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 name Chthonius or Chthonios (, , "of the
earth or underworld") may refer to:
*Chthonius, an
Egyptian prince as one of the
sons of King
Aegyptus. His mother was the
naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water.
They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...
Caliadne and thus full brother of
Eurylochus,
Phantes,
Peristhenes,
Hermus,
Potamon,
Dryas,
Lixus,
Imbrus,
Bromius,
Cisseus and
Polyctor.
[ Apollodorus]
2.1.5
/ref> In some accounts, he could be a son of Aegyptus either by Eurryroe, daughter of the river-god Nilus, or Isaie, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre. Chthonius suffered the same fate as his other brothers, save Lynceus, when they were slain on their wedding night by their wives who obeyed the command of their father King Danaus of Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
. He married the Danaid Bryce, daughter of Danaus and the naiad Polyxo.
*Chthonius, one of the five surviving Spartoi or men that grew forth from the dragon's teeth which Cadmus sowed at Thebes. The other four Spartoi were Hyperenor, Pelorus, Udaeus and Echion. Chthonius was the father of Lycus and Nycteus (but see Hyrieus).
*Chthonius, son of Poseidon
Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...
and Syme, who founded the first colony on the island of Syme, which was named after his mother.
*Chthonius, a Centaur
A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
who was killed by Nestor at the wedding of Pirithous and Hippodamia.
*Chthonius, one of the Gigantes
In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, the Giants, also called Gigantes (Ancient Greek, Greek: Γίγαντες, ''wiktionary:gigantes, Gígantes'', Γίγας, ''wiktionary:gigas, Gígas''), were a race of great strength and aggression, ...
.
*Chthonius, an epithet of several major gods, including Hades
Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...
, Hermes, Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
. and 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 ...
. See Chthonia for goddesses bearing the feminine version of the epithet.
Chthonius is also a genus of pseudoscorpions:
* ''Chthonius'' (arachnid)
Notes
References
* Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...
, translated in two volumes. 2. ''Libation Bearers'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Apollodorus, ''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
* Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...
, ''The Library of History'' translated by Charles Henry Oldfather
Charles Henry Oldfather (13 June 1887 – 20 August 1954) was an American professor of Greek and Ancient History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He was born in Tabriz, Qajar dynasty, Persia.
Parentage
Oldfather's parents, Jeremiah and Feli ...
. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8
Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2''. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Euripides
Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
, ''Alcestis'' with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1994
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Euripides, ''Andromache'' with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1994
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* Gaius Julius Hyginus, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths'', Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960.
* Hesiod
Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...
, ''Theogony'' from ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'' with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* ''The Hymns of Orpheus''. Translated by Taylor, Thomas (1792). University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999
* Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca'' translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Nonnus of Panopolis, ''Dionysiaca. 3 Vols.'' W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 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
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Sophocles
Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...
, ''The Electra of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes'' with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Sophocles, ''The Ajax of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes'' with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Suida
The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...
, ''Suda Encyclopedia'' translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Tzetzes, John, ''Book of Histories,'' Book VII-VIII translated by Vasiliki Dogani from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826
Online version at theio.com
{{Greek myth index
Children of Poseidon
Gigantes
Individual centaurs
Epithets of Zeus
Epithets of Hades
Epithets of Hermes
Epithets of Dionysus
Princes in Greek mythology
Sons of Aegyptus
Mythological Thebans