Apollodorus, Library, ed. Sir James George Frazer, 3.15

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[1]
When Pandion died, his sons divided their father's inheritance between them, and Erechtheus got the kingdom,¹ and Butes got the priesthood of Athena and Poseidon Erechtheus.² Erechtheus married Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus by Diogenia, daughter of Cephisus, and had sons, to wit, Cecrops, Pandorus, and Metion; and daughters, to wit, Procris, Creusa, Chthonia, and Orithyia, who was carried off by Boreas.³
Chthonia was married to Butes,⁴ Creusa to Xuthus,⁵ and Procris to Cephalus, son of Deion.⁶ Bribed by a golden crown, Procris admitted Pteleon to her bed, and being detected by Cephalus she fled to Minos. But he fell in love with her and tried to seduce her. Now if any woman had intercourse with Minos, it was impossible for her to escape with life; for because Minos cohabited with many women, Pasiphae bewitched him, and whenever he took another woman to his bed, he discharged wild beasts at her joints, and so the women perished.⁷ But Minos had a swift dog and a dart that flew straight; and in return for these gifts Procris shared his bed, having first given him the Circaean root to drink that he might not harm her. But afterwards, fearing the wife of Minos, she came to Athens and being reconciled to Cephalus she went forth with him to the chase; for she was fond of hunting. As she was in pursuit of game in the thicket, Cephalus, not knowing she was there, threw a dart, hit and killed Procris, and, being tried in the Areopagus, was condemned to perpetual banishment.⁸

[2]
While Orithyia was playing by the Ilissus river, Boreas carried her off and had intercourse with her; and she bore daughters, Cleopatra and Chione, and winged sons, Zetes and Calais. These sons sailed with Jason⁹ and met their end in chasing the Harpies; but according to Acusilaus, they were killed by Hercules in Tenos.¹⁰

[3] Cleopatra was married to Phineus, who had by her two sons, Plexippus and Pandion. When he had these sons by Cleopatra, he married Idaea, daughter of Dardanus. She falsely accused her stepsons to Phineus of corrupting her virtue, and Phineus, believing her, blinded them both.¹¹ But when the Argonauts sailed past with Boreas, they punished him.¹²

[4]
Chione had connexion with Poseidon, and having given birth to Eumolpus¹³ unknown to her father, in order not to be detected, she flung the child into the deep. But Poseidon picked him up and conveyed him to Ethiopia, and gave him to Benthesicyme( a daughter of his own by Amphitrite) to bring up. When he was full grown, Benthesicyme's husband gave him one of his two daughters. But he tried to force his wife's sister, and being banished on that account, he went with his son Ismarus to Tegyrius, king of Thrace, who gave his daughter in marriage to Eumolpus's son. But being afterwards detected in a plot against Tegyrius, he fled to the Eleusinians and made friends with them. Later, on the death of Ismarus, he was sent for by Tegyrius and went, composed his old feud with him, and succeeded to the kingdom. And war having broken out between the Athenians and the Eleusinians, he was called in by the Eleusinians and fought on their side with a large force of Thracians.¹⁴ When Erechtheus inquired of the oracle how the Athenians might be victorious, the god answered that they would win the war if he would slaughter one of his daughters; and when he slaughtered his youngest, the others also slaughtered themselves; for, as some said, they had taken an oath among themselves to perish together.¹⁵ In the battle which took place after the slaughter, Erechtheus killed Eumolpus.

[5] But Poseidon having destroyed Erechtheus¹⁶ and his house, Cecrops, the eldest of the sons of Erechtheus, succeeded to the throne.¹⁷ He married Metiadusa, daughter of Eupalamus, and begat Pandion. This Pandion, reigning after Cecrops, was expelled by the sons of Metion in a sedition, and going to Pylas at Megara married his daughter Pylia.¹⁸ And at a later time he was even appointed king of the city; for Pylas slew his father's brother Bias and gave the kingdom to Pandion, while he himself repaired to Peloponnese with a body of people and founded the city of Pylus.¹⁹
While Pandion was at Megara, he had sons born to him, to wit, Aegeus, Pallas, Nisus, and Lycus. But some say that Aegeus was a son of Scyrius, but was passed off by Pandion as his own.²⁰

[6] After the death of Pandion his sons marched against Athens, expelled the Metionids, and divided the government in four; but Aegeus had the whole power.²¹ The first wife whom he married was Meta, daughter of Hoples, and the second was Chalciope, daughter of Rhexenor.²² As no child was born to him, he feared his brothers, and went to Pythia and consulted the oracle concerning the begetting of children. The god answered him:

The bulging mouth of the wineskin, O best of men,

Loose not until thou hast reached the height of Athens.²³

Not knowing what to make of the oracle, he set out on his return to Athens.

[7] And journeying by way of Troezen, he lodged with Pittheus, son of Pelops, who, understanding the oracle, made him drunk and caused him to lie with his daughter Aethra. But in the same night Poseidon also had connexion with her. Now Aegeus charged Aethra that, if she gave birth to a male child, she should rear it, without telling whose it was; and he left a sword and sandals under a certain rock, saying that when the boy could roll away the rock and take them up, she was then to send him away with them.
But he himself came to Athens and celebrated the games of the Panathenian festival, in which Androgeus, son of Minos, vanquished all comers. Him Aegeus sent against the bull of Marathon, by which he was destroyed. But some say that as he journeyed to Thebes to take part in the games in honor of Laius, he was waylaid and murdered by the jealous competitors.²⁴ But when the tidings of his death were brought to Minos, as he was sacrificing to the Graces in Paros, he threw away the garland from his head and stopped the music of the flute, but nevertheless completed the sacrifice; hence down to this day they sacrifice to the Graces in Paros without flutes and garlands.

