Library

Apollodorus

Apollodorus. The Library. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.

Now to the Titans were born offspring: to Ocean and Tethys were born Oceanids, to wit, Asia, Styx,

Electra, Doris, Eurynome, Amphitrite, and Metis;[*](Compare Hes. Th. 346-366, who mentions all the Oceanids named by Apollodorus except Amphitrite, who was a Nereid. See Apollod. 1.2.7; Hes. Th. 243.) to Coeus and Phoebe were born Asteria and Latona;[*](As to the offspring of Coeus and Phoebe, see Hes. Th. 404ff. ) to Hyperion and Thia were born Dawn, Sun, and Moon;[*](As to the offspring of Hyperion and Thia, see Hes. Th. 371ff. ) to Crius and Eurybia, daughter of Sea ( Pontus), were born Astraeus, Pallas, and Perses;[*](As to the offspring of Crius and Eurybia, see Hes. Th. 375ff. )

to Iapetus and Asia was born Atlas, who has the sky on his shoulders, and Prometheus, and Epimetheus, and Menoetius, he whom Zeus in the battle with the Titans smote with a thunderbolt and hurled down to Tartarus.[*](As to the offspring of Iapetus and Asia, see Hes. Th. 507-520ff. )

And to Cronus and Philyra was born Chiron, a centaur of double form;[*](It is said that Cronus assumed the shape of a horse when he consorted with Philyra, and that, we are told, was why Chiron was born a centaur, half-man, half-horse. See Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.554.) and to Dawn and Astraeus were born winds and stars;[*](As to the offspring of Dawn and Astraeus, see Hes. Th. 378ff. ) to Perses and Asteria was born Hecate;[*](As to this parentage of Hecate, see Hes. Th. 409ff. But the ancients were not agreed on the subject. See the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. iii.467. He tells us that according to the Orphic hymns, Hecate was a daughter of Deo; according to Bacchylides, a daughter of Night; according to Musaeus, a daughter of Zeus and Asteria; and according to Pherecydes, a daughter of Aristaeus.) and to Pallas and Styx were born Victory, Dominion, Emulation, and Violence.[*](For this brood of abstractions, the offspring of Styx and Pallas, see Hes. Th. 383ff.; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed. Bunte.)

But Zeus caused oaths to be sworn by the water of Styx, which flows from a rock in Hades, bestowing this honor on her because she and her children had fought on his side against the Titans.[*](Compare Hes. Th. 389-403ff. As to the oath by the water of Styx, see further Hes. Th. 775ff.; compare Hom. Il. 15.37ff., Hom. Od. 5.186; HH Apoll. 86ff. )

And to Sea ( Pontus) and Earth were born Phorcus,

Thaumas, Nereus, Eurybia, and Ceto.[*](As to the offspring of Sea ( Pontus, conceived as masculine) and Earth (conceived as feminine), see Hes. Th. 233ff.; Hyginus, Fab. p. 28, ed. Bunte.) Now to Thaumas and Electra were born Iris and the Harpies, Aello and Ocypete;[*](As to the offspring of Thaumas and Electra, see Hes. Th. 265ff. ) and to Phorcus and Ceto were born the Phorcides and Gorgons,[*](As to the parentage of the Phorcides and Gorgons, see Hes. Th. 270ff.; Hyginus, Fab. p. 29, ed. Bunte. As to the monsters themselves, see Apollod. 2.4.2ff. ) of whom we shall speak when we treat of Perseus.

To Nereus and Doris were born the Nereids,[*](For lists of Nereids, see Hom. Il. 18.38-49; Hes. Th. 240-264ff.; HH Dem. 417-423; Verg. G. 4.334-344; Hyginus, Fab. pp. 28ff., ed. Bunte.) whose names are Cymothoe, Spio, Glauconome, Nausithoe, Halie, Erato, Sao, Amphitrite, Eunice, Thetis, Eulimene, Agave, Eudore, Doto, Pherusa, Galatea, Actaea, Pontomedusa, Hippothoe, Lysianassa, Cymo, Eione, Halimede, Plexaure, Eucrante, Proto, Calypso, Panope, Cranto, Neomeris, Hipponoe, Ianira, Polynome, Autonoe, Melite, Dione, Nesaea, Dero, Evagore, Psamathe, Eumolpe, Ione, Dynamene, Ceto, and Limnoria.

Now Zeus wedded Hera and begat Hebe, Ilithyia, and Ares,[*](As to the offspring of Zeus and Hera, see Hom. Il. 5.889ff. (Ares), Hom. Il. 11.270ff. (Ilithyia), Hom. Od. 11.603ff. (Hebe); Hes. Th. 921ff. According to Hesiod, Hera was the last consort whom Zeus took to himself; his first wife was Metis, and his second Themis (Hes. Th. 886; Hes. Th. 901; Hes. Th. 921).) but he had intercourse with many women, both mortals and immortals. By Themis, daughter of Sky, he had daughters, the Seasons, to wit, Peace, Order, and Justice; also the Fates, to wit, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropus;[*](For the daughters of Zeus and Themis, see Hes. Th. 901ff. ) by Dione he had

