Attica, and the country which was formerly
called Acte he named Cecropia after himself.According to
the Parian Chronicle （Marmor Parium 2-4）,
with which Apollodorus is in general agreement, the first king of Attica was Cecrops, and the country was named Cecropia
after him, whereas it had formerly been called Actice （sic） after an
aboriginal named Actaeus. Pausanias （Paus.
1.2.6） represents this Actaeus as the first king of Attica, and says that Cecrops succeeded him on the
throne by marrying his daughter. But Pausanias, like Apollod.
3.15.5, distinguishes this first Cecrops from a later Cecrops, son of
Erechtheus （Apollod. 1.5.3）.
Apollodorus is at one with Pausanias in saying that the first Cecrops married the
daughter of Actaeus, and he names her Agraulus （see below, Apollod. 3.14.2）. Philochorus said, with great
probability, that there never was any such person as Actaeus; according to him,
Attica lay waste and depopulated from the
deluge in the time of Ogyges down to the reign of Cecrops. See Eusebius,
Praeparatio Evangelii, x.10. Tzetzes （Chiliades
v.637） and Hyginus, Fab. 48 agree in representing Cecrops
as the first king of Attica; Hyginus calls him
a son of the earth. As to his double form, the upper part of him being human and the
lower part serpentine, see Aristoph. Wasps 438,
with the Scholiast; Eur. Ion 1163ff.; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 111; Tzetzes, Chiliades v.638ff.;
Scholiast on Aristoph. Plutus 773; Diod. 1.28.7, who
rationalizes the fable after his usual fashion. In his time, they say, the gods
resolved to take possession of cities in which each of them should receive his
own peculiar worship. So Poseidon was the first that came to Attica, and with a blow of his trident on the middle of the acropolis, he
produced a sea which they now call Erechtheis.As to the
contest between Poseidon and Athena for possession of Attica, see Hdt. 8.55; Plut. Them. 19; Paus. 1.24.5;
Paus. 1.26.5; Ov. Met.
6.70ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 164; Serv. Verg. G.
1.12; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. vii.185;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 1, 115 (First Vatican
Mythographer 2; Second Vatican Mythographer 119). A rationalistic explanation
of the fable was propounded by the eminent Roman antiquary Varro. According to him, the
olive-tree suddenly appeared in Attica, and at
the same time there was an eruption of water in another part of the country. So king
Cecrops sent to inquire of Apollo at Delphi
what these portents might signify. The oracle answered that the olive and the water were
the symbols of Athena and Poseidon respectively, and that the people of Attica were free to choose which of these deities they
would worship. Accordingly the question was submitted to a general assembly of the
citizens and citizenesses; for in these days women had the vote as well as men. All the
men voted for the god, and all the women voted for the goddess; and as there was one
more woman than there were men, the goddess appeared at the head of the poll. Chagrined
at the loss of the election, the male candidate flooded the country with the water of
the sea, and to appease his wrath it was decided to deprive women of the vote and to
forbid children to bear their mother's names for the future. See Augustine, De
civitate Dei xviii.9. The print of Poseidon's trident on the rock of the
acropolis at Athens was shown down to late
times. See Strab. 9.1.16; Paus.
1.26.5. The “sea,” which the god was supposed to have
produced as evidence of his right to the country was also to be seen within the
Erechtheum on the acropolis; Pausanias calls it a well of sea water, and says that, when
the south wind blew, the well gave forth a sound of waves. See Hdt.
8.55; Paus. 1.26.5; Paus.
8.10.4. According to the late Latin mythographers （see the references
above）, Poseidon produced a horse from the rock in support of his claim, and
this version of the story seems to have been accepted by Virgil （Geo.
i.12ff.）, but it is not countenanced by Greek writers. The Athenians
said that the contest between Poseidon and Athena took place on the second of the month
Boedromion, and hence they omitted that day from the calendar. See Plut. De
fraterno amore 11; Plut. Quaest. Conviv. ix.6. The unlucky
Poseidon also contested the possession of Argos with Hera, and when the judges gave a verdict against him and in
favour of the goddess, he took his revenge, as in Attica, by flooding the country. See Paus.
2.22.4; compare Paus. 2.15.5; Polemo, Greek
History, cited by the Scholiast on Aristides, vol. iii. p. 322, ed.
Dindorf. After him came Athena, and, having called on Cecrops to witness her
act of taking possession, she planted an olive tree, which is still shown in the
Pandrosium.The olive-tree seems to have survived down to
the second century of our era. See Hdt. 8.55; Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, De Dinarcho Judicium 3; Paus.
1.27.3; Cicero, De legibus, i.1.2; Hyginus, Fab. 164;
Pliny, Nat. Hist. xvi.240. Dionysius agrees with Apollodorus in
representing the tree as growing in the Pandrosium, which is proved by inscriptions to
have been an enclosure to the west of the Erechtheum. See Frazer, commentary on
Pausanias, vol. ii. p. 337. But when the two strove for possession of
the country, Zeus parted them and appointed arbiters, not, as some have
affirmed, Cecrops and Cranaus, nor yet Erysichthon, but the twelve gods.Compare Ov. Met. 6.72ff.
