Impossible questions database

Alejandro

Active Member
25. Autokhthe. One of the only two daughters of Perseus and Andromeda. A certain feminist website dedicated to ancient Amazons claims that she was an Amazon. Anyone reasonably for/against that notion?
25. I thought Amazons were born, not adopted, at least not in this early part of their history. But if there is another case in Greek mythology of an Amazon by adoption, then I’ll accept it. Her sister, Gorgophone, was the first woman who refused to kill herself on her husband’s death, and Autokhthe means ‘self-created’, so maybe those two ideas imply a strong woman who bucks society’s oppressions, which modern feminists assume equates with being an Amazon.
Every once in a while there's some new bit of random info I stumble upon - & surprsingly Wikipedia's got plenty of these... nuggets. So, if we're to believe the Wikipedia article on Autochthe, John Tzetzes and Lykophronos have a somewhat different view of this character in comparison to the website I was talking about, because both authors mention Autokhthe's role in the mythology being that she was the wife the Athenian king Aigeus [Aegeus] and bore him several daughters but no sons. In one tradition she was the king's only wife but in others she is one of a few women who he married and divorced because they gave him either no male heirs to his throne or no children at all.

I've read elsewhere that Aigeus was first married to a certain Melite (or Meta), whom he divorced (no kids) before marrying the Abantid princess Khalkiope, whom he also divorced (also no kids) before fathering Theseus upon the Troizenian princess Aithra (without ever making an honest woman of her but leaving her with the task of raising their kid by herself, although he should come to Athens to claim his inheritance if he could lift a huge rock under which Aigeus buried a sword and pair of shoes). After that he married the Colchian princess Medeia, who, according to some versions of the story, bore him another son Medos, who founded the great empire of the Medes in the Middle East. Anyone have an idea where Autokhthe would go in the sequence of wives (and divorcées... and the single mom from Troizene)? And whether there're any other such women in Aigeus' life? Oh, and if Autokhthe bore daughters to Aigeus then that means that Theseus had [half-]sisters. Any ideas about whether it's mentioned how many they were, or what their names were?
 

Misa

Member
I know the name of one of the sisters of Theseus is Clymene who was a daughter of Aithra (Aethra), either by Aigeus (Aegeus), which makes her either a later born child or a twin to Theseus, if her father was not Aigeus as Greek Mythology Link seems to imply, http://www.maicar.com/GML/Aegeus1.html Wikipedia says Hippalces. (A name for Poseidon?)

She and her mother were handmaidens of Helen in Troy, which makes me favor a kidnapping of Helen by Theseus resulting in Iphigeneia/Iphigenia (which is also a title to Artemis). There is also a note of Clymene being a Amazon's name. I do not think it too far fetched given the Amazons in the Trojan war and the union of Theseus with Hippolyte/Antiope to suppose she may have become one after the end of Troy when Aithra returned to Athens with her grandsons Demophon and Acamas.

The Genealogy of Greek Mythology by Vanessa James gives the mother of Aithra as Alcmene daughter of Mestor (one of the sons of Perseus) Alcmene the mother of Herakles was a daughter of Electryon (also a son of Perseus), I can't seem to find any other mother for Aithra, and while it is possible that there were two Alcmene - well, I just think it'd be more interesting if Perseus's son begot a daughter who bore both Herakles and Aithra who bore Theseus.
 

Alejandro

Active Member
Very, very interesting thoughts, Misa!

I think I'd come across this Klymene [Clymene] before (most likely from the same source, i.e. the Greek Mythology Link) but never paid her much attention, so I simply forgot about the character. I looked up the sources cited by Carlos Parada (the Link's author), which sources are Homer's Iliad & Dictys Cretensis' Journal of the Trojan War, but neither of them anywhere says that Aigeus was Klymene's father. Actually neither of them mention a father at all, nor do they tell us his name, although Wikipedia's source for the Hippalkes [Hippalces] that you've noted is a scholion on the Iliad passage in which Klymene makes an appearance. Often the most interesting - and most tantalising - info will come from these random Scholia. I've always thought it strange that there's no account of Aithra ever having gotten married so I wonder if this scholion is a reference to some now-lost tradition in which she does have a husband after being raped by Poseidon on the same night that her father basically pimps her out to Aigeus.

But I rather think your idea that Hippalkes is an alias for Poseidon, and that the sea-god therefore is Klymene's father, is brilliant! So maybe Theseus and Klymene actually were twins, but more like their relatives Herakles and Iphikles, with one of them having a divine father and the other a different, mortal father? It would make an interesting situation since Klymene, assuming she was Poseidon's daughter, leads a rather unremarkable life, while her brother gets all the limelight, with everyone (including Poseidon himself as well?) thinking that he is the one whose father is the sea-god. Or perhaps that scholion's Hippalkes is to be identified with the Argonaut Hippalkos, who elsewhere is called Hippalkmos, and who, as a son of Pelops and Hippodameia (like Hyginus tells us that he was), would've been a brother of Pittheus and therefore uncle of Aithra; and such unions (between uncles and nieces [or nephews and aunts]) are not uncommon in this family nor even in the broader family tree of the mythology in general.

It seems rather unlikely that this Klymene is the Amazon of the same name mentioned in Hyginus' Fabulae. Dictys Cretensis tells us that Klymene went together with her mother when her nephews Akamas and Demophoön took Aithra back to Athens, and that in fact the two brothers failed to gain access to the city upon their return from Troy, when the citizens received their relative Menestheus, who went into Athens together with Aithra and Klymene. So unless Klymene left thereafter to go back to Asia and join the Amazon nation - which is of course, not an impossibility - then she's not the same person as her Amazon namesake.

And I'm so intrigued by the information from Vanessa James that I'm gonna look for this book of hers! I have always wondered who Aithra's mother was, and who the mother of Aithra's sister Heniokhe was, whether they had the same mother or not. I wonder what James's reasoning, or source, is behind the choice of giving Mestor another daughter, since extant records imply that he had only one, whose name was Hippothoe and is clearly not the same person as Alkmene. Also Mestor must have been much, much older than his younger brothers Alkaios and Elektryon, since Mestor's great-great-grandchildren (the kids of his great-grandson Pterelaos!) were about the same age as Alkaios' son Amphitryon and Elektryon's daughter Alkmene. So while I agree that the idea that Alkmene Elektryone [Elektryon's daughter] was the mother of both Herakles and Aithra is attractive, it then begs the question of what point she would have consorted with Pittheus. Additionally, how would this interface with her relationship with her cousin Amphitryon(?), whom she married, and who was already so displeased that Zeus had stolen her virginity that he tried to burn her to death :eek: on the night he returned from Pterelaos' islands.

