General Notes

[FAMILY.FTW]

ABROTA was born in Onchestus in Boeotia. Her father was Onchestus, son of Poseidon and founder of the town of Onchestus, where the Onchestian Poseidon had a temple and a statue. She was the sister of Megareus and was said to be exceptionally intelligent and remarkably discreet. She married Nisus, a son of Pandion and king of Megaris. By Nisus she became the mother of Scylla. When she died she was mourned by all the Megarians. Wishing to perpetuate her memory for all time, Nisus ordered all the women to wear a garment of the same kind as Abrota had worn, called aphabroma, which was still in use in the time of Plutarch (Greek Questions 295). The writer said that when the Megarian women wanted to make a change in fashion, the gods prevented them by an oracle. [Pausanias 9.26.3.]

ACHIROE, Anchinoe, or Anchiroe was a daughter of Nilus, the Nile River. Her history is somewhat confusing because of the differnet spellings of her name by ancient writers and tentative assignment to her of offspring in quite separate geographical locations. Achiroe, called Anchinoe by Apollodorus (2.14), was the wife of Belus, son of Poseidon and Libya, who ruled at Chemnis. By him she became the mother of Aegyptus and Danaus, thereby becoming grandmother to the 50 sons of the first and 50 daughters of the second. According to some, Cepheus and Phineus were also sons of Achiroe and Belus. According to one writer, Ares begot by her a son, Sithon, who became a king in Thrace and had two daughters, Rhoeteia and Pallene. At this point, things become a little muddled, since Egypt and Thrace are quite far apart. Not only that, but at least one writer called Rhoeteia and Pallene sisters of Sithon, not daughters. According to still another writer, Pallene was his daughter by Achiroe(!). It is quite reasonable to assume ther might have been two Achiroes--one Egyptian and the other Macedonian--and that the Macedonian one was the mother, not the lover, of Sithon. [Tzetzes on Lycophron 583,1161.]

AEGINA was the daughter of the god of the Asopus River, which flows from Phliasia through Sicyonia into the Corinthian Gulf. Asopus married Metope, daughter of the river-god Ladon, and had by her two sons, Ismenus and Pelagon, and twenty daughters, one of whom was Aegina. Since she was very beautiful, she attracted the attention of Zeus, who abducted her and carried her from her home in Phlius to the island of Oenone or Oenopia, afterward called Aegina. A little tired of having his beautiful daughters carried away by lustful gods (Poseidon and Apollo were other examples), Asopus went in search of Aegina. At Corinth her learned from Sisyphus, the king (perhaps in exchange for supplying the Acrocorinthus with a spring), the facts about Aegina's disappearance. Asopus then pursued Zeus until the god, by hurling thunderbolts at him, sent him back to his original bed. Pieces of charcoal found in the riverbed in later times were thought to be residue from the stormy struggle. For his interference in the affair, after his death Sisyphus received special punishment in the lower world. Aegina became by Zeus the mother of Aeacus. His youth was marked by the progressive disappearance of the island's population by a plague or a dragon sent by the ever-jealous Hera. When Aeacus eventually became king, he had almost no subjects to govern, so Zeus restored the people by changing ants into human beings. Aeacus went on to become such a just king that his counsel was sought even by the gods, and after his death he was made one of the judges of the lower world. After her affair with Zeus, Aegina married Actor, son of Deion, and became by him the mother of Menoetius, who became the father of Patroclus, the famous friend of Achilles. In fact, it was through Aegina that Patroclus and Achilles were related, on being her grandson and the other her great-grandson by the separate lines begun by her two husbands. One commentator (Pythaenetos, quoting the scholiast on Pindar's Olympian Odes 9.107) said Menoetius was Actor's son by Damocrateia, a daughter of Aegina and Zeus. This makes sense in terms of putting Patroclus and Achilles in the same generation. In that case, also, Aegina's sexual encounters with the greeatest of the gods would have remained inviolate, unless we consider the single account that she was the mother of Sinope (usually called her sister) by Ares. Even here she at least kept with the immortals for lovers. [Apollodorus 3.12.6; Pausanias 2.5.1; Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 436.]

AETHUSA was a daughter of Poseidon and the Pleiad Alcyone, and sister of Hyrieus, Hyperenor, Hyperes, and Anthas. Hyperes and Anthas were kings of Troezen, probably concurrently, and had neighboring towns named for them. Hyrieus was the founder of Hyria in Boeotia and father of Orion. Aethusa was loved by Apollo and became by him the mother of Eleuther. According to one account, she was also mother by him of Linus, but most accounts call his mother Psamathe. Eleuther grew up to found Eleutherae in Boeotia. He is credited with having erected the first staue of Dionysus and with spreading the worship of the god. His grandson Poemander--and thus Aethusa's great-grandson--founded Tanagra. [Apollodorus 3.10.1; Pausanias 9.20.2.]

