The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)

by Apollodorus

  the wrath of Hera: for its cause, see p. 45; Medea will return from Colchis with Jason and cause Pelias’ death, p. 57.

  the golden fleece: for its origins see p. 43.

  Colchis: a land south of the Caucasus at the eastern end of the Black Sea; a remote area for the early Greeks.

  the Argo after its builder: it is likely that its name was originally derived from the adjective argos, meaning swift (mentioned in DS 4. 41. 3, as an alternative etymology).

  Dodona: an ancient oracle of Zeus at Epirus in north-western Greece (known to Homer, Il. 16. 233–5). The great oak, whose rustling leaves were supposed to reveal the will of Zeus, was a suitable source for the speaking (and oracular) timber.

  they set out to sea: for further details on all the following, see Ap.’s main source, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes; this is a relatively late epic dating from the third century BC, but it draws extensively on early sources. Significant divergences will be noted.

  Polyphemos: a Lapith from Thessaly, who is said by Homer, Il. 1. 264 ff., to have played a heroic role in the war between the Lapiths and the Centaurs (see p. 142): he was married to Heracles’ sister Laonome (sc. AR 1. 1241a).

  snatched away by nymphs: Hylas was drawn into the spring by a water-nymph (AR 1. 1228 ff.) or nymphs (three in Theocritus Idyll 13. 43 ff.), and was never seen again; in AR 1, 1310 ff. the prophetic sea-god Glaucos appears to the Argonauts and tells them that a nymph has made him her husband.

  There they abandoned Heracles. . . leader of the Argonauts: the initial narrative follows AR 1. 1207 ff. Views on Heracles’ involvement in the expedition vary greatly. Some deny that he ever joined the expedition (e.g. Herodoros, mentioned here, a fifth-fourth-century mythographer, and Ephoros, the fourth-century historian, and doubtless the earliest tradition). According to the sixth-century Hesiodic Marriage of Ceux he was left behind accidentally at Aphetai when sent for water (sc. AR 1. 1289); but the Hylas story, probably of later origin (fifth century?), is most favoured by later authors. Only in late novelistic accounts (e.g. by Dionysios ‘the leather-armed’, second/first century, cited here) does he travel all the way to Colchis and, inevitably, overshadow Jason.

  by Boreas . . . their stepmother: see p. 135 and note.

  the Harpies: for their parentage see p. 29, cf. Theog. 265 ff. The meaning of their name, ‘Snatchers’, is reflected in their characteristic action of swooping down and snatching away people (or here, Phineus’ food).

  failed to catch those they pursued: so here both of them die, because the Harpies fall down exhausted before they can catch them; for the birth of the Boreads, and another account of their death, see p. 134 and notes. Boreas was the North Wind, so it is natural that his sons should be swift-moving and winged.

  Ocypode according to Hesiod: not in Theog. 267, where the Harpies are called Aello and Ocypete (meaning swift flier as against Ocypode, swift of foot), but this may be a reference to Hes. Cat. (which contained an account of the pursuit, frs. 150–7).

  Strophades: these islands, which lie to the west of the Peloponnese opposite Messenia, mark the point where she ‘turned’ (estraphe). Ap. is wrong to suggest that this name was given to the Echinadian Islands (which were known under that name in historical times, and lie further north, near the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf facing Acarnania); according to AR 2. 297, the islands thus renamed were formerly known as the Plotai or ‘Floating Islands’.

  in the Argonautica: see 2. 284 ff. Iris (who was the messenger of the gods, but was acting on her own initiative here, presumably as a sister of the Harpies, Theog. 266 f.) intervened to say that the Harpies were simply performing their duties as the ‘hounds of Zeus’ and it was unlawful to destroy them. AR is misreported on the oath, for it is Iris who swore that the Harpies would never approach Phineus again. They departed to their den in Crete.

  that Cadmos had sowed at Thebes: see p. 100; not of course the same teeth, but half of the teeth from the Theban dragon that Athene (or Athene and Ares, sc. Pind. Isth. 4. 13, citing Pherecydes) had held back and given to Aietes, cf. AR 3. 1183 f. This is a secondary motif, directly modelled on the Theban story.

