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 ...

, Cres (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Κρής ''Kres'', gen. Κρητός) was a possible

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

of the island

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

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 ...

distinguishes between two figures of this name: one was a son of

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 ...

and 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 ...

Idaea Idaea or Idaia (Ancient Greek: Ἰδαία), which means "she who comes from Ida" or "she who lives on Ida", referring to either the Cretan Mount Ida, or the Phrygian Mount Ida in the Troad, is the name of several figures in Greek mythology: * ...

, and the other a Cretan autochthon who became the first ruler of Crete. According to Cinaethon of Sparta, Cres was the father of

Talos In Greek mythology, Talos, also spelled Talus (; , ''Tálōs'') or Talon (; , ''Tálōn''), was a man of bronze who protected Crete from pirates and invaders. Despite the popular idea that he was a giant, no ancient source states this explicitl ...

Mythology

The autochthonous Cres is mentioned in other accounts as the native king of a whole earth-born nation, the Eteocretans ("true Cretans"), and the inventor of a number of items that were crucial for the development of the human civilization. He was said to be one of the Curetes. According to a tradition recorded by Stephanus, it was during Cres' reign that Tectaphus, son of

Dorus In Greek mythology, Dorus (, probably derived from ''dōron'' "gift") was the Eponym, eponymous founder of the Dorians. Family Each of Hellen, Hellen's sons founded a primary tribe of Greece: Aeolus (son of Hellen), Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus t ...

, migrated to Crete from

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

, followed by Dorian and Achaean tribes, as well as by those of the

Pelasgians The name Pelasgians (, ) was used by Classical Greek writers to refer either to the predecessors of the Greeks, or to all the inhabitants of Greece before the emergence of the Greeks. In general, "Pelasgian" has come to mean more broadly all ...

that had not migrated to Tyrrhenia. A daughter of Cres (or

Cretheus In Greek mythology, Cretheus (; Ancient Greek: Κρηθεύς ''Krētheus'') was the king and founder of Iolcus. Family Cretheus was the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia (son of Hellen) by either EnareteHesiod, '' Ehoiai'' fr. 10(a); Apollodorus1. ...

) was married by the foreigner and bore him a son

Asterion In Greek mythology, Asterion (Ancient Greek, Greek: , gen.: , literally "starry") or Asterius () may refer to the following figures: * Asterion (god), Asterion, one of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods. * Asterius (giant), Asterius ...

who later became the husband of Europa and adopted father of her sons by Zeus. Several authors identified Cres as one of the Curetes, possibly their king, and therefore a caretaker of the young Zeus who was hidden by him in a cave on Crete.

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

in Eustathius on

Dionysius Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes (, literally Dionysius the Voyager or Traveller, often Latinized to ''Dionysius Periegeta''), also known as Dionysius of Alexandria or Dionysius the African,''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 4th edition, 1810, 9''506/ref> was the ...

, 498

Notes

References

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
* 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
*

, ''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.
{{Greek myth index Autochthons of classical mythology Kings of Crete Children of Zeus Mythological Cretans

Mythology

See also

Notes

References