And in accordance with their verdict the country was adjudged to Athena, because Cecrops
bore witness that she had been the first to plant the olive. Athena, therefore, called the
city Athens after herself, and Poseidon in hot
anger flooded the Thriasian plain and laid Attica
under the sea.As to this flood, see Varro, in
Augustine, De civitate Dei xviii.9; Hyginus, Fab. 164. The
Thriasian plain is the plain in which Eleusis
stands. See Strab. 9.1.6
Strab. 9.1.13.
Cecrops married Agraulus, daughter of Actaeus, and had a son Erysichthon, who departed
this life childless; and Cecrops had daughters, Agraulus, Herse, and Pandrosus.Compare Paus. 1.2.6;
Hyginus, Fab. 146; Ov. Met. 2.737ff. All
these writers call the first of the daughters Aglaurus instead of Agraulus, and the form
Aglaurus is confirmed by inscriptions on two Greek vases （Corpus
Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. iv. p. 146, Nos. 7716, 7718）.
Agraulus had a daughter Alcippe by Ares. In attempting to violate Alcippe, Halirrhothius,
son of Poseidon and a nymph Euryte, was detected and killed by Ares.Compare Paus. 1.21.4; Stephanus Byzantius
and Suidas, s.v. *)/areios pa/gos in Bekker's Anecdota
Graeca, vol. i. p. 444, lines 8ff. From the three latter writers we learn that
the story was told by the historians Philochorus and Hellanicus, whom Apollodorus may
here be following. Impeached by Poseidon, Ares was tried in the Areopagus before
the twelve gods, and was acquitted.See Eur. Ion 1258ff.; Eur. IT
945ff.; Dem. 23.66; Marmor Parium 5ff.;
Paus. 1.28.5; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1648,
1651. The name Areopagus was commonly supposed to mean “the hill of
Ares” and explained by the tradition that Ares was the first to be tried for
murder before the august tribunal. But more probably, perhaps, the name meant
“the hill of curses.” See Frazer, note on Pausanias. i.28.5
（vol. ii. pp. 363ff.）. For other legendary or mythical trials
in the court of the Areopagus, see below, Apollod.
3.15.1; Apollod. 3.15.8.
Herse had by Hermes a son Cephalus, whom Dawn loved and carried off,See above, Frazer on Apollod. 1.9.4, where Cephalus is said to have been a son
of Deion by Diomede; compare Apollod. 2.4.7; Apollod. 3.15.1. Pausanias also calls Cephalus a son of
Deion （Paus. 1.37.6; Paus. 10.29.6）, and so does Ant. Lib. 41. The
Scholiast on Hom. （Od. xi.321） calls his father
Deioneus. Hyginus in two passages （Hyginus, Fab. 189,
270） describes Cephalus as a son of Deion, and in another passage
（Hyginus, Fab. 160） as a son of Hermes
（Mercury） by Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus. Euripides tells how
“Dawn with her lovely light once snatched up Cephalus to the gods, all for
love”（ Eur.
Hipp.454ff.）. and consorting with him in Syria bore a son Tithonus, who had a son Phaethon,According to Hes. Th. 986ff. and
Paus. 1.3.1, Phaethon was a son of Cephalus and the Dawn
or Day. According to another and seemingly more usual account the father of Phaethon was
the Sun. See Diod. 5.23; Paus. 1.4.1; Paus. 2.3.2; Lucian, Dial. Deorum xxv.1;
Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.357ff.; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.325, p.
1689; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xvii.208; Ov.
Met. 2.19ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 152, 156; Lactantius Placidus on
Statius, Theb. i.221; Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, p. 421, ed.
Fr. Eyssenhardt, in his edition of Martianus Capella; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 37, 93, 208 (First
Vatican Mythographer 118; Second Vatican Mythographer 57; Third Vatican
Mythographer iii.8.14); Serv. Verg. A. 10.189.
The mother who bore him to the Sun is usually called Clymene （so Lucian,
Tzetzes, Eustathius, Ovid, Hyginus, Lactantius Placidus, the Vatican mythographers, and
Servius）; but the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xvii.208 calls her Rhode,
daughter of Asopus. Clymene herself, the mother of Phaethon, is said to have been a
daughter of Ocean and Tethys （Tzetzes, Chiliades iv.359; Ov. Met. 2.156） or of Iphys or Minyas
（Eustathius）. Apollodorus passes over in silence the famous story how
Phaethon borrowed the chariot of the Sun for a day, and driving too near the earth set
it on fire, and how in his wild career he was struck dead by Zeus with a thunderbolt and
fell into the river Eridanus, where his sisters
mourned for him till they were turned into poplar trees, their tears being changed into
drops of amber which exuded from the trees. The story is told at great length and with
many picturesque details by Ovid, （Metamorph. ii.1ff.）.
Compare Lucretius v.396ff.; Diodorus Siculus, Lucian, the Scholiast on
Homer, Hyginus, and the Latin Mythographers. Euripides wrote a tragedy on the subject,
of which some considerable fragments survive. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp.
