Legendary Passages #0022 - Semele and Pasiphae- Philostratus the Elder's Imagines -
Last time we heard many stories of the Cretans. This time we shall hear about paintings describing Semele, Ariadne, Pasiphae, and Hippodameia.
The passage begins with a painting of Semele, daughter of Cadmus and mother of Dionysus. Thunder and Lightning, known as Brotes and Astrape, illuminate the skies above the house of Cadmus, in the form a pillar of fire. Semele had asked Zeus to reveal his true form, and he blazes like fallen star. Symbols of Dionysys abound: Ivy and grapevines and the thyrsus sprout from the conflagration.
Second is a painting of Ariadne sleeping on a rocky island shore. On the horizon is the ship of Theseus, leaving her behind. Dionysus approaches, bearing tiny horns and wearing a simple crown of ivy and roses. The god is young man overcome with love, while Theseus is focused on distant Athens, his love forgotten.
Third is a depiction of the mother of Ariadne, Queen Pasiphae. She is outside the workshop of Daedalus, filled with bronze figures that seem to walk about. Daedalus is depicted as having great wisdom and intelligence, and dressed as an Athenian. Before him is the wooden cow, fashioned aid the queen in her unnatural union. Little Cupids assist him in the construction, drilling and measuring and sawing to and fro. Pasiphae takes no notice of them, all of her attention is on the Cretan Bull. It is white with spectacular horns, and ignoring her beauty for that of a black and white cow.
Last is picture of Hippodameia, daughter of Oenomaus, King of Arcadia. Suiters for her hand would have to beat the King in chariot racing, and should they lose, they die. Thirteen have died, before Pelops, with the aid of Myrtilus, survived the contest and married Hippodameia. The scene is the end of that fatal race. The King's four horse chariot destroyed by sabotage, the black horses enraged, unlike the white horses of Pelops. That youth had gained the favor of Poesiedon for his beauty, and the god had given him horses and chariot that could run on water. Pelops and Hippodaemia stand victorious, about to embrace. Thirteen graves of dead suitors are verdant mounds of wildflowers, celebrating the death of Oenomaus.
Next time we shall hear descriptions of the stars and heavens, including the Crown of Ariadne, also known as Corona Borealis.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/PhilostratusElder1A.html#14
Semele and Pasiphae,
a Legendary Passage,
from Philostratus the Elder's Imagines,
translated by Arthur Fairbanks.
Describing a painting of SEMELE
Bronte, stern of face, and Astrape flashing light from her eyes, and raging fire from heaven that has laid hold of a king's house, suggest the following tale, if it is one you know.
A cloud of fire encompassing Thebes breaks into the dwelling of Cadmus as Zeus comes wooing Semele; and Semele apparently is destroyed, but Dionysus is born, by Zeus, so I believe, in the presence of the fire.
And the form of Semele is dimly seen as she goes to the heavens, where the Muses will hymn her praises: but Dionysus leaps forth as his mother's womb is rent apart and he makes the flame look dim, so brilliantly does he shine like a radiant star. The flame, dividing, dimly outlines a cave for Dionysus more charming than any in Assyria and Lydia; for sprays of ivy grow luxuriantly about it and clusters of ivy berries and now grape-vines and stalks of thyrsus which spring up from the willing earth, so that some grow in the very fire.
We must not be surprised if in honour of Dionysus the Fire is crowned by the Earth, for the Earth will take part with the Fire in the Bacchic revel and will make it possible for the revelers to take wine from springs and to draw milk from clods of earth or from a rock as from living breasts.
Listen to Pan, how he seems to be hymning Dionysus on the crests of Cithaeron, as he dances an Evian fling. And Cithaeron in the form of a man laments the woes soon to occur on his slopes, and he wears an ivy crown aslant on his head – for he accepts the crown most unwillingly – and Megaera causes a fir to shoot up beside him and brings to light a spring of water, in token, I fancy, of the blood of Actaeon and of Pentheus.
Describing a painting of ARIADNE
That Theseus treated Ariadne unjustly – though some say not with unjust intent, but under the compulsion of Dionysus – when he abandoned her while asleep on the island of Dia, you must have heard from your nurse; for those women are skilled in telling such tales and they weep over them whenever they will. I do not need to say that it is Theseus you see there on the ship and Dionysus yonder on the land, nor will I assume you to be ignorant and call your attention to the woman on the rocks, lying there in gentle slumber.
Nor yet is it enough to praise the painter for things for which someone else too might be praised; for it is easy for anyone to paint Ariadne as beautiful and Theseus as beautiful; and there are countless characteristics of Dionysus for those who wish to represent him in painting or sculpture, by depicting which even approximately the artist has captured the god.
For instance, the ivy clusters forming a crown are the clear mark of Dionysus, even if the workmanship is poor; and a horn just springing from the temples reveals Dionysus, and a leopard, though but just visible, is a symbol of the god; but this Dionysus the painter has characterized by love alone. Flowered garments and thyrsi and fawn-skins have been cast aside as out of place for the moment, and the Bacchantes are not clashing their cymbals now, nor are the Satyrs playing the flute, nay, even Pan checks his wild dance that he may not disturb the maiden's sleep.
Having arrayed himself in fine purple and wreathed his head with roses, Dionysus comes to the side of Ariadne, “drunk with love” as the Teian poet says of those who are overmastered by love. As for Theseus, he is indeed in love, but with the smoke rising from Athens, and he no longer knows Ariadne, and never knew her, and I am sure that he has even forgotten the labyrinth and could not tell on what possible errand he sailed to Crete, so singly is his gaze fixed on what lies ahead of his prow.
And look at Ariadne, or rather at her sleep; for her bosom is bare to the waist, and her neck is bent back and her delicate throat, and all her right armpit is visible, but the left hand rests on her mantle that a gust of wind may not expose her. How fair a sight, Dionysus, and how sweet her breath! Whether its fragrance is of apples or of grapes, you can tell after you have kissed her!
Describing a painting of PASIPHAË
Pasiphaë is in love with the bull and begs Daedalus to devise some lure for the creature; and he is fashioning a hollow cow like a cow of the herd to which the bull is accustomed. What their union brought forth is shown by the form of the Minotaur, strangely composite in its nature.
Their union is not depicted here, but this is the workshop of Daedalus; and about it are statues, some with forms blocked out, others in a quite complete state in that they are already stepping forward and give promise of walking about. Before the time of Daedalus, you know, the art of making statues had not yet conceived such a thing. Daedalus himself is of the Attic type in that his face suggests great wisdom and that the look of the eye is so intelligent; and his very dress also follows the Attic style; for he wears this dull coarse mantle and also he is painted without sandals, in a manner peculiarly affected by the Athenians.
He sits before the framework of the cow and he uses Cupids [Erotes] as his assistants in the device so as to connect with it something of Aphrodite. Of the Cupids, my boy, those are visible who turn the drill, and those by Zeus that smooth with the adze portions of the cow which are not yet accurately finished, and those that measure off the symmetrical proportions on which craftsmanship depends. But the Cupids that work with the saw surpass all conception and all skill in drawing and colour. For look! The saw has attacked the wood and is already passing through it, and these Cupids keep it going, one on the ground, another on the staging, both straightening up and bending forward in turn. Let us consider this movement to be alternate; one has bent low as if about to rise up, his companion has risen erect as if about to bend over; the one on the ground draws his breath into his chest, and the one who is aloft fills his lungs down to his belly as he presses both hands down on the saw.
Pasiphaë outside the workshop in the cattlefold gazes on the bull, thinking to draw him to her by her beauty and by her robe, which is divinely resplendent and more beautiful than any rainbow. She has a helpless look – for she knows what the creature is that she loves – and she is eager to embrace it, but takes no notice of her and gazes at its own cow. The bull is depicting with proud mien, the leader of the herd, with splendid horns, white, already experienced in love, its dewlap low and its neck massive, and it gazes fondly at the cow; but the cow in the herd, ranging free and all white but for a black head, disdains the bull. For its purpose suggests a leap, as of a girl who avoids the importunity of a lover.
