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 ...

and

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, Chelone () is an insolent nymph who lived by a running river. Chelone is notable for her transformation myth into a tortoise, an animal that lives in the shell it constantly carries, after refusing to leave her house to attend

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

' wedding. The myth is known through the works of several authors, including

Aesop Aesop ( ; , ; c. 620–564 BCE; formerly rendered as Æsop) was a Greeks, Greek wikt:fabulist, fabulist and Oral storytelling, storyteller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as ''Aesop's Fables''. Although his existence re ...

, and probably originated from one of his fables.

Etymology

The noun is the ancient Greek word for both the land tortoise and the sea turtle. Traditionally the word is considered to derive from an

Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia (e. ...

root ''*gʰel(H)-ewH-'' denoting turtles and tortoises, however it has also been suggested that it must be a loanword from a non-Indo-European language, a theory that Beekes supports.

Mythology

According to

Servius Servius may refer to: * Servius (praenomen), a personal name during the Roman Republic * Servius the Grammarian (fl. 4th/5th century), Roman Latin grammarian * Servius Asinius Celer (died AD 46), Roman senator * Servius Cornelius Cethegus, Roma ...

, the myth goes that when all the gods, men, and animals were invited by the divine messenger

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

to attend the wedding of the king and queen of the gods,

and

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

, the river-dwelling

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 ...

Chelone alone remained at home, to show her disregard of the solemnity. But Hermes then descended from

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

, threw Chelone's house, which stood on the bank of a river, together with the nymph, into the water and transformed her into a lazy tortoise, who had henceforth to carry her house on her back. The

Vatican Mythographers The so-called Vatican Mythographers () are the anonymous authors of three Latin mythographical texts found together in a single medieval manuscript, Vatican Reg. lat. 1401. The name is that used by Angelo Mai when he published the first edition o ...

recorded the same version. Aesop's fable ''

Zeus and the Tortoise Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

'' follows the same premise, where the king of the gods invited all the animals to his wedding but the tortoise never arrived. When asked why, her excuse was that she preferred her own home, so Zeus made her carry her house about forever after in punishment. According to the traveller Pausanias, the mountain near

Mount Cyllene Mount Kyllini or Mount Cyllene (; , ), also known as Mount Ziria (, ), is a mountain on the Peloponnese in Greece famous for its association with the god Hermes. It rises to above sea level, making it the second highest point on the peninsula ...

in which Hermes fashioned a harp out of a tortoise's shell was called Chelydorea, meaning "flayed tortoise". Pausaniasbr>8.17.5
/ref>

Interpretation

Servius' account was probably developed from the Aesopic fable and was likely intended for children.

Notes

References

* * * * * *
Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
*

Maurus Servius Honoratus Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian ( or ), was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries o ...

, ''In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii;'' recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''

Description of Greece ''Description of Greece'' () is the only surviving work by the ancient "geographer" or tourist Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180). Pausanias' ''Description of Greece'' comprises ten books, each of them dedicated to some ...

'' 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
* *
Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.

External links