599ff. For some similar stories, see Frazer's Appendix on Apollodorus,
“Phaethon and the Chariot of the Sun.” who had a son
Astynous, who had a son Sandocus, who passed from Syria to Cilicia and founded a city
Celenderis, and having married Pharnace, daughter of Megassares, king of Hyria, begat Cinyras.According to Hyginus, Fab. 142, Cinyras was a son of
Paphus. This Cinyras in Cyprus, whither he had come with some people,
founded Paphos; and having there married
Metharme, daughter of Pygmalion, king of Cyprus,
he begat Oxyporus and Adonis,A different and apparently
more prevalent tradition represented Adonis as the son of Cinyras by incestuous
intercourse with his daughter Myrrha or
Smyrna. See Scholiast on Theocritus i.107; Plut.
Parallela 22; Ant. Lib. 34 （who, however, differs as to
the name of Smyrna's father）; Ov. Met. 10.298ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 58, 164;
Fulgentius, Mytholog. iii.8; Lactantius Placidus, Narrat. Fabul.
x.9; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 10.18, and Serv. Verg. A. 5.72; Scriptores rerum mythicarum
Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 60 (First Vatican Mythographer 200). Similar cases of
incest with a daughter are frequently reported of royal houses in antiquity. They
perhaps originated in a rule of transmitting the crown through women instead of through
men; for under such a rule a widowed king would be under a strong temptation to marry
his own daughter as the only means of maintaining himself legitimately on the throne
after the death of his wife. See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed.,
i.43ff. The legend of the incestuous origin of Adonis is mentioned, on the
authority of Panyasis, by Apollodorus himself a little lower down. and besides
them daughters, Orsedice, Laogore, and Braesia. These by reason of the wrath of Aphrodite
cohabited with foreigners, and ended their life in Egypt. And Adonis, while still a boy, was
wounded and killed in hunting by a boar through the anger of Artemis.Compare Bion i; Cornutus, Theologiae Graecae Compendium
28; Plut. Quaest. Conviv. iv.5.3, 8; Athenaeus ii.80, p. 69
B; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 831; Aristides, Apology,
ed. J. Rendel Harris （Cambridge, 1891）, pp. 44, 106ff.; Prop. iii.4(5) 53ff., ed. F. A. Paley; Ov. Met. 10.710ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 248;
Macrobius, Sat. i.21.4; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i.17;
Firmicus Maternus, De errore profanarum religionum 9; Augustine, De
civitate Dei vi.7. There are some grounds for thinking that formerly Adonis and
his Babylonian prototype Tammuz were conceived in the form of a boar, and that the story
of his death by a boar was only a misinterpretation of this older conception. See
Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild, ii.22f.; C.
F. Burney, The Book of Judges （London, 1918）, pp.
xviiff., who refers to “the brilliant discovery of Ball
（PSBA. xvi.1894, pp. 195ff.） that the
Sumerian name of Tammuz, DUMU.ZI （Bab.
Du' ûzu, Dûzu） is
identical with the Turkish dōmūz
‘pig,’ and that there is thus an ‘original identity of the
god with the wild boar that slays him in the developed legend.’” W.
Robertson Smith, as Professor Burney points out, had many years ago expressed the view
that “the Cyprian Adonis was originally the Swine-god, and in this as in many
other cases the sacred victim has been changed by false interpretation into the enemy of
the god” （Religion of the Semites, New Edition,
London, 1894, p. 411, note）. The view is confirmed by the observation
that the worshippers of Adonis would seem to have abstained from eating swine's flesh.
See W. W. Baudissin, Adonis und Esmun （Leipsig,
1911）, p. 142, quoting SS. Cyri et Joannis Miracula, in Migne's
Patrologia Graeca, lxxxvii.3, col. 3624. Hesiod,
however, affirms that he was a son of Phoenix and Alphesiboea; and Panyasis says that he
was a son of Thias, king of Assyria,According to
Ant. Lib. 34, Smyrna, the
mother of Adonis, was a daughter of Belus by a nymph Orithyia. Tzetzes mentions, but
afterwards rejects, the view that Myrrha, the mother of Adonis, was a daughter of Thias
（Scholiast on Lycophron 829, 831）. Hyginus says that
Cinyras, the father of Adonis, was king of Assyria （Hyginus, Fab.
58）. This traditional connexion of Adonis with Assyria may well be due
to a well-founded belief that the religion of Adonis, though best known to the Greeks in
Syria and Cyprus, had originated in Assyria or rather in Babylonia, where he was worshipped under the name of Dumuzi or Tammuz.
See Adonis, Attis, Osiris, 3rd ed., i.6ff. who had a
daughter Smyrna. In consequence of the wrath
of Aphrodite, for she did not honor the goddess, this
Smyrna conceived a passion for her father, and with the complicity of her
nurse she shared her father's bed without his knowledge for twelve nights. But when he was
aware of it, he drew his sword and pursued her, and being overtaken she prayed to the gods
that she might be invisible; so the gods in compassion turned her into the tree which they
call smyrna （ myrrh）.As to the
transformation of the mother of Adonis into a myrrh-tree, see Scholiast on
Theocritus i.107; Plut. Parallela 22; Ant. Lib. 34;
Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 829; Ov. Met.