[8] But not long afterwards, being master of the sea, he attacked Athens with a fleet and captured Megara, then ruled by king Nisus, son of Pandion, and he slew Megareus, son of Hippomenes, who had come from Onchestus to the help of Nisus.²⁵ Now Nisus perished through his daughter's treachery. For he had a purple hair on the middle of his head, and an oracle ran that when it was pulled out he should die; and his daughter Scylla fell in love with Minos and pulled out the hair. But when Minos had made himself master of Megara, he tied the damsel by the feet to the stern of the ship and drowned her.²⁶
When the war lingered on and he could not take Athens, he prayed to Zeus that he might be avenged on the Athenians. And the city being visited with a famine and a pestilence, the Athenians at first, in obedience to an ancient oracle, slaughtered the daughters of Hyacinth, to wit, Antheis, Aegleis, Lytaea, and Orthaea, on the grave of Geraestus, the Cyclops; now Hyacinth, the father of the damsels, had come from Lacedaemon and dwelt in Athens.²⁷ But when this was of no avail, they inquired of the oracle how they could be delivered; and the god answered them that they should give Minos whatever satisfaction he might choose. So they sent to Minos and left it to him to claim satisfaction. And Minos ordered them to send seven youths and the same number of damsels without weapons to be fodder for the Minotaur.²⁸ Now the Minotaur was confined in a labyrinth, in which he who entered could not find his way out; for many a winding turn shut off the secret outward way.²⁹ The labyrinth was constructed by Daedalus, whose father was Eupalamus, son of Metion, and whose mother was Alcippe;³⁰ for he was an excellent architect and the first inventor of images. He had fled from Athens, because he had thrown down from the acropolis Talos, the son of his sister Perdix;³¹ for Talos was his pupil, and Daedalus feared that with his talents he might surpass himself, seeing that he had sawed a thin stick with a jawbone of a snake which he had found.³² But the corpse was discovered; Daedalus was tried in the Areopagus, and being condemned fled to Minos. And there Pasiphae having fallen in love with the bull of Poseidon, Daedalus acted as her accomplice by contriving a wooden cow, and he constructed the labyrinth, to which the Athenians every year sent seven youths and as many damsels to be fodder for the Minotaur.

Library. Apollodorus. ed. Sir James George Frazer. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Library (English) (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.)

Editions (1)

Βιβλιοθήκη Perseus (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.) — 3.15 focus

[1] Πανδίονος δὲ ἀποθανόντος οἱ παῖδες τὰ πατρῷα ἐμερίσαντο, καὶ τὴν μὲν βασιλείαν Ἐρεχθεὺς λαμβάνει, τὴν δὲ ἱερωσύνην τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος τοῦ Ἐρεχθέως Βούτης. γήμας δὲ Ἐρεχθεὺς Πραξιθέαν τὴν Φρασίμου καὶ Διογενείας τῆς Κηφισοῦ, ἔσχε παῖδας Κέκροπα Πάνδωρον Μητίονα, θυγατέρας δὲ Πρόκριν Κρέουσαν Χθονίαν Ὠρείθυιαν, ἣν ἥρπασε Βορέας.

Χθονίαν μὲν οὖν ἔγημε Βούτης, Κρέουσαν δὲ Ξοῦθος, Πρόκριν δὲ Κέφαλος ὁ Δηιόνος. ἡ δὲ λαβοῦσα χρυσοῦν στέφανον Πτελέοντι συνευνάζεται, καὶ φωραθεῖσα ὑπὸ Κεφάλου πρὸς Μίνωα φεύγει. ὁ δὲ αὐτῆς ἐρᾷ καὶ πείθει συνελθεῖν. εἰ δὲ συνέλθοι γυνὴ Μίνωι, ἀδύνατον ἦν αὐτὴν σωθῆναι· Πασιφάη γάρ, ἐπειδὴ πολλαῖς Μίνως συνηυνάζετο γυναιξίν, ἐφαρμάκευσεν αὐτόν, καὶ ὁπότε ἄλλῃ συνηυνάζετο, εἰς τὰ ἄρθρα ἀφίει θηρία, καὶ οὕτως ἀπώλλυντο. ἔχοντος οὖν αὐτοῦ κύνα ταχὺν καὶ ἀκόντιον ἰθυβόλον, ἐπὶ τούτοις Πρόκρις, δοῦσα τὴν Κιρκαίαν πιεῖν ῥίζαν πρὸς τὸ μηδὲν βλάψαι, συνευνάζεται. δείσασα δὲ αὖθις τὴν Μίνωος γυναῖκα ἧκεν εἰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ διαλλαγεῖσα Κεφάλῳ μετὰ τούτου παραγίνεται ἐπὶ θήραν· ἦν γὰρ θηρευτική. διωκούσης δὲ αὐτῆς ἐν τῇ λόχμῃ ἀγνοήσας Κέφαλος ἀκοντίζει, καὶ τυχὼν ἀποκτείνει Πρόκριν. καὶ κριθεὶς ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ φυγὴν ἀίδιον καταδικάζεται.

[2] Ὠρείθυιαν δὲ παίζουσαν ἐπὶ Ἰλισσοῦ ποταμοῦ ἁρπάσας Βορέας συνῆλθεν· ἡ δὲ γεννᾷ θυγατέρας μὲν Κλεοπάτραν καὶ Χιόνην, υἱοὺς δὲ Ζήτην καὶ Κάλαϊν πτερωτούς, οἳ πλέοντες σὺν Ἰάσονι καὶ τὰς ἁρπυίας διώκοντες ἀπέθανον, ὡς δὲ Ἀκουσίλαος λέγει, περὶ Τῆνον ὑφʼ Ἡρακλέους ἀπώλοντο.