Describing a painting of HIPPODAMEIA
Here is consternation over Oenomaus the Arcadian; these are men who shout a warning for him – for perhaps you can hear them – and the scene is Arcadia and a portion of the Peloponnesus. The chariot lies shattered through a trick of Myrtilus. It is a four-horse chariot; for though men were not yet bold enough to use the quadriga in war, yet in the games it was known and prized, and the Lydians also, a people most devoted to horses, drove four abreast in the time of Pelops and already used chariots, and at a later time devised the chariot with four poles and, it is said, were the first to drive eight horses abreast.
Look, my boy, at the horses of Oenomaus, how fierce they are and keen to run, full of rage and covered with foam – you will find such horses especially among the Arcadians – and how black they are, harnessed as they were for a monstrous and accursed deed. But look at the horse of Pelops, how white they are, obedient to the rein, comrades as they are of Persuasion, neighing gently and as if aware of the coming victory.
And look at Oenomaus, how like he is to the Thracian Diomedes as he lies there, a barbarian and savage of aspect. But as to Pelops, on the other hand, you will not, I think, be inclined to doubt that Poseidon once on a time fell in love with him for his beauty when he was wine-pourer for the gods on Mount Sipylus, and because of his love set him, though still a youth, upon this chariot. The chariot runs over the sea as easily as on land, and not even a drop of water ever splashes on its axle, but the sea, firm as the earth itself, supports the horses.
As for the race, Pelops and Hippodameia are the victors, both standing on the chariot and there joining hands; but they are so conquered by each other that they are on the point of embracing one another. He is dressed in the delicate Lydian manner, and is of such youth and beauty as you noticed a moment ago when he was begging Poseidon for his horses; and she is dressed in a wedding garment and has just unveiled her cheek, now that she has won the right to a husband’s embrace. Even the Alpheius leaps from his eddy to pluck a crown of wild olive for Pelops as he drives along the bank of the river.
The mounds along the race-course mark the graves of the suitors by whose death Oenomaus postponed his daughter’s marriage, thirteen youths in all. But the earth now causes flowers to spring up on their graves, that they too may share the semblance of being crowned on the occasion of Oenomaus’ punishment.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/PhilostratusElder1A.html#14
Greek and Roman mythology from the original sources, from Atlantis to Hercules to the Trojan War. Email: LegendaryPassages@gmail.com
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Friday, February 13, 2015
LP0021 - The Cretans - Diodorus Siculus' Library of History -
Legendary Passages #0021 - The Cretans - Diodorus Siculus' Library of History -
Last time we heard the story of Europa and her descendants. This time we shall focus on her sons and the men and demigods of Crete.
First is Heracles, though a distinction is made between the original and the son of Alcmena. Both slew the unjust and beasts of the the wild, but the older demigod founded a city in Egypt.
Second is Britomartis, daughter of Zeus and Carme. She is called Dictynna for inventing hunting nets, not because she fled Minos and jumped into the nets of a fisherman.
Third is Plutus, son of Demeter and Iasion. He is the god of wealth and abundance. He was the first to introduce the idea of safeguarding property and surpluses.
The author asserts that worship of the gods originated in Crete, and spread from there to distant lands. While foreigners kept their mysteries secret, Cretans shared their sacred knowledge with all.
Minos, the eldest son of Zeus and Europa, founded several cities, established laws, and with his naval fleet became master of the seas. He died in Sicily chasing down Daedalus.
Rhadamanthys was known as the greatest of judges. He gave his son Erythrus the city of Erythrae; and gave Chios to Oenopion, son of Ariadne and Dionysus. After he dies he becomes a judge in Hades, along with his brother Minos. But not the third brother Sarpedon, who started a dynasty in Lycia.
Cousins Idomenus, son of Deucalion, and Meriones, son of Molus, fought in the Trojan war, and their entombed remains are honored with sacrifices.
Many peoples have settled in Crete. First were the Eteocretans, then the Pelasgians, and third the Dorians, led by Tectamus, son of Dorus. Fourth were barbarians. After the sons of Heracles, the Argives and Lacedaemonians colonized the island of Crete.
Next time we shall hear more of Ariadne, Hippodameia, Semele, and Pasiphae.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus5C.html#19
The Cretans,
a Legendary Passage,
from Diodorus Siculus' Library of History,
translated by C. H. Oldfather.
[5.76.1] - [5.80.4]
HERACLES THE GOD
Of Heracles the myths relate that he was sprung from Zeus many years before that Heracles who was born of Alcmenê. As for this son of Zeus, tradition has not given us the name of his mother, but only states that he far excelled all others in vigour of body, and that he visited the inhabited earth, inflicting punishment upon the unjust and destroying the wild beasts which were making the land uninhabitable; for men everywhere he won their freedom, while remaining himself unconquered and unwounded, and because of his good deeds he attained to immortal honour at the hands of mankind.
The Heracles who was born of Alcmenê was very much later, and, since he emulated the plan of life of the ancient Heracles, for the same reasons he attained to immortality, and, as time went on, he was though by men to be the same as the other Heracles because both bore the same name, and the deeds of the earlier Heracles were transferred to the later one, the majority of men being ignorant of the actual facts. And it is generally agreed that the most renowned deeds and honours which belong to the older god were concerned with Egypt, and that these, together with a city which he founded, are still known in that country.
BRITOMARTIS
Britomartis, who is also called Dictynna, the myths relate, was born at Caeno in Crete of Zeus and Carmê, the daughter of Eubulus who was the son of Demeter; she invented the nets (dictya) which are used in hunting, whence she has been called Dictynna, and she passed her time in the company of Artemis, this being the reason why some men think Dictynna and Artemis are one and the same goddess; and the Cretans have instituted sacrifices and built temples in honour of this goddess.
But those men who tell the tale that she has been named Dictynna because she fled into some fishermen’s nets when she was pursued by Minos, who would have ravished her, have missed the truth; for it is not a probably story that the goddess should ever have got into so helpless a state that she would have required the aid that men can give, being as she is the daughter of the greatest one of the gods, nor is it right to ascribe such an impious deed to Minos, who tradition unanimously declares avowed just principles and strove to attain a manner of life which was approved by men.
PLUTUS
Plutus, we are told, was born in Cretan Tripolus to Demeter and Iasion, and there is a double account of his origin. For some men say that the earth, when it was sowed once by Iasion and given proper cultivation, brought forth such an abundance of fruits that those who saw this bestowed a special name upon the abundance of fruits when they appear and called it plutus (wealth); consequently it has become traditional among later generations to say that men who have acquired more than they actually need have plutus.
But there are some who recount the myth that a son was born to Demeter and Iasion whom they named Plutus, and that he was the first to introduce diligence into the life of man and the acquisition and safeguarding of property, all men up to that time having been neglectful of amassing and guarding diligently any store of property.
CULTS OF THE GODS
Such, then, are the myths which the Cretans recount of the gods who they claim were born in their land. They also assert that the honours accorded to the gods and their sacrifices and the initiatory rites observed in connection with the mysteries were handed down from Crete to the rest of men, and to support this they advance the following most weighty argument, as they conceive it: The initiatory rite which is celebrated by the Athenians in Eleusis, the most famous, one may venture, of them all, and that of Samothrace, and the one practised in Thrace among the Cicones, whence Orpheus came who introduced them – these are all handed down in the form of a mystery, whereas at Cnosus in Crete it has been the custom from ancient times that these initiatory rites should be handed down to all openly, and what is handed down among other peoples as not to be divulged, this the Cretans conceal from no one who may wish to inform himself upon such matters.