10.476ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 58, 164; Fulgentius, Mytholog.
iii.8; Lactantius Placidus, Narrat. Fabul. x.9; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 10.18 and Aen. v.72;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. p. 60 (First Vatican
Mythographer 200). The drops of gum which oozed from the myrrh-tree were
thought to be the tears shed by the transformed Myrrha for her sad fate （Ov. Met. 10.500ff.）. Ten months afterwards
the tree burst and Adonis, as he is called, was born, whom for the sake of his beauty,
while he was still an infant, Aphrodite hid in a chest unknown to the gods and entrusted
to Persephone. But when Persephone beheld him, she would not give him back. The case being
tried before Zeus, the year was divided into three parts, and the god ordained that Adonis
should stay by himself for one part of the year, with Persephone for one part, and with
Aphrodite for the remainder.According to another version of
the story, Aphrodite and Persephone referred their dispute about Adonis to the judgment
of Zeus, and he appointed the Muse Calliope to act as arbitrator between them. She
decided that Adonis should spend half the year with each of them; but the decision so
enraged Aphrodite that in revenge she instigated the Thracian women to rend in pieces
Calliope's son, the musician Orpheus. See Hyginus, Ast. ii.6. A
Scholiast on Theocritus （Id. iii.48） reports the common
saying that the dead Adonis spends six months of the year in the arms of Persephone, and
six months in the arms of Aphrodite; and he explains the saying as a mythical
description of the corn, which after sowing is six months in the earth and six months
above ground. However Adonis made over to Aphrodite his own share in
addition; but afterwards in hunting he was gored and killed by a boar.
When Cecrops died, Cranaus came to the throneCompare Paus. 1.2.6.; he was a son of the soil, and it was in
his time that the flood in the age of Deucalion is said to have taken place.According to the Parian Chronicle
（Marmor Parium 4-7）, Deucalion reigned at Lycorea on
Mount Parnassus, and when the flood, following on heavy rains, took place in that
district, he fled for safety to king Cranaus at Athens, where he founded a sanctuary of Rainy Zeus and offered
thank-offerings for his escape. Compare Eusebius, Chronic. vol. ii. p. 26, ed. A.
Schoene. We have seen that, according to Apollod.
3.8.2, the flood happened in the reign of Nyctimus, king of Arcadia. He married a Lacedaemonian wife, Pedias,
daughter of Mynes, and begat Cranae, Menaechme, and Atthis; and when Atthis died a maid,
Cranaus called the country Atthis.Compare Paus. 1.2.6; Eusebius, Chronic. vol. ii. p. 28, ed. A.
Schoene.
Cranaus was expelled by Amphictyon, who reigned in his stead;Compare the Parian Chronicle, Marmor Parium 8-10;
Paus. 1.2.6; Eusebius, Chronic. vol. ii. p. 30, ed.
A. Schoene. The Parian Chronicle represents Amphictyon as a son
of Deucalion and as reigning, first at Thermopylae, and then at Athens; but it records nothing as to his revolt against Cranaus. Pausanias
says that Amphictyon deposed Cranaus, although he had the daughter of Cranaus to wife.
Eusebius says that Amphictyon was a son of Deucalion and in-law of Cranaus. some
say that Amphictyon was a son of Deucalion, others that he was a son of the soil; and when
he had reigned twelve years he was expelled by Erichthonius.Compare Paus. 1.2.6. Some say that this
Erichthonius was a son of Hephaestus and Atthis, daughter of Cranaus, and some that he was
a son of Hephaestus and Athena, as follows: Athena came to Hephaestus, desirous of
fashioning arms. But he, being forsaken by Aphrodite, fell in love with Athena, and began
to pursue her; but she fled. When he got near her with much ado （ for
he was lame）, he attempted to embrace her; but she, being a chaste virgin, would
not submit to him, and he dropped his seed on the leg of the goddess. In disgust, she
wiped off the seed with wool and threw it on the ground; and as she fled and the seed fell
on the ground, Erichthonius was produced.With this story of
the birth of Erichthonius compare Scholiast on Hom. Il.
2.547 （who agrees to a great extent verbally with Apollodorus）;
Eur. Ion 20ff.; Eur. Ion
266ff.; Eratosthenes, Cat. 13; Nonnus, in Westermann's
Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum, 3, pp. 359ff.; Tzetzes,
Scholiast on Lycophron 111; Antigonus Carystius, Hist. Mirab. 12;
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)erexqeu/s, p.
371.29; Hyginus, Fab. 166; Hyginus, Ast. ii.13; Serv. Verg. G. 3.113; Fulgentius, Mytholog.
ii.14; Lactantius, Divin. Inst. ii.17; Augustine, De civitate
Dei xviii.12; Scholia in Caesaris Germanici Aratea, p. 394, ed. Fr.
Eyssenhardt （in his edition of Martianus Capella）;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 41, 86ff., 88 (First
Vatican Mythographer 128; Second Vatican Mythographer 37, 40). The story of the
birth of Erichthonius was told by Euripides, according to Eratosthenes, Cat.
13 and by Callimachus, according to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.547.
Pausanias was plainly acquainted with the fable, though he contents himself with saying
that Erichthonius was reported to be a son of Hephaestus and Earth （Paus. 1.2.6; Paus.
