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[German version] (Κιναίθων; Kinaíthōn). Epic poet from Sparta, thought to have lived in the 7th or 6th cent. BC. Nothing of his works survives in the original, but testimonia indicate that their basic characteristic was the representation of genealogies. A reference in the Tabulae Iliacae names C. as the author of an Oedipodea. Jer. Chron. 4,2, names him also as the author of a Telegonia, but traditionally this epic poem is associated with Eugammon. It is uncertain whether C. also wrote an epic on Heracles; an even more dubious claim, found in a scholion to …

[German version] (Μάρων; Márōn). Priest of Apollo in the Thracian city of Ismarus; first mentioned in the Cicones episode in the Odyssey: For being spared during a plundering raid by Odysseus' warriors, M. gives Odysseus amongst other things a heavy wine as a present, with which Odysseus can later stun the Cyclops (Hom. Od. 9,39-61; 196…

(Κομήτης; Komḗtēs). [German version] [1] Lover of Aegiale(ia) Lover of  Aegiale(ia) wife of  Diomedes [1], the Achaean warrior at Troy. After Diomedes' return, C. tries to kill him; when Diomedes manages to save himself by finding refuge at an altar to Athena, C. leaves his homeland Argus (schol. Hom. Il. 5, 412). Mimnermus appears to have developed the structure of this myth as a parallel to the fate of  Agamemnon (fr. 17 G.-P.; cf. also Apollod. Epit. 6,9). Visser, Edzard (Basle) [German version] [2] Son of the Aetolian…

[German version] (Μηκιστεύς; Mēkisteús). Son of the mythical king Talaus of Argos, brother of Adrastus [1]. In the ‘Iliad he is only mentioned as the victor in boxing at Oedipus' funeral games (Hom. Il. 23,678-680; likewise in Paus. 1,28,7). A passage in Herodotus (Hdt. 5,67), according to which he was killed by Melanippus together with Tydeus, indicates that his name was among the ‘Seven against Thebes’. However, Aischyl. Sept. 488 names Hippomedon [1], another son of Talaus (as does Apollod. 3,63…

[German version] (Καινεύς; Kaineús, Lat. Caeneus). The name of a Lapith ruler, father of the Argonaut  Coronus. In early Greek mythology, this figure is clearly only connected to centauromachy. Because C. is invulnerable, the  Centaurs destroy him …

(Καρκίνος; Karkínos). [German version] [1] Cancer, the crab that was turned into a sign of the zodiac for biting Heracles in the foot at the behest of Hera while fighting the Hydra (Eratosth. Katasterismoi 11). The Alexandrian month of Karkinon (Καρκινών) was named after it. Walde, Christine (Basle) [German version] [2] Epic poet C. of Naupactus, epic poet of the archaic period. In Paus. 10,38,11 C. is named, with reference to Charon of Lampsacus, as the author of the Ναυπάκτια ἔπη ( Naupáktia épē), evidently a history of this town, lying at the entrance to the Corinthian Gulf; the preserved fragments however, primarily relate to the legend of the Argonauts. In spite of about a dozen witnesses to this epic, further documentation is lacking for the authorship of C.…

[German version] (Ἑκηβόλος; Hekēbólos). Epic epithet for  Apollo in his role as an archer (Hom. Il. 1,14 et passim), for  Artemis in early Greek texts only attested in the Nikandre inscription (SEG 19, 507 5); later with a considerably widened field of reference. In antiquity understood as ‘hitting far away into the distance’ (for ἑκάς and βάλλειν) (schol. T for Hom. Il. 1,14; cf. Aesch. Eum. 628: τόξοις ἑκηβόλοισιν), more probable is a derivation from ἑκών (roughly: ‘hitting at will’).…

[German version] (Ἴτωνος; Ítōnos). Father of  Boeotus (only in Diod. Sic. 4,67,7 his son); eponym of the town of  Iton, situated close to Coronea in Boeotia, with an important sanctuary of Athena Itonia [1]. The homonymous place and sanctuary in Thessaly (situated between Larisa and Pherae) is an important indication of the conquest and settlement of Boeotia, starting from the north, which allegedly began sixty years after the fall of Troy (Thuc. 1,12,3). I. is, however, mentioned as eponymous hero only in connection with Boeotian settlement. Visser, Edzard (Basle) Bibliography 1 Sch…