[3] Κλεοπάτραν δὲ ἔγημε Φινεύς, ᾧ γίνονται παῖδες ἐξ αὐτῆς Πλήξιππος καὶ Πανδίων. ἔχων δὲ τούτους ἐκ Κλεοπάτρας παῖδας Ἰδαίαν ἐγάμει τὴν Δαρδάνου. κἀκείνη τῶν προγόνων πρὸς Φινέα φθορὰν καταψεύδεται, καὶ πιστεύσας Φινεὺς ἀμφοτέρους τυφλοῖ. παραπλέοντες δὲ οἱ Ἀργοναῦται σὺν Βορέᾳ κολάζονται αὐτόν.

[4] Χιόνη δὲ Ποσειδῶνι μίγνυται. ἡ δὲ κρύφα τοῦ πατρὸς Εὔμολπον τεκοῦσα, ἵνα μὴ γένηται καταφανής, εἰς τὸν βυθὸν ῥίπτει τὸ παιδίον. Ποσειδῶν δὲ ἀνελόμενος εἰς Αἰθιοπίαν κομίζει καὶ δίδωσι Βενθεσικύμῃ τρέφειν, αὐτοῦ θυγατρὶ καὶ Ἀμφιτρίτης. ὡς δὲ ἐτελειώθη, ὁ Βενθεσικύμης ἀνὴρ τὴν ἑτέραν αὐτῷ τῶν θυγατέρων δίδωσιν. ὁ δὲ καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν τῆς γαμηθείσης ἐπεχείρησε βιάζεσθαι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο φυγαδευθεὶς μετὰ Ἰσμάρου τοῦ παιδὸς πρὸς Τεγύριον ἧκε, Θρᾳκῶν βασιλέα, ὃς αὐτοῦ τῷ παιδὶ τὴν θυγατέρα συνῴκισεν. ἐπιβουλεύων δὲ ὕστερον Τεγυρίῳ καταφανὴς γίνεται, καὶ πρὸς Ἐλευσινίους φεύγει καὶ φιλίαν ποιεῖται πρὸς αὐτούς. αὖθις δὲ Ἰσμάρου τελευτήσαντος μεταπεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Τεγυρίου παραγίνεται, καὶ τὴν πρὸ τοῦ μάχην διαλυσάμενος τὴν βασιλείαν παρέλαβε. καὶ πολέμου ἐνστάντος πρὸς Ἀθηναίους τοῖς Ἐλευσινίοις, ἐπικληθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἐλευσινίων μετὰ πολλῆς συνεμάχει Θρᾳκῶν δυνάμεως. Ἐρεχθεῖ δὲ ὑπὲρ Ἀθηναίων νίκης χρωμένῳ ἔχρησεν ὁ θεὸς κατορθώσειν τὸν πόλεμον, ἐὰν μίαν τῶν θυγατέρων σφάξῃ. καὶ σφάξαντος αὐτοῦ τὴν νεωτάτην καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ ἑαυτὰς κατέσφαξαν· ἐπεποίηντο γάρ, ὡς ἔφασάν τινες, συνωμοσίαν ἀλλήλαις συναπολέσθαι. γενομένης δὲ μετὰ τὴν σφαγὴν τῆς μάχης Ἐρεχθεὺς μὲν ἀνεῖλεν Εὔμολπον,

[5] Ποσειδῶνος δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἐρεχθέα καὶ τὴν οἰκίαν αὐτοῦ καταλύσαντος, Κέκροψ ὁ πρεσβύτατος τῶν Ἐρεχθέως παίδων ἐβασίλευσεν, ὃς γήμας Μητιάδουσαν τὴν Εὐπαλάμου παῖδα ἐτέκνωσε Πανδίονα. οὗτος μετὰ Κέκροπα βασιλεύων ὑπὸ τῶν Μητίονος υἱῶν κατὰ στάσιν ἐξεβλήθη, καὶ παραγενόμενος εἰς Μέγαρα πρὸς Πύλαν τὴν ἐκείνου θυγατέρα Πυλίαν γαμεῖ. αὖθις δὲ καὶ τῆς πόλεως βασιλεὺς καθίσταται· κτείνας γὰρ Πύλας τὸν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀδελφὸν Βίαντα τὴν βασιλείαν δίδωσι Πανδίονι, αὐτὸς δὲ εἰς Πελοπόννησον σὺν λαῷ παραγενόμενος κτίζει πόλιν Πύλον.

Πανδίονι δὲ ἐν Μεγάροις ὄντι παῖδες ἐγένοντο Αἰγεὺς Πάλλας Νῖσος Λύκος. ἔνιοι δὲ Αἰγέα Σκυρίου εἶναι λέγουσιν, ὑποβληθῆναι δὲ ὑπὸ Πανδίονος.

[6] μετὰ δὲ τὴν Πανδίονος τελευτὴν οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ στρατεύσαντες ἐπʼ Ἀθήνας ἐξέβαλον τοὺς Μητιονίδας καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν τετραχῇ διεῖλον· εἶχε δὲ τὸ πᾶν κράτος Αἰγεύς. γαμεῖ δὲ πρώτην μὲν Μήταν τὴν Ὁπλῆτος, δευτέραν δὲ Χαλκιόπην τὴν Ῥηξήνορος. ὡς δὲ οὐκ ἐγένετο παῖς αὐτῷ, δεδοικὼς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς εἰς Πυθίανἦλθε καὶ περὶ παίδων γονῆς ἐμαντεύετο. ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἔχρησεν αὐτῷ·

ἀσκοῦ τὸν προύχοντα ποδάονα, φέρτατε λαῶν,

μὴ λύσῃς, πρὶν ἐς ἄκρον Ἀθηναίων ἀφίκηαι.