  a potion: see AR 3. 844 ff; extracted from the Colchicum, or autumn crocus, which came into existence when the blood from the tormented Prometheus, p. 36, fell to the earth. The drug from its seed, used until modern times for treating rheumatism and gout, is here endowed with magical properties.

  he put them under the yoke: on the bulls and their yoking by Jason, see also Pind. Pyth. 4. 224–41.

  murdered her brother: Ap. prefers an earlier and more primitive version of this story to that in AR 4. 303 ff. where Apsyrtos is of military age and is sent in pursuit of Jason and Medea by his father, and is treacherously killed by Jason in a temple of Artemis on an island at the mouth of the Danube. Ap.’s version is similar to that in Pherecydes (sc. AR 4. 223 and 226), but there Medea takes the infant child from his bed in Colchis on Jason’s instructions, and Jason participates in the killing and dismemberment. In the earlier tradition and AR alike the murder is of central importance as the cause of the Argonauts’ diversion to the western Mediterranean.

  Tomoi: meaning ‘Pieces’; on the western shore of the Black Sea.

  past the Ligurian and Celtic peoples: cf. AR 4. 646 f. In AR (592 ff.) they sail from the Adriatic up the Eridanos (or Po), down the Rhone, and then towards Italy and along its coast. The Ligurians lived in north-western Italy and the eastern Riviera, and the Celts to the west and north of that; the vagueness of the language here may be deliberate, reflecting the author’s awareness that the river voyage is geographically impossible.

  Aiaie: a mythical island, cf. Od. 10. 135 ff. Although Homer placed her island in the remote east (in Od. 12. 3–4, it is described as the home of Dawn and associated with the rising Sun), the fabulous realms familiar from the Odyssey are now located firmly in the west.

  to counter their own: as the finest of singers himself, p. 30, Orpheus could reasonably expect to outcharm the Sirens (cf. Hyg. 14); in AR 4. 905 ff. it is largely a matter of volume.

  the island of the Phaeacians: see Od. 6–8; here identified with Corcyra, now Corfu.

  a violent storm: the Argonauts encounter a storm in AR also when they leave Phaeacia, but it drives them to the coast of Africa (4. 1232 ff.). It is surprising that Ap. should omit all mention of the traditions connecting the Argonauts with Libya, for the theme is of early origin. The occasion for their visit varies. In one version, they return from Colchis by an eastward route along the River Phasis to the Ocean and thence the Red Sea, and then carry the Argo from there to Libya (sc. AR 4. 259 and 282, cf. Pind. Pyth. 4. 25 ff); in Hdt. 4. 179 ff. they are driven there by a storm on the voyage out, but in DS 4. 56. 6 on their return as in AR.

  Anaphe: its name is traced to the way in which it ‘appeared’ (from anaphainein) before the Argonauts. One of the southernmost Aegean islands, next to Thera (Santorini); but it is north of Crete, and in AR (4. 1717) they came to Anaphe after their encounter with Talos in Crete, on their voyage north from Africa.

  make jokes: see AR 4. 1720 ff.; the story explains why the local women directed obscene jokes at the men when sacrifices were made to Apollo on Anaphe.

  a man of bronze: to be understood literally, cf. AR 4. 1638 ff.; and it is thus natural that Hephaistos, famed as a creator of automata (see Il. 18. 373 ff. and 417 ff.), should have constructed him. That some (e.g. AR 4. 1641 f.) should have associated him with Hesiod’s race of bronze (see Hes. WD 143 ff.) is understandable, but Hesiod was speaking metaphorically when he named his sequence of races after different metals.

  a bull: otherwise unattested, but not unduly surprising in the Cretan context (cf. pp. 97 f).

  a single vein: AR speaks of a vein at his ankle covered by a thin layer of skin (4. 1646 ff.), but there is no mention of the bronze nail which acts as a stopper, an appealingly archaic element preserved here. Talos would be invulnerable if it were not for this vein.

