Cassiphone (; ) is a minor figure 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 ...

, the daughter of the sorceress-goddess

Circe In Greek mythology, Circe (; ) is an enchantress, sometimes considered a goddess or a nymph. In most accounts, Circe is described as the daughter of the sun god Helios and the Oceanid Perse (mythology), Perse. Circe was renowned for her vast kn ...

and the Trojan War hero

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

. Cassiphone and her tale do not appear in the ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

'', the epic poem that narrates Odysseus' adventures, but rather she is mentioned in passing in the works of the Hellenistic poet

Lycophron Lycophron ( ; ; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and miscellaneous works He was born at Chalcis in Euboea, a ...

and the 12th-century Byzantine scholar

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

Etymology

Cassiphone's name is a compound word, a variant of ''Kasiphone'', that translates to "brother killer", from the words (''kásis'') meaning both "brother" and "sister", and (''phónos'') meaning "murder, manslaughter".

Family

Cassiphone is the daughter of

and the witch-goddess

whom he met during his ten-year journey back home following the fall and sack of

Troy Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...

. Although many children are attributed to Odysseus and his various liaisons, Cassiphone is the only female one amongst them.

Mythology

Cassiphone is alluded to in obscure lines in Hellenistic poet

's poem ''Alexandra'', with further explanation provided in the commentary of twelfth-century Byzantine scholar

, who is the only one to mention her by name; she is most likely a late classical or Hellenistic invention, whose only purpose is to expand on the myth of Telegonus, the son of Odysseus and Circe. Lycophron writes: According to Tzetzes, Cassiphone is the daughter Odysseus had by

with whom he spent one year together during his travels to get back home to Ithaca following the end of the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

and his adventures at sea. The story of the '' Telegony'', the lost sequel to the ''Odyssey'', goes that her full-brother

Telegonus Telegonus (; Ancient Greek: Τηλέγονος means "born afar") is the name shared by three different characters in Greek mythology. * Telegonus, a king of Egypt who was sometimes said to have married the nymph Io. * Telegonus, a Thracian son ...

left in search of the father he never knew, arrived in Ithaca and there he accidentally ended up killing Odysseus, as he did not recognise him. Telegonus then married Odysseus's widow

Penelope Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or , ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius (Spartan), Icarius and ...

, while Circe married

Telemachus In Greek mythology, Telemachus ( ; ) is the son of Odysseus and Penelope, who are central characters in Homer's ''Odyssey''. When Telemachus reached manhood, he visited Pylos and Sparta in search of his wandering father. On his return to Ithaca, ...

, Odysseus's son by Penelope.

Apollodorus Apollodorus ( Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: :''Note: A ...

br>E.7.37
/ref> Although Lycophron's writing is vague, his account seems to attest that after that, Telemachus ended up killing his wife (who can only be Circe) for unclear reasons, and then was killed himself by his wife's daughter enacting revenge. Tzetzes on the other hand in his commentary on Lycophron writes, with more clarity, that after Odysseus' death Circe used her powers to bring him back to life, and he proceeded to wed Cassiphone to Telemachus, who was her half-brother. After some time Telemachus killed Circe, here his mother-in-law instead of wife, following a quarrell with her as he was angered with her for ordering him around, prompting Cassiphone to kill Telemachus in order to avenge her slain mother. Odysseus then died again, this time of grief after witnessing those vile acts.

Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

ad Lycophron
808
/ref> A different entry in Tzetzes' scholia claims that Circe brought Odysseus back to life with a potion, and then she wed Telegonus to Penelope and Telemachus to Cassiphone in the Isles of the Blessed, presumably so she might keep Odysseus to herself.

Culture

Cassiphone is not mentioned any earlier than Lycophron, but she must have been known to his audience. She might have originated from a lost work of an earlier tragedian. It is also likely that her descriptive name was applied to her later as a nickname due to her actions in the myth, and that she was originally called ''Anticlea'', after her paternal grandmother.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
*

Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius of Rhodes ( ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; ; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem is ...

, ''Argonautica'' translated by Edward P. Coleridge, B.A. London, George Bell and Sons publishers. 1889
Text available at Internet Archive.
* * * Evelyn-White, Hugh G.''
Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
', with an English Translation, Cambridge, MA.,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. * * Hyginus, Gaius Julius
''The Myths of Hyginus''
Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. *
Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
*

, ''Alexandra'', in ''Callimachus, Lycophron, Aratus. Hymns and Epigrams. Lycophron: Alexandra. Aratus: Phaenomena''. Translated by A. W. Mair, G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library 129. Cambridge, MA:

, 1921. *

Marcus Tullius Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* * *
Online text available at perseus.tufts.
* * Tzetzes, John, ''Lycophronis Alexandra. Vol. II: Scholia Continens'', edited by Eduard Scheer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881
Internet Archive
{{refend Women in Greek mythology Mythological fratricides Children of Circe Children of Odysseus Revenge Mariticides Mythological people involved in incest