ἀπορῶν δὲ τὸν χρησμὸν ἀνῄει πάλιν εἰς Ἀθήνας.

[7] καὶ Τροιζῆνα διοδεύων ἐπιξενοῦται Πιτθεῖ τῷ Πέλοπος, ὃς τὸν χρησμὸν συνείς, μεθύσας αὐτὸν τῇ θυγατρὶ συγκατέκλινεν Αἴθρᾳ. τῇ δὲ αὐτῇ νυκτὶ καὶ Ποσειδῶν ἐπλησίασεν αὐτῇ. Αἰγεὺς δὲ ἐντειλάμενος Αἴθρᾳ, ἐὰν ἄρρενα γεννήσῃ, τρέφειν, τίνος ἐστὶ μὴ λέγουσαν, ἀπέλιπεν ὑπό τινα πέτραν μάχαιραν καὶ πέδιλα, εἰπών, ὅταν ὁ παῖς δύνηται τὴν πέτραν ἀποκυλίσας ἀνελέσθαι ταῦτα, τότε μετʼ αὐτῶν αὐτὸν ἀποπέμπειν.

αὐτὸς δὲ ἧκεν εἰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ τὸν τῶν Παναθηναίων ἀγῶνα ἐπετέλει, ἐν ᾧ ὁ Μίνωος παῖς Ἀνδρόγεως ἐνίκησε πάντας. τοῦτον Αἰγεὺς ἐπὶ τὸν Μαραθώνιον ἔπεμψε ταῦρον, ὑφʼ οὗ διεφθάρη. ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτὸν λέγουσι πορευόμενον εἰς Θήβαςἐπὶ τὸν Λαΐου ἀγῶνα πρὸς τῶν ἀγωνιστῶν ἐνεδρευθέντα διὰ φθόνον ἀπολέσθαι. Μίνως δέ, ἀγγελθέντος αὐτῷ τοῦ θανάτου, θύων ἐν Πάρῳ ταῖς χάρισι, τὸν μὲν στέφανον ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἔρριψε καὶ τὸν αὐλὸν κατέσχε, τὴν δὲ θυσίαν οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπετέλεσεν· ὅθεν ἔτι καὶ δεῦρο χωρὶς αὐλῶν καὶ στεφάνων ἐν Πάρῳ θύουσι ταῖς χάρισι.

[8] μετʼ οὐ πολὺ δὲ θαλασσοκρατῶν ἐπολέμησε στόλῳ τὰς Ἀθήνας, καὶ Μέγαρα εἷλε Νίσου βασιλεύοντος τοῦ Πανδίονος, καὶ Μεγαρέα τὸν Ἱππομένους ἐξ Ὀγχηστοῦ Νίσῳ βοηθὸν ἐλθόντα ἀπέκτεινεν. ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ Νῖσος διὰ θυγατρὸς προδοσίαν. ἔχοντι γὰρ αὐτῷ πορφυρέαν ἐν μέσῃ τῇ κεφαλῇ τρίχα ταύτης ἀφαιρεθείσης ἦν χρησμὸς τελευτῆσαι· ἡ δὲ θυγάτηρ αὐτοῦ Σκύλλα ἐρασθεῖσα Μίνωος ἐξεῖλε τὴν τρίχα. Μίνως δὲ Μεγάρων κρατήσας καὶ τὴν κόρην τῆς πρύμνης τῶν ποδῶν ἐκδήσας ὑποβρύχιον ἐποίησε.

χρονιζομένου δὲ τοῦ πολέμου, μὴ δυνάμενος ἑλεῖν Ἀθήνας εὔχεται Διὶ παρʼ Ἀθηναίων λαβεῖν δίκας. γενομένου δὲ τῇ πόλει λιμοῦ τε καὶ λοιμοῦ. τὸ μὲν πρῶτον κατὰ λόγιον Ἀθηναῖοι παλαιὸν τὰς Ὑακίνθου κόρας, Ἀνθηίδα Αἰγληίδα Λυταίαν Ὀρθαίαν, ἐπὶ τὸν Γεραίστου τοῦ Κύκλωπος τάφον κατέσφαξαν· τούτων δὲ ὁ πατὴρ Ὑάκινθος ἐλθὼν ἐκ Λακεδαίμονος Ἀθήνας κατῴκει. ὡς δὲ οὐδὲν ὄφελος ἦν τοῦτο, ἐχρῶντο περὶ ἀπαλλαγῆς. ὁ δὲ θεὸς ἀνεῖλεν αὐτοῖς Μίνωι διδόναι δίκας ἃς ἂν αὐτὸς αἱροῖτο. πέμψαντες οὖν πρὸς Μίνωα ἐπέτρεπον αἰτεῖν δίκας. Μίνως δὲ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτοῖς κόρους ἑπτὰ καὶ κόρας τὰς ἴσας χωρὶς ὅπλων πέμπειν τῷ Μινωταύρῳ βοράν. ἦν δὲ οὗτος ἐν λαβυρίνθῳ καθειργμένος, ἐν ᾧ τὸν εἰσελθόντα ἀδύνατον ἦν ἐξιέναι· πολυπλόκοις γὰρ καμπαῖς τὴν ἀγνοουμένην ἔξοδον ἀπέκλειε. κατεσκευάκει δὲ αὐτὸν Δαίδαλος ὁ Εὐπαλάμου παῖς τοῦ Μητίονος καὶ Ἀλκίππης. ἦν γὰρ ἀρχιτέκτων ἄριστος καὶ πρῶτος ἀγαλμάτων εὑρετής. οὗτος ἐξ Ἀθηνῶν ἔφυγεν, ἀπὸ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως βαλὼν τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς Πέρδικος υἱὸν Τάλω, μαθητὴν ὄντα, δείσας μὴ διὰ τὴν εὐφυΐαν αὐτὸν ὑπερβάλῃ· σιαγόνα γὰρ ὄφεως εὑρὼν ξύλον λεπτὸν ἔπρισε. φωραθέντος δὲ τοῦ νεκροῦ κριθεὶς ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ καὶ καταδικασθεὶς πρὸς Μίνωα ἔφυγε. κἀκεῖ Πασιφάῃ ἐρασθείσῃ τοῦ Ποσειδωνείου ταύρου συνήργησε τεχνησάμενος ξυλίνην βοῦν, καὶ τὸν λαβύρινθον κατεσκεύασεν, εἰς ὃν κατὰ ἔτος Ἀθηναῖοι κόρους ἑπτὰ καὶ κόρας τὰς ἴσας τῷ Μινωταύρῳ βορὰν ἔπεμπον.