  the ichor flowed away: the
fluid of life (originally a term for the fluid that takes the place of blood in the gods, Il. 5. 339 ff., but later used in a more general sense for animal serum). In AR 4. 1665 ff., Medea invokes the Keres, spirits of death, with songs and prayers, and when Talos tries to hurl boulders to repel them, he grazes his ankle on a rock, causing the ichor to pour out like molten lead. The alternative in which Poias (the father of Philoctetes who lit Heracles’ pyre, p. 91) shoots him in the ankle implies the same cause of death.

  a competition developed: again explaining a local custom, see AR 4. 1765 ff. (cf. Callimachus fr. 198; Hellenistic scholars, and scholar-poets, were much interested in local material of this kind).

  put Aison to death: if Jason is dead, Pelias can safely consolidate his rule by eliminating Jason’s father Aison, who has a legitimate claim to the throne as the son of Cretheus.

  bull’s blood: the Greeks believed that bull’s blood was dangerous to drink because its rapid coagulation would cause the drinker to choke; there was a famous tale that Themistocles committed suicide by drinking it (see Plut. Them. 31).

  So she went to the palace. . . boiled him: cf. P. 8. 11. 2 f. and Ov. Met. 7. 297 ff.; Medea had power enough as a magician to rejuvenate Pelias if she wished, but in his case she failed to put the necessary potions into the cauldron. She is said to have made Jason young again by boiling him (Arg. Eur. Med., reporting Simonides and Pherecydes).

  Creon: the son of Lycaithos, and his successor as king of Corinth; not to be confused with Creon, son of Menoiceus, the king or regent of Thebes, p. 111. His father ruled Corinth at the time of Bellerophon’s departure (sc. Eur. Med. 19). According to an earlier tradition, ascribed to the Corinthian epic poet Eumelos, who was probably the inventor of the genealogical scheme underlying it, Medea was invited to Corinth to become queen in her own right (sc. Eur. Med. 19, quoting Simonides to the same effect).

  a raging fire: see Eur. Medea 1167 ff. She is said to have thrown herself into a fountain named after her in Corinth (P. 2. 3. 6).

  received from the Sun a chariot: following Eur. Medea (1317 ff., with Arg.; and for the murder of her two children, 1236 ff.). It should be remembered that her father Aietes was a son of the Sun, p. 43.

  the Corinthians forced them away: the local Corinthian tradition, see P. 2. 3. 6; they stoned the children because they had carried the fatal gifts to Glauce, but as a result of this murder the young children of Corinth began to die. The Corinthians were ordered by the oracle to offer sacrifices in their honour each year (which were continued until the city was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC) and to raise an altar to Fear.

  she married Aigeus: Aigeus had difficulty fathering children, p. 136, and he is said to have married Medea when she promised to cure the problem by her spells (Plut. Thes. 12). For her expulsion see p. 139.

  a son, Medos: either directly (P. 2. 3. 7) or through her son, she becomes the eponym of the Medes, whose empire south-west of the Caspian Sea was later absorbed into the Persian Empire. According to another tradition, Medea bore Medos to an Asian king after her expulsion from Athens, DS 4. 55. 7, and he then succeeded to his father’s kingdom.

  she killed Perses: or Medos killed him and conquered Media thereafter (DS 4. 56. 1, cf. Hyg. 27).

  Inachos: as one of the most prominent features in the landscape, rivers often appear at an early stage in local genealogies. The statement that the river was named after him presents the matter in a rationalized form; Inachos would originally have been the river itself, which, in myth, can function as a person at the same time, cf. Acheloos on p. 113.

  Phoroneus and Aigialeus: in the mythology of their particular areas each would be seen as the local earth-born ‘first man’, Phoroneus in Argos, and Aigialeus in Aigialeia to the north of Argos (in the region of Sicyon; compare his position in the local genealogies as reported by P. 2. 5. 5). Here they are absorbed into a broader genealogical scheme.

  was called Sarapis: the cult of Sarapis, which was encouraged by the Hellenistic kings of Egypt, developed from the cult of Apis, the sacred bull worshipped at Memphis. The Argive Apis is here identified with the Egyptian Apis, and thence with Sarapis, who became the chief god in the cult of the Egyptian gods as celebrated outside Egypt.

