Alalcomenes ( Ancient Greek: means 'guardian') or Alalcomeneus was in Greek mythology, a Boeotian autochthon who was believed to have given the name to the Boeotian town of

Alalcomenae Alalcomenae ( grc-gre, Ἀλαλκομεναί, link=no) is the name of several towns in Ancient Greece. * Alalcomenae (Boeotia) * Alalcomenae (Ithaca) Alalcomenae or Alalkomenai ( grc, Ἀλαλκομ́εναι), or Alcomenae or Alkomenai (Ἀλ� ...

Mythology

Alalcomeneus was also said to have brought-up/ tutored Athena (under the epithet Athena Alalcomeneis), who was in some traditions said to have been born in that town, and to have been the first who introduced her worship. According to Plutarch, he advised Zeus to have a figure of oak-wood dressed in bridal attire, and carried about amidst hymnal songs, in order to change the anger of

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

into jealousy. The name of the wife of Alalcomenes was Athenaïs, and that of his son, Glaucopus, both of which refer to the goddess Athena.Pausanias, 9.3.3;

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 ...

, s.v. '; Dictionary of Antiquities s.v. ';

Karl Otfried Müller Karl Otfried Müller ( la, Carolus Mullerus; 28 August 1797 – 1 August 1840) was a German scholar and Philodorian, or admirer of ancient Sparta, who introduced the modern study of Greek mythology. Biography He was born at Brieg (modern Brze ...

, ''Orchomenos und die Minyer'' p. 213 In some accounts, Alalcomenes was said to be the first man who appear by Lake Copais before even the Moon was. He sprang spontaneously from the earth (

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...

) rather than being created by Prometheus and thus one of the men of the so-called golden race, subjects of

Cronus In Ancient Greek religion and mythology, Cronus, Cronos, or Kronos ( or , from el, Κρόνος, ''Krónos'') was the leader and youngest of the first generation of Titans, the divine descendants of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and ...

Interpretation

Modern interpretation by Graves recognized Alalcomeneus as a fictitious character which is a masculine form of Alalcomeneïs, Athene's title (Iliad) as the guardian of Boeotia. He serves the patriarchal dogma that no woman, even a goddess, can be wise without male instruction, and that the Moon—goddess and the Moon itself were late creations of Zeus.

Notes

References

* Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths'', Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. *Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''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.
Autochthons of classical mythology Children of Gaia Demigods in classical mythology Boeotian characters in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub