Library

Apollodorus

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

Alcyone was married by Ceyx, son of Lucifer.[*](According to Ov. Met. 11.271ff., Ceyx reflected his father's brightness in his face.)

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These perished by reason of their pride; for he said that his wife was Hera, and she said that her husband was Zeus.[*](Compare Scholiast on Aristoph. Birds 250; Scholiast on Hom. Il. ix.562; Eustathius on Hom. Il. ix.562. p. 776. The story may be a reminiscence of an ancient Greek custom, in accordance with which kings are said to have been regularly called Zeus. See Tzetzes, Antehomerica 102ff.; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.474; A. B. Cook, “The European Sky-god,” Folklore, xv. (1904), pp. 299ff. ) But Zeus turned them into birds; her he made a kingfisher ( alcyon) and him a gannet ( ceyx).[*](Compare Lucian, Halcyon 1; Scholiast on Aristoph. Birds 250; Ov. Met. 11.410ff., especially 710ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 65. The identification of the seabird ceyx is doubtful. See D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds (Oxford, 1895), p. 81.) Canace had by Poseidon Hopleus and Nireus and Epopeus and Aloeus and Triops. Aloeus wedded Iphimedia, daughter of Triops; but she fell in love with Poseidon, and often going to the sea she would draw up the waves with her hands and pour them into her lap. Poseidon met her and begat two sons, Otus and Ephialtes, who are called the Aloads.[*](As to the Aloads, see Hom. Od. 11.305ff.; Verg. A. 6.582ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 28.) These grew every year a cubit in breadth and a fathom in height; and when they were nine years old,[*](This answers to the ἐννέωροι of Homer (Hom. Od. 11.31), the meaning of which has been disputed. See Merry, on Hom. Od. x.19. Hyginus, Fab. 28 understood ἐννέωροι in the same way as Apollodorus (“cum essent annorum novem”).) being nine cubits broad and nine fathoms high, they resolved to fight against the gods, and they set Ossa on Olympus, and having set Pelion on Ossa they threatened by means of these mountains to ascend up to heaven, and they said that by filling up the sea with the mountains they would make it dry land, and the land they would make sea. And Ephialtes wooed Hera, and Otus wooed Artemis; moreover they put Ares in bonds.[*](They are said to have imprisoned him for thirteen months in a brazen pot, from which he was rescued, in a state of great exhaustion, by the interposition of Hermes. See Hom. Il. 5.385ff. Compare my note, “Ares in the brazen pot,” The Classical Review, ii. (1888) p. 222.) However, Hermes
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rescued Ares by stealth, and Artemis killed the Aloads in Naxos by a ruse. For she changed herself into a deer and leaped between them, and in their eagerness to hit the quarry they threw their darts at each other.[*](Compare Hyginus, Fab. 28.)

Calyce and Aethlius had a son Endymion who led Aeolians from Thessaly and founded Elis. But some say that he was a son of Zeus. As he was of surpassing beauty, the Moon fell in love with him, and Zeus allowed him to choose what he would, and he chose to sleep for ever, remaining deathless and ageless.[*](As to Endymion and the Moon, see Ap. Rhod., Argon. iv.57ff., with the Scholiast; Paus. 5.1.4; Mythographi Graeci, ed Westermann, pp. 319ff., 324; Hyginus, Fab. 271. The present passage of Apollodorus is quoted almost verbally by Zenobius, Cent. iii.76, but as usual without mention of his authority. The eternal sleep of Endymion was proverbial. See Plat. Phaedo 72c; Macarius, Cent. iii.89; Diogenianus, Cent. iv.40; Cicero, De finibus v.20.55; compare Cicero, Tusc. Disp. i.38.92.)

Endymion had by a Naiad nymph or, as some say, by Iphianassa, a son Aetolus, who slew Apis, son of Phoroneus, and fled to the Curetian country. There he killed his hosts, Dorus and Laodocus and Polypoetes, the sons of Phthia and Apollo, and called the country Aetolia after himself.[*](Compare Paus. 5.1.8; Conon 14.)