Assuming that Alkmene Elektryone bore Pittheus any offspring at all and also assuming that:
- It was not before or during the course of her marriage to Amphitryon & then that>
- In the same year of Amphitryon's death, when Herakles was 18 years old, Alkmene and Pittheus had Aithra & then that>
- Aithra had Theseus when she was about 18, then this means Theseus would have turned 18 when Herakles was 54... about one year before Herakles' death... which can't be possible if Herakles and Theseus went on adventures together or at least had separate adventures in roughly the same few decades. In the genealogy as we have it in the extant ancient records, the interface between these two heroes' timelines is already riddled with chronological problems, so I can see why a different Alkmene, from an essentially different generation (if she is Mestor's daughter) would resolve some of these narrative and chronology issues. But while it is fascinating having Alkmene - whether Elektryone or Mestor's daughter - as Pittheus' consort, it appears to be an invention by James, although I'll check this book out to see if she somehow justifies any of that, and what other insights she may have to the overall family tree of the mythology's characters.
 
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Alejandro

Active Member
So thanks a lot for that input :)

Also - mostly due to the efforts of another forum member, Caburus, who's helped out with this post quite a bit - of the 43 Questions I've posed so far, I have only 11 with which I'm still not quite satisfied (or currently might not have been answered at all), and regarding which, if you have any fresh information, insights or thoughts, I invite you - & anyone else - to let me know, if you please. The 11 Questions I'm referring to are #s 6, 9, 18-22, 28, 31, 40 & 43 (for which, flip back to prev. page ;)), but of course if anyone has ideas/thoughts about any of the other generally resolved Questions, those too are welcomed!
 

Misa

Member
6. Asterope. Mother by Helios of the witch Kirke (Circe). Might she be the same as the Pleiad Sterope, daughter of Atlas and Pleïone?

9. Is Antianeira the mother by Hermes of the Argonauts Ekhion and Eurytos the same as Antianeira the mother by Apollon of Idmon?

18. Torrhebia. A nymph who became by Zeus the mother of Karios and Arkhesilaos. Who is she?! And is Karios supposed to be the same as Kar, the son of Zeus and Krete, and eponym of Karia? Who is Arkhesilaos?

19. Lysithea. A daughter of Okeanos. Is she perhaps the same as Lysithœ, the mother by Zeus of an ancient Herakles?

20. Deusos. Son of the Cyclops Arges and his wife, who was a nymph. What else about him?

21. Adeus. Son of Poseidon. What else about him?

22. Autoukhos. Son of Apollo and Cyrene, and brother of Aristaeus and Idmon. Who's he!?

28. Sterope. A daughter of Helios who married Eurypylus son of Poseidon and the Pleiad Celaeno. This Eurypylus migrated to Libya (from whichever divine place he originated) before the nymph Cyrene, and there fought "the" lion that attacked his flocks (though the story usually runs that Cyrene wrestled a lion [or lions] before being transplanted from her homeland to Libya by Apollo). In Libya Eurypylus was supposedly connected with the Argonauts and dedicated a sanctuary to Soteria at Patrae (in Achaea?). By Sterope he was the father of Lycaon and Leucippus (who are these guys?). This Eurypylus is otherwise known as the son of Hyperochus and father of Ormenus, or the son of the Thessalian Dexamenus son of Oeceus. What more of this Sterope and Eurypylus?

31. Hippodameia. Daughter of Aniketos, and one of Zeus' many lovers. Is this Aniketos the son of Herakles and Hebe, and brother of Alexiares?

40. The Pygmies were said to be the children, together with a few other peoples, of Gaia by either Epaphos or Poseidon. The first of them, called Pygmaios, was the son of Doros son of Epaphos. The Nile river-nymph Memphis was Epaphos' wife and the mother of his daughters Libya and Lysianassa. Was she also necessarily the mother of Doros? Or could it have been Gaia or perhaps a daughter of Poseidon?

43. So there are two things that have always bothered me about the parentage of the sea-god Proteus.
I'm going to assume the above are are the 11 questions you mean?

If you pardon for #43 I'll quote a theory of mine from the "The titanomachy: titan army?" thread : http://www.mythforum.com/threads/the-titanomachy-titan-army.2221/

I think a likely son between Poseidon and a Telkhinia may have been Proteus ("old man of the sea"; "seal herder"/ "of the first (son of Poseidon?)") if the Telkhines were children of Pontos and Gaia, or Thalassa, or Tartaros and Nemesis. Certainly sometimes I think Ouranos's other name was Tartaros as Gaia was also known as Khthon (a title of the underworld deities). Known Telchinia are Makelo, Dexithea (one of the Telkhines chief Demonax/Damon's daughters, Dexithea or Dexinoe had a son by Minos - Euxantius) and probably Lysagora.

Interestingly, Halia of Rhodes is mentioned to be one of Thalassa's daughters (sometimes called a sister of the Telkhines) and Poseidon had six sons (who refused to let Aphrodite come ashore and upon whom she sent a madness upon until they raped their mother - who committed suicide/leap into the sea and Poseidon made into the Proseoous Daimones) and a daughter Rhode who with Helios had sons that are said to have went with Rhea under the title Kouretes to protect her when she gave birth to Zeus.
For #40, the mother of Doros could also be Cassiepeia/Cassiopeia/Kassiepeia (and doesn't *that name* look like the mother of Andromeda, can't confirm if it is or isn't though). I've run across that name rarely, but it's always a fun puzzle of genealogy when I do, the name is most famous for being the mother of Andromeda by Cepheus the king of Ethiopia. Of that Cassiopeia I have no parentage.

It also pops up as the daughter of Arabus/Arabios/Arabas (Arabas was son of Hermes/Hermion and Thronia, daughter of Belos) and wife of Phoenix - by Zeus she had Anchinos/Atymnius (either two different people or two names of the same) - of Atymnius I know he was a lover of Sarpedon and may have been the cause of the exile of Minos brother. Phoenix and Cassiopeia are told to be the parents of Phineus (king in Thrace and Argonaut) and Carme (Cretan mother of Britomartis/Diktynna, whose father is also said to be Eubouleos).

#31 Hippodameia/Hippodamia. Daughter of Aniketos/Anicetus
(?son of Hebe and Herakles, twin to Alexiares; lover of Zeus?)

