by Apollodorus
Diodorus of Sicily, Library (a world history, first century BC, translated in the Loeb series).
Eur.
Euripides (tragic poet, fifth century BC).
fr.
fragment.
Hdt.
Herodotus, History (fifth century BC).
Hes.
Hesiod. (For translations of the Hesiodic works, and of some of the testimonies and fragments, see the Hesiod volume in the Loeb series; the references for the fragments are to the standard edition by Merkelbach and West, Oxford, 1967.)
Hes. Cat.
Catalogue of Women (a sixth-century genealogical epic, not by the author of the Theogony; see Introduction and Select Bibliography).
Hes. WD
Hesiod, Works and Days.
HH
Homeric Hymns (post-Homeric, of varying date up to sixth century BC or later, translated in Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns, Loeb series).
Hyg.
Hyginus, Fabulae (mythological compendium; for translation see Select Bibliography).
Hyg. PA
Hyginus, Poetic Astronomy (Book II of the Astronomy; see Select Bibliography).
Il.
Homer’s Iliad.
Od.
Homer’s Odyssey.
Ov. Met.
Ovid’s Metamorphoses.
P.
Pausanias, Description of Greece (second century AD, translated in the Loeb series and Penguin).
Parthen.
Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Stories (first century BC; in Mythographi Graeci, Leipsig, vol. 2).
Pind.
Pindar (lyric poet, 518–438 BC). Isth.: Isthmian Odes; Nem.: Nemean Odes; 01.: Olympian Odes; Pyth.: Pythian Odes.
Plut. Thes.
Plutarch (first-second century AD), Life of Theseus.
Procl.
Proclus (of uncertain date, author of summaries of the early epics in the Trojan cycle; translated in Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns, Loeb series).
QS
Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica (epic poem on the fall of Troy, fourth century AD; translated in the Loeb series).
sc.
scholion. (The scholia were marginal notes by ancient and medieval scholars, which often preserve material from lost mythographical works. French translations of some of the scholia relevant to the text of the Library can be found in the notes to Carriere’s edition; see Select Bibliography.)
NB. In references to scholia conventional abbreviations have been used.
Theog.
Hesiod’s Theogony.
Thuc.
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War (fifth century BC).
Tzetz.
Johannes Tzetzes (Byzantine scholar, twelfth-century AD).
VM
The Vatican Mythographers (ed. G. H. Bode, Scriptores Rerum Mythicarum Latini Tres, Celle, 1834; late Latin compendia).
Dates: all are BC unless otherwise indicated.
Cross-references: these are selective, and the Index should also be consulted.
Textual matters: notes on these, and on points of language, have been kept to a bare minimum, except with regard to dubious passages and interpolations (marked by square brackets in the text) and to etymologies, which depend on wordplay in the original Greek (indicated by italics in the text).
Homer and Hesiod: it is convenient to refer to ‘Homer’, but this implies no judgement as to whether the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed by the same author, or on the extent to which each poem can be regarded as the work of a single poet. There is disagreement on whether the Hesiodic Theogony and Works and Days were written by the same author; and other works attributed to Hesiod by the ancients, notably the Catalogue of Women and the Shield, were certainly written at a later period.
Modern authors: all references are to editors or translators of the Library (see Select Bibliography).
Pherecydes, Acousilaos, and Hellanicos: for these early mythographer-historians, who are important sources for Apollodorus, see the Introduction.
Ouranos. . . Ge: respectively the Sky and the Earth (who was also referred to as Gaia, the form preferred by Hesiod). For the early history of the universe, cf. Theog. 116 ff., but the present account sometimes diverges significantly (perhaps following a theogony from the epic cycle, summarized by Proclus in Photius 319A). In Theog., Chaos—representing a yawning gap rather than disorder— comes into being first, followed by Gaia, Tartaros, and Eros (116 ff.), and Gaia gives birth to Ouranos from herself (126 f.).