(Μενέλαος/Menélaos, Attic Μενέλεως/Menéleos; Latin Menelaus). [German version] [1] Ruler of Sparta, married to Helena A significant character in the cycle of myths about the Trojan War ( Troy: Cycle of myths). A younger brother of Agamemnon, who ruled the most significant power centre in Greek myth, Mycene, by marriage to Zeus's daughter Helen ( Helene [1]; their only child was a daughter, Hermione) M. became king of a region in the Eurotas …

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(Μαρσύας; Marsýas). [German version] [1] Phrygian rivergod and Celaenae's god of protection Phrygian river god and Celaenae's god of protection, represented as satyr or silenus. The name is derived from a toponym that can be found repeatedly throughout Asia Minor and Syria; the river, at the source of which Celaenae lies, also carries this name (M. [5]). M. was considered the discoverer of flute playing ( aulós), the inventor of the bandage used for flute playing ( phorbeiá) and of songs for the worship of the goddess Cybele. According to the myth, the possibility to pla…

[German version] (Γουνεύς; Gouneús). Leader of the 28th contingent described in the Homeric catalogue of ships (Hom. Il. 2,748-755). His territory, clearly defined by the place names Kyphos and Dodona as well as the tribal names of the Aenianes and Peraebians, co…

[German version] (Γηρυονεύς; Gēryoneús; also Geryónēs, Geryṓn, Γηρυόνης, Γηρυών; Etruscan Cerun). Mythical giant with three heads and three bodies, residing on the island  Erytheia in the far west of the inhabited world (later generally identified with Gadeira/Cadiz: Hdt. 4,8, et al., in Ptolemy's Geographia 4,1,16, identified with Mauretania, euhemeristically relocated to Ambracia by Hecataeus FGrH 1 F 26), where he tends an especially splendid breed of red cattle. His father is Chrysaor, originated from Medusa, and his mother, an  Oceanid (Callirhoe).…

(Γανυμήδης; Ganymḗdēs, Etruscan Catmite, Latin apart from G. also Catamitus). [German version] [1] Cupbearer to Zeus In Greek mythology (main source: Hom. Il 20,231-235) the son of the Dardanian king Tros (Iliad parva 29,4 PEG I: son of Laomedon), who as the most beautiful human was abducted to the Olympus to serve Zeus as cupbearer in eternal youth and to delight the gods with his beauty. He is either abducted in a windstorm (H. Hom. 5,202), by  Iris (in art, possibly a…

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[German version] [1] Oldest mythical king of Arcadia (Λυκάων; Lykáōn). Oldest mythical king of Arcadia, son of Pelasgus and of the daughter of Oceanus, Meliboea, or the mountain nymph Cyllene. L.'s sons are the founding heroes of all important Arcadian cities; his son Oenotrus, dissatisfied with his share of the inheritance, is said to have left his homeland and settled in Italy with several followers (hence the name Oenotria) (first in Pherecydes, FGrH 3 F 156). The number of 50 sons mentioned in Apol…

[German version] (Ἰφιδάμας; Iphidámas). Figure from the Trojan epic cycle, son of  Antenor [1] and Theano. Raised by Cisseus, his maternal grandfather, in Percote in Thrace, …

[German version] (Μάκαρ/ Mákar, Μακαρεύς/ Makareús; Latin Macareus). Mythical king of Lesbos who resettled this island after it was depopulated through the Deucalian flood ( Deucalion) and thus gave it the name of Macaria; Lesbos is already called ‘seat of Macar’ by Homer (Hom. Il. 24,544; H. Hom. 1,37). In the last-mentioned reference, the information ‘son of Aeolus’ is added; this patronymicon was probably a reflection of the Aeolian settlement of Lesbos. The most detailed depiction of M. is provided by Diod. Sic. 5,81f.: according to this, M. was a grandson of Ze…

[German version] (γλαυκῶπις; glaukôpis). Epic epithet. In Homer used as a metrical substitute or complementary for the name Athene, above all in the connection γλαυκῶπις Ἀθήνη ( glaukôpis Athḗnē). The noun μήνη ( mḗnē, ‘moon’) is also documented several times as a reference word for glaukopis (first in Empedocles, 31 B 42 Diels/Kranz). The epithet can be interpreted in two ways: either as ‘owl-eyed’ (from γλαῦξ, glaûx, ‘owl’) or ‘with a sparkling look’ (from γλαυκός, glaukós, ‘sparkling’). Both interpretations were already represented in antiquity. The suf…