General Notes

[FAMILY.FTW]

AEROPE (1) was a daughter of Catreus, king of Crete, and granddaughter of Minos. From the very start, fortune did not smile one her. Catreus learned from an oracle that one of his children would kill him. His son Althaemenes left Crete voluntarily, taking with him one of his sisters, Apemosyne. The other two daughters, Clymene and Aerope, Catreus gave to Nauplius to sell in a foreign land. Nauplius married Clymene and gave Aerope to Pleisthenes, the son of Atreus. By him she became the mother of Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Anaxibia. Pleisthenes was sickly and died young; Atreus then married Aerope, and adopted and reared his grandchildren. Thyestes, the younger brother of Atreus, seduced Aerope. About the same time, the rule of Mycenae became available through the death of Eurystheus, and an oracle said a son of Pelops should be chosen king. Atreus had found in one of his flocks a lamb with golden fleece; istead of dedicating it to Artemis as he had promised, he hid the fleece in a chest. Aerope found it and secretly gave it to her lover. Thyestes proposed that the rule of Mycenae should go to the posessor of the fleece, and the unsuspecting Atreus readily agreed. So Thyestes was declared king, but the gods intervened. It was agreed that if the sun changed its course, Atreus would be king. Then the sun set in the east, and Thyestes' exceedingly short reign was over. So was his residence in Mycenae, since Atreus promptly exiled him for the theft of and deception about the golden fleece. Atreus found out about the adulterous affair and exacted a terrible revenge. He recalled Thyestes from exile, pretending to forgive him, but meanwhile he had killed Thyestes' three sons, Aglaus, Callileon, and Orchomenus. He had them dismembered, boiled, and served to Thyestes during a feast. After Thyestes had eaten, the grisly heads were brought in. One more Atreus drove Thyestes from the country, then turned his attention to Aerope, whom he drowned. Interestingly, this was a fate originally intended for her back in Crete, according to some, when she had been caught by her father in bed with a lover. Aerope is noteworthy not only for her tempestuous career but for being the blood link between the royal lines of Mycenae and Crete. Few people ever stop to consider that Agamemnon and Menelaus were great-grandsons of Minos and thereby second cousins of Idomeneus. This could even account for the entrance of Crete into the Trojan War. [Apollodorus 3.2.2; Euripides, Orestes 5, Helen 397; Hyginus, Fables 87.]

EIDOMENE, or Idomene, was a daughter of Pheres, son of Cretheus and Tyro, and Periclymene. Her brothers were Admetus and Lycurgus, and her sister was Periapis. Pheres founded the town of Pherae in Thessaly. In one place Eidomene was referred to as the daughter of Abas. She married Amythaon, her uncle, thus becoming not only a cousin but also aunt of Jason, since Amythaon was brother to Aeson, Jason's father. By Amythaon she became the mother of sons Bias and Melampus, and a daughter Aeolia. She was sometimes called Aglaia or Dorippe. Amythaon migrated to Messenia and settled at the court of Neleus, his half-brother. He started the Olympic games after the sons of Pelops left Elis. He went back to Thessaly to greet Jason when his nephew appeared at the court of Pelias. Bias and Melampus went on to become joint rulers in Argos because they were able to cure the insanity of the daughters of Proetus. Melampus was able to accomplish the cure through his combined gift of prophecy and medical knowledge. Eidomene probably lived with her sons in Argos after Amythaon died and they had acquired their part of the kingdom. [Apollodorus 1.9.11, 2.2.2, 3.10.4, 13.8; Diodorus Siculus 4.68; Homer, Odyssey 11.259; Pausanias 5.8.2; Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.124.]

EURYTHEMISTRA, daughter of the river-god Xanthus in Lycia, was, according to some, the mother by Tantalus of Pelops, Niobe, and Broteas. Tantalus' wife was more often called Dione.

STEROPE was one of the Pleiades, daughter of Atlas and Pleione. Like her sister Merope she married a mortal. He was Oenomaus, son of Ares and Harpinna, and king of Pisa in Elis. Sterope's children by Oenomaus were Leucippus, Hippodameia, and Alcippe. One writer also listed Dysponteus, who founded the city of Dyspontium. Sterope suffered the loss of Leucippus. He fell in love with a nymph who followed Artemis. He could find no other way to be near her, so he dressed as a maiden and became close friends with her. He was found out, however, and killed by her companions. Alcippe married Euenus, who unhappily imitated his father-in-law and forced contenders for the hand of their daughter Marpessa to compete with him in a chariot race. When Hippodameia grew up, reports of her beauty attracted many suitors. Oenomaus took a dim view of the, since he was in love with his daughter. We do not know whether or not Sterope was aware of this development. Onenomaus agreed to give Hippodameia to anyone who could beat him in a chariot race, but the price of losing was death to the contender. In spite of the grim probability of death, about 20 young men came forward and failed. Sterope and her daughters must have been horrified by the severed heads of recent losers strung over the doorway. Finally Pelops defeated Oenomaus, who died in the contest. He married Hippodameia and assumed Oenomaus' kindom. That meant that Sterope had a choice of remaining with them or going elsewhere. It is difficult to consider Sterope's story as Oenomaus' wife together with the story of the collective Pleiades, who were said by some to have been changed into doves when pursued by Orion or into stars as a result of grief for their father's punishment by Zeus. Several other Pleiades had independent lives as well, so their metamorphosis must be considered as having come about after their separate careers had ended. Sterope was called by some the mother of Oenomaus by Ares, which would have concurred with the statement that only one of the Pleiades married a mortal. To support this contention, the wife of Oenomaus was by some called Euarete or Eurythoe. [Apollodorus 3.10.1; Pausanias 5.10.5,22.5, 6.21.6.]