The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics) (32 page)

Ascalaphos. . . bore witness against her
: not in the
Hymn
, where Persephone herself tells Demeter that she has eaten in Hades (411 ff.) and the consequences follow necessarily from the action. On Ascalaphos see further p. 84 and note.

a third of every year
: cf.
HH Dem
. 398 ff. The agricultural significance is evident: she departs in autumn and returns in spring. In later sources the year is commonly divided into equal parts (e.g. Hyg. 146, Ov.
Met
. 5. 564 ff.).

conceived by Ouranos
: from the blood that dripped from his severed genitals, see p. 27 and note. Homer and Hesiod never refer to a battle between the gods and Giants; the earliest surviving references are in connection with Heracles’ involvement in it (Pind.
Nem
. 1. 67 ff., ps.-Hes.
Shield
28, cf.
Theog
. 954, part of a later addition to Hesiod’s text). The battle appears in vase-paintings by the end of the seventh century, and it may have been covered in an early epic, the
Titanomachy
.

thyrsos
: a staff with a fir-cone ornament at the head, carried by Dionysos and others who engaged in his rites.

Nisyron
: this explains the origin of Nisyros, a small island south of Cos; it was part of Cos until Poseidon broke it off with his trident (cf. Strabo 10. 5. 16).

Gration
: probably corrupt, but the proposed corrections are uncertain; perhaps Aigaion.

Typhon
: Hesiod offers a rather different account of his struggle with Zeus, in
Theog
. 820 ff.

a hundred dragons’ heads
: following
Theog
. 824 ff, but in a confused manner, for there ‘a hundred heads of a serpent’ grow from his shoulders in place of a human head. The serpents’ coils beneath his thighs are derived from the standard depiction of him in the visual arts.

took flight to Egypt
: the following story, first attested for Pindar (fr. 81 Bowra), explains why the Egyptians had gods in animal form. In the earliest full account (AL 28, following Nicander) Hermes, for example, turns into an ibis, and Artemis into a cat, identifying them with Thoth and Bast respectively.

Aigipan
: ‘Goat-Pan’; some saw him as Pan himself in his quality as a goat, others as a separate figure.

ephemeral fruits
: nothing further is known of them, but their effect is clearly the opposite of what the Fates suggested.

blood
:
haima
in Greek, hence the name of Mount Haimos.

eruptions of fire
: cf. Pind.
Pyth
. 1. 15 ff., [Aesch.]
PV
363 ff., and later, Ov.
Met
. 5. 352 ff; in all these sources Typhon himself is responsible for the eruptions.

fashioned men
: not attested before the fourth century; in earlier sources, Prometheus is a benefactor of the human race, but not its creator (Hes.
Theog
. 510 ff. and
WD
48 ff., cf. [Aesch.]
PV)
. It was commonly assumed at an early period that the first men sprang directly from the earth, and different areas would have their own ‘first man’, e.g. Phoroneus in Argos, see p. 58 and note.

fennel
: the narthex or giant fennel (a relative of the British cow-parsley), whose stalks contain a slow-burning white pith; cf. Hes.
Theog
. 565 ff.,
WD
50 ff.

as we will show
: see p. 83.

Pandora . . . the first woman
: described by Hesiod as a ‘beautiful evil’
(Theog
. 585), she was moulded by Hephaistos on the orders of Zeus, as the price men would have to pay for having gained possession of fire
(Theog
. 569 ff. and
WD
60 ff). Epimetheus
(‘Afterthought’), the brother of Prometheus, was foolish enough to accept her
(WD
83 ff,
Theog
. 511 ft).

the race of bronze
: see Hes.
WD
143 ff., where the members of this violent primordial race are responsible for their own destruction; there is no mention of the flood there (or in
Theog.)
. This is the best mythographical account; for an imaginative portrayal, see Ov.
Met
. 1. 260 ff. For another explanation of its cause, see p. 115.

laoi ... a stone
: the same etymology is implied in Pind.
ol
. 9. 44–6; the two words were of separate origin. The story originally accounted for the origin of the local people only (the Locrian Leleges, Hes.
Cat
. fr. 234; the stone-throwing took place at Opous in east Locris, Pind.
ol
. 9. 43 ff.; but in Latin sources from Ovid onwards it is often suggested that Deucalion and Pyrrha were the only human beings to survive a universal flood). Here ‘metaphor’ means simply a transference of meaning (as often in Greek usage).

