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 ...

, Ino ( ; ) was a Theban princess who later became a queen of

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

. After her death and transfiguration, she was worshiped as a goddess under her

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

Leucothea In Greek mythology, Leucothea (; ), sometimes also called Leucothoe (), was a Water deity, sea goddess. Myths surrounding Leucothea typically concern her original identity, either as Ino (Greek mythology), Ino or Halia of Rhodes, Halia, and her t ...

, the "white goddess."

Alcman Alcman (; ''Alkmán''; fl. 7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrian canon of the Nine Lyric Poets. He wrote six books of choral poetry, most of which is now lost; h ...

called her "Queen of the Sea" ( ''thalassomédousa''), which, if not

hyperbole Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...

, would make her a goddess parallel to

Amphitrite In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (; ) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and her consort is Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). Under the influence ...

Family

Ino was the second daughter of the King

Cadmus In Greek mythology, Cadmus (; ) was the legendary Phoenician founder of Boeotian Thebes, Greece, Thebes. He was, alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, the greatest hero and slayer of monsters before the days of Heracles. Commonly stated to be a ...

and Queen

Harmonia In Greek mythology, Harmonia (; /Ancient Greek phonology, harmoˈnia/, "harmony", "agreement") is the goddess of harmony and concord. Her Greek opposite is Eris (mythology), Eris and her Roman mythology, Roman counterpart is Concordia (mythol ...

of Thebes and one of the three sisters of

Semele Semele (; ), or Thyone (; ) in Greek mythology, was the youngest daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia (Greek goddess), Harmonia, and the mother of Dionysus by Zeus in one of his many origin myths. Certain elements of the cult of Dionysus and Semele ...

, the mortal woman of the house of Cadmus who gave birth to

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 ; ...

. Her only brother was

Polydorus In Greek mythology, Polydorus (; , i.e. "many-gift d) or Polydoros referred to several different people. *Polydorus, son of Phineus and Cleopatra, and brother of Polydector (Polydectus). These two sons by his first wife were blinded by Phineus be ...

, another ruler of Thebes. Together with her two sisters,

Agave ''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the arid regions of the Americas. The genus is primarily known for its succulent and xerophytic species that typically form large Rosette (botany), rosettes of strong, fleshy leaves. Many plan ...

and Autonoë, they were the surrogates and divine nurses of Dionysus: : Ino was a primordial Dionysian woman, nurse to the god and a divine

maenad In Greek mythology, maenads (; ) were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of his retinue, the '' thiasus''. Their name, which comes from μαίνομαι (''maínomai'', “to rave, to be mad; to rage, to be angr ...

. () Ino was the second wife of the

Minyan In Judaism, a ''minyan'' ( ''mīnyān'' , Literal translation, lit. (noun) ''count, number''; pl. ''mīnyānīm'' ) is the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain Mitzvah, religious obligations. In more traditional streams of Judaism ...

king

Athamas In Greek mythology, Athamas (; ) was a Boeotian king. Apollodorus1.9.1/ref> Family Athamas was formerly a Thessalian prince and the son of King Aeolus of Aeolia and Enarete, daughter of Deimachus. He was the brother of Salmoneus, Sisyph ...

, mother of Learchus and

Melicertes In Greek mythology, Melicertes (, sometimes Melecertes), later called Palaemon or Palaimon (), was a Boeotian prince as the son of King Athamas and Ino, daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes. He was the brother of Learchus. Mythology Ino, purs ...

and stepmother of

Phrixus In Greek mythology Phrixus (; also spelt Phryxus; means "standing on end, bristling") was the son of Athamas, king of Boeotia, and Nephele (a goddess of clouds). He was the older brother of Helle (mythology), Helle and the father of Argus (Gree ...

and Helle.

Mythology

In the

back-story A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's preparat ...

to the heroic tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece,

and Helle, twin children of Athamas and

Nephele In Greek and Roman mythology, Nephele (; ; corresponding to Latin ''nebula'') is the name of two figures associated with clouds, sometimes confused with each other, who figures respectively in the stories of Ixion and in the story of Phrixus and ...

, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the crop seeds of

so they would not grow. The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the

oracle An oracle is a person or thing considered to provide insight, wise counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. If done through occultic means, it is a form of divination. Descript ...

to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed though,

and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by their natural mother,

. Helle fell off the ram into the

Hellespont The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

(which was named after her, meaning ''Sea of Helle'') and drowned, but Phrixus survived all the way to

Colchis In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the ...

, where King Aeetes took him in and treated him kindly, and gave Phrixus his daughter,

Chalciope Chalciope (; ), in Greek mythology, is a name that may refer to several characters. * Chalciope, daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis and wife of Phrixus. *Chalciope, daughter of Rhexenor (or of King Chalcodon of Euboea) and the second wife o ...

, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom. Later, Ino raised

, her nephew, son of her sister

by Zeus, causing

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 ...