That's tempting, and, really the reason I stumbled upon the Myth Forum in the first place. It's very tempting to think that yes, Hippodameia is the daughter of Aniketos son of Herakles! I could even get behind the notion of Kairos the youngest divine son of Zeus (god of opportunity of whom no mother is named) being their son and one day taking over ruling the Olympians with a daughter of Dionysus and Hera (a Kharites). Or something.

Yet Clement also mentions "(Zeus with) Olympias, the daughter of Neoptolemus, of whom Alexander" which, okay, kinda? Maybe. So Clement is mostly listing these romances of Zeus/Jupiter because they show adulteries - pretty much all of the listed females are married or supposed to be under the protections of their fathers. So there are two Popes Anicetus and Cletus/Anacletus. Clement says "(Pope) Peter and Philip begat children" so it goes to assume this isn't a age where marriage or children were forbidden to the Pope's so what if Clement is telling how a daughter of (Ani)cletus was "seduced" back to the Zeus/Jupiter religion.

Yet it is what it is and Hippodamia is a very common name in Greek myth (wife of Pelops, of Pirithous, a sister of Aeneas) anyone of them could be referenced to this as they had fathers who were "unconquerable" (at least until Pelops killed Hippodamia's father).
 

Misa

Member
#28 Sterope and Eurypylus.

Ah, Celaeno that mother of Lycus and Nycteus by Poseidon; of Eurypylus (or Eurytus), King of Cyrene, and Lycaon, also by Poseidon; and of Lycus and Chimaereus by Prometheus (Lycus and Chimaereus sons of Prometheus were buried at Troad, the Lacedaemonians, being visited by a plague, were bidden by an oracle to “propitiate the Cronian daemons in Troy,” and Menelaus was sent to make offerings at their graves: Lycophron's Alexandra).

Lycus and Nycteus of Thebes were also said to be the sons of Khthonios the Autokthon born after the sowing of the Drakon's teeth. The two brothers fled from Euboea after they murdered King Phlegyas, settling in Hyria and then moving to Thebes, because they were friends with Pentheus, its king. Antiope/Nycteis (if they were not the same daughter) daughters of Nycteus was by Zeus the mother of Zethus and Amphion - and married to Polydorus and mother of Labdacus.

"Leukippos also was the father of Arsinoe. Apollon had sex with her, and she bore him Asklepios. Some say, however, that Asklepios was not born of Leukippos’ daughter Arsinoe, but rather of Phlegyas’ daughter Koronis in Thessalia."-Bibliotheca

"For they say that the sons of Asklepios (Asclepius) who went to Troy were Messenians, Asklepios being the son of Arsinoe, daughter of Leukippos (Leucippus), not the son of Koronis (Coronis), and they call a desolate spot in Messenia by the name of Trikka (Tricca)."-

"For Phlegyas was the greatest soldier of his time, and making forays in all directions he carried off the crops and lifted the cattle. When he went to the Peloponnesos, he was accompanied by his daughter [Koronis mother of Asklepios], who all along had kept hidden from her father that she was with child by Apollon. In the country of the Epidaurians she bore a son [Asklepios], and exposed him on the mountain called Titthion (Nipple) at he present day, but then named Myrtion. As they child lay exposed he was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the mountain, and was guarded by the watch-dog of the herd. And when Aresthanas, for this was the herdsman's name, discovered that the tale of the goats was not full, and that the watch-dog also was absent from the herd, he left, they say, no stone unturned, and on finding the child desired to take him up. As he drew near, he saw lightning that flashed from the child, and, thinking that it was something divine, as in fact it was, he turned away." -Pausanias, Description of Greece

If there was such a Leukippos who was son to Sterope and Eurypylus I would think him the father of Arsinoe (not the Leucippides) and perhaps Arsione was being reared (kidnapped? fostered?) as a daughter of Phlegyas under the name Koronis, and if she was killed (by Phlegyas?) as a result of her pregnancy (and birth of Eriopis and Asklepios) by Apollo. I can't see them taking the death of a niece without vengeance, as well Apollo and Poseidon seem to be two gods who get along well among the Olympians.

It may be Lycaon of Arcadia who Eurypylus's son/brother is identified with?

I think the mother of Sterope might be Clymene the mother of Phaethon making her one of the Heliades, it's interesting to me that one of the names of the Heliades is Merope; which is a alternate name of Clymene; Merope and Sterope are the names of two Pleiads. Merops who is sometimes told to be the husband of Clymene, if it is not her other name it is still a name closely linked to hers.

#22 Autoukhos/ Autouchus

I'm only seeing this name by googling and turning up foreign translations of "Library of Apollodorus the Athenian", I think? Where did you pull this name? It seems to translate into "autou"/ αὐτοῦ (autou); meaning "here, there" (location) and perhaps "khos" / υχος (chos) meaning "aim". Khos occurs in the titles of Athena and Zeus; Polioukhos/Poliouchos (Athena) "protecting the city"/ Aigidouchos or Aigiochos (Zeus) "Aegis/Aixis aimer/holder". So Autoukhos might mean "here/there aim"; or I might be very mistaken. I take it as a title of Aristaios ; perhaps as his aspect of Agreus (Hunter) and Nomios (Shepherd). Idmon is usually traced to eidô, "to see" or "know."

It's worth noting that Nomos means "law". (So I suppose the shepherds taking in and rearing rulers might have it's origins in that kind of word-play)

I imagine because Aristaios had a brother in Idmon the two might have been twins and perhaps both were once thought of as divine. Idmon is often identified with the Argonaut also said to be a son of Abas; but I leave off with this thought, a Idmon was father of Arachne; and Turnus's herald, and someone in Statius' Thebaid. Idmon who came from Epidaurus and was portrayed in the poem cleansing his wounds after a battle. Also one of the sons of Aegyptus.

#Adeus. Son of Poseidon.

Well coming across Adeos /Adeus/ Adaeus here : http://prezi.com/xwvnhxxal9pc/the-minotaur-comparison/

Seems to be a name of Aegeus? The name might be in connection with Androgeos, Minos son, who Aegeus was said to be involved in the death of. Interested to know what source it came from?
 

Misa

Member
#20 Deusos son of Arges and nymph.

Arges is also called Pyrakmon and Akmonides, both of these have “akmon” in common; Akmon was also seemingly a name for Aither. “Deusos” seems to translate into “god(s)” he may have a connection with the constellation Altar or Ara/ Thytêrios in mind (a sacrifice?).

"[Constellation] Altar. On this altar the gods are thought to have first made offerings and formed an alliance when they were about to oppose the Titanes. The Cyclopes made it. From this observance men established the custom that when they plan to do something, they make sacrifices before beginning the undertaking."- Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica

#19 Lysithea, a daughter of Okeanos. (Lysithœ, the mother by Zeus of an ancient Herakles?)

Certainly Lysithea the moon of Jupiter seems to indicate NASA thinks so.

Of Herakles son of Jupiter and Lysithoe Cicero, De Natura Deorum says :“Jupiter [Zeus] then and Lysithoe were the parents of the Hercules who is recorded to have had a tussle with Apollo about a tripod."”

Which might make Lysithoe a princes of Thebes; I think that Lysithoe/Lysithea is likely another name for Semele and here Herakles is confused with Dionysus. Lyssa was goddess of madness or “releasing”, and ‘thoe/thea’ seems to be ‘goddess’.

While certainly there is a lore of Herakles fighting Apollo about a tripod oracle, I think Dionysus would not have a dissimilar complaint – his trouble with Thebes would have been much shorter if Apollo had told them in oracle he was Dionysus’s brother. Also I can't seem to find a mention of Lysithea as a daughter of Okeanos?

#18 Wikipedia says Karios was the son of Zeus and Torrhebia. His mother's name is connected to Torrhebos, name of a city in Lydia also a ancient king. According to Hellanicus, there was a mountain named Karios (Carius) near this city, with the sanctuary of Carius situated on it.

Nicolaus Damascenus related of him the following tale. As Carius/Torrhebos was wandering by a lake which later received the name Torrhebis, he heard the voices of nymphs singing; these nymphs, Nicolaus remarked, were also called the Muses by the Lydians. Carius learned the music from them, and taught it to the Lydians. This kind of music was known as "Torrhebian songs".

Arcesilaus has a like spelling to Arkhesilaos and may mean that the kings of Cyrene were thought to be from Lydia or have Zeus for a forefather.

Hm. Sounds like you found the mother of the god of opportunity too!But it might be worth looking into wikipedia's list of Lydian kings such as Manes who was father of Atys who was father to two sons, Lydus and Torubus/Tursenos (Torrhebos possible father of Torrhebia?) ; because of plague Atys sent half the population of Maeonia with his son Tursenos away on ships, and these settled in Umbria, calling themselves Tyrrhenians. After Lydus's reign Maeonia came to be called Lydia.

#9. Is Antianeira the mother by Hermes of the Argonauts Ekhion and Eurytos the same as Antianeira the mother by Apollon of Idmon?

Antianeira/Laothoe the mother by Hermes of the Argonauts Ekhion and Eurytos, the daughter of Menetes/Menetus/Menoetius "from the city Alope, which is now called Ephesus some authors think them Thessalians [there is a town of Alope in Malis near Thessalia]"

Antianeira the mother of Apollon's Idmon seems to have been a daughter of Pheres the son of Tyro and Cretheus with Periclymene.

#6 Asterope. (Pleiad Sterope, daughter of Atlas and Pleïone?) Mother by Helios of the witch Kirke (Circe).

It does not seem likely as Sterope was either the lover of Ares or the wife of Oinomaus/Oenomaus (where he is called her son) or their (Ares and Sterope) son was Evenus who married Alkippe (Alcippe), the daughter of Oenomaus and they had a daughter, Marpessa - who was kidnapped by Idas, the other daughter of Oenomaus was Hippodameia. Sterope is clearly a goddess of Pisa of Elis.

Asterope or "star eyed/faced" seems to be more in line with Hecate the daughter of Asteria who is also called after her father Perseis.
 

Misa

Member
Vanessa James's The Genealogy of Greek Mythology is a beauty, I have never seen the like of it - it folds and unfolds like a poster (54 pages worth, not very long pages but higher than most paperbacks) on one side is the immortal genealogy, and the reverse has the mortal side. It doesn't cover every possible genealogy outcome; but it's a very good guide to where to start looking for answers (or questions). It seems that both Electryon and Mestor were said to be husbands of Lycidice a daughter of Pelops so possibly the same person, if so the mother of all three; Alcmene the daughter of Electryon and Hippothoe & Alcmene the wife of Pittheus (mother of Aethra).

I think it is mentioned that Amphitryon died in the youth of Herakles, and that after the birth of Herakles he never slept with his with wife again. Not sure if there is a ancinet source to Amphitryon never sleeping with his wife, wonder how Laonome the sister of Herakles came about (she married with Polyphemus or Euphemus, both Argonauts).

There is a myth of Theseus and Herakles meeting and the pelt of the Nemean lion, always wondered why Herakles was stopping by Pittheus's house in it too.
 

Alejandro

Active Member
Hmm... Never heard that story about Amphitryon never sleeping with Alkmene after Herakles' birth. It sounds kinda... melodramatic, and it also couldn't make sense if Herakles and Iphikles had a younger sister, unless Herakles, Iphikles and Laonome were triplets, which would be a most unusual and unlikely event, even for Greek mythology. Oh, & this is also my introduction to the story of Herakles visiting Pittheus' house; I don't think there's any occurrence of them meeting on any other occasion.

Well, I really appreciate your participation in this thread. & yes, those are the 11 questions to which I was referring. Regarding your responses:

6. Okay.

9. Thanks.

18. Oh, some interesting stuff here. But... I don't think Karios and Kairos are actually related... although that is an intriguing idea :)

19. More interesting stuff you've got! I think I first got the information about a Lysithea daughter of Okeanos from this website called the Liber Paganum, which appears to be dead now (although apparently a German version is still around, but mein Deutsch ist rudimentary at best :oops:). I think it used to cite all its sources on separate pages but I can't clarify that about Lysithea now. I see Wikipedia has the same information about this character, with no sources cited. (I thought it came from Hyginus' Fabulae but I see no reference to an Oceanid named Lysithea there.)

20. The Liber Paganum, as mentioned above, was my source for this one too, so I've always been doubtful about it.


21. Also sourced from the Liber Paganum :oops:! Interesting connection you've made between Adeus and Aegeus. I once asked the same question on Yahoo! Answers, & one person was incredulous about it because Adeus is português for "Goodbye," & so sounding very unconvincing to him as a mythical Greek character. If there is such a word in Greek I guess it could literally mean something like "Godless" or "Not [a] God"(?)...

Oh wow! Looks like by simply changing the spelling in one name-search on Google I found the answers to both 22 & 28 simultaneously !:D! They would appear to be from the same story.