Notes on the current edition

Library

1. Erechtheus is recognized as the son of Pandion by the Parian Chronicle ( Marmor Parium 28ff. ), Eusebius, Chronic. vol. i. p. 186, ed. A. Schoene , Hyginus, Fab. 48 and Ov. Met. 6.675ff. According to Ov. Met. 6.675ff. Erechtheus had four sons and four daughters.

2. Compare Harpocration, s.v. Βούτης , who tells us that the families of the Butads and Eteobutads traced their origin to this Butes. There was an altar dedicated to him as to a hero in the Erechtheum on the acropolis of Athens ( Paus. 1.26.5 ). Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie (Berlin, 1889), pp. 113ff. Erechtheus was identified with Poseidon at Athens ( Hesychius, s.v. Ἐρεχθεύς ). The Athenians sacrificed to Erechtheus Poseidon ( Athenagoras, Supplicatio pro Christianis 1 ). His priesthood was called the priesthood of Poseidon Erechtheus ( Pseudo-Plutarch, x. Orat. Vit. Lycurgus 30, p. 1027, ed. Dubner ; Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum iii.805 ; Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecorum(3) 790 ). An inscription found at the Erechtheum contains a dedication to Poseidon Erechtheus ( Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum 387, vol. i ). Hence we may conclude with great probability that Heyne is right in restoring Ἐρεχθέως for Ἐριχθονίου in the present passage of Apollodorus. See the Critical Note.

3. Orithyia is said to have been carried off by Boreas from the banks of the Ilissus, where she was dancing or gathering flowers with her playmates. An altar to Boreas marked the spot. See below, Apollod. 3.15.2 ; Plat. Phaedrus 229b-c ; Paus. 1.19.5 ; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212ff. , with the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212 , from whom we learn that the story was told by the poet Simonides and the early historian Pherecydes. Compare Ov. Met. 6.683ff. According to another account, Orithyia was seen and loved by Boreas as she was carrying a basket in a procession, which was winding up the slope of the acropolis to offer sacrifice to Athena Polias, the Guardian of the City; the impetuous lover whirled her away with him, invisible to the crowd and to the guards that surrounded the royal maidens. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xiv.533 , who refers to Aculiaus as his authority. A different tradition as to the parentage of Orithyia appears to be implied by a vase-painting, which represents Boreas carrying off Orithyia in the presence of Cecrops, Erechtheus, Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, all of whom are identified by inscriptions ( Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum, vol. iv. p. 146, No. 7716 ). The painting is interpreted most naturally by the supposition that in the artist's opinion Aglaurus, Herse, and Pandrosus, the three daughters of Cecrops (see above, Apollod. 3.14.2 ), were the sisters of Orithyia, and therefore that her father was Cecrops, and not Erechtheus, as Apollodorus, following the ordinary Greek tradition ( Hdt. 7.189 ), assumes in the present passage. This inference is confirmed by an express statement of the Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.212 that Cecrops was the father of Orithyia. As to the vase-painting in question, see F. G. Welcker, Antike Denkmäler, iii.144ff. ; Baumeister, Denkmäler des klassischen Altertums, i.351ff.

4. This is the third instance of marriage or betrothal with a niece, the daughter of a brother, which has met us in Apollodorus. See above, Apollod. 2.4.3 ; Apollod. 2.4.5 . So many references to such a marriage seem to indicate a former practice of marrying a niece, the daughter of a brother.

5. Compare Eur. Ion 57ff. ; Paus. 7.1.2 , where, however, Creusa is not named.

6. The tragic story of Cephalus and Procris was told with variations in detail by ancient writers. See Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.321 ; Eustathius on Hom. Od. xi.321, p. 1688 ; Ant. Lib. 41 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.542ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 189 ; Ov. Met. 7.670-862 ; Serv. Verg. A. 6.445 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 16ff., 147 (First Vatican Mythographer 44; Second Vatican Mythographer 216) . Of these writers, Tzetzes closely follows Apollodorus, whom he cites by name. They are the only two authors who mention the intrigue of Procris with Pteleus and the bribe of the golden crown. The story was told by Pherecydes, as we learn from the Scholiast on Hom. Od. xi.321 , who gives an abstract of the narrative. In it the test of his wife's chastity is made by Cephalus himself in disguise; nothing is said of the flight of the abashed Procris to Minos, and nothing of the love of Dawn (Aurora) for Cephalus, which in several of the versions figures conspicuously, since it is the jealous goddess who suggests to her human lover the idea of tempting his wife to her fall. The episode of Procris's flight to Minos is told with some differences of detail by Antoninus Liberalis. As to the dog which Procris received from Minos, see above, Apollod. 2.7.1 . The animal's name was Laelaps ( Ov. Met. 7.771 ; Hyginus, Fab. 189 ). According to Hyginus, Fab. 189 , both the dog and the dart which could never miss were bestowed on Procris by Artemis (Diana). Sophocles wrote a tragedy Procris, of which antiquity has bequeathed to us four words. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 170ff. The accidental killing of Procris by her husband was a familiar, indeed trite, tale in Greece ( Paus. 10.29.6 ).