's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck

with insanity. Athamas went mad, slew one of his sons, Learchus, hunting him down like a stag, and set out in frenzied pursuit of Ino. To escape him, Ino threw herself into the sea with her son

. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as

("the white goddess"), Melicertes as Palaemon. Alternatively, Ino was also stricken with insanity and killed Melicertes by boiling him in a cauldron, then jumped into the sea with her dead son. A sympathetic

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 ...

did not want Ino to die, and transfigured her and Melicertes as Leucothea and Palaemon. The story of Ino,

and

is relevant also in the context of two larger themes. Ino, daughter of

and

, had an end just as tragic as her siblings:

died while pregnant with

' child, killed by her own pride and lack of trust in her divine lover;

killed her own son, King

Pentheus In Greek mythology, Pentheus (; ) was a king of Ancient Thebes (Boeotia), Thebes. His father was Echion, the wisest of the Spartoi. His mother was Agave (Theban princess), Agave, the daughter of Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, and grandson of the ...

, while struck with Dionysian madness, and

Actaeon In Greek mythology, Actaeon (; ''Aktaiōn'') was the son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, and a famous Thebes, Greece, Theban Greek hero cult, hero. Through his mother he was a member of the ruling House of Cadmus. Like ...

, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs. Also, the insanity of Ino and Athamas, who hunted his own son Learchus as a stag and slew him, can be explained as a result of their contact with Dionysus, whose presence can cause insanity. None can escape the powers of Dionysus, the god of wine.

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 ...

took up the tale in ''

The Bacchae ''The Bacchae'' (; , ''Bakkhai''; also known as ''The Bacchantes'' ) is an ancient Greek tragedy, written by the Athenian playwright Euripides during his final years in Macedonia, at the court of Archelaus I of Macedon. It premiered posthumou ...

'', explaining their madness in Dionysiac terms, as a result of their having initially resisted belief in the god's divinity. After Ino's disappearance, some of her companions began to revile

, so the goddess turned them into birds according to

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

, perhaps ''aithuia'' birds (shearwaters?). When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto (his third wife) sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black and directing the murder of the children in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto knowing, and so Themisto instigated the murder her own children. The story of Ino and Themisto was the subject of ''Ino'', a lost play of

. Previously unknown fragments of Euripedes' ''Ino'' were found in 2022 and publicized in 2024. Transformed into the goddess ''Leucothea'', Ino also represents one of the many sources of divine aid to

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 ...

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 ...

'' (5:333 ff), her earliest appearance in literature. Homer calls her : "Ino-Leocothea of the beautiful ankles [], daughter of

, who was once a mortal speaking with the tongue of men, but now in the salt sea-waters has received honor at the hands of the gods". She provides Odysseus with a veil and tells him to discard his cloak and raft, then instructs him how he can entrust himself to the waves and succeed in reaching land, and eventually the island of Scheria (

Corcyra Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

), home of the Phaeaceans. In historical times, a sisterhood of

s of Thebes in the service of

, traced their descent in the female line from Ino. We know this because an inscription at Magnesia on the Maeander summoned three maenads from Thebes, from the house of Ino, to direct the new mysteries of Dionysus at Magnesia.

Festivals

Inoa (), there were festivals which were celebrated in many different places in honour of Ino.

Genealogy

Gallery

File:Atamante preso dalle Furie 0014.jpg, ''Atamante preso dalle Furie'', by Arcangelo Migliarini (1801)

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca () is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its first ''principe'' or director; ...

, Roma, IT File:Athamas und Ino ubs G 0732 II.jpg, Athamas und Ino by Radierung (17th century) File:The Insane Athamas Killing Learchus, While Ino and Melicertor Jump into the Sea LACMA 65.37.123.jpg, The insane Athamas killing Learchus, while Ino and Melicertor jump into the sea, by Wilhelm Janson (Amsterdam, NL),

Antonio Tempesta Antonio Tempesta, also called il Tempestino (1555 – 5 August 1630), was an Italian painter and engraver, whose art acted as a point of connection between Roman Baroque, Baroque Rome and the culture of Antwerp. Much of his work depicts major ba ...

(Italy, Florence, 1555–1630) at

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 1961 ...

, Los Angeles, CA File:Athamas i ino.jpg, Tisiphone maddens Athamas & Ino (17th century) File:Godfried Maes - Illustrations to the Metamorphoses of Ovid, Athamas tearing apart his Children.jpg, Athamas tearing apart his children, by Godfried Maes

Notes

References

Sources

* (2 volumes). — * * * (US ) * * *

External links

* {{Authority control Greek goddesses Family of Athamas Princesses in Greek mythology Queens in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters Metamorphoses in Greek mythology Deeds of Hera Mythological Thebans Boeotian mythology Theban mythology Mythology of Dionysus Suicides in Greek mythology Ino's companions Odyssean gods