Greek Myth and Religion

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Argos, cults  

A. Schachter

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
The main cult of the polis of *Argos (1) was that of *Hera (already ‘Argive’ in Homer, Il. 4. 8 = 5.908), based c. 10 km. (6 mi.) north-east of the city across the Argive plain, between *Mycenae and *Tiryns. Argive ownership of this *Heraion—emphasized by an annual festival which began with a procession from the city across the plain to the sanctuary—symbolized the state's control of the territory between the two points (de Polignac, see bibliog.).At the NW corner of Argive territory was Nemea, sacred to *Zeus and the original site of the *Nemean Games. Control of this sanctuary, originally belonging to Cleonae, passed to Argos in the 5th cent. bce. In the border area with Arcadia were a number of limitary sanctuaries of *Artemis. In the Argive countryside were several sanctuaries of *Demeter, and the grove of the eponymous hero *Argus (1).

Article

Argus  

Ken Dowden

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Son of Zeus and the Argive Niobe (daughter of *Phoroneus), eponym of the city of *Argos (1) (Apollod. 2. 1. 1), part of archaic Argive mythological propaganda. His grave, not far from that of his ‘brother’ *Pelasgus (Paus. 2. 22, cf. Apollod. 2. 1. 1–2), was in a dense sacred grove (Hdt. 6. 78–80). (2) RE19) Argos ‘Panoptes’ (‘All-seeing’), monster born of no agreed parents—perhaps even earthborn (Aesch. PV567), with multiple eyes: four (the Aegimius, Hes. fr. 294 M–W), an extra eye in the back of the head and unsleeping (Pherec. FGrH 3 F 67), or covered in eyes (Eur. Phoen.1116, perhaps Aesch. PV678). *Hera has him guard *Io, but he is tricked and killed by *Hermes, who thus acquires his epithet ‘Argeiphontes’ (supposedly ‘Argos-slayer’, already in Hes. Catalogus mulierum, fr. 126 M–W). In later tradition, at death he turns into a peacock (Moschus 2. 58) or his eyes are added to its plumage (Ov. Met.

Article

Ariadne  

Herbert Jennings Rose, Charles Martin Robertson, and B. C. Dietrich

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Ariadne, daughter of *Minos and Pasiphaë. In Cnossus *Daedalus built her a dancing-floor (Il. 18. 592), perhaps the Daidaleion on Linear B tablet KN Fpl. She fell in love with *Theseus and gave him a thread of wool to escape from the *Labyrinth after killing the Minotaur. Theseus fled with Ariadne but abandoned her on *Naxos (1) either by choice or because the gods commanded him. *Dionysus found and married her there. In another version, Ariadne was already married to Dionysus when she followed Theseus and was killed by Artemis on Dia (Naxos) (Od. 11. 321–5; Hes. Theog.947–9). Ariadne also had a tomb in the temple of Cretan Dionysus in *Argos (1) (Paus. 2. 23. 7–8). According to one tradition (Paeon of Amathus in Plutarch, Thes.20) she came to Cyprus pregnant by Theseus who left her there. She died in childbed and was buried in the grove of Ariadne Aphrodite. At a curious annual rite in her honour at *Amathus, a young man imitated a woman in labour.

Article

Arimaspeans  

Alan H. Griffiths

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
A fabulous one-eyed tribe from the distant north whose name (Ἀριμασποί) *Herodotus (1) claims to be able to derive from Scythian arima ‘one’, spou ‘eye’ (4. 27; cf. 3. 116 and 4. 13). He and *Aeschylus (PV803–6) know them as a people engaged in a perpetual attempt to steal a hoard of gold guarded by griffins—just as the Indians try to take that of the giant ants (Hdt.

Article

Arion (1)  

Madeleine Jost

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
In Homer (Il. 23. 346–7), Arion (Ἀρείων) is the ‘swift horse’, ‘divine in origin’, of *Adrastus (1). His mythological origins lie in *Arcadia. According to Pausanias (8. 25. 5), he was born at Thelpusa from the union of *Demeter and *Poseidon: Demeter transformed herself into a filly to escape Poseidon, who then changed himself into a horse to unite with her. Arion belonged successively to Poseidon himself, to Copreus, *Heracles and *Adrastus (1) (schol.

Article

Arisbe  

Antony Spawforth

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Arisbe, name of two Greek cities (IACP nos 768, 795): (1) in *Troas, a colony of *Miletus, subordinate to neighbouring *Abydos by the 3rd cent. bce (Polyb. 5. 111), but apparently surviving as a community under Roman rule, since as ‘Baris’ it is listed as the seat of an early Byzantine bishopric; (2) in *Lesbos, from Arisbe, daughter of *Macar; it had been subjugated by neighbouring *Methymna by the time of Herodotus (1.

