Brill’s New Pauly Supplements I - Volume 4 : The Reception of Myth and Mythology

(Αἴας [ Aías]; Latin Aiax) A. Myth The Greek army outside Troy contains two princes by the name of A. (Hom. Il. 2,527f.; 2,557f.). One is the gigantic son of Telamon of Salamis, the bravest after Achilles. He commits the offence of hubris against Athena when he refuses her help in battle (Soph. Aj. 766–775). He fights Hector, saves the Greek ships from fire (Hom. Il. 7,182–322 and 15,683–746) and recovers the body of Achilles from the battle. He then attempts to assert his claim to Achilles’ weapons in…

(Ἄλκηστις [ Álkēstis], Ἄδµητος [ Ádmētos]; Latin Alcestis, Admetus) A. Antiquity A.1. Sources, distribution and variants of the myth The oldest surviving version of the myth, and the most important in reception history, is that given by Euripides in his Alcestis, performed in 438 BC as the fourth part of a tragic tetralogy, i.e. in place of a satyr play. Juvenal (Iuv. 6,652–654) and Lucian (Lucian, Salt. 51f.) mention stage and pantomime performances of the Imperial period. We have 124 verses of a hexametric poem (mid-4th cent. AD) on…

see Amphitryon and Alcmene

(Ἀµαζόνες [ Amazónes], Latin Amazones) A. Myth The A. are a race of warlike women, whose homeland Greek mythology locates at the mouth ¶ of the River Thermodon in northern Asia Minor. Their origin is uncertain. In later versions of the myth, they are described as descendants of a nomadic people whose male members were killed by their own wives (Iust. 2,4; Diod. Sic. 2,44). For procreation, they meet the men of a neighbouring tribe once a year (Str. 11,5,1). The sons of these unions are either killed (Iust. 2,4) or sent…

see Eros

(Ἀµφιτρύων [ Amphitrýōn], Αλκµήνη [ Alkmḗnē]; Latin Amphitruo, Alcumena) A. Myth Am., a Theban general, son of Alcaeus and grandson of Perseus, king of Tiryns and founder of Mycenae, courts Al., daughter of Electryon, a brother of Alcaeus and successor of Perseus as king. To win Al.’s hand in marriage, Am. must join Electryon in battle against the sons of the Taphian (Teleboan) Pterelaus, also a descendant of Perseus. The sons of Electryon and Pterelaus fall in the battle. Am. is granted Al.’s hand, but …

Notes to the user: Mythical figures are generally listed under the Latinized forms of the Greek names. Variant forms and alternative names, Latin and otherwise, are given in brackets. Where Latin and/or other name forms and variants differ radically, these are listed separately, giving a reference to the main entry. Greek names beginning with K are mostly found in their Latin forms under C (e.g. Kirke under Circe). For Ai see Ae; for Oi see Oe. For J, see also I (and vice versa). Entries marked with an asterisk* have their own article in this volume. Information on these and th…

(Ἀνδροµάχη [ Andromáchē]; Latin Andromacha) A. Myth A. is the daughter of Eetion, king of Cilician Thebes, who, like A.’s seven brothers, is killed by Achilles (Hom. Il. 6,395; 6,414 ff.). She is the wife of Hector (Hom. Il. 6,366ff; Sappho fr. 55D) and mother of the young Astyanax (Scamandrius: Hom. Il. 6,402f.), who, depending on tradition, is either killed by Neoptolemus following the fall of Troy (Pyrrhus; Paus. 10,25,9) or thrown from the walls by Odysseus (Ov. Met. 13,415; also in Euripides’ and Seneca’s Trojan Women). A. is handed to Neoptolemus as war booty, and enslaved.…

(Ἀντιγόνη [ Antigónē]; Latin Antigona, Antigone) A. Myth A. is the daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta, and sister of Eteocles, Polyneices and Ismene. Eteocles and Polyneices kill each other in the war for dominion over Thebes. Creon, who inherits the throne as Jocasta’s brother, orders the former to be buried with honour as the defender of the city, while forbidding the burial of the aggressor Polyneices. The defiance of this ban lies at the centre of the myth of A. In Sophocles’ Antigone, the protagonist scatters the ashes of her brother mixed with earth, while Apollod…