the Cyclopes: cf. Theog. 139 ff.; named the ‘Round-Eyed’ because of their single round eye. Their individual names were suggested by their prime function, as the beings who armed Zeus with his thunder (see p. 28): (a)sterope means lightning, bronte, thunder, and arges refers to the brightness associated with the thunderbolt. For other kinds of Cyclops, see p. 63 and note and pp. 164 f.
in Hades: here used in a loose sense to refer to the Underworld as a whole. In the early tradition at least, a clear distinction was drawn between Hades (where the souls of dead mortals dwell) and Tartaros, a dungeon for gods and monsters that lay far beneath it (cf. Theog. 720–819, Il;. 8. 13 ff.).
who had been thrown into Tartaros: only the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers; Hesiod’s account, in which Ouranos also hides away their Titan children (Theog. 154 ff), diverges significantly.
adamantine: made of adamant, a mythical metal of extreme hardness.
from the drops of blood that flowed out: from those that fell on Ge, the Earth, causing her to conceive the Furies, and the Giants whom she will bring to birth later (p. 34); cf. Theog. 183 ff. (In Ap.’s theogony the severed genitals play no part in the birth of Aphrodite, see p. 29 and note.)
Mount Dicte: in most sources Mount Ida, in Theog. 484, Aigaion; Dicte only in Hellenistic and later sources, e.g. AR 1. 509. Although Dicte was associated with the cult of Zeus, there was no cave there.
Curetes: Cretan semi-divinities associated with fertility; estimates of their number vary from two to ten.
Amaltheia: either a nymph with a she-goat (see p. 89 and note) or the goat itself, as here (cf. Callim. Hymn 1. 47 f).
Metis: personifies practical or cunning intelligence. In Theog. 494 ff., where the stratagem is not explained, the advice is offered by Gaia.
a helmet: this leather helmet or cap makes its wearer invisible. It will be used by Perseus, see pp. 65 f. and note. In Theog. 501 ff. the Cyclopes arm Zeus alone, in gratitude for their release.
they shared power: following Il. 15. 187 ff.
Pluto over the halls of Hades: Pluto, ‘the Wealthy One’, was a ritual title for Hades, god of the Underworld; his name is also applied to his realm (although in classical Greek a genitive form was used in such cases, to indicate that the ‘halls of Hades were being referred to rather than the god himself).
Oceanides: the daughters of Oceanos and Tethys, who were nymphs of springs and groves. Hes. names forty-one of the ‘eldest’ daughters (Theog. 346 ff), but remarks that there were three thousand (364); Ap. only gives the names of those who will be mentioned in the following genealogies. For Hesiod, Amphitrite was a Nereid (243). The sons of Oceanos and Tethys were the rivers of the earth (337 ff). Theog. should be consulted for further details on all these divine genealogies (although Ap. sometimes chooses variants from other sources).
Nice, Cratos, Zelos, and Bia: abstractions signifying Victory, Power, Emulation, and Force (all needed by Zeus for his victory against the Titans). See Theog. 383 ff.
oaths: specifically the oaths of the gods.
Pontos: a personification of the Sea. Ap. offers no genealogy; in Theog. 132 ff. he is borne by Gaia without prior intercourse. An ancestor of marine beings, and also of monstrous beings not easily associable with Zeus’ immediate family, see Theog. 233–336.
Nereids: beautiful sea nymphs, usually said to be fifty in number, who lived with their father in a cave at the bottom of the sea (Il. 18. 37 ff., Theog. 240 ff.). Most of their names were suggested by aspects of the sea
.
Hebe, Eileithuia, and Ares: respectively, the personification of youth (who performed household duties for the gods, notably as cupbearer, and later married Heracles, p. 91), the goddess of childbirth, and the god of war. For the genealogies in 3. 1 to 4. 6, cf. Theog. 886–933.
