Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

, Althaemenes or Althemenes (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: Ἀλθαιμένης) was a

Cretan Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

prince as the only son of King

Catreus In Greek mythology, Catreus or Katreus (, ; grc, ) was the eldest son of Minos and Pasiphaë, and Minos' successor as king of Crete. Catreus had one son, Althaemenes, and three daughters, Apemosyne, Aerope and Clymene. Catreus was mistakenl ...

of Crete. He was the brother of

Apemosyne In Greek mythology, Apemosyne (Ancient Greek: ) was a Cretan princess as the daughter of King Catreus of Crete, the son of Minos. She had a brother Althaemenes, and two sisters Aerope and Clymene. Mythology Apemosyne was mentioned in the accou ...

Aerope In Greek mythology, Aerope (Ancient Greek: Ἀερόπη) was a Cretan princess as the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete. She was the sister to Clymene, Apemosyne and Althaemenes. Aerope's father Catreus gave her to Nauplius, to be drowned, ...

and Clymene. Althaemenes mistakenly killed his father thereby fulfilling an oracle.

Mythology

Althaemenes is known through the accounts of

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

and Apollodorus. According to the first of these, Althaemenes received an oracle saying that he was destined to kill his father. So to avoid this fate, Althaemenes, with many followers, fled Crete for

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

, and established on Mount Atabyrus (modern Attavyros) an altar to Zeus Atabyrius. Years later, Catreus sailed the seas searching for his son, and heir to his throne. One night, his ship stopped at Rhodes, fighting arose, and Althaemenes, unknowingly killed Catreus with his spear. When Althaemenes discovered what he had done, he wandered from place to place, and eventually died from grief. After which, commanded by an oracle, the Rhodians honored him as a hero. Apollodorus relates a similar story. In his account, Catreus received an oracle saying that he would be killed by one of his children. And although Catreus hid the oracles, Althaemenes found out and fled with his sister Apemosyne to Rhodes. There Apemosyne was raped by the god

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orato ...

, but when Apemosyne told Althaemenes this, Althaemenes did not believe her and kicked Apemosyne to death. Catreus having set to sea in search of Althaemenes, landed at Rhodes, and his company being mistaken for pirates were attacked and as before Althaemenes unknowingly killed his father. In this telling, when Althaemenes realized what had happened he prayed to the gods and fell into a chasm. Apollodorus
3.2
/ref>

Notes

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 Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*

, ''Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History''. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann_(publisher), Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works ...

. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989
Online version by Bill Thayer
*Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), {{ISBN, 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2). * Smith, William; ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 p ...

'', London (1873)
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Princes in Greek mythology Mythological Cretans