the Graicoi he named Hellenes
: here the Hellenes are a Greek people who lived in southern Thessaly, as in the
Iliad
(2. 683, cf. 9. 395, although their name was later applied to the Greek race as a whole), and the Graicoi, a tribe who lived to the west of them in Epirus. For the present story, cf. Aristotle
Meteorology
352a32 ff. The Graicoi remained prominent in the west, and the Romans used their name as a general term for the Hellenes.

opposite the Peloponnese
: i.e. north of the Corinthian Gulf; specifically the small region known as Doris, north-west of Mount Parnassos (Strabo 8. 7. 1), which the Peloponnesian Dorians regarded as their original home. In myth, this was the area ruled by Doros’ son, Aigimios (see p. 90 and note); the movement of the Dorians to the Peloponnese occurs very late in mythological history, see pp. 92 f.

halcyon
: a fabulous bird that nests by, or on, the sea during the halcyon days of winter.

sea-swallow
: or tern, for the
ceux
, a poetical bird of uncertain identity. Ap.’s version of this story is probably derived from Hes.
Cat
. (cf. frs. 15 and 16); in another version, Ceux is killed in a shipwreck and Alcyone throws herself into the sea for love of him, arousing the pity of the gods, who transform them into halcyons (Ov.
Met
. 11. 410 ff, Hyg. 65).

known as the Aloads
: ‘sons of Aloeus’ (for Aloeus was their putative father as the husband of Iphimedeia). For their story, cf.
Od
. 11. 305 ff.

a cubit. . . a fathom
: the English equivalents for the ancient measurements representing the lengths of a man’s forearm and of his outstretched arms
(fœthm
in Old English). These measured about eighteen inches and six feet respectively.

Ossa . . . Olympos . . . Pelion
: tall mountains in the coastal region of Thessaly. This story gave rise to the proverbial phrase, ‘piling Pelion on Ossa’.

imprisoned Ares
: in a bronze jar, for thirteen months, and he would have died if the Aloads’ stepmother had not informed Hermes
(Il
. 5. 385 ff.).

met their death on Naxos
: according to
Od
. 11. 318 they were killed by Apollo, for trying to climb to heaven (cf. Hyg. 28); here their failure in that enterprise is left unexplained, and Artemis causes their death on another occasion because of their designs on herself. It is said elsewhere that they set out to rape Artemis (Hyg. 28, cf. sc. Pind.
Pyth
. 4. 156) and that Apollo (Hyg.) or Artemis (sc.
Il
. 5. 385) sent a deer between them. Pindar knew a version of this story
(Pyth
. 4. 88 f., cf. P. 9. 22. 5).

killed Apis, son of Phoroneus
: according to P. 5. 1. 8, this Apis was an Arcadian and a son of Jason (not the famous one); and Aitolos drove over him accidentally at the funeral games for Azan, son of Areas, an Arcadian king. The son of Phoroneus, an Argive, died in another way, see p. 58.

the land of the Curetes
: these Curetes, the aboriginal inhabitants of Aetolia (and Acarnania), in the south-western part of mainland Greece to the north of the Corinthian Gulf, should not be confused with the Cretan demigods on p. 28; on the Curetes in general, see Strabo 10. 3.

Evenos had a daughter. . . chasing after him
: Homer mentions that Idas drew his bow against Apollo for the sake of a girl (
Il
. 9. 559 f.). According to the scholion on ibid. 557, Evenos (like Oinomaos, p. 144) challenged his daughter’s suitors to a chariot race; if they won, they would gain her hand, but when they were overtaken by Evenos, he nailed their heads to the walls of his house. It is possible that the present passage refers to such a race rather than a simple pursuit after an abduction. See also Bacch. 20.

Messene
: the land of Messenia, in the south-western Peloponnese, lying to the west of Laconia (rather than the city of Messene, which was of late foundation). Idas’ father Aphareus was a Messenian king, see p. 119 and note.

Sterope . . . to Acheloos
: probably following Hes.
Cat.;
later authors tended to give the Sirens a Muse as a mother (cf. p. 167, and AR 4. 895 f.), befitting their qualities as singers.

the first to receive a vine plant from Dionysos
: a story in Hyg. 129 would explain this. When Dionysos fell in love with Althaia, Oineus tactfully absented himself by pretending that he had some rites to perform; and Dionysos slept with his wife, fathering Deianeira (a tradition mentioned by Ap. below), and afterwards presented the vine to Oineus, naming its product
oinos
, wine, after him.

for jumping over the ditch
: an allusion to a lost story. (Some point to the death of Remus in Livy 1. 7. 2, but the comparison is of doubtful relevance.)

placed it in a chest
: Bacchylides in the fifth century (5. 140 ff.) is the earliest surviving source for this story.