Eirene, Eunomia, and Dice: the Horai, Seasons, were associated with the seasons of growth in particular; these Hesiodic names (Theog. 901 f.)—Peace, Good Order, and Justice—point to the social conditions favouring successful agriculture.
by Dione he had Aphrodite: as in Il. 5. 370 f.; but in Theog. 188 ff. Aphrodite grows from the sea-foam (aphros) that surrounds the severed genitals of Ouranos when they are cast into the sea. Described above as a Titanid (but in Theog. 353, a daughter of Oceanos and Tethys), Dione was honoured at Dodona as the consort of Zeus, but otherwise she was of little importance in either cult or myth.
by Styx, Persephone: the river encircling Hades is a suitable mother for a goddess closely associated with the Underworld; but Persephone is usually regarded as Zeus’ daughter by Demeter, as in Theog. 912 f. and HH to Demeter 2–3 (and below on p. 33).
Linos: see p. 71, a musician like his brother Orpheus.
persuaded Pluto: he is said to have enchanted Persephone and/or Pluto with his singing (DS 4. 25. 4, Conon 45).
Maenads: women possessed by Bacchic frenzy (see pp. 102 f.); in most accounts they are angered by the scorn that Orpheus showed for other women after he had lost Eurydice, e.g. Ov. Met. 11. 1 ff.
Cleio . . . Adonis: when Cleio mocked Aphrodite for falling in love with a mortal, Aphrodite caused her to become subject to a similar passion. Love for a mortal was acceptable for gods, but considered demeaning for goddesses (see Calypso’s observations in Od. 5. 118 ff).
the first man to love other males: Laios, p. 104, and Minos, p. 97, are other contenders for this title.
But Hyacinthos. . . a discus: it was sometimes said that the West (or North) Wind also sought his favour, and when he favoured Apollo, blew the discus at Apollo’s head (Lucian Dialogues of the Gods 14; see also P. 3. 19. 5, Ov. Met. 10. 162 ff.). Traditions vary on his birth, see also p. 119.
challenged the Muses: cf. Il. 2. 594 ff.
Rhesos. . . at Troy: see Il. 10. 435 ff. and [Eur.] Rhesos.
Corybantes: semi-divine beings who attended deities with orgiastic rites, associated primarily with the Phrygian goddess Cybele, but also with Rhea and Dionysos.
Hera . . . by Zeus: Hera calls him a son of Zeus in Il. 14. 338 f; but in Hesiod’s account, Theog. 924 ff, Hera is so angered when Zeus gives birth to Athene from his head that she decides to have a child of her own without prior intercourse with her spouse, and gives birth to Hephaistos.
Zeus threw him down . . . to his rescue: in Il. 1. 590 ff, Hephaistos is said to have been thrown from heaven by Zeus for coming to the aid of Hera (for her suspension, see Il. 5. 18 ff), but in Il. 18. 394 ff, by Hera, because she was ashamed of his lameness; in the latter account he was rescued by Thetis and Eurynome, daughter of Oceanos, and taken to the cave of the Nereids beneath the sea.
Ge: inserted by Heyne; without this addition, the text would indicate that Metis herself gave the warning (placing her own safety at grave risk). Ge is the prime oracle in early mythical history. In Theog. 886 ff, Zeus takes this action on the advice of Ge and Ouranos.
near the River Triton: see p. 123 and note.
a city. . . called Delos: i.e. the island of Delos; its previous name is also given as Ortygia, after ortyx, a quail (e.g. Hyg. 140). In Pind. Paean 5. 42 (cf. Callimachus Hymn 4. 36–8), the holy island on which her sister Leto will give birth to Artemis and Apollo is formed from Asteria’s metamorphosed body.
Themis: a personification of law and the right; on the presiding figures at Delphi before Apollo, see also Aesch. Eumenides 1 ff. and P. 10. 5. 3.
chasm: said to be the source of exhalations which inspired the Delphic priestesses to prophecy, although there is no sign of such a chasm on the modern site.
Pytho: Delphi.