Indeed, the majority of the gods, the Cretans say, had their beginning in Crete and set out from there to visit many regions of the inhabited world, conferring benefactions upon the races of men and distributing among each of them the advantage which resulted from the discoveries they had made. Demeter, for example, crossed over into Attica and then removed from there to Sicily and afterwards to Egypt; and in these lands her choicest gift was that of the fruit of the corn and instructions in the sowing of it, whereupon she received great honours at the hands of those whom she had benefited.
Likewise Aphroditê made her seat in Sicily in the region of Eryx, among the islands near Cythera and in Paphos in Cyprus, and in Asia in Syria; and because of the manifestations of the goddess in their country and her extended sojourn among the inhabitants of the lands appropriated her to themselves, calling her, as the case might be, Erycinian Aphroditê, and Cytherian, and Paphian, and Syrian.
And in the same manner Apollo revealed himself for the longest time in Delos and Lycia and Delphi, and Artemis in Ephesus and the Pontus and Persis and Crete; and the consequence has been that, either from the names of these regions or as a result of the deeds which they performed in each of them, Apollo has been called Delian and Lycian and Pythian, and Artemis has been called Ephesian and Cretan and Tauropolian and Persian, although both of them were born in Crete.
And this goddess is held in special honour among the Persians, and the barbarians hold mysteries which are performed among other peoples even down to this day in honour of the Persian Artemis. And similar myths are also recounted by the Cretans regarding other gods, but to draw up an account of them would be a long task for us, and it would not be easily grasped by our readers.
MINOS
Many generations after the birth of the gods, the Cretans go on to say, not a few heroes were to be found in Crete, the most renowned of whom were Minos and Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. These men, their myth states, were born of Zeus and Europê, the daughter of Agenor, who, men say, was brought across to Crete upon the back of a bull by the design of the gods.
Now Minos, by virtue of his being the eldest, became king of the island, and he founded on it not a few cities, the most renowned of which were the three, Cnosus in those parts of the island which look toward Asia, Phaestus on the seashore to the south, and Cydonia in the regions to the west facing the Peloponnesus.
And Minos established not a few laws for the Cretans, claiming that he had received them from his father Zeus when conversing with him in a certain cave. Furthermore, he came to possess a great naval power, and he subdued the majority of the islands and was the first man among the Greeks to be master of the sea.
And after he had gained great renown for his manly spirit and justice, he ended his life in Sicily in the course of his campaign against Cocalus, the details of which we have recounted in connection with our account of Daedalus, because of whom the campaign was made.
RHADAMANTHYS
Of Rhadamanthys the Cretans say that of all men he rendered the most just decisions and inflicted inexorable punishment upon robbers and impious men and all other malefactors. He came also to possess no small number of islands and a large part of the sea coast of Asia, all men delivering themselves into his hands of their free will because of his justice. Upon Erythrus, one of his sons, Rhadamanthys bestowed the kingship over the city which was named after him Erythrae, and to Oenopion, the son of Minos’ daughter Ariadnê, he gave Chios, we are told, although some writers of myths state that Oenopion was a son of Dionysus and learned from his father the art of making wine.
And to each one of his other generals, the Cretans say, he made a present of an island or a city Lemnos to Thoas, Cyrnus to Enyeus, Peparethos to Staphylus, Maroneia to Euanthes, Paros to Alcaeus, Delos to Anion, and to Andreus the island which was named after him Andros. Moreover, because of his very great justice, the myth has sprung up that he was appointed to be judge in Hades, where his decisions separate the good from the wicked. And the same honour has also been attained by Minos, because he ruled wholly in accordance with law and paid greatest heed to justice.
SARPEDON
The third brother, Sarpedon, we are told, crossed over into Asia with an army and subdued the regions about Lycia. Euandrus, his son, succeeded him in the kingship in Lycia, and marrying Deïdameia, the daughter of Bellerophone, he begat that Sarpedon who took part in the expedition against Troy, although some writers have called him a son of Zeus.
IDOMENEUS
Minos’ sons, they say, were Deucalion and Molus, and to Deucalion was born Idomeneus and to Molus was born Meriones. These two joined with Agamemnon in the expedition against Ilium with ninety ships, and when they had returned in safety to their fatherland they died and were accorded a notable burial and immortal honours. And the Cretans point out their tomb at Cnosus, which bears the following inscription:
Behold Idomeneus the Cnosian’s tomb, and by his side am I, Meriones, the son of Molus.
These two the Cretans hold in special honour as heroes of renown, offering up sacrifices to them and calling upon them to come to their aid in the perils which arise in war.
MEN OF CRETE
But now that we have examined these matters it remains for us to discuss the peoples who have become intermixed with the Cretans. That the first inhabitants of the island were known as Eteocretans and that they are considered to have sprung from the soil itself, we have stated before; and many generations after them Pelasgians, who were in movement by reason of their continuous expeditions and migrations, arrived at Crete and made their home in a part of the island.
The third people to cross over to the island, we are told, were Dorians, under the leadership of Tectamus the son of Dorus; and the account states that the larger number of these Dorians was gathered from the regions about Olympus, but that a part of them consisted of Achaeans from Laconia, since Dorus had fixed the base of his expedition in the region about Cape Malea. And a fourth people to come to Crete and to become intermixed with the Cretans, we are told, was a heterogeneous collection of barbarians who in the course of time adopted the language of the native Greeks.
But after these events Minos and Rhadamanthys, when they had attained to power, gathered the peoples on the island into one union. And last of all, after the Return of the Heracleidae, Argives and Lacedaemonians sent forth colonies which they established on certain other islands and likewise took possession of Crete, and on these islands they colonized certain cities; with regard to these cities, however, we shall give a detailed account in connection with the period of time to which they belong.
And since the greatest number of writers who have written about Crete disagree among themselves, there should be no occasion for surprise if what we report should not agree with every one of them; we have, indeed, followed as our authorities those who give the more probably account and are the most trustworthy, in some matters depending upon Epimenides who as written about the gods, in other upon Dosiades, Sosicrates, and Laosthenidas.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus5C.html#19
Last time we heard the story of Europa and her descendants. This time we shall focus on her sons and the men and demigods of Crete.
First is Heracles, though a distinction is made between the original and the son of Alcmena. Both slew the unjust and beasts of the the wild, but the older demigod founded a city in Egypt.
Second is Britomartis, daughter of Zeus and Carme. She is called Dictynna for inventing hunting nets, not because she fled Minos and jumped into the nets of a fisherman.
Third is Plutus, son of Demeter and Iasion. He is the god of wealth and abundance. He was the first to introduce the idea of safeguarding property and surpluses.
The author asserts that worship of the gods originated in Crete, and spread from there to distant lands. While foreigners kept their mysteries secret, Cretans shared their sacred knowledge with all.
Minos, the eldest son of Zeus and Europa, founded several cities, established laws, and with his naval fleet became master of the seas. He died in Sicily chasing down Daedalus.
Rhadamanthys was known as the greatest of judges. He gave his son Erythrus the city of Erythrae; and gave Chios to Oenopion, son of Ariadne and Dionysus. After he dies he becomes a judge in Hades, along with his brother Minos. But not the third brother Sarpedon, who started a dynasty in Lycia.
Cousins Idomenus, son of Deucalion, and Meriones, son of Molus, fought in the Trojan war, and their entombed remains are honored with sacrifices.
Many peoples have settled in Crete. First were the Eteocretans, then the Pelasgians, and third the Dorians, led by Tectamus, son of Dorus. Fourth were barbarians. After the sons of Heracles, the Argives and Lacedaemonians colonized the island of Crete.
Next time we shall hear more of Ariadne, Hippodameia, Semele, and Pasiphae.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus5C.html#19
The Cretans,
a Legendary Passage,
from Diodorus Siculus' Library of History,
translated by C. H. Oldfather.