Aphrodite;[*](As to Dione, mother of Aphrodite, see Hom. Il. 5.370ff.; Eur. Hel. 1098; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed. Bunte. Hesiod represents Aphrodite as born of the sea-foam which gathered round the severed genitals of Sky (Uranus). See Hes. Th. 188ff. ) by Eurynome, daughter of Ocean, he had the Graces, to wit, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia;[*](As to the parentage of the Graces, see Hes. Th. 907ff.; Paus. 9.35.5; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed. Bunte.) by Styx he had Persephone;[*](According to the usual account, the mother of Persephone was not Styx but Demeter. See Hes. Th. 912ff.; HH Dem. 1ff.; Paus. 8.37.9; Hyginus, Fab. p. 30, ed. Bunte.) and by Memory ( Mnemosyne) he had the Muses, first Calliope, then Clio, Melpomene, Euterpe, Erato, Terpsichore, Urania, Thalia, and Polymnia.[*](As to the names and parentage of the Muses, see Hes. Th. 915ff. )

Now Calliope bore to Oeagrus or, nominally, to Apollo, a son Linus,[*](Accounts differ as to the parentage of Linus. According to one, he was a son of Apollo by the Muse Urania (Hyginus, Fab. 161); according to another, he was a son of Apollo by Psamathe, daughter of Crotopus (Paus. 2.19.8); according to another, he was a son of Apollo by Aethusa, daughter of Poseidon (Contest 314 according to another, he was a son of Magnes by the Muse Clio (Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 831).) whom Hercules slew; and another son, Orpheus,[*](That Orpheus was a son of Oeagrus by the Muse Calliope is affirmed also by Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.23ff.; Conon 45; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 831; the author of Contest 314; Hyginus, Fab. 14; and Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini. ed. G. H. Bode, i. pp. 26, 90 (First and Second Vatican Mythographers). The same view was held by Asclepiades, but some said that his mother was the Muse Polymnia (Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.23). Pausanias roundly denied that the musician's mother was the Muse Calliope (Paus. 9.30.4). That his father was Oeagrus is mentioned also by Plat. Sym.179d, Diod. 4.25.2, and Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. 7, p. 63, ed. Potter. As to the power of Orpheus to move stones and trees by his singing, see Eur. Ba. 561ff.; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.26ff.; Diod. 4.25.2; Eratosthenes, Cat. 24; Conon 45; Hor. Carm. 1.12.7ff.; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1036ff.; Seneca, Herakles Furens 572ff. ) who practised minstrelsy and by his songs moved stones and trees. And when his wife Eurydice died, bitten by a snake, he went down to Hades, being fain to bring her up,[*](As to the descent of Orpheus to hell to fetch up Eurydice, compare Paus. 9.30.6; Conon 45; Verg. G. 4.454ff.; Ov. Met. 10.8ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 164; Seneca, Herakles Furens 569ff.; Seneca, Herakles Oetaeus 1061ff.; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. viii.59, 60; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 26ff. 90 (First Vatican Mythographer 76; Second Vatican Mythographer 44). That Eurydice was killed by the bite of a snake on which she had accidentally trodden is mentioned by Virgil, Ovid, Hyginus, and the Vatican Mythographers.) and he

persuaded Pluto to send her up. The god promised to do so, if on the way Orpheus would not turn round until he should be come to his own house. But he disobeyed and turning round beheld his wife; so she turned back. Orpheus also invented the mysteries of Dionysus,[*](On Orpheus as a founder of mysteries, compare Eur. Rh. 943ff.; Arist. Frogs 1032; Plat. Prot. 369d; Plat. Rep. 2.365e-366a; Dem. 25.11; Diod. 1.23, Diod. 1.96.2-6, Diod. 3.65.6, Diod. 4.25.3, Diod. 5.77.3; Paus. 2.30.2, Paus. 9.30.4, Paus. 10.7.2; Plut. Frag. 84 (Plutarch, Didot ed., v. p. 55). According to Diod. 1.23, the mysteries of Dionysus which Orpheus instituted in Greece were copied by him from the Egyptian mysteries of Osiris. The view that the mysteries of Dionysus were based on those of Osiris has been maintained in recent years by the very able and learned French scholar, Monsieur Paul Foucart. See his treatise, Le culte de Dionysos en Attique (Paris, 1904), pp. 8ff.; Foucart, Les mystères d' Eleusis (Paris, 1914), pp. 1ff., 445ff. ) and having been torn in pieces by the Maenads[*](As to the death of Orpheus at the hands of the Maenads or the Thracian women, see Paus. 9.30.5; Conon 45; Eratosthenes, Cat. 24; Verg. G. 4.520ff.; Ov. Met. 11.1ff. Usually the women are said to have been offended by the widower's constancy to the memory of his late wife, and by his indifference to their charms and endearments. But Eratosthenes, or rather the writer who took that name, puts a different complexion on the story. He says that Orpheus did not honour Dionysus, but esteemed the sun the greatest of the gods, and used to rise very early every day in order to see the sunrise from the top of Mount Pangaeum. This angered Dionysus, and he stirred up the Bassarids or Bacchanals to rend the bard limb from limb. Aeschylus wrote a tragedy on the subject called the Bassarids or Bassarae. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), (Leipsig, 1889), pp. 9ff. ) he is buried in Pieria.