Текст книги "The Library of Greek Mythology"

Автор книги: Apollodorus

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Phoenix had been blinded. . . seduced her: in Homer’s account, Il. 9. 447 ff., he actually sleeps with her, at the instigation of his mother (who is jealous of the concubine); he has to go into exile, but is not blinded.

Patroclos had killed a boy: cf. Il. 23. 84 ff.

Achilles had become his lover: this is never stated by Homer; see also Plato Symp. 180a. Patroclos was older than Achilles ( Il. 11. 787).

the Erechtheid Sea: not a sea in the literal sense, but a sea-water well in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis, from which the sound of waves could be heard to rise when the south wind was blowing (see P. 1. 26. 6, with Hdt. 8. 55). This symbolic sea, and the mark of his trident in the rock (which can still be seen), were the evidence that Poseidon produced to support his claim (P. 1. 26. 6).

the Pandroseion: an enclosure near the Erechtheum. The olive tree survived until Roman times (after miraculously regrowing when the Persians set fire to Athens, P. 1. 27. 2, Hdt. 8. 55).

flooded the Thriasian plain: to the north-west of the city. Not a permanent flood (although he wanted it to be, until Zeus sent Hermes to forbid it, Hyg. 164).

Agraulos, the daughter of Actaios: her name appears in the form Aglauros elsewhere. Actaios was presumably invented to explain why Attica was previously called Acte (see above); Pausanias (1. 2. 6) records a tradition that he was the first king of Attica and that Cecrops succeeded to the throne by marrying his daughter.

was tried on the Areiopagos: the Areiopagos, the traditional Athenian high court which dealt especially with cases involving blood-guilt, met on the place of that name to the north-west of the Acropolis. The present story explains its name (the ‘Hill of Ares’) and its prime function. Because his victim was trying to rape a close relative, and was caught in the act, Ares’ defence would have been acceptable in classical Athens.

Herse . . . Phaethon: in Theog. 984 ff., Dawn bears Memnon and Emathion to Tithonos (as on p. 124), and Phaethon to Cephalos. On p. 44 this Cephalos was said to be a son of Deion; but it seems likely that Cephalos son of Deion, the hunter and husband of Procris, p. 134, was originally not the same figure as the son of Hermes associated with Dawn. In Theog. 986 ff. this Phaethon is abducted by Aphrodite and made guardian of one of her temples; he should not be identified with the more famous son of the Sun who borrowed his father’s chariot and was struck by Zeus with a thunderbolt when he was unable to control the horses and almost set the earth on fire, DS 5. 23, Ov. Met. 2. 19 ff.

slept with foreigners: presumably a reference to temple prostitution in connection with the cult of Aphrodite-Astarte. The cause of Aphrodite’s anger (perhaps neglect of her cult) is not recorded. Cinyras was associated with the cult of Paphian Aphrodite in Cyprus (Pind. Pyth. 2. 15 ff., Tacitus Hist. 2. 3).

a son of Theias: the following story of incest between father and daughter is most generally favoured to explain Adonis’ birth, whether the king in question is called Theias (cf. AL 34) or Cinyras (e.g. Hyg. 58, where Cinyras is described as the king of the Assyrians; cf. Ov. Met. 10. 298 ff.). As we see in Ovid, his daughter is sometimes called Myrrha (in Greek, Smyrnawas an alternative word for myrrh).

born to Hephaistos and Athene: it will be seen that this is a loose expression, as he is born from the earth as a son of Hephaistos. The following story allows him to be earthborn (in a peculiar way) and yet have a special connection with Athene although she is a virgin goddess.

with a piece of wool: this was introduced into the story for etymological reasons, to explain Erichthonios’ name by his birth from the ground, chthon, when the wool, erion, fell on it (as in Et. Magn.;others pointed to the struggle, eris, between Athene and Hephaistos, e.g. Hyg. 166).

a snake: placed there by Athene to guard him (cf. Eur. Ion. 21–3, where there are two snakes, and VM 2. 37); but the serpent is sometimes identified with the earthborn Erichthonios himself (Hyg. PA13; in Hyg. 166, he is half serpent like Cecrops).

her sanctuary: the Erechtheum on the Acropolis.

the wooden image of Athene: a primitive olive-wood statue (xoanon), comparable to the Palladion at Troy, p. 123 (and said by some to have fallen from the sky as the Palladion did, P. 1. 26. 7).