22 & 28.
So the first time I came across this son of Apollo and Cyrene was on some random website years ago, which site exactly I don't recall, but it, like others, spelled his name Autouchos. I haven't had much success getting hits with "Autoukhos," but then I realised just now that the name would properly be Latinised as Autuchus, and after Googling that I think I've found the original sources.

The Scholia on Apollonios Rhodios' Argonautika say that Eurypylos, son of Poseidon and the Pleiad Kelaino, became king of Kyrene in northern Africa before it was called Kyrene (no former name given). This scholion says that according to a certain Phylarkhos, this son of Poseidon was actually called Eurytos and that he had a brother named Lykaon (most likely to be identified with Lykos the brother of Nykteus). The scholion then goes on to cite a certain Akesandros as saying that the successor to the throne of Eurypylos/Eurytos was Hypseus' daughter Kyrene, who eventually ruled all of Libya. During Eurypylos' reign over the site of Kyrene City, says Akestor [according to the next scholion], Apollon brought the nymph Kyrene to the site. A lion was then ravaging the countryside and Eurypylos offered his kingdom to whoever slew the lion. Kyrene performed this task (with the help of many hunting companions she had migrated with from Thessalia, according to Phylarkhos) and thus received the prize of the kingship. Kyrene bore Apollon two sons, Autoukhos [Autuchus] and Aristaios, the former of whom remained in Libya while the other migrated to Keos Island with his half-brother Keos who gave his name to that island.

Justinus, in his Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories, says that Kyrene's first citizens during the nymph's reign over Libya (and perhaps the same ones who aided her in her kingdom-winning lion-hunt?) were actually Thessalians, Lapithai, who had been sent by their king Hypseus in search of his daughter after Apollon had made her disappear. They tracked her to Libya where they found the hill upon which she had given birth to Apollon's sons and "were so attracted by the charms of the place, that they settled there with her." Justinus says that Apollon and Kyrene had four sons: Nomios, Aristaios, Autoukhos and Agraios, and he continues with: "Of her four sons, it was said that three, when they grew up, returned to Thessaly [Thessalia], and inherited their grandfather's kingdom; and that the fourth, Aristaeus [Aristaios], reigned over a great part of Arcadia [Arkadia], and taught humankind the management of bees and honey, and the art of making cheese, and was the first that observed the rising of Sirius at the solstice."

As Nomios and Agraios are generally understood to be merely surnames of Aristaios rather than necessarily distinct characters, perhaps it's safe to conclude that Autoukhos/Autuchus is also such a surname/epithet (as I had suspected when I first came across the mention of this personage). What d'you think?

There appears to be another Arkadian connection here since Kyrene is said to have had a sister Larissa after whom the town in Thessalia was named Larissa. Other writers, however, call this Larissa a daughter of Pelasgos, which would make her a sister of the Pelasgian [i.e. Arkadian] Lykaon whom you've already suggested might be the same person as the brother of Eurypylos son of Poseidon and Kelaino. Interesting but confusing stuff at the same time since we now have three Lykaons in view here to sort out: 1 the son of Pelasgos (= the one who had 50 sons + 1 daughter, and was transformed into a wolf by his own grandfather Zeus); 2 the son of Poseidon and Kelaino (= Lykos, whom Poseidon took to the Blessed Islands[?]) and apparently brother of King Eurypylos of Libya; & 3 the son of Eurypylos (son of Poseidon and Kelaino) and Sterope (daughter of Helios), and brother of Leukippos.

Hmm... Interesting thoughts you have on the identities of this Leukippos and Sterope (and who Sterope's mother's supposed to have been!)...

31. I absolutely love all of your thoughts on this! Wow...

40. Hmmm... I'm not sure I'm seeing a necessary link between Doros and Kassiepeia, although you've brought up something I hadn't paid too much attention to before. I'd always interpreted it that Kassiopeia, the wife of Kepheus and mother of Andromeda, was the daughter of Arabos son of Hermes and Thronia. There is however this other person Kassiepeia, the wife of Phoinix [Phoenix] and mother by him of Kilix, Phineus, Dorykles and Karme. This Kassiepeia also had offspring by Zeus, namely Atymnios (and also Ankhinos and Alphenios [can't remember where I read about that last one]?). She I'd always thought was the daughter of Arabos son of Apollon by the nymph Babylon[ia?]. However, the similarities between the names Kassiopeia and Kassiepeia, between Arabos and Arabios, and between the names of the sons of Agenor and those of Phoinix do lend themselves to the conclusion that Arabos and Arabios are the same person and that their daughters are actually one and the same while Phoinix might be an adjective rather than a proper name, meaning the Phoenician Agenor or Kepheus. But I don't know. What d'you think?

But also how come the idea of Kassiepeia [or Kassiopeia] as mother of Doros (and thus consort of Epaphos)? As the daughter of Arabos this would make her a descendant of Epaphos, his great-great-great-granddaughter to be precise, so about three generations too late even if we conceded to him having such a relationship with a granddaughter of his. The descent would go Epaphos ➜ Libya ➜ Belos ➜ Thronia (who consorted with Hermes to beget...) ➜ Arabos ➜ Kassie\o/peia

43. Yes, I'd read that other thread before I read your response here. I like it. What d'you think about my problem with the concept of Proteus as Poseidon's son (= the 1st part of Question 43), though?
 
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Misa

Member
#40

*headdesk*

I completely skipped the Epaphos-Kassiopeia connection, sorry, his wife is sometimes mentioned to be her (in Roman mythology? Not sure of any ancient source, but both Wikipedia and Vanessa James's book have her listed in that role). Yeah, I'm completely at a blank where it goes that, hey, a woman who was his decedent also married Kepheus and Phoinix and had the same name, possibly, as of his wife. And in that same family branch you have the whole Perseus and Andromeda issue. Marriage to 4 great grandfather's brothers daughter; Kassiopeia marriage to 4th great grandfather. Than grandmother's brother, than Phoinix (son of Agenor, son of Libya, daughter of Epaphos).