1.14.6）. As C. G. Heyne long ago observed, the story is clearly an
etymological myth invented to explain the meaning of the name Erichthonius, which some
people derived from e)/ris,
“strife,” and xqw/n, the
ground,” while others derived it from e)/rion,
“wool,” and xqw/n, “the
ground.” The former derivation of “eri” in Erichthonius
seems to have been the more popular. Mythologists have perhaps not sufficiently reckoned
with the extent to which false etymology has been operative in the creation of myths.
“Disease of language” is one source of myths, though it is very far
from being the only one. Him Athena brought up unknown to the other gods, wishing
to make him immortal; and having put him in a chest, she committed it to Pandrosus,
daughter of Cecrops, forbidding her to open the chest. But the sisters of Pandrosus opened
it out of curiosity, and beheld a serpent coiled about the babe; and, as some say, they
were destroyed by the serpent, but according to others they were driven mad by reason of
the anger of Athena and threw themselves down from the acropolis.With this story of the discovery of Erichthonius in the chest compare Eur. Ion 20ff.; Eur. Ion 266ff.;
Paus. 1.18.2; Antigonus Carystius, Hist. Mirab.
12; Ov. Met. 2.552ff.; Hyginus, Fab.
166; Hyginus, Ast. ii.13; Fulgentius, Mytholog. ii.14;
Lactantius, Divin. Inst. i.17; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini,
ed. Bode, i. pp. 41, 86ff., 88 (First Vatican Mythographer 128; Second Vatican
Mythographer 37, 40). Apollodorus apparently describes the infant Erichthonius
in the chest as a purely human babe with a serpent coiled about him. The serpent was
said to have been set by Athena to guard the infant; according to Eur. Ion 20ff., there were two such guardian serpents. But according to a
common tradition Erichthonius was serpent-footed, that is, his legs ended in serpents.
See Nonnus, in Westermann's Mythographi Graeci, Appendix Narrationum 3, p.
360; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)erexqeu/s,
p. 371.47; Hyginus, Fab. 166; Serv. Verg.
A. 3.113; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 41, 87
(First Vatican Mythographer 128, Second Vatican Mythographer 37). Indeed, in
one passage （Astronom. ii.13） Hyginus affirms that
Erichthonius was born a serpent, and that when the box was opened and the maidens saw
the serpent in it, they went mad and threw themselves from the acropolis, while the
serpent took refuge under the shield of Athena and was reared by the goddess. This view
of the identity of Erichthonius with the serpent was recognized, if not accepted, by
Pausanias; for in describing the famous statue of the Virgin Athena on the acropolis of
Athens, he notices the serpent coiled at
her feet behind the shield, and adds that the serpent “may be
Erichthonius” （Paus. 1.24.7）.
The sacred serpent which lived in the Erechtheum on the acropolis of Athens and was fed with honey-cakes once a month, may
have been Erichthonius himself in his original form of a worshipful serpent. See Hdt. 8.41; Aristoph. Lys.
758ff., with the Scholiast; Plut. Them. 10;
Philostratus, Im. ii.17.6; Hesychius, s.vv. dra/kaulos and oi)kouro\n o)/fin;
Suidas, s.v. *dra/kaulos;
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. dra/kaulos, p.
287; Photius, Lexicon, s.v. oi)kouro\n
o)/fin; Eustathius on Hom. Od. i.357, p. 1422, lines
7ff. According to some, there were two such sacred serpents in the Erechtheum
（Hesychius, s.v. oi)kouro\n
o)/fin）. When we remember that Cecrops, the ancestor of
Erichthonius, was said, like his descendant, to be half-man, half-serpent
（above, Apollod. 3.14.1）, we may
conjecture that the old kings of Athens
claimed kinship with the sacred serpents on the acropolis, into which they may have
professed to transmigrate at death. Compare The Dying God, pp.
86ff.; and Frazer on Paus. 1.18.2 （vol. ii. pp. 168ff.）. The
Erechtheids, or descendants of Erechtheus, by whom are meant the Athenians in general,
used to put golden serpents round the necks or bodies of their infants, nominally in
memory of the serpents which guarded the infant Erechthonius, but probably in reality as
amulets to protect the children. See Eur. Ion 20-26, Eur. Ion 1426-1431. Erechtheus and Erichthonius may have been
originally identical. See Scholiast on Hom. Il. 2.547;
Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *)erexqeu/s, p.
371.29; C. F. Clinton, Fasti Hellenici, vol. i. p. 61 note
(n). Having been brought up by Athena herself in the
precinct,“The precinct” is the
Erechtheum on the acropolis of Athens. It
was in the Erechtheum that the sacred serpent dwelt, which seems to have been originally
identical with Erichthonius. See the preceding note. Erichthonius expelled
Amphictyon and became king of Athens; and he
set up the wooden image of Athena in the acropolis,That is,
the ancient image of Athena, made of olive-wood, which stood in the Erechtheum. See my
note on Paus. 1.26.6 （vol. ii. pp.
340ff.）. and instituted the festival of the Panathenaea,Compare the Parian Chronicle, Marmor
Parium 18; Harpocration, s.v. *panaqh/naia; Eratosthenes, Cat. 13; Hyginus,
Ast. ii.13, who says that Erichthonius competed at the games in a four-horse
car. Indeed, Erichthonius was reputed to have invented the chariot, or, at all events,
the four-horse chariot. See the Parian Chronicle, Marmor Parium 18,
21; Eusebius, Chronic. vol. ii. p. 32, ed. A. Schoene; Verg. G. 3.113ff.; Fulgentius, Mytholog. ii.14.