Panathenaia: the great summer festival celebrated in honour of Athene as patroness of the city. There was a procession to the Parthenon (as depicted in its frieze), bulls were sacrificed, and a new robe was offered to the enormous statue of Athene in the temple.

Demeter . . . at Eleusis: see p. 33. Eleusis was independent until the seventh century. Demeter introduced corn, Dionysos wine.

Labdacos: king of Thebes, see p. 103, in Boeotia, which lay on Attica’s northern border; this is the only mythical tale associated with his brief reign.

hid her away in the country: this is followed by a problematic phrase omitted in the translation, ‘and then, after marrying Philomela, he went to bed with her’. There is no suggestion in any surviving source that Tereus married Philomela, nor is it implied elsewhere in the present account. On the contrary, he sleeps with her secretly, and Procne remains his wife. It was said that Tereus had travelled to Athens to fetch Philomela because her sister wanted to see her, and he raped her on the journey back (e.g. VM 1. 8).

reached Daulis in Phocis: Phocis lay to the west of Boeotia and Attica. Tereus was commonly said to have been king of Daulis (Thuc. 2. 29, P. 1. 41. 8, etc.), but here he lives far to the north in Thrace (as in Hyg. 45) and pursues the sisters to Daulis. It was generally accepted that he was of Thracian descent.

Philomela a swallow: her lack of a tongue explains the swallow’s inarticulate cries; her identification with the nightingale in medieval and modern poetry is the result of a confusion in the Latin tradition (see Hyg. 45).

Poseidon Erechtheus: following Heyne’s emendation (from Erichthoniou);a cult of this name is well attested for Athens.

went to bed with Pteleon: in all other versions, Cephalos tests her virtue, causing her to flee when found wanting. He returns in disguise after travelling abroad for eight years, and offers her some finery to sleep with him (Pherecydes in sc. Od. 11. 321), or he tells a servant to offer her gold (AL 41), or Dawn changes his form to allow him to test her (Hyg. 189). It is possible that this Pteleon, who is otherwise unknown but is presumably the eponym of the Attic deme of Ptelea, may have been acting for Cephalos like the servant in AL. See also Ov. Met. 7. 690 ff.

harmful beasts: snakes, scorpions, and millipedes, according to AL 41; Pasiphae was his wife.

a fast-running dog: for its subsequent fate, see p. 70, and note.

the Circaean root: this came from a plant of the milkweed family, but here it is clearly viewed as a magical charm rather than a herbal remedy. In AL 41 she finds a mechanical solution, by ensuring that the beasts are discharged into a goat’s bladder before Minos has intercourse with her.

by the River Ilissos, Boreas carried her off: not far from Athens, see Plato Phdr. 229a ff., where there is a vivid description of the locality (and Socrates makes some shrewd comments on the rationalization of such myths), and AR 1. 211 ff. There was an alternative tradition that she was abducted from the Acropolis and conveyed to Thrace to become his wife (sc. Od. 14. 533). Boreas was the North Wind.

while pursuing the Harpies: see p. 52 and note.

killed by Heracles: for persuading the Argonauts not to return for him when he was left behind in Mysia (AR 1. 1298 ff; for Heracles’ abandonment, see p. 51).

married Idaia . . . punished him for this: this version of the story, in which Idaia brings a false accusation against her adult stepsons, follows Sophocles’ lost Phineus(sc. AR 2. 178); in another version, she blinds them herself while they are still young with a weaving pin (see Soph. Antigone970 ff.). Boreas’ presence with the Argonauts is unusual, but DS (4. 44. 4, cf. Serv. on Am. 3. 209) records that according to some mythographers (presumably following the Phineus)Phineus blinded his sons and was blinded in turn by Boreas (as the father of Phineus’ first wife, Cleopatra). For another version again, see DS 4. 43. 3 ff. (cf. sc. AR 2. 207).

fled to the Eleusinians: and became closely associated with the Mysteries. He was the eponymous ancestor of the priestly family of the Eumolpidai, which provided the hierophant who presided over the rites and revealed the mysteries to the initiates.

