In
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 ...
, Biston ( ; or ) was the son of
Ares
Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
and
Callirrhoe,
daughter of river-god
Nestus
The Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ) is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering canyons toward the Aegean Sea through mostly metamorphic formations. At ...
. His two brothers were
Odomas and
Edonus In Greek mythology, Edonus () was the ancestor of the Edonians in Thrace and Thracian Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia. He was the son of Ares (god of war) and Calliope (muse of epic poetry). The names ''Edonus, Edonian, Edonic'' is therefore ...
(eponyms of two Thracian tribes, the
Odomanti
The Odomanti () or Odomantes () were an ancient Balkan tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Pliny the Elde ...
and the
Edoni
The Edoni (also ''Edones'', ''Edonians'', ''Edonides'') () were a Thracian tribe who dwelt mostly between the Nestus and the Strymon rivers in southern Thrace, but also once dwelt west of the Strymon at least as far as the Axios. They inhabited ...
). Alternately, he was called son of
Paeon and grandson of Ares. In some accounts, he was the son of either the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...
Terpsichorus['']Etymologicum Magnum
''Etymologicum Magnum'' (, ) (standard abbreviation ''EM'', or ''Etym. M.'' in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicographer around 1150 AD. It is the largest By ...
'', 197. 59 s. v. ''Bistoniē'' or
Calliope
In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; ) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses".
Mythology
Calliope had two famous sons, OrpheusH ...
.
Mythology
Biston built the city of
Bistonia on the shores of
Lake Bistonis
Lake Vistonida (, older form: Βιστωνίς) is a lake in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Greece. Fed by the Kompsatos river, it encompasses a unique ecosystem and the local climate can be described as mid-Mediterranean. It hosts a variety of fau ...
in
Thrace
Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
.
He also introduced the Thracian practice of tattooing both men and women with eye-like patterns as a magical fetish, in response to an oracle which guaranteed victory against the neighbouring
Edonians
The Edoni (also ''Edones'', ''Edonians'', ''Edonides'') () were a Thracian tribe who dwelt mostly between the Nestus and the Strymon rivers in southern Thrace, but also once dwelt west of the Strymon at least as far as the Axios. They inhabited ...
tribe if so adorned. The Thracian Bistonians were famous for their warlike nature and cult of Ares whom they worshipped in the form of an upright standing sword.
See also
*
Bistones
Bistones () is the name of a Thracian people who dwelt between Mount Rhodopé and the Aegean Sea, beside Lake Bistonis, near Abdera extending westward as far as the river Nestus. It was through the land of the Bistones that Xerxes marched on h ...
*
Bistonis
Bistonis is a nymph in Greek mythology who gave birth to a son of Ares, Tereus. Although she is mentioned in several surviving classical texts, she is the main subject of few or none. In at least one poem, written by Moschus in the 3rd century B ...
, the
nymph
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
who lives at Lake Bistonis.
References
Sources
*
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...
, ''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.
Mythological kings of Thrace
Children of Ares
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