According to some, he invented the chariot for the purpose of concealing his serpent
feet. See Serv. Verg. G. 3.113; Scriptores rerum
mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 41, 87 (First Vatican Mythographer 127; Second
Vatican Mythographer 37). The institution of the Panathenaic festival was by
some attributed to Theseus （Plut. Thes.
24）, but the Parian Chronicle （Marmor
Parium 18）, in agreement with Apollodorus, ascribes it to
Erichthonius; and from Harpocration, s.v. *panaqh/naia we learn that this ascription was supported by the
authority of the historians Hellanicus and Androtion in their works on Attica. Here, therefore, as usual, Apollodorus seems to
have drawn on the best sources. and married Praxithea, a Naiad nymph,
by whom he had a son Pandion.
When Erichthonius died and was buried in the same precinct of Athena,Compare Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iii.45, p. 39, ed.
Potter, who gives a list of legendary or mythical personages who were said to
have been buried in sanctuaries or temples. Amongst the instances which he cites are the
graves of Cinyras and his descendants in the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Paphus, and the grave of Acrisius in the temple of
Athena on the acropolis of Larissa. To these examples C. G. Heyne, commenting on the
present passage of Apollodorus, adds the tomb of Castor in a sanctuary at Sparta （Paus.
3.13.1）, the tomb of Hyacinth under the image of Apollo at Amyclae
（Paus. 3.19.3）, and the grave of Arcas
in a temple of Hera at Mantinea
（Paus. 8.9.3）. “Arguing from
these examples,” says Heyne, “some have tried to prove that the
worship of the gods sprang from the honours paid to buried mortals.”
PandionCompare Paus. 1.5.3,
who distinguishes two kings named Pandion, first, the son of Erichtonius, and, second,
the son of Cecrops the Second. This distinction is accepted by Apollodorus （see
below, Apollod. 3.15.5）, and it is supported
by the Parian Chronicle （Marmor Parium 22,
30）. Eusebius also recognizes Pandion the Second, but makes him a son of
Erechtheus instead of a son of Cecrops the Second （Eus. Chronic. bk. i.
vol. i. col. 185, ed. A. Schoene）. But like Cecrops the Second, son of
Erectheus （below, Apollod. 3.15.5）,
Pandion the Second is probably no more than a chronological stopgap thrust into the
broken framework of tradition by a comparatively late historian. Compare R. D.
Hicks, in Companion to Greek Studies, ed. L. Whibley, 3rd. ed.
（Cambridge, 1916）, p. 76. became king, in whose time
Demeter and Dionysus came to Attica.Here Apollodorus differs from the Parian
Chronicle, which dates the advent of Demeter, not in the reign of Pandion, but
in the reign of his son Erechtheus （Marmor Parium 23ff.）.
To the reign of Erechtheus the Parian Chronicle also refers the first
sowing of corn by Triptolemus in the Rharian plain at Eleusis, and the first celebration of the mysteries by Eumolpus at
Eleusis （Marmor Parium
23-29）. Herein the Parian Chronicle seems to be in
accord with the received Athenian tradition which dated the advent of Demeter, the
beginning of agriculture, and the institution of the Eleusinian mysteries in the reign
of Erechtheus. See Diod. 1.29.1-3. On the other hand, the Parian Chronicler
dates the discovery of iron on the Cretan Mount Ida in the reign of Pandion the First
（Marmor Parium 22ff.）. He says nothing of the coming of
Dionysus to Attica. The advent of Demeter and
Dionysus is a mythical expression for the first cultivation of corn and vines in
Attica; these important discoveries Attic
tradition referred to the reigns either of Pandion the First or of his son
Erechtheus. But Demeter was welcomed by Celeus at Eleusis,See above, Apollod. 1.5.1. and Dionysus by Icarius, who received from
him a branch of a vine and learned the process of making wine. And wishing to bestow the
god's boons on men, Icarius went to some shepherds, who, having tasted the beverage and
quaffed it copiously without water for the pleasure of it, imagined that they were
bewitched and killed him; but by dayThe implication is that
their wassailing had taken place by night. The Greek meq'
h(me/ran regularly means “by day” as opposed to
“by night”; it is not to be translated “the day
after.” See Hdt. 2.150, ou)
nukto\s a)lla\ met' h(me/rhn poieu/menon;
Plat. Phaedrus 251d, e)mmanh\s ou)=sa ou)/te nukto\s du/natai kaqeu/dein ou)/te meq' h(me/ran.
Compare Apollod. 1.9.18, Apollod. 3.5.6 （nu/ktwr kai\ meq'
h(me/ran）, Apollod. 3.12.3; Apollod. E.4.5; Apollod.
E.7.31 （meq' h(me/ran me\n u(fai/nousa, nu/ktwr
de\ a)nalu/ousa）. they understood how it was and buried him.
When his daughter Erigone was searching for her father, a domestic dog, named Maera, which
had attended Icarius, discovered his dead body to her, and she bewailed her father and
hanged herself.With this story of the first introduction of
wine into Attica, and its fatal consequences,
compare Scholiast on Hom. Il. 22.29; Ael., Var.