Article

Aristaeus  

Alan H. Griffiths

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aristaeus, Greek culture-hero or demigod, with a bewildering number of associations. His imminent birth to *Apollo and the nymph Cyrene is prophesied by Chiron (see centaurs) in *Pindar, Pyth. 9. 59 ff., celebrating him as ‘a *Zeus, a pure Apollo; a delight to his friends, close escort of sheep, Hunter and Herdsman’. Scraps of evidence for his cult and myth link him to Phthia (see phthiotis), *Arcadia, and *Boeotia (where he was known as *Actaeon's father) and in particular to the Aegean island of *Ceos, where he was worshipped as the mediator to mankind of apiculture (see bee-keeping) and *olive oil and invoked as bringer of the cooling Etesian winds in high summer (Ap. Rhod. 2. 500–27, repeating the Pindaric titles Ἀγρέα καὶ Νόμιον, with schol. on 498; Callim. fr. 75. 33–7 Pf.). Virgil ends the Georgics by telling at length the story of how once all Aristaeus' bees died; his mother referred him to *Proteus for an explanation, and he was told that this was punishment called down by *Orpheus for the death of *Eurydice (1), who had been bitten by a snake when trying to escape Aristaeus' attentions.

Article

Aristeas  

Alan H. Griffiths

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Aristeas, of Proconnesus in the *Propontis. Like *Abaris and *Zalmoxis, a legendary wisdom-figure associated with the cult of *Apollo, reflecting early Greek contacts with *Scythian culture. Herodotus (4. 13 ff.) knew him as the author of a hexameter poem called Arimaspea which told of the tribes in the far north, including the eponymous *Arimaspeans; he goes on to report marvellous tales of his shamanistic feats, including the disappearance of his ‘corpse’ in his home town while he was seen alive elsewhere, his subsequent reappearance after seven years (cf. epimenides); and even a rematerialization 240 years later in southern Italy, during which he informed the inhabitants of *Metapontum that he had been accompanying his god in the form of a raven.

Article

Aristias  

Andrew Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aristias, tragic poet, son of *Pratinas of Phlius. In 467 bce he won second prize with plays of his father's when competing against *Aeschylus (hyp. Aesch. Sept.). He probably won his first victory c.460. Like his father he was a noted composer of satyr-plays (see satyric drama).

Article

Aristodemus (1), mythical king of Messenia  

Arthur Maurice Woodward

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Aristodemus (1), the traditional hero of the First Messenian War (c.735–715 bce; see sparta). When the Messenians had withdrawn to their stronghold of *Ithome in the fifth year of the war, he offered his daughter for sacrifice to the gods below, in response to a *Delphic oracle.

Article

Aristomenes (1), traditional Messenian hero  

Paul Cartledge

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Aristomenes (1), a traditional hero of *Messenian resistance to Sparta, usually assigned to the Second Messenian War of c.650 bce but sometimes associated with a possible Messenian revolt of c.490 (‘the *Rhianus hypothesis’). He is supposed to have won a major victory at Stenyclarus, but was defeated in the battle of ‘The Great Trench’. For eleven years he held out in the stronghold of Eira (or Hira), twice escaping after capture. His legend was a central ingredient of nostalgic Messenian patriotic myth, which was given literary expression—or invented—after the (re)foundation of *Messene in 369.

Article

Arrephoria  

Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Athenian festival, at which a rite is performed by the arrhēphoroi, two or four girls between the ages of 7 and 11, chosen by the basileus (see archontes) to serve *Athena Polias (cf. e.g. schol. Ar. Lys.642; Harp. entry under ‘arrhēphorein’; Suda, ‘arrhēphoria’; Etym. Magn.149, 14–23). They lived on the *Acropolis, they played a ritual game of ball, and they participated in the weaving of the peplos offered to Athena at the *Panathenaea. They helped the priestess of Athena Polias. At the Chalkeia they and the priestess set up the loom for the peplos. They are probably represented with the priestess in the central scene on the *Parthenon frieze. At the rite marking the end of their service (Paus. 1. 27. 3), at night, they put on their heads covered baskets given them by the priestess who knew no more than the girls what they contained, and through an underground passage they descended to the precinct of *Aphrodite in the Gardens, where they left what they were carrying and took and brought to the Acropolis something else covered up.

