Listed 100 (total found 233) sub titles with search on: Mythology for wider area of: "CORINTHIA Prefecture PELOPONNISOS" .
FENEOS (Ancient city) FENEOS
An aboriginal of Arcadia.
SIKYONIA (Ancient area) CORINTHIA
An aboriginal, gives his name to Aegialus, builds Aegialea in plain.
AKROKORINTHOS (Castle) KORINTHOS
A legend of the Corinthians about their land is not peculiar to them, for I believe that the Athenians were the first to relate a similar story to glorify Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helius (Sun) about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmus and the parts adjoining, and giving to Helius the height above the city.
FENEOS (Ancient city) FENEOS
The legend says that Heracles and Apollo had a fight, once, about the tripod of Delphi, which they both wanted. Heracles took the tripod to Pheneos and the inhabitants claim that Apollo punished them for receiving it by blocking the two cesspools and causing a flood.
Behind the temple is the grave of Myrtilus. He was the son of Hermes, and served as charioteer to Oenomaus. Whenever a man arrived to woo the daughter of Oenomaus, Myrtilus craftily drove on the mares, while Oenomaus on the course shot down the wooer when he came near. Myrtilus was in love with Hippodameia, but his courage failing him he shrank from the competition. At last, he proved a traitor to Oenomaus, being induced there to by an oath sworn by Pelops that he would let him be with Hippodameia for one night. So when reminded of his oath Pelops threw him out of the ship. The body of Myrtilus was cast ashore by the tide, the people of Pheneos buried it, and every year they sacrifice to him by night as to a hero. Pelops did not make a long coasting voyage. So the Sea of Myrto is not named after Myrtilus, as it begins at Euboea and reaches the Aegaean. I think that a probable account is given by the antiquarians of Euboea, who say that the sea is named after a woman called Myrto.
ISTHMIA (Ancient sanctuary) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
Ino; Daughter of Cadmus, second wife of Athamas, leaps with her son Melicertes into sea, becomes a sea-goddess called Leucothea.
Melicertes; Son of Athamas and Ino, leaps into sea, landed by a dolphin, his name changed to Palaemon as a seagod.
Ino. The daughter of Cadmus, and wife of Athamas. Being followed by the latter after he had been seized with madness, she fled to the cliff Moluris, between Megara and Corinth, and there threw herself into the sea with her infant son Melicertes. At the isthmus, however, mother and child were carried ashore by a dolphin, and, from that time forward, were honoured as marine divinities along the shores of the Mediterranean, especially on the coast of Megara and at the Isthmus of Corinth. Ino was worshipped at Leucothea, and Melicertes as Palaemon. They were regarded as divinities who aided men in peril on the sea. As early as Homer, we have Ino mentioned as rescuing Odysseus from danger by throwing him her veil ( Od.v. 333-353). Among the Romans Ino was identified with Matuta
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Melicertes, (Melikertes). In Greek mythology the son of Athamas and Ino, and changed after his death by drowning into the marine deity Palaemon, while his mother became Leucothea. His name (=Melkart), however, shows him to have been originally a Phoenician god. Like Ino-Leucothea, he was worshipped on all the coast of the Mediterranean, especially on that of Megara and at the Isthmus of Corinth, where he was so closely connected with the cult of Poseidon that the Isthmian Games, originally instituted in honour of this god, came to be looked upon as the funeral games of Melicertes. The Romans regarded him as a beneficent god of the sea, and identified him with Portunus, the god of harbours.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 18/7/2001: 148 for Ino, 31 for leucothea, 5 for Leukothea, 27 for Melicertes, 4 for Melikertes, 48 for Palaemon,
Ibycus. A Greek lyric and erotic poet of Rhegium in Lower Italy, who flourished about B.C. 530. Like Anacreon, he led a roving life, and spent much of his time at the court of Polycrates of Samos. According to his epitaph, he died in his native town; but according to the legend made familiar by Schiller's poem, he was slain on a journey to Corinth, and his murderers were discovered by means of a flock of cranes, which, as he died, he had invoked as his avengers. The story goes that, after his murder, when the Corinthians were gathered in the theatre, the cranes appeared; whereupon one of the assassins who was present cried out, "See the avengers of Ibycus!" thus giving a clue to their detection. Hence arose the expression used of the cranes, Ibukou geranoi. His poems, which were collected into seven books, survive in scanty fragments only. They dealt partly with mythological themes in the metres of Stesichorus and partly with love-songs in the spirit of Aeolic lyric poetry, full of glowing passion and sensibility. It was mainly to the latter that he owed his fame.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
...Heracles accomplished no brilliant feat in the war with Augeas. For the sons
of Actor were in the prime of courageous manhood, and always put to flight the
allies under Heracles, until the Corinthians proclaimed the Isthmian truce, and
the sons of Actor came as envoys to the meeting. Heracles set an ambush for then,
at Cleonae and murdered them. As the murderer was unknown, Moline, more than any
of the other children, devoted herself to detecting him. When she discovered him,
the Eleans demanded satisfaction for the crime from the Argives, for at the time
Heracles had his home at Tiryns. When the Argives refused them satisfaction, the
Eleans as an alternative pressed the Corinthians entirely to exclude the Argive
people from the Isthmian games. When they failed in this also, Moline is said
to have laid curses on her countrymen, should they refuse to boycott the Isthmian
festival. The curses of Moline are respected right down to the present day, and
no athlete of Elis is wont to compete in the Isthmian games. There are two other
accounts, differing from the one that I have given. According to one of them Cypselus,
the tyrant of Corinth, dedicated to Zeus a golden image at Olympia. As Cypselus
died before inscribing his own name on the offering, the Corinthians asked of
the Eleans leave to inscribe the name of Corinth on it, but were refused. Wroth
with the Eleans, they proclaimed that they must keep away from the Isthmian games.
