Cleopatrē Alcyone () was the daughter of Idas and Marpessa and the wife of

Meleager In Greek mythology, Meleager (, ) was a hero venerated in his '' temenos'' at Calydon in Aetolia. He was already famed as the host of the Calydonian boar hunt in the epic tradition that was reworked by Homer. Meleager is also mentioned as o ...

, a Calydonian prince and participant in the

Calydonian boar hunt The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis () was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between the second and third centuries AD. He is known as the author of ''The Metamorphoses'', a collection of tales that offers new variants of already familiar myths ...

2
as cited in Nicander's ''Metamorphoses'' Together they had a daughter, Polydora. According to Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias, Polydora was the wife of Protesilas, the first soldier to leap ashore in

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 ...

, and therefore the first to die in 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 ...

Mythology

Alcyone has differing levels of responsibility and importance depending on the version of the story. When the famed Calydonian boar was finally slain, Meleager had the rights to its skin as he had delivered the final blow. However, he instead gifted it to

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. This angered Meleager's uncles,

Plexippus In Greek mythology, Plexippus or Plexippos (Ancient Greek: Πλήξιππος means "striking") is a name that refers to: * Plexippus, a Pleuron (Aetolia), Pleuronian prince as the son of King Thestius of Pleuron, Aetolia, Pleuron and Eurythemis, ...

and Agenor, as they found it insulting that a woman should receive the prize instead of a man. They took the skin from Atalanta, and Meleager slew them in a rage. According to some accounts, his mother Althaea, angered by the deaths of her brothers, threw the piece of wood his life was tied to into a fire, killing him immediately. In other accounts, Meleager’s actions led to a war between the Calydonians and the Curetes, led by the sons of

Thestius In Greek mythology, Thestius (; Ancient Greek: Θέστιος) was a king of Pleuronians in Aetolia. He is not to be confused with Thespius, who was sometimes referred to as "Thestius". The patronymic "Thestias" may refer to one of his daughters ...

. However, when Althaea curses at Meleager upon learning of the deaths of her brothers, he becomes so enraged that he refuses to fight in the war. Instead, he returned to his home with Alcyone and ignored his family and closest friends when they came to his door begging him to help protect Calydon against the siege. It was only until Alcyone finally pleaded with him to protect the city that Meleager agreed to rejoin the battle. This decision led to a Calydonian victory. However, Althaea had prayed to the gods and begged them to kill her son, and he falls in battle. After learning of her husband's death, Alcyone either died of grief or hung herself. This means that three generations of women– Marpessa, Alcyone, and Polydora– all committed suicide upon the deaths of their husbands.

Notes

References

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 ...

, ''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
*

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Augustus, and reputed author of the '' Fabulae'' and the '' De astronomia'', although this is disputed. Life and works ...

, ''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.
*

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, ''The Iliad'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
Princesses in Greek mythology Mythological Messenians Aetolian mythology Suicides in Greek mythology {{greek-myth-royal-stub