43. So there are two things that have always bothered me about the parentage of the sea-god Proteus.

The Oldness (or Age Issues)
Firstly, the only ancient sources which mention anything about this parentage (Apollodoros and Lykophronos) say that he was a son of Poseidon. Now Proteus is one of those sea-gods who was referred to by the term Halios Geron, "Old Man of the Sea," an epithet applied to other, more ancient gods, namely the three brothers Nereus (father of the 50 Nereides), Phorkys (father of the Gorgons) and Thaümas (father of Iris and of the Harpies), who were the sons of Pontos and Gaia [Sea and Earth]. I've generally always understood this "Old Man" term to indicate a distinction between these almost primeval deities and pretty much all the other gods of the sea, including Poseidon, distinguishing the rest as the younger divinities who came into their own basically after the War of the Titans. So I find it somewhat problematic that Proteus, one of the "Old Men," could be a son of Poseidon, the young[er] King of the Sea. Plus there isn't an alternate parentage given for this character like you'd [reasonably?] expect for this multi-version mythology. Okay, granted that there are sort of two versions or incarnations of Proteus: one is the old sea-god while the other is the Egyptian Pharaoh who reigned through the times of Herakles and the Trojan War (i.e., Seti I). The Proteus of Apollodoros and Lykophronos, the one who is Poseidon's son, seems to the Egyptian king rather than the sea-god. And if that's the case, where did the sea-god Proteus come from? If he isn't Poseidon's son, he would be the most unique sea deity in the mythology, with no origin story at all, and not much of a hint of where to seek this origin :( [I could be mistaken but I'm fairly certain every other single Greek sea deity's parentage or origin is accounted for.]
Does it make sense for this old/ancient halios Proteus to be a son of Poseidon? And if not, who could his father be, or what's his origin?
Mommy Issues (... oh, & wife issues too)
Secondly, assuming that Proteus, whether the old sea-god or the African monarch, is really a son of Poseidon, who's his mother? Apollodoros and Lykophronos also say that Proteus got married in Thrace to a lady from Phlegra named Torone, who gave her name to a city in Sithonia. Stephanos Byzantinos [Stephanus of Byzantium] mentions a certain Torone daughter of Poseidon and Phoinike [Phoenice], opening up the possibility that Proteus was married to his own [half-]sister. Perhaps she was even his full-sister, making Phoinike his mother as well? This certainly wouldn't be weird for an ancient Egyptian king (actually for him it would a commonly acceptable keeping-it-in-the-family thing, although my theory is not helped by the fact that the historical Pharaoh Seti I actually did not marry his own sister :oops:) nor even for a Greek deity (like Zeus and Hera; or the sea-god Phorkys, who was married to his own sister Keto).
Is it a reasonable speculation that Phoinike was the mother of Proteus, and that he was married to his [full-]sister? (Skamon, an obscure writer from Mytilene, mentions Phoinike as the daughter of the Autokhthon [Earthborn man] Aktaios, one of the first kings of Athens, but those are extra details which yet increase my current wordiness, so... :confused:)
It's telling that Pontos is the father of Nereus, Phorkys and Thaumas - but it is even more telling that Gaia is the mother of these "halios geron", my meaning being it seems a title of the male sea gods they have together - and while Poseidon is a sea god, and younger than any child of Pontos and Gaia - the mother of Proteus is never touched upon; so we have a puzzle - both who is mother is and why he is titled halios geron, as Poseidon never seemed to be.

It would fit so nicely if these two questions were related to the answer, perhaps his mother is Keto or Eurybia - yet in the mythology I recall, neither had anything to do with Poseidon - yet you have Keto who has, tellingly, the Graia - a title of three or four or two daughters which certainly seem the older daughters of Phorkys, Eurybia's sons all seemed to have more to do with stars and war than with the seas of which she was master of their powers; with Thaumas you find daughters again taking after their other parent Electra in air/wind domain and a river god Hydaspes; Nereus's daughters certainly take their name from his - or that of their brother Nerites; but the only other son Nereus has is called Glaukos.
So following this line of reasoning, the Telkhines are also mentioned to be children of Gaia and Pontos. And while Telkhines are usually thought of as males, there is Halia - who Poseidon certainly had children both male and female with, and though Halia is sometimes said to have committed suicide, she is also mentioned to have become the goddess Leukothea - and isn't interesting that her sons are mentioned to have had sex with her - and if she had become a goddess, it is reasonable to think she would have had those children. Perhaps before Poseidon cursed all his sons when he learned what they had done, Halia made the leap into the sea with one who was innocent. Her son Palaimon/Melikertes certainly seems linked to Proteus somehow.

Proteus's daughters (among other sea goddesses as well) are called Haliades.

Proteus's other wife was Psamathe, but I've also seen Torone called a daughter of Proteus.
 
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Misa

Member
I just found out a mention by Hellanicus of Larissa being by Poseidon the mother of Pelasgos, Achaios and Phthios (of Argos). Of course there are seemingly multiple Pelasgos as well. I do love how the Kyrene and Eurypylos/Eurytos myths fit together; I find it much easier to believe in perhaps two twin sons of Apollo than four (how? twins, single births, quadruplets?! *cringe*) as well.

A part of me thinks that if Sterope was one of the Heliades/daughters of Helios and Clymene - it seems that they gathered at where Phaethon fell (the river Eridanos in Hyperborea?) before transforming into amber teared trees - Eurypylos might have sent his sons Lycaon and Leucippus to find her, and perhaps they like Europa's brothers failed and they founded areas in Arcadia (with Pelasgos?) and Messenia/Peloponnese region (with Achaios and Phthios); or were sent away (by Kyrene?) to her sister's sons. Perhaps Kyrene and Eurypylos raised Kyrene's sons together (maybe he thought they were his son(s) and not Apollon?).

Well I guess I just really like the idea of Aristaios's mother and Leucippus's daughter Arsinoë meeting and Kyrene being aware of Asklepios/Eriopis.
 
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Misa

Member
Pausanias in his Description of Greece, mentions a meeting between Herakles and Theseus:

[1.27.7] One of the Troezenian legends about Theseus is the following. When Heracles visited Pittheus at Troezen, he laid aside his lion's skin to eat his dinner, and there came in to see him some Troezenian children with Theseus, then about seven years of age. The story goes that when they saw the skin the other children ran away, but Theseus slipped out not much afraid, seized an axe from the servants and straightway attacked the skin in earnest, thinking it to be a lion.

[1.27.8] This is the first Troezenian legend about Theseus. The next is that Aegeus placed boots and a sword under a rock as tokens for the child, and then sailed away to Athens; Theseus, when sixteen years old, pushed the rock away and departed, taking what Aegeus had deposited. There is a representation of this legend on the Acropolis, everything in bronze except the rock.
 
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Misa

Member
Also I forgot to include Question 42 for your consideration. You got anything on that one?
Alkanos [Alcanus]. Son of Zeus by the nymph Kharidia.