[5.76.1] - [5.80.4]
HERACLES THE GOD
Of Heracles the myths relate that he was sprung from Zeus many years before that Heracles who was born of Alcmenê. As for this son of Zeus, tradition has not given us the name of his mother, but only states that he far excelled all others in vigour of body, and that he visited the inhabited earth, inflicting punishment upon the unjust and destroying the wild beasts which were making the land uninhabitable; for men everywhere he won their freedom, while remaining himself unconquered and unwounded, and because of his good deeds he attained to immortal honour at the hands of mankind.
The Heracles who was born of Alcmenê was very much later, and, since he emulated the plan of life of the ancient Heracles, for the same reasons he attained to immortality, and, as time went on, he was though by men to be the same as the other Heracles because both bore the same name, and the deeds of the earlier Heracles were transferred to the later one, the majority of men being ignorant of the actual facts. And it is generally agreed that the most renowned deeds and honours which belong to the older god were concerned with Egypt, and that these, together with a city which he founded, are still known in that country.
BRITOMARTIS
Britomartis, who is also called Dictynna, the myths relate, was born at Caeno in Crete of Zeus and Carmê, the daughter of Eubulus who was the son of Demeter; she invented the nets (dictya) which are used in hunting, whence she has been called Dictynna, and she passed her time in the company of Artemis, this being the reason why some men think Dictynna and Artemis are one and the same goddess; and the Cretans have instituted sacrifices and built temples in honour of this goddess.
But those men who tell the tale that she has been named Dictynna because she fled into some fishermen’s nets when she was pursued by Minos, who would have ravished her, have missed the truth; for it is not a probably story that the goddess should ever have got into so helpless a state that she would have required the aid that men can give, being as she is the daughter of the greatest one of the gods, nor is it right to ascribe such an impious deed to Minos, who tradition unanimously declares avowed just principles and strove to attain a manner of life which was approved by men.
PLUTUS
Plutus, we are told, was born in Cretan Tripolus to Demeter and Iasion, and there is a double account of his origin. For some men say that the earth, when it was sowed once by Iasion and given proper cultivation, brought forth such an abundance of fruits that those who saw this bestowed a special name upon the abundance of fruits when they appear and called it plutus (wealth); consequently it has become traditional among later generations to say that men who have acquired more than they actually need have plutus.
But there are some who recount the myth that a son was born to Demeter and Iasion whom they named Plutus, and that he was the first to introduce diligence into the life of man and the acquisition and safeguarding of property, all men up to that time having been neglectful of amassing and guarding diligently any store of property.
CULTS OF THE GODS
Such, then, are the myths which the Cretans recount of the gods who they claim were born in their land. They also assert that the honours accorded to the gods and their sacrifices and the initiatory rites observed in connection with the mysteries were handed down from Crete to the rest of men, and to support this they advance the following most weighty argument, as they conceive it: The initiatory rite which is celebrated by the Athenians in Eleusis, the most famous, one may venture, of them all, and that of Samothrace, and the one practised in Thrace among the Cicones, whence Orpheus came who introduced them – these are all handed down in the form of a mystery, whereas at Cnosus in Crete it has been the custom from ancient times that these initiatory rites should be handed down to all openly, and what is handed down among other peoples as not to be divulged, this the Cretans conceal from no one who may wish to inform himself upon such matters.
Indeed, the majority of the gods, the Cretans say, had their beginning in Crete and set out from there to visit many regions of the inhabited world, conferring benefactions upon the races of men and distributing among each of them the advantage which resulted from the discoveries they had made. Demeter, for example, crossed over into Attica and then removed from there to Sicily and afterwards to Egypt; and in these lands her choicest gift was that of the fruit of the corn and instructions in the sowing of it, whereupon she received great honours at the hands of those whom she had benefited.
Likewise Aphroditê made her seat in Sicily in the region of Eryx, among the islands near Cythera and in Paphos in Cyprus, and in Asia in Syria; and because of the manifestations of the goddess in their country and her extended sojourn among the inhabitants of the lands appropriated her to themselves, calling her, as the case might be, Erycinian Aphroditê, and Cytherian, and Paphian, and Syrian.
And in the same manner Apollo revealed himself for the longest time in Delos and Lycia and Delphi, and Artemis in Ephesus and the Pontus and Persis and Crete; and the consequence has been that, either from the names of these regions or as a result of the deeds which they performed in each of them, Apollo has been called Delian and Lycian and Pythian, and Artemis has been called Ephesian and Cretan and Tauropolian and Persian, although both of them were born in Crete.
And this goddess is held in special honour among the Persians, and the barbarians hold mysteries which are performed among other peoples even down to this day in honour of the Persian Artemis. And similar myths are also recounted by the Cretans regarding other gods, but to draw up an account of them would be a long task for us, and it would not be easily grasped by our readers.
MINOS
Many generations after the birth of the gods, the Cretans go on to say, not a few heroes were to be found in Crete, the most renowned of whom were Minos and Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon. These men, their myth states, were born of Zeus and Europê, the daughter of Agenor, who, men say, was brought across to Crete upon the back of a bull by the design of the gods.
Now Minos, by virtue of his being the eldest, became king of the island, and he founded on it not a few cities, the most renowned of which were the three, Cnosus in those parts of the island which look toward Asia, Phaestus on the seashore to the south, and Cydonia in the regions to the west facing the Peloponnesus.
And Minos established not a few laws for the Cretans, claiming that he had received them from his father Zeus when conversing with him in a certain cave. Furthermore, he came to possess a great naval power, and he subdued the majority of the islands and was the first man among the Greeks to be master of the sea.
And after he had gained great renown for his manly spirit and justice, he ended his life in Sicily in the course of his campaign against Cocalus, the details of which we have recounted in connection with our account of Daedalus, because of whom the campaign was made.
RHADAMANTHYS
Of Rhadamanthys the Cretans say that of all men he rendered the most just decisions and inflicted inexorable punishment upon robbers and impious men and all other malefactors. He came also to possess no small number of islands and a large part of the sea coast of Asia, all men delivering themselves into his hands of their free will because of his justice. Upon Erythrus, one of his sons, Rhadamanthys bestowed the kingship over the city which was named after him Erythrae, and to Oenopion, the son of Minos’ daughter Ariadnê, he gave Chios, we are told, although some writers of myths state that Oenopion was a son of Dionysus and learned from his father the art of making wine.
And to each one of his other generals, the Cretans say, he made a present of an island or a city Lemnos to Thoas, Cyrnus to Enyeus, Peparethos to Staphylus, Maroneia to Euanthes, Paros to Alcaeus, Delos to Anion, and to Andreus the island which was named after him Andros. Moreover, because of his very great justice, the myth has sprung up that he was appointed to be judge in Hades, where his decisions separate the good from the wicked. And the same honour has also been attained by Minos, because he ruled wholly in accordance with law and paid greatest heed to justice.
SARPEDON
The third brother, Sarpedon, we are told, crossed over into Asia with an army and subdued the regions about Lycia. Euandrus, his son, succeeded him in the kingship in Lycia, and marrying Deïdameia, the daughter of Bellerophone, he begat that Sarpedon who took part in the expedition against Troy, although some writers have called him a son of Zeus.
IDOMENEUS
Minos’ sons, they say, were Deucalion and Molus, and to Deucalion was born Idomeneus and to Molus was born Meriones. These two joined with Agamemnon in the expedition against Ilium with ninety ships, and when they had returned in safety to their fatherland they died and were accorded a notable burial and immortal honours. And the Cretans point out their tomb at Cnosus, which bears the following inscription:
Behold Idomeneus the Cnosian’s tomb, and by his side am I, Meriones, the son of Molus.
These two the Cretans hold in special honour as heroes of renown, offering up sacrifices to them and calling upon them to come to their aid in the perils which arise in war.
MEN OF CRETE
But now that we have examined these matters it remains for us to discuss the peoples who have become intermixed with the Cretans. That the first inhabitants of the island were known as Eteocretans and that they are considered to have sprung from the soil itself, we have stated before; and many generations after them Pelasgians, who were in movement by reason of their continuous expeditions and migrations, arrived at Crete and made their home in a part of the island.