AGAMEDE (1) was a daughtr of Augeas and wife of Mulius. Her husband was acquainted with the pharmaceutical properties of all the plants that grew on earth, but apparently he was unable to find one that could overcome his sterility. Agamede, however, managed to provide three sons--Belus, Actor, and Dictys--by Poseidon, and it is unfortunate that we know nothing else about the circumstances. It is remarkable, though, that Poseidon returned to her again and again; usually with the gods it was a one-time affair with mortal women. Mulius' scientific knowledge was snuffed out by Nestor in a war between the Pylians and the Epeians. [Homer, Iliad 11,738-739; Hyginus, Fables 157.]

ASTYPALAEA was a daughter of Phoenix and Perimede, the daughter of Oeneus. She was also called sister to Europa, and her name was given by some as Alta. Phoenix settled in the country that later would be called Phoenicia for him. Astypalaea was one of Poseidon's amatory conquests, and with him one can never be sure whether the liaison was willingly entered into or forced. In the few cases in which more than one child resulted, it was probably by mutual agreement. Astypalaea was the mother of Ancaeus and Eurypylus by the god. She was also rewarded by having the island of Astypalaea named for her, and her sons were treated favorably as well. Ancaeus became king of the Leleges in Samos and produced several sons. Eurypylus became king of Cos and fared well until he was killed by Heracles, who was attacked by the inhabitants under the misapprehension he was a pirate. In fact, another account says he was, since he attacked the island in order to obtain possession of Chalciope, the daughter of Eurypylus. [Apollodorus 2.7.1,8; Pausanias 7.4.2; Apollonius Rhodius 2.866; Hyginus, Fables 178; Scholiast on Pindar's Nemean Odes 4.40.]

CALLIRRHOE (1) was a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys. By Chrysaor she became the mother of Geryones and Echidna. Chrysaor was a son of Poseidon by Medusa. When Perseus cut off Medusa's head, Chrysaor and Pegasus came forth, Chrysaor brandishing a golden sword. Perhaps he was not particularly monstrous-looking when he mated with Callirrhoe; the Oceanides usually managed to have presentable fathers for their children. However, the offspring from this union reverted to the type represented by their grandmother Medusa. Geryones was three-headed, and Echidna had a serpentine lower body. Both these monsters figured in the stories of Heracles. Callirrhoe had more normal children by other men. She had a daughter, Chione, by the Nile River and by Poseidon a son, Minyas, the ancestor of the Minyans. Callirrhoe was also said to be the mother of Cotys by Manes, the first king of Lydia. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.27; Hesiod, Theogony 280,351,981; Apollodorus 2.5.10; Hyginus, Fables 151; Servius on Virgil's Aeneid 4.250; Tzetzes on Lycophron 686.]

CALYCE, or Calycia, was the daughter of Hecaton. She was seduced by Poseidon and became the mother of Cycnus. Others called her Harpale or Scamandrodice. Cycnus was carried to full term in secrecy, for Calyce feared her father, and then she exposed the child on the seashore. Shepherds saw a swan descending on him and intervened, calling him Cycnus. He grew up to become king of Colonae in the Troad and married Procleia, a daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became father of Tenes and Hemithea. Calyce probably never learned what became of him but perhaps hoped his father, Poseidon, would protect him. [Hyginus, Fables 157.]

CELAENO was one of the Pleiades. By Poseidon she was the mother of Lycus and Eurypylus. According to some, she was mother of Lycus and Chimaereus by Prometheus, who was considered to be her husband. Others call her also mother of Triton, but that distinction is usually Amphitrite's. Nothing is known of Lycus except that he was transferred by his father to the Isles of the Blessed. Eurypylus was among the heroes of Hyria. He went to Cyrene in Libya, where he became connected with the Argonauts. It was he who gave Euphemus a clod of earth when the Argonauts passed through Lake Tritonis. Possession of this clod later established the right to rule over Libya. Eurypylus was married to Sterope, the daughter of Helios, by whom he became the father of Lycaon and Leucippus. [Apollodorus 3.10.1; Ovid, Heroides 19.135; Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius 4.1561; Tzetzes on Lycophron 132,902.]