7. The danger which the women incurred, and the device by which Procris contrived to counteract it, are clearly explained by Ant. Lib. 41 . According to him, the animals which Minos discharged from his body were snakes, scorpions, and millipeds.

8. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades i.552 . After the homicide of his wife, Cephalus is said to have dwelt as an exile in Thebes ( Paus. 1.37.6 ).

9. See above, Apollod. 1.9.21 ; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.211ff., ii.273ff. ; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xiv.533 ; Scholiast on Soph. Ant. 981 ; Hyginus, Fab. 14, pp. 42ff., ed. Bunte ; Ov. Met. 6.711ff. ; Serv. Verg. A. 3.209 . According to Hyginus, their wings were attached to their feet, and their hair was sky-blue. Elsewhere ( Hyginus, Fab. 19 ) he describes them with wings on their heads as well as on their feet. Ovid says that they were twins, and that they did not develop wings until their beards began to grow; according to him, the pinions sprouted from their sides in the usual way.

10. This is the version adopted by Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1298-1308 , who tells us that when Zetes and Calais were returning from the funeral games of Pelias, Herakles killed them in Tenos because they had persuaded the Argonauts to leave him behind in Mysia; over their grave he heaped a barrow, and on the barrow he set up two pillars, one of which shook at every breath of the North Wind, the father of the two dead men. The slaughter of Zetes and Calais by Herakles is mentioned by Hyginus, Fab. 14, p. 43, ed. Bunte .

11. See above, Apollod. 1.9.21 . The story of Phineus and his sons is related by the Scholiast on Sophocles (Antigone, 981) , referring to the present passage of Apollodorus as his authority. The tale was told by the ancients with many variations, some of which are noticed by the Scholiast on Sophocles (Antigone, 981) . According to Soph. Ant. 969ff. , it was not their father Phineus, but their cruel stepmother, who blinded the two young men, using her shuttle as a dagger. The names both of the stepmother and of her stepsons are variously given by our authorities. See further Diod. 4.43ff. ; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xii.69 (who refers to Asclepiades as his authority); Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. ii.178 ; Hyginus, Fab. 19 ; Serv. Verg. A. 3.209 ; Scholiast on Ovid, Ibis 265, 271 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 9, 124 (First Vatican Mythographer 27; Second Vatican Mythographer 124) . According to Phylarchus, Aesculapius restored the sight of the blinded youths for the sake of their mother Cleopatra, but was himself killed by Zeus with a thunderbolt for so doing. See Sextus Empiricus, Adversus mathematicos i.262, p. 658, ed. Bekker ; compare Scholiast on Pind. P. 3.54(96) ; Scholiast on Eur. Alc. 1 . Both Aeschylus and Sophocles composed tragedies entitled Phineus. See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 83, 284ff. ; The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 311ff.

12. Here Apollodorus departs from the usual tradition, followed by himself elsewhere ( Apollod. 1.9.21 ), which affirmed that the Argonauts, instead of punishing Phineus, rendered him a great service by delivering him from the Harpies.

13. With this account of the parentage of Eumolpus, compare Paus. 1.38.2 ; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 854 ; Hyginus, Fab. 157 . Isoc. 4.68 agrees with Apollodorus in describing Eumolpus as a son of Poseidon, but does not name his mother. On the other hand the Parian Chronicle ( Marmor Parium 27ff. ) represents Eumolpus as a son of Musaeus, and says that he founded the mysteries of Eleusis. Apollodorus does not expressly attribute the institution of the mysteries to Eumolpus, but perhaps he implies it. Compare Apollod. 2.5.12 . It seems to have been a common tradition that the mysteries of Eleusis were founded by the Thracian Eumolpus. See Plut. De exilio 17 ; Lucian, Demonax 34 ; Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Εὐμολπίδαι . But some people held that the Eumolpus who founded the mysteries was a different person from the Thracian Eumolpus; his mother, according to them, was Deiope, daughter of Triptolemus. Some of the ancients supposed that there were as many as three different legendary personages of the name of Eumolpus, and that the one who instituted the Eleusinian mysteries was descended in the fifth generation from the first Eumolpus. See Scholiast on Sophocles, Oedipus Colon. 1053 ; Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Εὐμολπίδαι . The story which Apollodorus here tells of the casting of Eumolpus into the sea, his rescue by Poseidon, and his upbringing in Ethiopia, appears not to be noticed by any other ancient writer.

14. As to the war between the Athenians and the Eleusinians, see Paus. 1.5.2 ; Paus. 1.27.4 ; Paus. 1.31.3 ; Paus. 1.36.4 ; Paus. 1.38.3 ; Paus. 2.14.2 ; Paus. 7.1.5 ; Paus. 9.9.1 ; Alcidamas, Od. 23, p. 182, ed. Blass ; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 854 ; Aristides, Or. xiii. vol. i. pp. 190ff., ed. Dindorf . Pausanias differs from Apollodorus and our other authorities in saying that in the battle it was not Eumolpus, but his son Ismarus or, as Pausanias calls him, Immaradus who fell by the hand of Erechtheus ( Paus. 1.5.2 , Paus. 1.27.4 ). According to Pausanias ( Paus. 1.38.3 ), Erechtheus was himself slain in the battle, but Eumolpus survived it and was allowed to remain in Eleusis ( Paus. 2.14.2 ). Further, Pausanias relates that in the war with Eleusis the Athenians offered the supreme command of their forces to the exiled Ion, and that he accepted it ( Paus. 1.31.3 ; Paus. 2.14.2 ; Paus. 7.1.5 ); and with this account Strab. 8.7.1 substantially agrees. The war waged by Eumolpus on Athens is mentioned by Plat. Menex. 239b ; Isoc. 4.68 , Isoc. 12.193 ; Dem. 60.8 ; and Plut. Parallela 31 . According to Isocrates, Eumolpus claimed the kingdom of Athens against Erechtheus on the ground that his father Poseidon had gained possession of the country before Athena.