Hist. vii.28; Nonnus, Dionys. xlvii.34-245; Hyginus, Fab.
130; Hyginus, Ast. ii.4; Statius, Theb. xi.644-647,
with the comment of Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. v. 644; Serv. Verg. G. 2.389; Probus on Verg. G.
2.385; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 6, 94ff. (First
Vatican Mythographer 19; Second Vatican Mythographer 61). The Athenians
celebrated a curious festival of swinging, which was supposed to be an expiation for the
death of Erigone, who had hanged herself on the same tree at the foot of which she had
discovered the dead body of her father Icarius （Hyginus, Ast.
ii.4）. See Hesychius, s.v. *ai)w/ra; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. *ai)w/ra;; Athenaeus xiv.10, p. 618 EF; Festus,
s.v. “Oscillantes,” p. 194, ed. C. O.
Muller. Compare The Dying God, pp. 281ff. However,
some thought that the Erigone whose death was thus expiated was not the daughter of
Icarius, but the daughter of Aegisthus, who accused Orestes at Athens of the murder of her father and hanged herself
when he was acquitted （so Etymologicum Magnum, l.c.; compare Apollod. E.6.25 with the note）. Sophocles wrote a
play Erigone, but it is doubtful to which of the two Erigones it
referred. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol.
i. pp. 173ff. The home of Icarius was at Icaria （Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. *)ikari/a）. From the description of Statius, Theb.
xi.644-647 we infer that the place was in the woods of Marathon, and in
accordance with this description the site has been discovered in a beautiful wooded dell
at the northern foot of the forest-clad slopes of Mount Pentelicus. The place is still
appropriately named Dionysos. A rugged precipitous path leads down a wild romantic
ravine from the deserted village of Rapentosa to the plain of Marathon situated at a
great depth below. Among the inscriptions found on the spot several refer to the worship
of Dionysus. See Frazer, commentary on Pausanias, vol. ii. pp. 461ff., compare p.
442.
Pandion married Zeuxippe, his mother's sister,This
tradition of marriage with a maternal aunt is remarkable. I do not remember to have met
with another instance of such a marriage in Greek legend. and begat two
daughters, Procne and Philomela, and twin sons, Erechtheus and Butes. But war having
broken out with Labdacus on a question of boundaries, he called in the help of Tereus, son
of Ares, from Thrace, and having with his help
brought the war to a successful close, he gave Tereus his own daughter Procne in
marriage.For the tragic story of Procne and Philomela,
and their transformation into birds, see Zenobius, Cent. iii.14
（who, to a certain extent, agrees verbally with Apollodorus）;
Conon 31; Ach. Tat. 5.3, 5.5; Tzetzes, Chiliades
vii.459ff.; Paus. 1.5.4; Paus. 1.41.8ff.; Paus. 10.4.8ff.;
Eustathius on Hom. Od. xix.518, p. 1875; Hyginus, Fab. 45;
Ov. Met. 6.426-674; Serv.
Verg. Ecl. 6.78; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. v.120;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 2, 147 (First Vatican
Mythographer 8; Second Vatican Mythographer 217). On this theme Sophocles
composed a tragedy Tereus, from which most of the extant versions of the
story are believed to be derived. See The Fragments of Sophocles,
ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 221ff. However, the version of Hyginus differs
from the rest in a number of particulars. For example, he represents Tereus as
transformed into a hawk instead of into a hoopoe; but for this transformation he had the
authority of Aesch. Supp. 60ff. Tereus is commonly said
to have been a Thracian, and the scene of the tragedy is sometimes laid in Thrace. Ovid, who adopts this account, appears to have
associated the murder of Itys with the frenzied rites of the Bacchanals, for he says
that the crime was perpetrated at the time when the Thracian women were celebrating the
biennial festival （sacra trieterica） of
Dionysus, and that the two women disguised themselves as Bacchanals. On the other hand,
Thuc. 2.29 definitely affirms that Tereus dwelt in Daulia,
a district of Phocis, and that the tragedy took place in that country; at the same time
he tells us that the population of the district was then Thracian. In this he is
followed by Strab. 9.3.13, Zenobius,
Conon, Pausanias, and Nonnus （Dionys.
iv.320ff.）. Thucydides supports his view by a reference to Greek
poets, who called the nightingale the Daulian bird. The Megarians maintained that Tereus
reigned at Pagae in Megaris, and they showed
his grave in the form of a barrow, at which they sacrificed to him every year, using
gravel in the sacrifice instead of barley groats （Paus.
1.41.8ff.）. But no one who has seen the grey ruined walls and towers
of Daulis, thickly mantled in ivy and
holly-oak, on the summit of precipices that overhang a deep romantic glen at the foot of
the towering slopes of Parnassus, will
willingly consent to divest them of the legendary charm which Greek poetry and history
have combined to throw over the lovely scene. It is said that, after being turned into
birds, Procne and Tereus continued to utter the same cries which they had emitted at the
moment of their transformation; the nightingale still fled warbling plaintively the name
of her dead son, Itu! Itu! while the hoopoe still pursued his cruel wife crying, Poo!
poo! （pou=, pou=, “Where?