The third people to cross over to the island, we are told, were Dorians, under the leadership of Tectamus the son of Dorus; and the account states that the larger number of these Dorians was gathered from the regions about Olympus, but that a part of them consisted of Achaeans from Laconia, since Dorus had fixed the base of his expedition in the region about Cape Malea. And a fourth people to come to Crete and to become intermixed with the Cretans, we are told, was a heterogeneous collection of barbarians who in the course of time adopted the language of the native Greeks.
But after these events Minos and Rhadamanthys, when they had attained to power, gathered the peoples on the island into one union. And last of all, after the Return of the Heracleidae, Argives and Lacedaemonians sent forth colonies which they established on certain other islands and likewise took possession of Crete, and on these islands they colonized certain cities; with regard to these cities, however, we shall give a detailed account in connection with the period of time to which they belong.
And since the greatest number of writers who have written about Crete disagree among themselves, there should be no occasion for surprise if what we report should not agree with every one of them; we have, indeed, followed as our authorities those who give the more probably account and are the most trustworthy, in some matters depending upon Epimenides who as written about the gods, in other upon Dosiades, Sosicrates, and Laosthenidas.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/DiodorusSiculus5C.html#19
Monday, February 2, 2015
LP0020 - Europa - The Library of Apollodorus -
Legendary Passages #0020 - Europa - The Library of Apollodorus -
Last time we reviewed the stories of Theseus, Daedalus, and Minos. This time we examine the genealogy of the house of Minos, starting with his mother Europa.
Now Europa had three brothers: Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix. Their parents were Aegenor, son of Poseidon and Libya; and Telephassa, daughter of Nilus and Nephele.
Europa was abducted by Zeus, who was in the form of a white bull. Her father Aegenor told his sons to search for her, and not come home without her. None returned. Phoenix went to Phoenicia, Cilix went to Cilicia, and Cadmus went to Thrace.
Europa made pregnant by Zeus, was married by Asterius of Crete. She had three sons: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys. Her sons loved a boy named Miletus, a son of Apollo; or Atymnius, a son of Zeus. They went to war, and Minos won. Sarpedon eventually became King of Lycia. Rhadamanthys eventually married Aclmena, mother of Heracles.
Minos became King of Crete, and married Pasiphae, daughter of Helius and Perseis. They had many, many children, including Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, and Catreus.
In order to secure the throne, Minos prayed for proof of divine right, and Poseidon sent the Cretan Bull. Minos refused to sacrifice it, and Pasiphae fell in love with it. Deadalus constructed a wooden cow to aid Queen Pasiphae, and she conceived the Minotaur.
Catreus, son of Minos and Pasiphae, was told by an oracle that on of his children would kill him. Catreus had a son Althaemenes and three daughters: Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne. Overhearing the oracle, Althaemenes and his sister Apemosyne fled to Rhodes.
Catreus sold his daughters Aerope and Clymen to Nauplius to take far, far away. But Nauplius married Clymena himself; and he gave Areope to Plisthenes, son of Atreus.
When Minos' son Glaucus was very young, he drowned in a jar of honey. He was found by Polyidus, or Aesclepius in some stories. Minos imprisoned the diviner with the body, and ordered him to bring out his son alive. After seeing a serpent revived with a magic herb, Polyidus resurrected Glaucus, and taught him divination. But upon sailing away, he made the boy forget.
Europa was eventually found by her brother Cadmus, but she did not want to return home from Crete. Cadmus was told by the oracle to follow a cow until it lay down, and built a city there. He founded the city of Thebes, and fought and killed a dragon of Ares. He sowed the dragons teeth, which grew up into skeleton warriors which fought each other.
Cadmus served Ares for a time, and married Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. He gave her a magic necklace made by Hephestus, and it might have once been given by Zeus to Europa.
Next time we shall hear more of Minos' brothers Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, as well as other Cretans.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#1
Europa,
a Legendary Passage,
from Library of Apollodorus,
translated by J. G. Frazer.
[3.1.1] - [3.4.2]
...[W]e have next to speak of the house of Agenor. For as I have said, 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. But some say that Europa was a daughter not of Agenor but of Phoenix.
Zeus loved her, and turning himself into a tame bull, he mounted her on his back and conveyed her through the sea to Crete. There Zeus bedded with her, and she bore Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys; but according to Homer, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus by Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon.
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, 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.
Now Asterius, prince of the Cretans, married Europa and brought up her children. 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.
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. 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 islanders but afterwards he fled to Boeotia and married Alcmena; 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 Sun and Perseis; but Asclepiades says that his wife was Crete, daughter of Asterius. He begat sons, to wit, Catreus, 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. Being the first to obtain the dominion of the sea, he extended his rule over almost all the islands.
But angry at him for not sacrificing the bull, Poseidon made the animal savage, and contrived that Pasiphae should conceive a passion for it.
In her love for the bull she found an accomplice in Daedalus, an architect, who had been banished from Athens for murder. 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. The story of the Minotaur, and Androgeus, and Phaedra, and Ariadne, I will tell hereafter in my account of Theseus.
But Catreus, son of Minos, had three daughters, Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes. 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.
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. But Glaucus, while he was yet a child, in chasing a mouse fell into a jar of honey and was drowned. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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. Thus much must suffice for my account of the descendants of Europa.
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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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#1
Last time we reviewed the stories of Theseus, Daedalus, and Minos. This time we examine the genealogy of the house of Minos, starting with his mother Europa.
Now Europa had three brothers: Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix. Their parents were Aegenor, son of Poseidon and Libya; and Telephassa, daughter of Nilus and Nephele.
Europa was abducted by Zeus, who was in the form of a white bull. Her father Aegenor told his sons to search for her, and not come home without her. None returned. Phoenix went to Phoenicia, Cilix went to Cilicia, and Cadmus went to Thrace.
Europa made pregnant by Zeus, was married by Asterius of Crete. She had three sons: Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys. Her sons loved a boy named Miletus, a son of Apollo; or Atymnius, a son of Zeus. They went to war, and Minos won. Sarpedon eventually became King of Lycia. Rhadamanthys eventually married Aclmena, mother of Heracles.
Minos became King of Crete, and married Pasiphae, daughter of Helius and Perseis. They had many, many children, including Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, and Catreus.
In order to secure the throne, Minos prayed for proof of divine right, and Poseidon sent the Cretan Bull. Minos refused to sacrifice it, and Pasiphae fell in love with it. Deadalus constructed a wooden cow to aid Queen Pasiphae, and she conceived the Minotaur.
Catreus, son of Minos and Pasiphae, was told by an oracle that on of his children would kill him. Catreus had a son Althaemenes and three daughters: Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne. Overhearing the oracle, Althaemenes and his sister Apemosyne fled to Rhodes.
Catreus sold his daughters Aerope and Clymen to Nauplius to take far, far away. But Nauplius married Clymena himself; and he gave Areope to Plisthenes, son of Atreus.
When Minos' son Glaucus was very young, he drowned in a jar of honey. He was found by Polyidus, or Aesclepius in some stories. Minos imprisoned the diviner with the body, and ordered him to bring out his son alive. After seeing a serpent revived with a magic herb, Polyidus resurrected Glaucus, and taught him divination. But upon sailing away, he made the boy forget.
Europa was eventually found by her brother Cadmus, but she did not want to return home from Crete. Cadmus was told by the oracle to follow a cow until it lay down, and built a city there. He founded the city of Thebes, and fought and killed a dragon of Ares. He sowed the dragons teeth, which grew up into skeleton warriors which fought each other.
Cadmus served Ares for a time, and married Harmonia, daughter of Aphrodite and Ares. He gave her a magic necklace made by Hephestus, and it might have once been given by Zeus to Europa.