15. Compare Lyc. 1.98ff. ; Plut. Parallela 20 ; Suidas, s.v. παρθένοι ; Apostolius, Cent. xiv.7 ; Aristides, Or. xiii. vol. i. p. 191, ed. Dindorf ; Cicero, Pro Sestio xxi.48 ; Cicero, Tusculan. Disput. i.48.116 ; Cicero, De natura deorum iii.19.50 ; Cicero, De finibus v.22.62 ; Hyginus, Fab. 46 . According to Suidas and Apostolius, out of the six daughters of Erechtheus only the two eldest, Protogonia and Pandora, offered themselves for the sacrifice. According to Eur. Ion 277-280 , the youngest of the sisters, Creusa, was spared because she was an infant in arms. Aristides speaks of the sacrifice of one daughter only. Cicero says ( Cicero, De natura deorum iii.19.50 ) that on account of this sacrifice Erechtheus and his daughters were reckoned among the gods at Athens. “Sober,” that is, wineless, sacrifices were offered after their death to the daughters of Erechtheus. See Scholiast on Soph. OC 100 . The heroic sacrifice of the maidens was celebrated by Euripides in his tragedy Erechtheus, from which a long passage is quoted by Lyc. 1.100 . See TGF (Nauck 2nd ed.), pp. 464ff.

16. According to Hyginus, Fab. 46 , Zeus killed Erechtheus with a thunderbolt at the request of Poseidon, who was enraged at the Athenians for killing his son Eumolpus.

17. Compare Paus. 1.5.3 ; Paus. 7.1.2 .

18. Compare Paus. 1.5.3 , who tells us that the tomb of Pandion was in the land of Megara, on a bluff called the bluff of Diver-bird Athena.

19. Compare Paus. 1.39.4 ; Paus. 4.36.1 ; Paus. 6.22.5 , who variously names this Megarian king Pylas, Pylus, and Pylon.

20. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 494 , who may have copied Apollodorus. The sons of Pallas, the brother of Aegeus, alleged that Aegeus was not of the stock of the Erechtheids, since he was only an adopted son of Pandion. See Plut. Thes. 13 .

21. Compare Paus. 1.5.4 , Paus. 1.39.4 , according to whom Aegeus, as the eldest of the sons of Pandion, obtained the sovereignty of Attica, while his brother Nisus, relinquishing his claim to his elder brother, was invested with the kingdom of Megara. As to the fourfold partition of Attica among the sons of Pandion, about which the ancients were not agreed, see Strab. 9.1.6 ; Scholiast on Aristoph. Lys. 58, and on Wasps 1223 .

22. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 494 , who may have copied Apollodorus.

23. As to the oracle, the begetting of Theseus, and the tokens of his human paternity, see Plut. Thes. 3 and Plut. Thes. 6 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 494 ; Hyginus, Fab. 37 . As to the tokens, compare Diod. 4.59.1, 6 ; Paus. 1.27.8 ; Paus. 2.32.7 . Theseus is said to have claimed to be a son of Poseidon, because the god had consorted with his mother; and in proof of his marine descent he dived into the sea and brought up a golden crown, the gift of Amphitrite, together with a golden ring which Minos had thrown into the sea in order to test his claim to be a son of the sea-god. See Bacch. 16(17).33ff. , ed. Jebb ; Paus. 1.17.3 ; Hyginus, Ast. ii.5 . The picturesque story was painted by Micon in the sanctuary of Theseus at Athens Paus. 1.17.3 , and is illustrated by some Greek vase-paintings. See Frazer, commentary on Pausanias; vol. ii. pp. 157ff.

24. This account of the murder of Androgeus is repeated almost verbally by the Scholiast on Plat. Minos 321a . Compare Diod. 4.60.4ff. ; Zenobius, Cent. iv.6 ; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xviii.590 . All these writers mention the distinction won by Androgeus in the athletic contests of the Panathenian festival as the ultimate ground of his undoing. Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 and Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. 192 say that, as an eminent athlete who beat all competitors in the games, Androgeus was murdered at Athens by Athenian and Megarian conspirators. Paus. 1.27.10 mentions the killing of Androgeus by the Marathonian bull. According to Hyginus, Fab. 41 , Androgeus was killed in battle during the war which his father Minos waged with the Athenians.

25. Compare Paus. 1.39.5 , who calls Megareus a son of Poseidon, and says that Megara took its name from him.

26. With this story of the death of Nisus through the treachery of his daughter Scylla, compare Aesch. Lib. 612ff. ; Paus. 1.19.5 ; Paus. 2.34.7 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 650 ; Scholiast on Eur. Hipp. 1200 ; Prop. iv.19(18) 21ff. ; [Virgil], Ciris, 378ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 198 ; Ov. Met. 8.6ff. ; Serv. Verg. Ecl. 6.74 ; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Theb. i.333, vii.261 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 2, 116 (First Vatican Mythographer 3; Second Vatican Mythographer 121) . A similar tale is told of Pterelaus and his daughter Comaetho. See above, Apollod. 2.4.5 ; Apollod. 2.4.7 .