Where?”）. The later Roman mythographers somewhat absurdly inverted
the transformation of the two sisters, making Procne the swallow and the tongueless
Philomela the songstress nightingale. Tereus had by her a son Itys, and having fallen in love with Philomela, he seduced her also saying that Procne was
dead, for he concealed her in the country. Afterwards he married Philomela and bedded with
her, and cut out her tongue. But by weaving characters in a robe she revealed thereby to
Procne her own sorrows. And having sought out her sister, Procne killed her son Itys,
boiled him, served him up for supper to the unwitting Tereus, and fled with her sister in
haste. When Tereus was aware of what had happened, he snatched up an axe and pursued them.
And being overtaken at Daulia in Phocis, they
prayed the gods to be turned into birds, and Procne became a nightingale, and Philomela a
swallow. And Tereus also was changed into a bird and became a hoopoe.
When Pandion died, his sons divided their father's inheritance between them, and
Erechtheus got the kingdom,Erechtheus is recognized as the
son of Pandion by the Parian Chronicle （Marmor Parium
28ff.）, Eusebius, Chronic. vol. i. p. 186, ed. A.
Schoene, Hyginus, Fab. 48 and Ov. Met.
6.675ff. According to Ov. Met. 6.675ff.
Erechtheus had four sons and four daughters. and Butes got the priesthood of
Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus.Compare Harpocration,
s.v. *bou/ths, who tells us that the families
of the Butads and Eteobutads traced their origin to this Butes. There was an altar
dedicated to him as to a hero in the Erechtheum on the acropolis of Athens （Paus.
1.26.5）. Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie
（Berlin, 1889）, pp. 113ff. Erechtheus was identified with
Poseidon at Athens
（Hesychius, s.v. *)erexqeu/s）. The Athenians sacrificed to Erechtheus Poseidon
（Athenagoras, Supplicatio pro Christianis 1）. His
priesthood was called the priesthood of Poseidon Erechtheus (Pseudo-Plutarch, x.
Orat. Vit. Lycurgus 30, p. 1027, ed. Dubner; Corpus Inscriptionum
Atticarum iii.805; Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum
Graecorum(3) 790). An inscription found at the Erechtheum contains a
dedication to Poseidon Erechtheus (Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum
387, vol. i). Hence we may conclude with great probability that Heyne is right
in restoring *)erexqe/ws for *)erixqoni/ou in the present passage of Apollodorus. See the Critical
Note. Erechtheus married Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus by Diogenia,
daughter of Cephisus, and had sons, to wit, Cecrops, Pandorus, and Metion; and daughters,
to wit, Procris, Creusa, Chthonia, and Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas.Orithyia is said to have been carried off by Boreas from the
banks of the Ilissus, where she was dancing or
gathering flowers with her playmates. An altar to Boreas marked the spot. See below,
Apollod. 3.15.2; Plat.
Phaedrus 229b-c; Paus. 1.19.5; Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. i.212ff., with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212,
from whom we learn that the story was told by the poet Simonides and the early historian
Pherecydes. Compare Ov. Met. 6.683ff. According to
another account, Orithyia was seen and loved by Boreas as she was carrying a basket in a
procession, which was winding up the slope of the acropolis to offer sacrifice to Athena
Polias, the Guardian of the City; the impetuous lover whirled her away with him,
invisible to the crowd and to the guards that surrounded the royal maidens. See
Scholiast on Hom. Od. xiv.533, who refers to Aculiaus as his authority. A
different tradition as to the parentage of Orithyia appears to be implied by a
vase-painting, which represents Boreas carrying off Orithyia in the presence of Cecrops,
Erechtheus, Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, all of whom are identified by inscriptions
（Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. iv. p. 146, No.
7716）. The painting is interpreted most naturally by the supposition
that in the artist's opinion Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, the three daughters of
Cecrops （see above, Apollod. 3.14.2）,
were the sisters of Orithyia, and therefore that her father was Cecrops, and not
Erechtheus, as Apollodorus, following the ordinary Greek tradition （Hdt. 7.189）, assumes in the present passage. This
inference is confirmed by an express statement of the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod.,
Argon. i.212 that Cecrops was the father of Orithyia. As to the vase-painting
in question, see F. G. Welcker, Antike Denkmäler,
iii.144ff.; Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen
Altertums, i.351ff.
Chthonia was married to Butes,This is the third instance
of marriage or betrothal with a niece, the daughter of a brother, which has met us in
Apollodorus. See above, Apollod. 2.4.3; Apollod. 2.4.5. So many references to such a marriage seem
to indicate a former practice of marrying a niece, the daughter of a brother.
Creusa to Xuthus,Compare Eur. Ion
57ff.; Paus. 7.1.2, where, however, Creusa is not
named. and Procris to Cephalus, son of Deion.The
tragic story of Cephalus and Procris was told with variations in detail by ancient
writers. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.321; Eustathius on Hom. Od.
xi.321, p. 1688; Ant. Lib. 41; Tzetzes, Chiliades
i.542ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 189; Ov. Met.
7.670-862; Serv. Verg. A. 6.445;
Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 16ff., 147 (First Vatican
Mythographer 44; Second Vatican Mythographer 216). Of these w