Next time we shall hear more of Minos' brothers Rhadamanthys and Sarpedon, as well as other Cretans.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#1
Europa,
a Legendary Passage,
from Library of Apollodorus,
translated by J. G. Frazer.
[3.1.1] - [3.4.2]
...[W]e have next to speak of the house of Agenor. For as I have said, 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. But some say that Europa was a daughter not of Agenor but of Phoenix.
Zeus loved her, and turning himself into a tame bull, he mounted her on his back and conveyed her through the sea to Crete. There Zeus bedded with her, and she bore Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys; but according to Homer, Sarpedon was a son of Zeus by Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon.
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, 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.
Now Asterius, prince of the Cretans, married Europa and brought up her children. 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.
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. 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 islanders but afterwards he fled to Boeotia and married Alcmena; 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 Sun and Perseis; but Asclepiades says that his wife was Crete, daughter of Asterius. He begat sons, to wit, Catreus, 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. Being the first to obtain the dominion of the sea, he extended his rule over almost all the islands.
But angry at him for not sacrificing the bull, Poseidon made the animal savage, and contrived that Pasiphae should conceive a passion for it.
In her love for the bull she found an accomplice in Daedalus, an architect, who had been banished from Athens for murder. 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. The story of the Minotaur, and Androgeus, and Phaedra, and Ariadne, I will tell hereafter in my account of Theseus.
But Catreus, son of Minos, had three daughters, Aerope, Clymene, and Apemosyne, and a son, Althaemenes. 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.
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. But Glaucus, while he was yet a child, in chasing a mouse fell into a jar of honey and was drowned. 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. 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.
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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/Apollodorus3.html#1
LP0019 - Athenian Fables - Hyginus' Fables -
Legendary Passages #0019 - Athenian Fables - Hyginus' Fables -
The next six episodes focus on the people and stories of Crete, from the family of King Minos and Ariadne to Daedalus and Icarus.
This passage is from the Fables of Hyginus, and is an overview of the stories of Theseus, the Minotaur, and a few others.
First is a review of the origins of Theseus, from his mother Aethra to all of the bandits and monsters he killed on his way to Athens.
Next how Daedalus helped Pasiphae consummate her love with the Cretan Bull, which resulted in the Minotaur. Minos imprisoned Daedalus, but he escaped with Icarus by mechanical wings. But Icarus fell to his death, and Daedalus fled to Sicily.
Theseus killed the minotaur, loses Ariadne to Dionysus, and becomes King when his father jumps into the sea.
Minos follows Daedalus to Sicily, ruled by King Cocalus. The king's daughters help Deadalus kill Minos.
Next is the story of Progne and Philomela, daughters of King Pandion of Athens. Tereus, the Thracian son of Mars is married to Progne, but tells her farther that she died, and asks to marry her sister Philomela. Tereus violates her and gives her as a concubine to King Lynceus, whose wife reunites the sisters. In revenge they kill Tereus' son, cook him, and trick Tereus into eating him.
Then there is the story of the daughters of Erectheus. When a son of Neptune is killed attacking the city, Neptune demands the sacrifice of one of the daughters. They had previously sworn an oath to all die together, and Erechtheus dies by thunderbolt.
Theseus once married an Amazon, and they had a son Hippolytus before she died. He then married Phaedra, daughter of Minos and sister to Ariadne, but she fell in love with his son Hippolytus. Spurned, she hung herself, and claimed that he had violated her. Theseus exiles his son, and asks Neptune for his death. Hippolytus' horses drag him to his doom.
After a list of Kings of Athens, we hear the story of Aesculapius. He is a son of Apollo and a healer, and after bringing Hippolytus back from the dead, he is killed by a thunderbolt.
In revenge, Apollo kills the forgers of thunderbolts, the cyclops. As punishment, he serves King Admetus. In order to marry Alcestis, King Admetus must yoke wild animals to a chariot. Apollo helps him, and offers to prolong his life if someone will die in his place. Alcestis dies for him, but Hercules wrestles death to save her.
Lastly is the story of Aegina, daughter of Asopus, and mother, by Jupiter, of King Aeacus. He names his island after his mother, and Hera sends a terrible plague. Aeacus prays to Jupiter, who changes men into ants, and thus is the reason the the men of Ageina are called Myrmidons.
Next time we shall hear the story of the mother of Minos, Europa.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#37
Athenian Fables,
a Legendary Passage.
from Hyginus' Fables,
translated by Mary Grant.
[37]-[52]
XXXVII. AETHRA
Neptune and Aegeus, son of Pandion, one night in the shrine of Minerva both lay with Aethra, daughter of Pittheus. Neptune conceded the child to Aegeus. Now he, on the point of returning to Athens from Troezene, put his sword under a stone, and told Aethra that when the boy could lift the stone and take his father’s sword, she should send him to him. He would recognize his son by that. And so later Aethra bore Theseus. When he had reached young manhood, his mother told him Aegeus’ instructions, showed him the stone so that he could get the sword, and bade him set out for Athens to Aegeus . . . and he killed all those who made the road unsafe.
XXXVIII. LABORS OF THESEUS
He slew Corynetes, son of Neptune, by force of arms.
He killed Pityocamptes, who forced travellers to help him bend a pine tree to the ground. When they had taken hold of it with him, he let it rebound suddenly with force. Thus they were dashed violently to the ground and died.
He killed Procrustes, son of Neptune. When a guest came to visit him, if he was rather tall, he brought a shorter bed, and cut off the rest of his body; if rather short, he gave him a longer bed, and by hanging anvils to him stretched him to match the length of the bed.
Sciron used to sit near the sea at a certain point, and compel those who passed by to wash his feet; then he kicked them into the sea. Theseus cast him into the sea by a similar death, and from this the rocks are called those of Sciron.
He killed by force of arms Cercyon, son of Vulcan.
He killed the boar which was at Cremyon.
He killed the bull at Marathon, which Hercules had brought to Eurystheus from Crete.
He killed the Minotaur in the town of Cnossus.
XXXIX. DAEDALUS
Daedalus, son of Eupalamus, who is said to have received the art of craftsmanship from Athena, threw down from the roof Perdix, son of his sister, envying his skill, because he first invented the saw. Because of this crime he went into exile from Athens to Crete to King Minos.
XL. PASIPHAE
Pasiphae, daughter of Sol and wife of Minos, for several years did not make offerings to the goddess Venus. Because of this Venus inspired in her an unnatural love for a bull [corrupt]. At the time when Daedalus came there as an exile, he asked her to help him. For her he made a wooden heifer, and put in it the hide of a real heifer, and in this she lay with the bull. From this intercourse she bore the Minotaur, with bull’s head but human body. Then Daedalus made for the Minotaur a labyrinth with an undiscoverable exit in which it was confined. When Minos found out the affair he cast Daedalus into prison, but Pasiphae freed him from his chains. And so Daedalus made wings and fitted them to himself and to his son Icarus, and they flew away from that place. Icarus flew too high, and when the wax was melted by the sun, fell into the sea which was named Icarian for him. Daedalus flew on to King Cocalus in the island of Sicily. Others say that after Theseus killed the Minotaur he brought Daedalus back to Athens, his own country.
XLI. MINOS
When Minos, son of Jove and Europa, fought with the Athenians, his son Androgeus was killed in the fight. After he conquered the Athenians their revenues became his; he decreed, moreover, that each year they should send seven of their children as food for the Minotaur. After Theseus had come from Troezene, and had learned what a calamity afflicted the state, of his own accord he promised to go against the Minotaur. When his father sent him off, he charged him to have white sails for his ships if he came back as victor; those who were sent to the Minotaur journeyed with black sails.
XLII. THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR
When Theseus came to Crete, Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, loved him so much that she betrayed her brother and saved the stranger, or she showed Theseus the way out of the Labyrinth. When Theseus had entered and killed the Minotaur, by Ariadne’s advise he got out by unwinding the thread. Ariadne, because she had been loyal to him, he took away, intending to marry her.