To hunt this boar
: on Meleager and the boar see also
Il
. 9. 529 ff. (without any mention of Atalante), Bacch. 5. 96 ff. (the earliest surviving source for the story of the log, 136 ff.), DS 4. 34, and Ov.
Met
. 8. 270 ff. This was the first of the great adventures which brought together major heroes from all parts of Greece; for other catalogues of the participants see Ov.
Met
. 8. 299 ff. and Hyg. 173.

with a woman
: on Atalante see also p. 116 and note.

the sons of Thestios
: see p. 39 for their names. Thestios, the brother of Meleager’s mother Aithra, was king of Pleuron in Aetolia.

said by some
: this alternative account is largely based on
Il
. 9. 547 ff. (although Homer does not say that Meleager was killed).

transformed into birds
: a later element in the story, often thought to be of Hellenistic origin (though Sophocles may have known of the transformation, see Pliny
Nat. Hist
. 37. 40). According to Nicander (AL 2), they were transformed by Artemis with a touch of her wand, to become guinea fowl
(meleagrides)
, and transferred to the island of Leros; Deianeira (who had to survive to become Heracles’ wife) and her sister Gorge were saved by the intervention of Dionysos.

sent her. . . to Oineus
: cf. DS 4. 35. 1 f.

the sons of Melas
: Melas was another brother of Oineus, p. 39.

killed his own brother
: according to Pherecydes (sc.
Il
. 14. 120) Tydeus attacked the sons of Agrios (another brother of Oineus) for plotting against Oineus, and accidentally killed his brother (or his uncle Melas, in sc.
Il
. 14. 114), who happened to be present. For his subsequent history, see pp. 109–11.

Diomedes
: the son of Tydeus remained in Argos, became one of the Epigoni, p. 112, and succeeded to the throne of his father-in-law Adrastos, to become ruler of Argos and Tiryns, and leader of the Argives at Troy, p. 148.

Thersites
: familiar from the
Iliad, 2
. 212 ff. (but in Homer he is not of noble birth); and see p. 154.

parch the wheat-grain
: roast it over a fire, killing the seed.

together with . . . Helle
: the eponym of the Hellespont (‘the Sea of Helle’, see below; cf. Aesch.
Persians
68); late sources (e.g. P. 9. 34. 4) explain that she was due to be sacrificed with Phrixos.

the wrath of Hera
: because Athamas and Ino (who was also driven mad) had taken in the young Dionysos, her husband’s child by another woman, see p. 101. Pausanias (1. 44. 11) cites an alternative tradition that the deaths resulted from Athamas’ anger when he discovered how Ino had deceived him.

Athamantia
:
a
. plain in southern Thessaly (cf. AR 2. 514).

Ephyra, now known as Corinth
: the exact location of Ephyra—the home of Sisyphos that lay ‘in a corner of horse-rearing Argos’,
Il
. 6. 152 f.—is unknown, but its identification with Corinth (which is referred to separately in the
Iliad
as one of the towns ruled by Agamemnon, 2. 570) is altogether dubious. It seems that when the Corinthians (notably the early epic poet Eumelos) found themselves short of significant local myth, they annexed the material from Ephyra, which had declined into obscurity.

who killed the. . . Chimaera
: see p. 64; the full story is deferred because he was exiled to Argos.

punishment in Hades
: Homer describes it,
Od
. 11. 593 ff., but does not explain the reason. For the present explanation, cf. P. 2. 5. 1; for the abduction of Aegina, see p. 126.

Dawn . . . carried him off
: for Cephalos and Procris, see p. 134; the Cephalos associated with Dawn is described below as a son of Hermes, see p. 131 and note.

but of Cynortas
: to give the father of Tyndareus (an important figure in the Laconian genealogies) a purely Laconian descent, see p. 119, and p. 120 and note.

Seriphos
: a rocky island in the south-eastern Aegean, later of proverbial insignificance, but important in myth for the involvement of these sons of Magnes with Perseus and Danae, see p. 65.