Clement calls Charidia - her name meaning "graceful goddess" a nymph. Yet Alcanus looks like Alcaeus and Alcinous; Alkon/Alcon means "strong one"; it's always been curious to me that Herakles' daughter with Myrto; Eukleia was counted among the Kharites and connected to Artemis. This seems to be a myth where Zeus with a Kharites/Kharidia has a son possibly identified as Herakles/Hephaestus. Hera is said to be reared by the Horai who often identified with the Kharites at times.

Arktos [Arctus]. Son of Zeus and Manthea, daughter of Phokos [Phocus]. Zeus appeared to Manthea in the form of a bear, hence their son's name, which means "Bear." Which Phokos is this?

Besides the Kallisto-Arkas origins, this come to mind:

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses :
"Thrassa was daughter of Ares and of Tereine daughter of Strymon. Hipponous, son of Triballos [eponym or god of the Triballoi tribe of Thrake], married her and they had a daughter called Polyphonte. She scorned the activities of Aphrodite and went to the mountains as a companion and sharer of sports with Artemis.
Aphrodite, whose activities Polyphonte failed to honour, made her fall in love with a bear and drove her mad."

Sons of the union of Polyphonte and the bear (Zeus?) were giant half human half bears, Oreios "of the mountain" and Argios "wild, savage". Polyphonte was turned into a small owl, Oreios into a vulture, and Argios into a eagle owl.

Koron [Coron]. Son of Zeus and Leandia [or Leandeia?], daughter of Eurymedon. (Which Eurymedon? In the Odyssey, Homer names only Periboia, "the youngest daughter" of the Gigantos Eurymedon; the same Periboia who by Poseidon became the mother the Phaeacian king Naüsithoüs. Could this Leand[e]ia be an older sister of Periboia?).

I like your thought there, but if Alkyoneus was the same as Eurymedon/Porphyrion, it makes sense that a Alkyonides (Kingfisher) could have a son called "Crow". Although the crow is often thought to be Apollo's bird.

Pandoros [Pandorus] and Melera. Son and daughter of Zeus and Pandora (daughter of Deukalion and Pyrrha), and siblings of Graikos [Graecus] and Latinos [Latinus].

I know of only Graecus as the son of Pandora and Zeus; but I like Caburus' explanation for the names. Mele is in Italy.

Helenos [Helenus]. Son of Zeus and Lysithea, daughter of Evenus. (Which Evenus?).

Perhaps there was once some lore of Troy where Lysithea was a wife of Priam along with Hecuba or the same as her; and Zeus as Priam came to her, maybe by "twin" to Kassandra it meant that Helenos was born on the same day and their fathers were assumed to be Priam.

Lakon [Lacon]. Eponym of Lakonia (I presume), son of Zeus and Khonia, daughter of Aramnos. (Who are Khonia and Aramnos?)

Chonia seems to have been a city/town in Lycophron's Alexandra/Kassandra "[978] And many shall dwell in Siris and Leutarnia’s fields, where lies the unhappy Calchas who Sisyphus-like counted the unnumbered figs, and who was smitten on the head by the rounded scourge – where Sinis’ swift stream flows, watering the rich estate of Chonia. There the unhappy men shall build a city like Ilios, and shall vex the Maiden Laphria Salpinx by slaying in the temple of the goddess the descendants of Xuthus who formerly occupied the town. And her image shall shut its bloodless eyes, beholding the hateful destruction of Ionians by Achaeans and the kindred slaughter of the wild wolves, when the minister son of the priestess dies and stains fir the altar with his dark blood."

There was a Lakon/Lacon family dynasty of the island Sardinia, off the coast of Italy.

Nympheus. Son of Zeus and Thaicrucia [Thaikroukia?], daughter of Proteus (presumably the sea-god Proteus).


Nympheus might be the protector of Greek/Roman nymphaeum or nymphaion; a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs.

Olympos [Olympus]. Son of Zeus by the nymph Khalkea [Chalcea].

Khalkeia/Chalcea is Athena's Festival of the Bronzes (in Athens). Perhaps she was seen as the mother of one of the Olympus mountains (by Zeus!?).

Sarakon [Saracon]. Son of Zeus by the Asopos Naiad Salamis (making Sarakon a half-brother and cousin of Kykhreus [Cychreus], whom Salamis bore to Poseidon).

Interestingly Kykhreus seems to be a part of Demeter's Eleusis as a dragon. This could be Clement simply saying the Saracen (Islam/Muslim, non-Arabs) have no better religion than and the ancient Greeks' Mysteries both are from the same place - Jupiter/Zeus and not the Christian God.

Strabo, Geography :
"And it is from the hero [Kykhreus] that the serpent Kykhreides took its name--the serpent which, according to Hesiodos, was fostered by Kychreus [on Salamis] and driven out by Eurylokhos because it was damaging the island, and was welcomed to Eleusis by Demeter and made her attendant."

Thissaios [Thissaeus]. Son of Zeus by the Peneios Naiad Khrysogeneia.

Perhaps the name sake for Thessaly/Thessalia? It seems to make sense as Peneios the River God of the river of the same name that ran through the Thessalian plain. Her name means "golden born".
 

Alejandro

Active Member
I completely skipped the Epaphos-Kassiopeia connection, sorry, his wife is sometimes mentioned to be her (in Roman mythology? Not sure of any ancient source, but both Wikipedia and Vanessa James's book have her listed in that role). Yeah, I'm completely at a blank where it goes that, hey, a woman who was his decedent also married Kepheus and Phoinix and had the same name, possibly, as of his wife. And in that same family branch you have the whole Perseus and Andromeda issue. Marriage to 4 great grandfather's brothers daughter; Kassiopeia marriage to 4th great grandfather. Than grandmother's brother, than Phoinix (son of Agenor, son of Libya, daughter of Epaphos).
Oh, well, right you are! The Latin writer Hyginus does in fact name Kassiopeia as the wife of Epaphos, although Hyginus is sometimes a confused source himself. But again, you make a good point about Perseus' father-in-law Kepheus was also his own great-great-great-great:eek: !-uncle, while Kepheus' wife Kassiopeia was his own great-niece (if in fact I've understood what you're saying correctly).

Also very interesting thoughts on Proteus, as well as on the connections among Pelasgos, Larissa, Kyrene, Eurypylos, Sterope & Leukippos, etc. Thank you for those.

Yes, I read that passage from the Description of Greece after you first mentioned this encounter between Herakles and Pittheus which I'd never come across before.