Article

Artemis  

Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Daughter of *Zeus and *Leto, *Apollo's elder twin sister, a very important Olympian deity, a virgin and a huntress, who presided over crucial aspects of life. She presided over women's transitions (see rites of passage), most crucially their transformation from parthenos (virgin) to (fully acculturated and fully ‘tamed’) woman (gynē), and over *childbirth and kourotrophein (the rearing of children). She was also concerned with male activities, often (as at Sparta, see below) with their rites of transition to adulthood, also *hunting and certain aspects of war. Like all deities, she had different cults in the different parts of the Greek world, but the above-mentioned concerns are part of her panhellenic persona and recur commonly in local cults; the same is even more strongly the case with her firm association with the wild and her persona as protector of young animals as well as of hunting.

Article

Ascalabus  

Herbert Jennings Rose

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion

Ascalabus, in mythology, son of Misme, an Attic woman. His mother gave *Demeter, who was looking for *Persephone, a vessel of water, meal, and pennyroyal; he laughed at her for drinking it greedily, and she threw what was left of it over him, whereat he became a spotted lizard.

Article

Ascalaphus  

Kevin Clinton

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Ascalaphus, in mythology, (1) son of *Ares; (2) son of Orphne (Ov. Met. 5. 539), or Gorgyra (Apollod. 1. 33), and Acheron. When *Persephone was in *Hades, *Zeus agreed that she could return if she had eaten nothing. Ascalaphus had seen her eat a few pomegranate-seeds and betrayed her; Persephone turned him into an owl (Ovid), or *Demeter did, when the stone which she had put over him was lifted by *Heracles (Apollod.

Article

Asclepius  

Fritz Graf

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Asclepius (Ἀσκληπιός, Dor.-Aeol. Ἀσκλαπιός, Boeot. also Ἀσχλαπιός, Αἰσχλαβιός; Lat. *Aesculapius), hero and god of healing.In *Homer's Iliad, he is a hero, the ‘blameless physician’ (formula in Il. 4. 194, 11. 518), taught by the *centaur Chiron (Il. 4. 219); his two sons, the physicians *Machaon and *Podalirius, lead a contingent from Tricca in *Thessaly (Il. 2. 729–33). Late Archaic authors fit him into two different genealogies: in a Thessalian version alluded to in a Hesiodic poem (fr. 60 M–W; see hesiod) and narrated more fully in *Pindar (Pyth.3), he was the son of *Apollo and *Coronis, daughter of *Phlegyas. Coronis had become Apollo's beloved, but then married the mortal Ischys; when a raven denounced the girl to the god, he (or his sister *Artemis) killed her, but snatched the unborn baby from the pyre, and entrusted him to Chiron (see centaurs).

Article

Asteria  

Andrew Brown

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Sister of *Leto and mother, by Perses, of *Hecate (Hes. Theog. 409–12). She was pursued by *Zeus and leapt, or was thrown, into the sea, becoming the island of *Ortygia or *Delos (*Pindar, Paean 7b. 42–52; *Callimachus (3), Hymn 4. 36–40). So Asteria (meaning ‘Starry’) became a name of the island where her sister Leto would later give birth (Pind. Paean 5.

Article

Astyanax  

Herbert Jennings Rose and Jenny March

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Astyanax or Scamandrius, (Il. 6. 402), young son of *Hector and *Andromache. At the capture of Troy he was flung from the walls by *Neoptolemus (1) (Little Iliad fr. 20 Davies) or killed by Odysseus (Iliu Persis). His death is a major motif of Euripides' Trojan Women.

Article

Astyoche  

Herbert Jennings Rose

Article

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Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
Astyoche, in mythology sister of *Priam and daughter of *Laomedon (Apollod. 3. 146). She married *Telephus (1) (Quint. Smyrn. 6. 135) and bore Eurypylus who came to the Trojan War and was killed by *Neoptolemus (1) with many of his people, ‘thanks to gifts made to a woman’ (Od.

Article

Atalanta  

Madeleine Jost

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
22 December 2015
Subjects:
  1. Greek Myth and Religion
A mythical heroine, daughter of Schoeneus, *Iasus, or Maenalus. According to *Apollodorus (6) (3. 9. 2) she was exposed at birth and nursed by a bear before being brought up by hunters. When she reached maturity she chose to remain a virgin and to spend her time hunting as a companion of *Artemis (cf. callisto). She killed the centaurs Rhoecus and Hylaeus, who had tried to rape her, she took part in the hunt of the Calydonian boar, where *Meleager (1) fell in love with her, and at the games held in honour of *Pelias she defeated *Peleus in wrestling. Later, when her father wished to give her in marriage, she promised to marry the man who could defeat her in a foot-race. After several young men were defeated and put to death, Hippomenes (or Melanion, or Hippomedon) was victorious in the test, having dropped some golden apples on the track, which Atalanta stopped to pick up (cf. already Hes. frs. 72–6 M–W; Apollod. 3. 9. 2; Hyg. Fab.