Poseidon destroyed Erechtheus: because the Athenians under Erechtheus had killed Eumolpos, his son (cf. Eur. Ion281 f.). The story is presumably connected with the origin of the Poseidon-Erechtheus cult, p. 136, in which the god and the heroized Erechtheus shared the same shrine (P. 1. 26. 6).

transferred the kingdom to Pandion: see also P. 1. S. 3 and 1. 39. 4; Pandion’s tomb could be seen in Megara.

founded . . . Pylos: the Elian Pylos in the north-western Peloponnese. See also P. 6. 22. 5 and 4. 36. 1.

Pytho: Delphi.

mouth of the wineskin: the wineskin stands for his stomach, and its mouth or neck for his penis (cf. sc. Eur. Med. 679, which reports that the Greek word for the mouth of a wineskin, podeon, was often used in such a senst,, i” he sleeps with another woman before he returns to the height of Athens, meaning the Acropolis, he will have a male child by her rather than by his wife.

by way of Troezen: south of the Isthmus in the Argolid, and thus well out of his way; Plut. Thes. 2suggests that he went there to consult Pittheus about the oracle. For the place of Pittheus in Troezenian mythology, see P. 2. 30. 5 ff.; he later adopts Theseus’ son Hippolytos, see p. 142 and note.

Poseidon slept with her too: this paternity is associated with a specific story told in Bacch. 17. 33 ff. (cf. P. 1. 17. 3). When Minos wanted to sleep with one of the Athenian girls from the tribute (see p. 137), Theseus withstood him, claiming to be the son of Poseidon; and to prove this, he leapt into the sea and recovered a golden ring thrown there by Minos, and was also given a magnificent crown by Poseidon’s wife Amphitrite (which later became a constellation, Hyg. PA5).

the bull of Marathon: for its origins, see p. 77 and note. Theseus will kill it, p. 139. Here Androgeos is sent to almost certain death; or he was treacherously murdered (cf. Plut. Thes. 15, and DS 4. 60. 5, where Aigeus fears Androgeos’ friendship with his enemies, the sons of Pallas). The following story of the ambush, which absolves Aigeus from blame, was probably of relatively late origin. See also P. 1. 27. 10.

Megareus: he came with an army of Boeotians, was buried where he was killed, and the city, formerly called Nisa, was named Megara after him (see P. 1. 39. 5; this was a Boeotian tradition, apparently followed here); he was often said to be a son of Poseidon. Megara lay on the Isthmus of Corinth, bordering Attica.

drowned her: because he was shocked by her betrayal of her father and city (cf. P. 2. 34. 7, and the similar story on p. 70). In Aesch. Choephoroi612 ff, Minos is said to have bribed Scylla with bracelets of Cretan gold.

Their father, Hyacinthos: not the famous Hyacinthos who was loved by Apollo, p. 119.

labyrinth: see p. 98.

snake’s jawbone: cf. DS 4. 76. 5 f, this led to the invention of the iron saw.

Theseus: see Plutarch’s life of Theseus for a fuller account of all the following, with many variants. Theseus was said to have founded the Attic state by incorporating the communities outside the city of Athens (Thuc. 2. 15; Plut. Thes. 24).

the sandals and the sword: the tokens of his birth, see p. 136.

cleared the road: a series of labours, emulating those of Heracles (cf. DS 4. 59. 1), which establishes his heroic status. For the earliest account, see Bacch. 18. 16 ff.

was referred to as Corynetes: a descriptive surname or nickname (as with Pityocamptes below) rather than a proper name; it was doubtless suggested by Il. 7. 138. It seems fitting that a son of the lame god Hephaistos should have weak feet, although this is otherwise unattested.

hurled into the air: or he attached the extremities of his victims to two trees, causing them to be torn apart when the trees were released (P. 2. 1. 4, DS 4. 59. 3; in Hyg. 38 Sinis helps them to bend a tree back and they are thrown up when he lets go).

