In Greek mythology, Combe ( grc, Κόμβη) was a daughter of the river god Asopus.

Mythology

Combe was equated with

Chalcis Chalcis ( ; Ancient Greek & Katharevousa: , ) or Chalkida, also spelled Halkida (Modern Greek: , ), is the chief town of the island of Euboea or Evia in Greece, situated on the Euripus Strait at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from ...

, another of Asopus' many daughters, and associated with the island Euboea: the city

was reported to have been named after "Combe, who was also called Chalcis". Combe was said to have been dubbed Chalcis because she made bronze weapons (χαλκόν ''chalcon'' being the Greek word for "bronze"); the mythological tradition also makes her the first woman to cohabit with a man, and mother of one hundred children. In Nonnus' ''

Dionysiaca The ''Dionysiaca'' {{IPAc-en, ˌ, d, aɪ, ., ə, ., n, ᵻ, ˈ, z, aɪ, ., ə, ., k, ə ( grc-gre, Διονυσιακά, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest survi ...

'', Combe is the consort of the Euboean Socus and mother by him of the seven Corybantes. She and her sons get expelled from the island by Socus and move first to

Cnossus Knossos (also Cnossos, both pronounced ; grc, Κνωσός, Knōsós, ; Linear B: ''Ko-no-so'') is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the na ...

and then to Athens. The Corybantes return to Euboea after King Cecrops, their host in Athens, kills Socus, but Combe's individual further destiny is not dealt with. Hesychius of Alexandria indicates Combe as "mother of the Curetes", these being barely distinct from the Corybantes. Ovid briefly mentions a certain Combe of Pleuron, surnamed ''Ophias'' ("daughter or descendant of an Ophius"?), who "on fluttering wings escaped the wounds that were being inflicted by r on?her sons", Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 7.382-383: "...''trepidantibus alis // Ophias effugit natorum vulnera Combe''." that is, was apparently changed into a bird to escape a danger. Since the myth is otherwise unknown, it remains uncertain whether this Combe is the same character or a different one.

Notes

References

Nonnus of Panopolis Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian The ...

, ''

'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, '' Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...

, ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
{{Greek-deity-stub Naiads Nymphs Children of Asopus Metamorphoses characters Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology