Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: Πολυξώ ''Poluxṓ'') is the name of several figures in
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...
:
*Polyxo, one of the 3,000
Oceanids
In Greek mythology, the Oceanids or Oceanides (; grc, Ὠκεανίδες, Ōkeanídes, pl. of grc, Ὠκεανίς, Ōkeanís, label=none) are the nymphs who were the three thousand (a number interpreted as meaning "innumerable") daughters o ...
Titans
In Greek mythology, the Titans ( grc, οἱ Τῑτᾶνες, ''hoi Tītânes'', , ''ho Tītân'') were the pre-Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (Sky) and Gai ...
Oceanus
In Greek mythology, Oceanus (; grc-gre, , Ancient Greek pronunciation: , also Ὠγενός , Ὤγενος , or Ὠγήν ) was a Titans (mythology), Titan son of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethy ...
Naiad
In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) 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 ...
of the river
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
, presumably one of the daughters of the
river-god
A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anot ...
Danaus
In Greek mythology, Danaus (, ; grc, Δαναός ''Danaós'') was the king of Libya. His myth is a foundation legend of Argos, one of the foremost Mycenaean cities of the Peloponnesus. In Homer's ''Iliad'', " Danaans" ("tribe of Danaus") an ...
of
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Su ...
Cleopatra
Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Ancient Egypt, Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler. ...
,
Eurydice
Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music.
Etymology
Several meanings for the name ...
Erato
In Greek mythology, Erato (; grc, Ἐρατώ) is one of the Greek Muses, which were inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. The name would mean "desired" or "lovely", if derived from the same root as Eros, as Apollonius ...
,
Stygne Stygne (Ancient Greek: Στύγνη means "hated, abhorred"), in Greek mythology, was one of the Danaïdes, daughter of Danaus and Polyxo. She married (and murdered) Polyctor, son of Aegyptus and Caliadne.Apollodorus2.1.5/ref>
Note
Danaids
Prin ...
, and Bryce. They married twelve sons of King Aegyptus of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
and
Caliadne
Caliadne (; Ancient Greek: Καλιάδνης ) or Caliadna, in Greek mythology, was a naiad of the river Nile, presumably one of the daughters of the river-god Nilus. She was one of the wives of King Aegyptus of Egypt, bearing him twelve sons: E ...
, Polyxo's sister, and murdered them on their wedding night. According to
Hippostratus
Hippostratus ( grc, Ἱππόστρατος, Hippostratos) was an Indo-Greek king who ruled central and north-western Punjab and Pushkalavati. Bopearachchi dates Hippostratus to 65 to 55 BCE whereas R. C. Senior suggests 60 to 50 BCE.
Rule
I ...
, Danaus had all of his progeny by a single woman,
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, also daughter of Nilus. In some accounts, he married
Melia Melia or Melie ( Ancient Greek: Μελία, Μελίη) may refer to:
Greek mythology
* Melia (mythology), the name of several figures
* Melia, the singular form of Meliae, a type of nymph
People and fictional characters
* Melia (given name)
* ...
, daughter of his uncle
Agenor
Agenor (; Ancient Greek: Ἀγήνωρ or Αγήνορας ''Agēnor''; English translation: "heroic, manly") was in Greek mythology and history a Phoenician king of Tyre or Sidon. The Doric Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484–425 BC), born in ...
, king of Tyre.
*Polyxo, mother of Antiope and possibly
Nycteis
''Nycteis'' is a genus of beetles in the family Carabidae, containing the following species:
* ''Nycteis alluaudi'' (Jeannel, 1949)
* ''Nycteis apicalis'' (Fairmaire, 1904)
* ''Nycteis brevicollis'' Laporte De Castelnau, 1834
* ''Nycteis chl ...
by Nycteus.
*Polyxo, mother of Actorion. She came to invite Triopas and Erysichthon to her son's wedding, but Erysichthon's mother had to answer that her own son was not coming, as he had been wounded by a boar during hunt. The truth was that Erysichthon was dealing with the insatiable hunger sent upon him by the angry Demeter.
*Polyxo, a Lemnian, nurse of
Hypsipyle
In Greek mythology, Hypsipyle (Ancient Greek: Ὑψιπύλη) was a queen of Lemnos, and the daughter of King Thoas of Lemnos, and the granddaughter of Dionysus and Ariadne. When the women of Lemnos killed all the males on the island, Hypsipyle ...
and a seeress. She advised that the Lemnian women conceive children with the
Argonauts
The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, '' Argo ...
, as all the men on the island had previously been killed.
*Polyxo, a native of Argos, who married
Tlepolemus
In Greek mythology, Tlepolemus (; Ancient Greek: Τληπόλεμος ''Tlēpólemos'') was the leader of the Rhodian forces in the Trojan War.Homer, ''Iliad'2.653–70
Family
Tlepolemus was a son of Heracles and Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, ...
and fled with him to
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...
. Together they had a son, whose name is not known. Despite being already married, Tlepolemus was later among the suitors of Helen, and thus bound by the oath of Tyndareus, fought in the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ha ...
and was killed by Sarpedon, leaving Polyxo to become queen of Rhodes. She received Helen after the latter had been driven out of
Sparta
Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred ...
Menelaus
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre-Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of t ...
, Helen's husband, was already dead by the time). Still, Polyxo blamed Helen for Tlepolemus' death and decided to take revenge on her. So when Helen was bathing, several handmaidens in the guise of the Erinyes, sent by Polyxo, seized her and hanged her from a tree. In an alternate version, Menelaus and Helen landed at Rhodes on their way back from Egypt, whereupon Polyxo sent a crowd of armed islanders of both genders against them, hoping to avenge her husband's death on Helen. Menelaus hid Helen away under the deck and had a beautiful servant dressed up as the queen, which resulted in her, and not the real Helen, being killed. Yet another source, which uses the name " Philozoe" rather than "Polyxo", informs that she held funeral games of Tlepolemus; youths competed in them, and the winners were crowned with white poplar leaves.
*Polyxo, a Maenad in the retinue of
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...
who attempted to kill
Lycurgus of Thrace
In Greek mythology, Lycurgus (/laɪˈkɜːrɡəs/; Ancient Greek: Λυκοῦργος ''Lykoûrgos'', Ancient Greek: ykôrɡos (also Lykurgos, Lykourgos) was the king of the Edoni in Thrace, son of Dryas, the "oak", and father of a son whose n ...
.
*Polyxo (or Polyzo), a sister of
Meleager
In Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, th ...
.Scholia on
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a 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. Homer is considered one of ...
, ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
Apollonius Rhodius
Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...
, ''
Argonautica
The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jas ...
Callimachus
Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variet ...
, ''Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair'', London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
* Callimachus, ''Works''. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
*
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 Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Gramma ...
, ''Astronomica 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. * 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. *
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Gaius Valerius Flaccus (; died ) was a 1st-century Roman poet who flourished during the " Silver Age" under the Flavian dynasty, and wrote a Latin ''Argonautica'' that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.Online version at theio.com. * Gaius Valerius Flaccus, ''Argonauticon.'' Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. *
Nonnus of Panopolis
Nonnus of Panopolis ( grc-gre, Νόννος ὁ Πανοπολίτης, ''Nónnos ho Panopolítēs'', 5th century CE) was the most notable Greek epic poet of the Imperial Roman era. He was a native of Panopolis (Akhmim) in the Egyptian The ...
, ''
Dionysiaca
The ''Dionysiaca'' {{IPAc-en, ˌ, d, aɪ, ., ə, ., n, ᵻ, ˈ, z, aɪ, ., ə, ., k, ə ( grc-gre, Διονυσιακά, ''Dionysiaká'') is an ancient Greek epic poem and the principal work of Nonnus. It is an epic in 48 books, the longest surv ...