Polypemon: as in Bacch. 18. 27, but he is more familiar as Procroustes (e.g. P. 1. 38. 5; this may have been mentioned in the full text as a descriptive surname like those above, meaning ‘he who beats out’). In DS 4. 59. 5 the travellers are adjusted to fit a single bed. In Hyg. 38, he stretches the legs of the short men by hanging anvils from them.

Medea . . . schemed against him: to protect her position and that of her son by Aigeus; see also p. 57.

the bull of Marathon: see p. 77 and note.

tribute . . . to the Minotaur: for the tribute, see p. 137; for the Minotaur, p. 98.

the children: the boys and girls saved from the tribute.

Dionysosfell in love with Ariadne: in Od. 11. 321 ff., she was killed there by Artemis at the urging of Dionysos. For the varied tradition thereafter, see Plut. Thes. 20; she was often said to have been deserted by Theseus (either for another woman or accidentally).

the sons of Pallas: Pallas was the brother of Aigeus; he and his sons disputed the succession, alleging that Aigeus was not a true son of Pandion (Plut. Thes. 13; Ap. points to a tradition that Aigeus was a supposititious child on p. 136).

Icarian Sea: in the south-eastern Aegean, in the region of Icaria and Samos.

accompanied Heracles. . . against the Amazons: this was generally regarded as a separate and later expedition, made by Theseus alone, or in conjunction with Peirithoos (see Plut. Thes. 26).

Amazons marched against Athens: see also DS 4. 28, Plut. Thes. 27.

by the Areiopagos: see Aesch. Eumenides685 ff, where it is said that the hill gained its name because they offered sacrifices there to Ares (as god of war); but see also p. 131 and note.

Deucalion: the son of Minos and a successor as king of Crete, see pp. 97 and 99.

Phaedra . . . asked him to sleep with her: Ap. gives the traditional version of her story (cf. Ov. Met. 15. 497 ff., and Seneca’s Phaedra). Euripides’ surviving Hippolytos(his second play on the theme) is more sympathetic to Phaedra, presenting her as an unwilling victim of Aphrodite who refuses to declare her love and kills herself when her nurse betrays it to Hippolytos.

hated all women: he was a devotee of the virgin goddess Artemis.

along the sea-shore: at Troezen in the Argolid, where Hippolytos was the adopted heir of its king, Pittheus (the grandfather of Theseus, see p. 136). Historically there was a cult of Hippolytos there; girls made offerings of their hair to him at marriage (P. 2. 32. 1).

Ixion: his story is relevant to the subsequent account of Theseus’ association with Peirithoos (king of the Lapiths in Thessaly) and their battle with the Centaurs, because Ixion was both the father of Peirithoos and the ancestor of the Centaurs (through his son Centauros, who fathered them by mating with mares near Mount Pelion, Pind. Pyth. 2. 44 ff., except for the ‘good’ Centaurs Cheiron and Pholos, who were of different birth, see pp. 29 and 75). Ixion’s behaviour towards Hera was particularly reprehensible because Zeus had purified Ixion after he had murdered his father-in-law, and welcomed him in heaven (DS 4. 69. 4); for a fuller portrayal of his transgression and punishment, see Pind. Pyth. 2. 21 ff.

Theseus joined Peirithoos: this paragraph is inserted from Zenobius 5. 33. Surviving accounts of the banquet are late (e.g. DS 4. 70. 3 f, Plut. Thes. 30), although the prowess of Peirithoos, Theseus, and Caineus in fighting the Centaurs is referred to by Homer ( Il. 1. 262 ff.).

as relatives of the bride: thus Zenobius, but this is probably a mistake, because they were certainly relatives of the bridegroom(cf. VM 1. 162, where they are invited as Peirithoos’ neighbours and relatives), and this connection would surely have been explained in the preceding section on Ixion.

buried in the earth: the gods are said to have incited the Centaurs against Caineus because of his violence and his presumption in wanting to be honoured as a god (e.g. sc. Il. 1. 264). On the limits of invulnerability, see p. 73 on the Nemean lion and note.

captured Athens: according to the usual account, followed on p. 121, she was hidden at Aphidnai, to the north-east of Athens, and was recovered when the Dioscuri captured that city (cf. Plut. Thes. 32–3, where it is said that they were received into Athens afterwards without a fight). It is reported, however, that in a poem in the epic cycle they plundered Athens after taking Aphidnai (sc. Il. 3. 242; cf. P. 5. 19. 3 on the Cypselos chest). The Epitome may misrepresent the original text here.

took away Aithra: she became Helen’s servant and was taken to Troy (see Plut. Thes. 34, and Il. 3. 143 f.); and when it fell, she was recovered by these two sons of Theseus, Demophon and Acamas, see p. 157.

Menestheus: a great-grandson of Erechtheus, and thus in the royal line; the leader of the Athenians in the Trojan War, p. 148, Il. 2. 552.

became stuck to it: the rock grew to their flesh (P. 10. 29. 9, referring to Panyasis and contrasting this with the tradition that they were pinioned to the chair; it seems that two versions from different sources are combined here). The name of the chair suggests that it affected the mind also (see Horace Odes4. 7. 27 f).

Lycomedes: he ruled in Scyros, off Euboea, and either feared Theseus’ influence over his subjects or wanted to gratify Menestheus (see Plut. Thes. 35, P. 1. 17. 6). See also p. 129.

Tantalos: son of Zeus and Pluto, daughter of Cronos (or according to some, the son of Tmolos). A wealthy king in Lydia, in Asia Minor, he is introduced here as the ancestor of the Pelopids, the Peloponnesian line which provided the kings of Mycenae and Sparta at the time of the Trojan War. For his punishment, cf. Od. 11. 582 ff. (without any mention of the stone, but Archilochus knew of it in the seventh century, sc. Pind. ol. 1. 97).

share ambrosia with his friends: after he had been welcomed at the table of the gods and made immortal with ambrosia, the food of the gods, he wanted to share it with other mortals, Pind. ol. 1. 59 ff. For the betrayal of divine secrets, cf. DS 4. 74. 2. The darker story that he served his son Pelops at a banquet of the gods (which Pindar refused to believe, ol. 1. 26 ff.) must have been mentioned in the full text, as it is referred to just below.

Broteas: the son of Tantalos; see also Ovid Ibis. 517 ff. and P. 3. 22.4.

a winged chariot: since Pindar talks of a golden chariot drawn by horses with unwearying wings (ol. 1. 87), and Pelops’ horses were portrayed with wings on the sixth-century chest of Cypselos (P. 5. 17. 7), the ‘winged chariot’ of the Epitome may be misleading. In Pindar’s account, this gift from Poseidon is sufficient to ensure victory for Pelops (and probably elsewhere in the earlier tradition; Pherecydes, in the fifth century, is the earliest author known to have referred to Myrtilos in this connection, sc. AR 1. 752).

Pisa: in Elis, the north-western province of the Peloponnese.

failed to insert the axle-pins: or according to Pherecydes (ibid.) he inserted axle-pins made of wax.

the Myrtoan Sea: lying to the east of the Peloponnese and south of Attica; Geraistos was the southernmost cape of Euboea. It was also said that Pelops had promised Myrtilos that he could spend a night with Hippodameia, and pitched him overboard when he reminded him of this (P. 8. 14. 11).

curses at the house of Pelops: amply fulfilled; it was said by some that this caused Hermes, the father of Myrtilos, to send the golden lamb that causes such trouble below (Eur. Orest. 989 ff. with sc. to 990; but below it is sent by Artemis as a sign to confirm Atreus’ kingship).