XLIII. ARIADNE
Theseus, detained by a storm on the island of Dia, though it would be a reproach to him if he brought Ariadne to Athens, and so he left her asleep on the island of Dia. Liber, falling in love with her, took her from there as his wife. However, when Theseus left, he forgot to change the black sails, and so his father Aegeus judged that he had been devoured by the Minotaur. He threw himself into the sea, which was called Aegean from this. But Theseus married Phaedra, Ariadne’s sister.
XLIV. COCALUS
Minos, because many misfortunes had come to him through the agency of Daedalus, followed him to Sicily, and asked King Cocalus to surrender him. When Cocalus had promised this, and Daedalus found it out, he sought help from the daughters of the king, and they killed Minos.
XLV. PHILOMELA
While Tereus, son of Mars, a Thracian, was married to Progne, daughter of Pandion, he came to Athens to his father-in-law Pandion to ask for his other daughter in marriage, stating that Progne had died. Pandion granted him the favour, and sent Philomela and guards along with her. But Tereus threw the guards into the sea, and finding Philomela on a mountain, violated her. After he returned to Thrace, he gave Philomela to king Lynceus, whose wife Lathusa, because Progne was her friend, at once sent the concubine to her. When Progne recognized her sister and knew the impious deed of Tereus, the two planned to return the favour to the King. Meanwhile it was revealed to Tereus by prodigies that death by a relative’s hand was coming to his son Itys. When he heard this, thinking that his brother Dryas was plotting his son’s death, he killed the innocent man. Progne, however, killed her son Itys by Tereus, served him at his father’s table, and fled with her sister. When Tereus, cognizant of the crime, was pursuing them as they fled, by the pity of the gods it came about that Progne was changed into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. They say, too, that Tereus was made a hawk.
XLVI. ERECHTHEUS
Erechtheus, son of Pandion, had four daughters who promised each other that if one met death, the others would kill themselves. Eumolpus, son of Neptune, came to attack Athens because he said the Attic land was his father’s. When he and his army were defeated and he was slain by the Athenians, Neptune demanded that Erechtheus’ daughter be sacrificed to him so that Erechtheus would not rejoice at his son’s death. And so when Chthonia, his daughter, had been sacrifided, the others in accordance with their oaths killed themselves. Erechtheus himself at Neptune’s request was smitten with a thunderbolt by Jove.
XLVII. HIPPOLYTUS
Phaedra , daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus, loved her stepson Hippolytus. When she could not bend him to her desire, she sent a letter to her husband saying that she had been attacked by Hippolytus, and slew herself by hanging.
Theseus, when he heard this, ordered his son to leave the city and prayed Neptune his father for his son’s death. And so when Hippolytus was driving his team of horses, a bull suddenly appeared from the sea. The horses, terrified at its bellowing, dragged Hippolytus, rending him limb from limb, and caused his death.
XLVIII. KINGS OF THE ATHENIANS
Cecrops, son of Terra (Earth); Cephalus, son of Deione; Erichthonius, son of Vulcan; Pandion, son of Erichthonius; Erechtheu, son of Pandion; Aegeus, son of Pandion; Theseus, son of Aegeus; Demophoon, son of Theseus.
XLIX. AESCULAPIUS
Aesculapius, son of Apollo, is said to have restored life either to Glaucus, son of Minos, or to Hippolytus, and Jupiter because of this struck him with a thunderbolt. Apollo, not being able to injure Jupiter, killed the ones who had made the thunderbolt, that is, the Cyclopes. On account of this deed Apollo was given in servitude to Admetus, King in Thessaly.
L. ADMETUS
When great numbers of suitors were seeking Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, in marriage, and Pelias was refusing many of them, he set a contest for them, promising that he would give her to the one who yoked wild beasts to a chariot and bore her off. Admetus asked Apollo to help him, and Apollo, because he had been kindly received by him while in servitude gave to him a wild boar and a lion yoked together, with which he carried off Alcestis.
He obtained this, too, from Apollo, that another could voluntarily die in his place. When neither his father nor his mother was willing to die for him, his wife Alcestis offered herself, and died for him in vicarious death. Later Hercules called her back from the dead.
LII. AEGINA
When Jupiter wished to lie with Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, he feared Juno, and took the girl to the island of Delos, and there made her pregnant. Aeacus was their son. When Juno found this out, she sent a serpent into the water which poisoned it, and if anyone drank from it, he paid the debt to nature. Since Aeacus, his allies lost, could not protect himself on account of the scarcity of men, as he gazed at some ants, he begged Jupiter to give him men for defense. Then Jupiter changed the ants into men, who were named Myrmidones, because in Greek ants are called ‘myrmekes’. The island, however, has the name of Aegina.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#37
The next six episodes focus on the people and stories of Crete, from the family of King Minos and Ariadne to Daedalus and Icarus.
This passage is from the Fables of Hyginus, and is an overview of the stories of Theseus, the Minotaur, and a few others.
First is a review of the origins of Theseus, from his mother Aethra to all of the bandits and monsters he killed on his way to Athens.
Next how Daedalus helped Pasiphae consummate her love with the Cretan Bull, which resulted in the Minotaur. Minos imprisoned Daedalus, but he escaped with Icarus by mechanical wings. But Icarus fell to his death, and Daedalus fled to Sicily.
Theseus killed the minotaur, loses Ariadne to Dionysus, and becomes King when his father jumps into the sea.
Minos follows Daedalus to Sicily, ruled by King Cocalus. The king's daughters help Deadalus kill Minos.
Next is the story of Progne and Philomela, daughters of King Pandion of Athens. Tereus, the Thracian son of Mars is married to Progne, but tells her farther that she died, and asks to marry her sister Philomela. Tereus violates her and gives her as a concubine to King Lynceus, whose wife reunites the sisters. In revenge they kill Tereus' son, cook him, and trick Tereus into eating him.
Then there is the story of the daughters of Erectheus. When a son of Neptune is killed attacking the city, Neptune demands the sacrifice of one of the daughters. They had previously sworn an oath to all die together, and Erechtheus dies by thunderbolt.
Theseus once married an Amazon, and they had a son Hippolytus before she died. He then married Phaedra, daughter of Minos and sister to Ariadne, but she fell in love with his son Hippolytus. Spurned, she hung herself, and claimed that he had violated her. Theseus exiles his son, and asks Neptune for his death. Hippolytus' horses drag him to his doom.
After a list of Kings of Athens, we hear the story of Aesculapius. He is a son of Apollo and a healer, and after bringing Hippolytus back from the dead, he is killed by a thunderbolt.
In revenge, Apollo kills the forgers of thunderbolts, the cyclops. As punishment, he serves King Admetus. In order to marry Alcestis, King Admetus must yoke wild animals to a chariot. Apollo helps him, and offers to prolong his life if someone will die in his place. Alcestis dies for him, but Hercules wrestles death to save her.
Lastly is the story of Aegina, daughter of Asopus, and mother, by Jupiter, of King Aeacus. He names his island after his mother, and Hera sends a terrible plague. Aeacus prays to Jupiter, who changes men into ants, and thus is the reason the the men of Ageina are called Myrmidons.
Next time we shall hear the story of the mother of Minos, Europa.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#37
Athenian Fables,
a Legendary Passage.
from Hyginus' Fables,
translated by Mary Grant.
[37]-[52]
XXXVII. AETHRA
Neptune and Aegeus, son of Pandion, one night in the shrine of Minerva both lay with Aethra, daughter of Pittheus. Neptune conceded the child to Aegeus. Now he, on the point of returning to Athens from Troezene, put his sword under a stone, and told Aethra that when the boy could lift the stone and take his father’s sword, she should send him to him. He would recognize his son by that. And so later Aethra bore Theseus. When he had reached young manhood, his mother told him Aegeus’ instructions, showed him the stone so that he could get the sword, and bade him set out for Athens to Aegeus . . . and he killed all those who made the road unsafe.
