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Icarius

Ἰκάριος).


1.

An Athenian, father of Erigoné. Having been taught by Dionysus the culture of the vine, he gave some of the juice of the grape to certain shepherds, who, thinking themselves poisoned, killed him. When they came to their senses they buried him; and his daughter Erigoné, being shown the spot by his faithful dog Maera, hanged herself through grief (Apollod. iii.14.7; Hyg. Fab. 130). Icarius was fabled to have been changed after death into the constellation Boötes, Erigoné into Virgo, while Maera became the star Procyon. (See Aeora; Erigoné.)


2.

A son of Oebalus of Lacedaemon. He gave his daughter Penelopé in marriage to Odysseus, king of Ithaca, but he was so tenderly attached to her that he wished her husband to settle at Lacedaemon. Odysseus refused; and when he saw the earnest petitions of Icarius, he told Penelopé, as they were going to embark, that she might choose freely either to follow him to Ithaca or to remain with her father. Penelopé blushed in silence, and covered her head with her veil. Icarius, upon this, permitted his daughter to go to Ithaca, and immediately erected a temple to the goddess of modesty, on the spot where Penelopé had covered her blushes with her veil.

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  • Cross-references from this page (1):
    • Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.14.7
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