Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Antiphera () is a slave woman from

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

in the service of

Athamas In Greek mythology, Athamas (; ) was a Boeotian king. Apollodorus1.9.1/ref> Family Athamas was formerly a Thessalian prince and the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. He was the brother of Salmoneus, Sisyph ...

and Ino, a king and queen in

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

. Antiphera caught the eye of Athamas, and thus incurred the wrath of his wife Ino.

Mythology

Antiphera was an Aetolian woman who served as a slave for the royal couple of

, King

and Queen Ino. Ino and Athamas had children together, but he soon initiated sexual relations with the slave woman which he tried to keep secret. Nevertheless his wife Ino found out, and in her jealousy-induced rage, she took her anger out on

Melicertes In Greek mythology, Melicertes (, sometimes Melecertes), later called Palaemon or Palaimon (), was a Boeotian prince as the son of King Athamas and Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. He was the brother of Learchus. Mythology Ino, purs ...

, one her sons by Athamas, by killing him.

Joseph Fontenrose Joseph Eddy Fontenrose (17 June 1903 in Sutter Creek – July 1986 in Ashland, Oregon) was an American classical scholar. He was centrally interested in Ancient Greek religion, Greek religion and Greek mythology; he was also an expert on John Ste ...

compared this story to the myths of

Aëdon Aëdon () was in Greek mythology, the daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus. According to Homer, she was the wife of Amphion and Zethus, Zethus, and the mother of Itylus.Homer, ''Odyssey'19.517/ref> Aëdon features in two different stories, one set i ...

and

Procne Procne (; , ''Próknē'' ) or Progne is a minor figure in Greek mythology. She was an Athens, Athenian princess as the elder daughter of a king of Athens named Pandion I, Pandion. Procne was married to the king of Thrace, Tereus, who instead lu ...

, both royal women who killed their sons

Itylus In some stories from Greek mythology, Itylus or Itylos (Ancient Greek: Ἴτυλος) was the son of Aedon, who was the daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus and the wife of King Zethus of Thebes. In others, Itys was the son of Procne and Tereus. ...

Itys In Greek mythology, Itys () is a minor mythological character, the son of Tereus, a king of Thrace, by his Athenian wife Procne. Itys was murdered by his own mother and served to be consumed during dinner by his father, as part of a revenge pl ...

in order to take revenge against their unfaithful husbands Zethus and

Tereus In Greek mythology, Tereus (; Ancient Greek: Τηρεύς) was a Thracian king,Thucydides: ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' 2:29 the son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis. He was the brother of Dryas. Tereus was the husband of the Athenian pr ...

Polytechnus In Greek mythology, Polytechnus () is a carpenter from Colophon, in an Anatolian variant of the story of Tereus. He is the husband of Aëdon and brother-in-law of Chelidon. Mythology Polytechnus was a carpenter, and at some point he was given ...

Culture

This story was used in classical antiquity to explain why slave women were forbidden from entering the shrine of

Mater Matuta Mater Matuta was an indigenous Latin goddess, whom the Romans eventually made equivalent to the dawn goddess Aurora and the Greek dawn goddess Eos. Mater Matuta was the goddess of female maturation, and later became linked to the dawn. Her cult i ...

(the Roman equivalent of the goddess Ino/

Leucothea In Greek mythology, Leucothea (; ), sometimes also called Leucothoe (), was a Water deity, sea goddess. Myths surrounding Leucothea typically concern her original identity, either as Ino (Greek mythology), Ino or Halia of Rhodes, Halia, and her t ...

), and the women who brought a single female slave with them would beat and slap them on the head; meanwhile in

Chaeronea Chaeronea ( English: , ) is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. The settlement was formerly known as (), and renamed to () in 1916. Since the 2011 local government reform it is pa ...

, Plutarch's hometown, the guardian of the temple would take a whip and shout "Let no slave enter, nor any Aetolian, man or woman!" while outside Leucothea's temple.

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''Quaestiones Romanae'
267b
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* * *

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

, ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simi ...

'', translated by James G. Frazer. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 253. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931. *

, ''

Moralia The ''Moralia'' (Latin for "Morals", "Customs" or "Mores"; , ''Ethiká'') is a set of essays ascribed to the 1st-century scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea. The eclectic collection contains 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They provide insigh ...

, Volume IV: Roman Questions. Greek Questions. Greek and Roman Parallel Stories. On the Fortune of the Romans. On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander. Were the Athenians More Famous in War or in Wisdom?''. Translated by Frank Cole Babbitt. Loeb Classical Library 305. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936. *

, ''

Lives Lives may refer to: * The plural form of a ''life'' * Lives, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * The number of lives in a video game * ''Parallel Lives'', aka ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', a series of biographies of famous m ...

, Volume II: Themistocles and Camillus. Aristides and Cato Major. Cimon and Lucullus.'' Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library 47. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914. * {{cite book , author-link = William Smith (lexicographer) , first = William , last = Smith , title = A

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

, location = London , publisher = John Murray: printed by Spottiswoode and Co. , date = 1873 Boeotian mythology Mythological Aetolians Greek mythological slaves Women in Greek mythology

Mythology

Culture

See also

References

Bibliography