XXXVIII. LABORS OF THESEUS
He slew Corynetes, son of Neptune, by force of arms.
He killed Pityocamptes, who forced travellers to help him bend a pine tree to the ground. When they had taken hold of it with him, he let it rebound suddenly with force. Thus they were dashed violently to the ground and died.
He killed Procrustes, son of Neptune. When a guest came to visit him, if he was rather tall, he brought a shorter bed, and cut off the rest of his body; if rather short, he gave him a longer bed, and by hanging anvils to him stretched him to match the length of the bed.
Sciron used to sit near the sea at a certain point, and compel those who passed by to wash his feet; then he kicked them into the sea. Theseus cast him into the sea by a similar death, and from this the rocks are called those of Sciron.
He killed by force of arms Cercyon, son of Vulcan.
He killed the boar which was at Cremyon.
He killed the bull at Marathon, which Hercules had brought to Eurystheus from Crete.
He killed the Minotaur in the town of Cnossus.
XXXIX. DAEDALUS
Daedalus, son of Eupalamus, who is said to have received the art of craftsmanship from Athena, threw down from the roof Perdix, son of his sister, envying his skill, because he first invented the saw. Because of this crime he went into exile from Athens to Crete to King Minos.
XL. PASIPHAE
Pasiphae, daughter of Sol and wife of Minos, for several years did not make offerings to the goddess Venus. Because of this Venus inspired in her an unnatural love for a bull [corrupt]. At the time when Daedalus came there as an exile, he asked her to help him. For her he made a wooden heifer, and put in it the hide of a real heifer, and in this she lay with the bull. From this intercourse she bore the Minotaur, with bull’s head but human body. Then Daedalus made for the Minotaur a labyrinth with an undiscoverable exit in which it was confined. When Minos found out the affair he cast Daedalus into prison, but Pasiphae freed him from his chains. And so Daedalus made wings and fitted them to himself and to his son Icarus, and they flew away from that place. Icarus flew too high, and when the wax was melted by the sun, fell into the sea which was named Icarian for him. Daedalus flew on to King Cocalus in the island of Sicily. Others say that after Theseus killed the Minotaur he brought Daedalus back to Athens, his own country.
XLI. MINOS
When Minos, son of Jove and Europa, fought with the Athenians, his son Androgeus was killed in the fight. After he conquered the Athenians their revenues became his; he decreed, moreover, that each year they should send seven of their children as food for the Minotaur. After Theseus had come from Troezene, and had learned what a calamity afflicted the state, of his own accord he promised to go against the Minotaur. When his father sent him off, he charged him to have white sails for his ships if he came back as victor; those who were sent to the Minotaur journeyed with black sails.
XLII. THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR
When Theseus came to Crete, Ariadne, Minos’ daughter, loved him so much that she betrayed her brother and saved the stranger, or she showed Theseus the way out of the Labyrinth. When Theseus had entered and killed the Minotaur, by Ariadne’s advise he got out by unwinding the thread. Ariadne, because she had been loyal to him, he took away, intending to marry her.
XLIII. ARIADNE
Theseus, detained by a storm on the island of Dia, though it would be a reproach to him if he brought Ariadne to Athens, and so he left her asleep on the island of Dia. Liber, falling in love with her, took her from there as his wife. However, when Theseus left, he forgot to change the black sails, and so his father Aegeus judged that he had been devoured by the Minotaur. He threw himself into the sea, which was called Aegean from this. But Theseus married Phaedra, Ariadne’s sister.
XLIV. COCALUS
Minos, because many misfortunes had come to him through the agency of Daedalus, followed him to Sicily, and asked King Cocalus to surrender him. When Cocalus had promised this, and Daedalus found it out, he sought help from the daughters of the king, and they killed Minos.
XLV. PHILOMELA
While Tereus, son of Mars, a Thracian, was married to Progne, daughter of Pandion, he came to Athens to his father-in-law Pandion to ask for his other daughter in marriage, stating that Progne had died. Pandion granted him the favour, and sent Philomela and guards along with her. But Tereus threw the guards into the sea, and finding Philomela on a mountain, violated her. After he returned to Thrace, he gave Philomela to king Lynceus, whose wife Lathusa, because Progne was her friend, at once sent the concubine to her. When Progne recognized her sister and knew the impious deed of Tereus, the two planned to return the favour to the King. Meanwhile it was revealed to Tereus by prodigies that death by a relative’s hand was coming to his son Itys. When he heard this, thinking that his brother Dryas was plotting his son’s death, he killed the innocent man. Progne, however, killed her son Itys by Tereus, served him at his father’s table, and fled with her sister. When Tereus, cognizant of the crime, was pursuing them as they fled, by the pity of the gods it came about that Progne was changed into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. They say, too, that Tereus was made a hawk.
XLVI. ERECHTHEUS
Erechtheus, son of Pandion, had four daughters who promised each other that if one met death, the others would kill themselves. Eumolpus, son of Neptune, came to attack Athens because he said the Attic land was his father’s. When he and his army were defeated and he was slain by the Athenians, Neptune demanded that Erechtheus’ daughter be sacrificed to him so that Erechtheus would not rejoice at his son’s death. And so when Chthonia, his daughter, had been sacrifided, the others in accordance with their oaths killed themselves. Erechtheus himself at Neptune’s request was smitten with a thunderbolt by Jove.
XLVII. HIPPOLYTUS
Phaedra , daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus, loved her stepson Hippolytus. When she could not bend him to her desire, she sent a letter to her husband saying that she had been attacked by Hippolytus, and slew herself by hanging.
Theseus, when he heard this, ordered his son to leave the city and prayed Neptune his father for his son’s death. And so when Hippolytus was driving his team of horses, a bull suddenly appeared from the sea. The horses, terrified at its bellowing, dragged Hippolytus, rending him limb from limb, and caused his death.
XLVIII. KINGS OF THE ATHENIANS
Cecrops, son of Terra (Earth); Cephalus, son of Deione; Erichthonius, son of Vulcan; Pandion, son of Erichthonius; Erechtheu, son of Pandion; Aegeus, son of Pandion; Theseus, son of Aegeus; Demophoon, son of Theseus.
XLIX. AESCULAPIUS
Aesculapius, son of Apollo, is said to have restored life either to Glaucus, son of Minos, or to Hippolytus, and Jupiter because of this struck him with a thunderbolt. Apollo, not being able to injure Jupiter, killed the ones who had made the thunderbolt, that is, the Cyclopes. On account of this deed Apollo was given in servitude to Admetus, King in Thessaly.
L. ADMETUS
When great numbers of suitors were seeking Alcestis, daughter of Pelias, in marriage, and Pelias was refusing many of them, he set a contest for them, promising that he would give her to the one who yoked wild beasts to a chariot and bore her off. Admetus asked Apollo to help him, and Apollo, because he had been kindly received by him while in servitude gave to him a wild boar and a lion yoked together, with which he carried off Alcestis.
He obtained this, too, from Apollo, that another could voluntarily die in his place. When neither his father nor his mother was willing to die for him, his wife Alcestis offered herself, and died for him in vicarious death. Later Hercules called her back from the dead.
LII. AEGINA
When Jupiter wished to lie with Aegina, the daughter of Asopus, he feared Juno, and took the girl to the island of Delos, and there made her pregnant. Aeacus was their son. When Juno found this out, she sent a serpent into the water which poisoned it, and if anyone drank from it, he paid the debt to nature. Since Aeacus, his allies lost, could not protect himself on account of the scarcity of men, as he gazed at some ants, he begged Jupiter to give him men for defense. Then Jupiter changed the ants into men, who were named Myrmidones, because in Greek ants are called ‘myrmekes’. The island, however, has the name of Aegina.
http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html#37
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