27. Compare Diod. 17.15.2 ; Hyginus, Fab. 238 (who seems to mention only one daughter; but the passage is corrupt); Harpocration, s.v. Ὑακινθίδες , who says that the daughters of Hyacinth the Lacedaemonian were known as the Hyacinthides. The name of one of the daughters of Hyacinth is said to have been Lusia ( Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Λουσία ). Some people, however, identified the Hyacinthides with the daughters of Erechtheus, who were similarly sacrificed for their country (above, Apollod. 3.15.4 ). See Dem. 60.27 ; Suidas, s.v. παρθένοι . According to Phanodemus in the fifth book of his Atthis (cited by Suidas, s.v. παρθένοι) , the daughters of Erechtheus were called Hyacinthides because they were sacrificed at the hill named Hyacinth. Similarly, as Heyne pointed out in his note on the present passage, the three daughters of Leos, namely, Praxithea, Theope, and Eubule, are said to have sacrificed themselves voluntarily, or to have been freely sacrificed by their father, for the safety of Athens in obedience to an oracle. A precinct called the Leocorium was dedicated to their worship at Athens. See Ael., Var. Hist. xii.28 ; Dem. 40.28 ; Paus. 1.5.2 , with Frazer's note ( vol. ii. p. 78 ); Apostolius, Cent. x.53 ; Aristides, Or. xiii. vol. i. pp. 191ff., ed. Dindorf ; Cicero, De natura deorum iii.19.50 . So, too, in Boeotia the two maiden daughters of Orion are said to have sacrificed themselves freely to deliver their country from a fatal pestilence or dearth, which according to an oracle of the Gortynian Apollo could be remedied only by the voluntary sacrifice of two virgins. See Ant. Lib. 25 ; Ov. Met. 13.685-699 . The frequency of such legends, among which the traditional sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis may be included, suggests that formerly the Greeks used actually to sacrifice maidens in great emergencies, such as plagues and prolonged droughts, when ordinary sacrifices had proved ineffectual.

28. Compare Diod. 4.61.1-4 ; Plut. Thes. 15 ; Paus. 1.27.10 ; Scholiast on Plat. Minos 321a ; Verg. A. 6.20ff. ; Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 ; Hyginus, Fab. 41 ; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. 192 .

29. As to the Minotaur and the Labyrinth, see above, Apollod. 3.1.4 .

30. Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades i.490 , and the Scholiast on Plat. Ion 121a , both of whom name the father and mother of Daedalus in agreement with Apollodorus. The father of Daedalus is called Eupalamus also by Suidas (s.v. Πέρδικος ἱερόν) , the Scholiast on Plato (Rep. 7. 529d) , Hyginus, Fab. 39, 244, and 274 , and Servius on Virgil, vi.14 . He is called Palamaon by Paus. 9.3.2 , and Metion, son of Eupalamus, son of Erechtheus, by Diod. 4.76.1 . Our oldest authority for the parentage of Daedalus is Pherecydes, who says that the father of Daedalus was Metion, son of Erechtheus, and that his mother was Iphinoe ( Scholiast on Soph. OC 472 ); and this tradition as to the father of Daedalus is supported by Plat. Ion 533a . According to Clidemus, cited by Plut. Thes. 19 , Daedalus was a cousin of Theseus, his mother being Merope, daughter of Erechtheus. On the whole, tradition is in harmony with the statement of Paus. 7.4.5 “that Daedalus came of the royal house of Athens, the Metionids.” Compare J. Toepffer, Attische Genealogie, pp. 165ff. Through the clouds of fable which gathered round his life and adventures we may dimly discern the figure of a vagabond artist as versatile as Leonardo da Vinci and as unscrupulous as Benvenuto Cellini.

31. As to Daedalus's murder of his nephew, his trial, and flight, compare Diod. 4.76.4-7 ; Paus. 1.21.4 ; Paus. 1.26.4 ; Paus. 7.4.5 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.490ff. ; Suidas and Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Πέρδικος ἱερόν ; Apostolius, Cent. xiv.17 ; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1648 ; Ov. Met. 8.236-259 ; Hyginus, Fab. 39, 244 ; Serv. Verg. G. 1.143 and Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 ; Isidore, Orig. xix.19.9 . The name of the murdered nephew is commonly given as Talos, but according to Paus. 1.21.4 and Suidas and Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Πέρδικος ἱερόν; it was Calos. On the other hand Sophocles, in his lost play The Camicians (cited by Suidas and Photius,ll.cc. ) called him Perdix, that is, Partridge; and this name is accepted by Ovid, Hyginus, Servius, and Isidore. But according to a different tradition, here followed by Apollodorus, Perdix (“Partridge”) was the name, not of the murdered nephew, but of his mother, the sister of Daedalus, who hanged herself in grief at the death of her son; the Athenians worshipped her and dedicated a sanctuary to her beside the acropolis (so Apostolius, Suidas and Photius, ll.cc. ). The grave of Talos or Calos was shown near the theatre, at the foot of the acropolis, probably on the spot where he was supposed to have fallen from the battlements ( Paus. 1.21.4 ). The trial of Daedalus before the Areopagus is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus and the Scholiast on Euripides l.c..

32. He is said to have improved the discovery by inventing the iron saw in imitation of the teeth in a serpent's jawbone. See Diod. 4.76.5 ; Tzetzes, Chiliades i.494ff. Latin writers held that the invention was suggested to him by the backbone of a fish. See Ov. Met. 8.244ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 274 ; Serv. Verg. A. 6.14 ; Isidore, Orig. xix.19.9 . According to these Latin writers, the ingenious artist invented the compass also. As to Talos or Perdix and his mechanical inventions, see A. B. Cook, Zeus, i.724ff.

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