Perhaps Manthea's mother was Antiope, who is said to have been married to the Korinthian(?) Phokos after he cured her of the madness with which she had been inflicted by Dionysos. (Or could Antiope have rather been married to one of the other several Phokoi of the mythology, one of whom - rather than the Korinthian one - could have been Manthea's father?)

Hmm... Hadn't thought of the possibility of a connection between Koron and korônê.

Interesting thoughts on Helenos. What if his grandfather Evenus is the same as the son of Ares and Demonike?

Also interesting thoughts on Lakon and his mother.

I like what you're saying about Nympheus. Could Thaicrucia be a sea-nymph or some sort of mermaid, assuming that her father is the sea-god Proteus?


I suppose if Poseidon or Zeus could sire a river (like Asopos) or if Poseidon could be the grandfather of a mountain (if Kymopoleia is the mother of Aitna) then Zeus could also become the father of a mountain :) & I suppose it would be most appropriate that that mountain would be [an] Olympos!
Sarakon [Saracon]. Son of Zeus by the Asopos Naiad Salamis (making Sarakon a half-brother and cousin of Kykhreus [Cychreus], whom Salamis bore to Poseidon).
Interestingly Kykhreus seems to be a part of Demeter's Eleusis as a dragon. This could be Clement simply saying the Saracen (Islam/Muslim, non-Arabs) have no better religion than and the ancient Greeks' Mysteries both are from the same place - Jupiter/Zeus and not the Christian God.
Unless you mean the practice of the pre-Islamic religion(s) of Arabia (or rather of the non-Arabian inhabitants of the ancient Roman province of Arabia [like the term Sarakenoi originally meant]), Clement could not be referring to anything about Islam since he was writing these Exhortations about four centuries prior to the advent of Islam... Unless I've misunderstood you altogether on this one :oops:

Again, my thanks for all of this. It's jolly good stuff.
 

Misa

Member
It's tricky to sort out peoples and regions and religions when it comes to the Greek/Roman perspective. Certainly I mean no offense from what I interpret of the writings, although Clement is a offensive/defensive writer; but it seems to me that largely the Greeks saw a Arab as a person living in Libya, Ethiopia, Phoenicia or Egypt - basing this on Thronia who by Hermes/Hermion had Arabas in Greek mythology and that Arabas daughter Cassiopeia was queen to, perhaps if they are all meant to be the same - Egypt's king (Epaphus, whose daughter was Libya), Ethiopia's king (Cepheus), and Phoenicia's king (Phoenix) - she also had ties to Crete, and Greece's Perseus of Argos.

Mind too that this is purely from the mythology - where Io is the nymph-Greek mother and became Isis/Demeter. So this is what I meant by a non-Arabs, Sarakon/Saracon meaning something else other than those that in the Middle Ages had the meaning of Islam/Muslim/Arab. The ancinet Greeks like to have all the origins of people/names of regions connected to their own and understand them in that sort of connection.

Yet in today's Chad are the Sa-ra "children/sons of Ra"/Sara decedents of the Sao people. And Dionysus had connection to Osiris. So by Sarakon being brother of Cychreus/Salamis a connection to Eleusis and Demeter/Dionysus's Elysian/Elysium and Egypt's Io/Isis/Demeter. Zeus was well known as Egypt's Amun/Amen/Ra/Ammon.

There are some that would have it that the Egyptian god Amen/Amun/Aten is the source "God" of Judaism/Christianity/Islam. Egypt certainly seemed to trade with Punt, location unknown, if the ancient Egyptians got around Africa from the Red Sea to the Nile in three years (Necho II; 610 BC – c. 595 BC) they certainly could have gotten to India or further.

If humanity came out of Africa by following rivers, we can expect that civilizations/religions bloomed beside them, so it looks somewhat like this trade between Egypt and other people is more than likely : http://www.unep.org/dewa/vitalwater/gif/0201-africabasinsEN.gif
 

Alejandro

Active Member
As usual, no offense is taken, and it was merely a clarification [question] regarding the time-gap between Clement's lifetime and the advent of Islam. Incidentally I quite like the idea - if in fact Clement means to equate Sarakon with Sarakenos - that there's such a double meaning he's applying to the significance of Zeus having a son like this. I think it highly likely that the writer would think this way (i.e. according to your speculation of the meaning behind these names), although from this interpretation of what he writes we would have to conclude that he invented a lot of these characters (which may not necessarily be the case); he may have had access to records of myth traditions now, unfortunately, lost to us. Some things you've mentioned have just reminded me of a connection which a modern writer, Martin Bernal, has claimed between the name of Sarakon's mother Salamis and the Semitic term for "peace," which in Arabic is salaam, in Hebrew is shalom and in Swahili is salama. (In some Abysinnian [modern Ethiopian] languages and in Malay I think the root word is similar or the same.)
 
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Misa

Member
The Recognitions from which you got most of these names is credited to Clement of Alexandria, but it may not be his work. The original Greek text of the Recognitions is now lost, and survives only in a Latin translation made by Rufinus, Presbyter of Aquileia, in the C4th AD. Some of the text, and especially the mythic names, are corrupt.

I find this Clement a doubtful source to credited Greek gods, goddesses, or mythic heroes/kings/queens, mostly as he stands as sometimes the only source to a name, or son/daughter of a Greek deity - and he does not tell about these "myths" than a scant list, which gives me the impression it is all he knows of or that he is making most of it up. I'm not saying it wouldn't be taken later by the worshipers of the Greek deities later and put into their own religious views - only that if "Clement" listed even once a source area or person to where he got the names or area where they were believed I would take him more seriously on his listing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_literature
 

Alejandro

Active Member
All true, but there is an interesting confidence with which he (or whoever actually gave us these lists of characters) delivers this information mixed in with the much more familiar characters whose [hi]stories are supplemented by others sources. (His stuff reads as though he had an expectation and intention that his original readers would be familiar with most if not all of the material he's using for his argument.) Having that combined with the fact that there is indeed a lot of the mythology which is now lost, mere hints thereof surviving only in fragments (featured in stuff quoted by only one writer here & there [or one writer claiming to quote a different writer quoting yet another one] in various different periods of the ancient era{s}, and in random samples of surviving vase paintings where the only evidence of a particular character is merely his/her name labelled on a particular piece of pottery), it's fascinating to speculate what may have been contained in those myths, how much more they may have fleshed out our understanding of the material which we do have available in abundance, and just how much of this is merely made up by "Clement" or the various "Pseudo"-writers (as they are often called) such as Apollodoros, Hyginus and Ploutarkhos.
 
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