  Pelasgos: the ‘first man’ in Arcadia, in the central Peloponnese; that he was born from the earth was the local tradition. Ap. will return to Pelasgos and the mythology of Arcadia on p. 114.

  Pelasgians: also used in a more general sense to refer to the aboriginal inhabitants of various parts of Greece, notably Thessaly.

  calling the Peloponnese Argos: this continues a pattern in which regional names are said to have originated as names for the whole Peloponnese. (According to the context, the name Argos can refer either to the Argolid, as a region in the north-east Peloponnese, or to Argos, as the main city within it.)

  eyes all over his body: as with the hydra’s heads, the numbers vary according to the fancy of the author. That he had eyes ‘all over’ may have been wrongly inferred from his title Panoptes. In Pherecydes (sc. Eur. Phoen. 1116) he had only a single extra eye, on the back of his head, granted to him by Hera, who also made him sleepless.

  Echidna: a fearsome monster and progenitor of monsters, who lived in a cave in a hollow of the earth and feasted on raw flesh, see Theog. 295 ff.

  Peiren: a son of the first Argos and Evadne; he can be identified with Peiras two paragraphs previously.

  Zeus seduced Io: for all the following, cf. Aesch. Suppliants 291 ff; there Io is transformed by Hera. See also [Aesch.] PV 561 ff. and Ov. Met. 1. 583 ff.

  betrayed by Hierax: otherwise unknown. Since hierax means a hawk, perhaps associated with a transformation story (as with another Hierax in AL 3).

  Argeiphontes: an ancient title (e.g. Od. 8. 338) of uncertain origin, here interpreted as meaning ‘Argos-slayer’.

  Ionian Gulf: the Adriatic; for this explanation of its name, cf. [Aesch.] PV 836 ff.

  Bosporos: ‘the cow’s strait’, or ‘ox ford’; a valid etymology.

  Hera asked the Curetes . . . discovered Epaphos: as Ap. remarks, the Greeks identified Io with the Egyptian goddess Isis, and the present story is based on the tale of Isis’ search for the lost Osiris; for a Greek account of the latter, see Plutarch’s Isis and Osiris 355 ff. Osiris was washed ashore at Byblos. In view of the Curetes’ previous services to him, p. 28, it seems ungrateful of Zeus to kill them.

  until later: see pp. 96 ff. for Agenor and the Cretan/Theban line.

  Belos: the name is derived from the Phoenician Baal, strictly a god, but often taken by the Greeks to be an early eastern king.

  Melampodes: ‘Blackfeet’, an epithet for the Egyptians found in late authors only.

  the first man to do so: but the Argo, p. 49, was more commonly regarded as the first ship (which is why it was turned into a constellation by Athene, Catast. 35). In either case, the ship was built with Athene’s help.

  Gelanor. . . surrendered the throne to him: according to P. 2. 16. 1, Gelanor, son of Sthenelas, was a great-grandson of Agenor, Io’s uncle (or on p. 58, her great-grandfather); and Danaos too had a legitimate claim as a descendant of Io. Pausanias gives the local tradition (P. 2. 19. 3 f.). The Argives found their claims so evenly balanced that they deferred the decision until the following day; and early the next morning, a wolf attacked a herd of cattle grazing outside the walls and killed the bull. So the Argives ceded the throne to Danaos, taking this to be a sign from the gods (with the wolf representing Danaos, the outsider). And Danaos, believing that Apollo had sent the wolf, founded the most important cult in the city of Argos, that of Apollo Lycaios (‘Wolfish’ Apollo).

  After he . . . Danaans after himself: included with the preceding lines in sc. Il. 1. 42, as part of a citation from the second book of Apollodorus; not accepted by all editors.

  Poseidon . . . belonged to Hera: see p. 130 for a similar dispute at Athens; these were in effect contests for special cultic honours from the inhabitants. For further details, see P. 2. 15. 5; this e
xplains why the Argive rivers (including the Inachos) run dry in summer, except at Lerna.

  Lerna: there was a stream there called Amymone, p. 74, cf. P. 2. 37. 1. Lerna has more sinister associations as the home of the hydra, p. 74.