Tityos suffers punishment: cf. Od. 11. 576 ff. On his death, cf. Pind. Pyth. 4. 90 ff.
disfigured her face: according to Hyg. 165, Hera and Aphrodite made fun of her when she played her flute at a banquet of the gods because it puffed her cheeks out, which she found to be true when she viewed herself in a spring on Mount Ida.
to do the same: as a wind instrument, his flute must be blown from the right end. On Marsyas, a Phrygian, see also Hdt. 7. 26.
blinded him: according to the fuller story in Parthen. 20 and Catast. 32, Orion cleared the island of wild beasts, but when Oinopion was reluctant to accept such a being as his son-in-law, he became impatient and raped Merope while he was drunk. This would explain Oinopion’s extreme behaviour.
of Hephaistos: added by Heyne (but Ap. may have assumed that the reader would understand that without explicit statement). It lay on Lemnos; Orion could find his way there by following the sound. In Catast. 32 Hephaistos takes pity on him and offers him one of his helpers, Cedalion, as a guide.
with Ares: Aphrodite’s lover, hence her anger.
shot by Artemis: in Od. 5. 121 ff. Artemis killed him because she and the other gods were angry that Dawn had fallen in love with a mortal. The later tradition is complex, but it was commonly said that he tried to rape Artemis herself, and that Artemis either shot him (Hyg. PA 34, referring to Callimachus) or sent a scorpion against him (Aratus 635 ff. with sc. to 636, thus explaining the origin of the two constellations); or Ge sent the scorpion because he boasted that he would kill all the beasts on earth (Catast. 32).
Opis: Opis (or Upis), and Arge, another representative of this legendary northern race, came to Delos after the birth of Artemis and Apollo bringing a thank-offering, which had been vowed to Eileithuia, the goddess of childbirth, in return for an easy labour for Leto, see Hdt. 4. 35.
Rhode: a personification of the island of Rhodes, where there was a notable cult of the Sun; also as Rhodos (again a feminine form). See Pind. ol. 7. 54 ff.
abducted her: see Ap.’s main source, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, for further details on all the following. There (16 ff.) she is abducted from the Nysian plain (of uncertain location; but in later writers, from Sicily, a land famed for its fertility). The abduction is in accordance with the plans of Zeus, but he plays no active part in it (ibid. 9; 30; and 77 ff.).
bearing torches: these played a significant role in the ritual associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries, and were emblematic of Demeter and her rites (ibid. 48).
Hermion: not in the Hymn, but appropriate because there was said to be a chasm there that communicated with the Underworld (P. 2. 35. 7).
Thesmophoria: an autumn festival celebrated by women in honour of Demeter to ensure fertility of the crops. The jokes were of an obscene nature.
Praxithea: presumably Demophon’s nurse. In the Hymn (242 ff.) Metaneira keeps watch, and the child is not killed; Demeter merely places him on the ground and renounces her plan to make him immortal.
revealed her identity: and promised to teach the Eleusinians her rites (HH Dem. 273–4), which ensured the initiates a better lot in the afterlife.
she gave him wheat: knowledge of agriculture was revealed by Demeter at Eleusis and spread by Triptolemos throughout the inhabited world; a favourite theme in Athenian propaganda.
Kore: ‘the Maiden’, a cultic title for Persephone as worshipped in conjunction with her mother.
a pomegranate seed to eat: a visitor who takes food in the other world is obliged to stay there. Pomegranates were associated with blood and death.
Ascalaphos. . . bore witness against her: not in the Hymn, where Persephone herself tells Demeter that she has eaten in Hades (411 ff.) and the consequences follow necessarily from the action. On Ascalaphos see further p. 84 and note.
a third of every year: cf. HH Dem. 398 ff. The agricultural significance is evident: she departs in autumn and returns in spring. In later sources the year is commonly divided into equal parts (e.g. Hyg. 146,
Ov. Met. 5. 564 ff.).
conceived by Ouranos: from the blood that dripped from his severed genitals, see p. 27 and note. Homer and Hesiod never refer to a battle between the gods and Giants; the earliest surviving references are in connection with Heracles’ involvement in it (Pind. Nem. 1. 67 ff., ps.-Hes. Shield 28, cf. Theog. 954, part of a later addition to Hesiod’s text). The battle appears in vase-paintings by the end of the seventh century, and it may have been covered in an early epic, the Titanomachy.