Melia (consort of Inachus)
In Greek mythology, according to the mythographer Apollodorus, the Oceanid nymph Melia was the mother of Phoroneus, and Aegialeus, by her brother Inachus, a river-god of Argolis.[1] According to the Latin mythographer Hyginus however, Inachus fathered Phoroneus by an Oceanid nymph named Argia.[2] According to Argive tradition, Phoroneus was the first man.[3]
Melia was also said to have been the mother, by Inachus, of Mycene, the wife of Arestor, and eponym of Mycenae.[4] Melia was also perhaps considered to be the mother, by Inachus, of Io,[5] the ancestress, by Zeus, of the Greek dynasties of Argos, Thebes, and Crete.[6]
The consort of Apollo, who was an important cult figure at Thebes, was also said to be a daughter of Oceanus named Melia.[7]
Notes
- ^ Larson, p. 149; Hard, p. 276; Tripp, s.v. Inachus, p. 318; Grimal, s.v. Inachus, p. 230; Apollodorus, 2.1.1. Compare with Ovid, Amores 3.6.25–26, which perhaps confuses or conflates this Melia with the Bithynian Melia, who was the mother of Amycus and Mygdon by Poseidon.
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 143 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 147).
- ^ Grimal, s.v. Inachus, p. 230.
- ^ Scholiast on the Odyssey 2.120 (West, pp. 160, 161 8*); compare with Pausanias, 2.16.4, which, citing the Great Ehoiai, says that Mycene was the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor, without naming the mother.
- ^ Tripp, s.v. Inachus, p. 318.
- ^ Tripp, s.v. Io, p. 319; Grimal, s.v. Io, p. 232.
- ^ Grimal, s.v. Melia 2, p. 281.
References
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0.
- Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabuae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, ISBN 9780631201021.
- Larson, Jennifer, "Greek Nymphs : Myth, Cult, Lore", Oxford University Press (US). June 2001. ISBN 978-0-19-512294-7
- Ovid. Heroides. Amores. Translated by Grant Showerman. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 41. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977. ISBN 978-0-674-99045-6. Online version at Harvard University Press.
- Plato, Timaeus in Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 translated by W.R.M. Lamb. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1925. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Ty Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
- West, M. L., Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC. Edited and translated by Martin L. West. Loeb Classical Library No. 497. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003. Online version at Harvard University Press.