But how could the Corinthians themselves take part in the Olympic games if the
Eleans against their will were shut out by the Corinthians from the Isthmian games?
The other account is this. Prolaus, a distinguished Elean, had two sons, Philanthus
and Lampus, by his wife Lysippe. These two came to the Isthmian games to compete
in the boys' pancratium, and one of them intended to wrestle. Before they entered
the ring they were strangled or done to death in some other way by their fellow
competitors. Hence the curses of Lysippe on the Eleans, should they not voluntarily
keep away from the Isthmian games. But this story too proves on examination to
be silly. For Timon, a man of Elis, won victories in the pentathlum at the Greek
games, and at Olympia there is even a statue of him, with an elegiac inscription
giving the crowns he won and also the reason why he secured no Isthmian victory.
The inscription sets forth the reason thus:--
But from going to the land of Sisyphus he was hindered by a quarrel
About the baleful death of the Molionids.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
Chimera was a monster living in Lycia. Iobates, the king of Lycia, asked Bellerophontes to kill it. Bellerophontes asked for a divination and learned that he had to take Pegasus with him, in order to kill the monster and come back alive. Athina helped Bellerophontes with Pegasus, he went for Chimera riding it and he managed to kill it and go back unharmed.
Pegasus (Pegasos). The celebrated winged horse, whose origin is thus related: When Perseus struck off the head of Medusa, with whom Poseidon had had intercourse in the form of a horse or a bird, there sprang from her Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus. The latter received this name because he was believed to have made his appearance near the sources (pegai) of Oceanus. He ascended to the seats of the immortals, and afterwards lived in the palace of Zeus, for whom he carried thunder and lightning. According to this view, which is apparently the most ancient, Pegasus was the thundering horse of Zeus; but later writers describe him as the horse of Eos, and place him among the stars.
Pegasus also acts a prominent part in the combat of Bellerophon against the Chimaera. In order to kill the Chimaera, it was necessary for Bellerophon to obtain possession of Pegasus. For this purpose the soothsayer Polyidus at Corinth advised him to spend a night in the temple of Athene. As Bellerophon was asleep in the temple, the goddess appeared to him in a dream commanding him to sacrifice to Poseidon, and gave him a golden bridle. When he awoke he found the bridle, offered the sacrifice, and caught Pegasus while he was drinking at the well Pirene. According to some, Athene herself tamed and bridled Pegasus, and surrendered him to Bellerophon. After he had conquered the Chimaera he endeavoured to rise up to heaven upon his winged horse, but fell down upon the earth.
Pegasus was also regarded as the horse of the Muses, and in this connection is more celebrated in modern times than in antiquity; for with the ancients he had no connection with the Muses, except producing with his hoof the inspiring fountain Hippocrene. The story about this fountain runs as follows: When the nine Muses engaged in a contest with the nine daughters of Pierus on Mount Helicon, all became darkness when the daughters of Pierus began to sing; whereas, during the song of the Muses, heaven, the sea, and all the rivers stood still to listen, and Helicon rose heavenward with delight, until Pegasus, on the advice of Poseidon, stopped its ascent by kicking it with his hoof. From this kick there arose Hippocrene, the inspiring well of the Muses, on Mount Helicon, which, for this reason, Persius calls fons caballinus. Others, again, relate that Pegasus caused the well to gush forth because he was thirsty. Pegasus is often seen represented in ancient works of art with Athene and Bellerophon.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited September 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Further information concerning Chimaera can be found in Lycia .
Mermerus and Pheres are said to have been stoned to death by the Corinthians owing to the gifts which legend says they brought to Glauce. But as their death was violent and illegal, the young babies of the Corinthians were destroyed by them until, at the command of the oracle, yearly sacrifices were established in their honour and a figure of Terror was set up. This figure still exists, being the likeness of a woman frightful to look upon but after Corinth was laid waste by the Romans and the old Corinthians were wiped out, the new settlers broke the custom of offering those sacrifices to the sons of Medea, nor do their children cut their hair for them or wear black clothes.
Creusa (Kreousa). A daughter of Creon , king of Corinth, and wife of Iason. She received from Medea, as bridal presents, a diadem and a robe, both of which had been prepared with magic art and saturated with deadly poisons. On arraying herself in these, flames burst forth and destroyed her. Creon , the father of the princess, perished in a similar way, having thrown himself upon the body of his dying daughter, and being afterwards unable to extricate himself from the embrace of the corpse. According to the scholiast, she was also called Glauce.
Alcimenes. One of the sons of Jason and Medeia. When Jason subsequently anted to marry Glauce, his sons Alcimenes and Tisander were murdered by Medeia, and were afterwards buried by Jason in the sanctuary of Hera at Corinth. (Diod. iv. 54, 55.)
Euripides says that in the time of his madness Alcmaeon begat two children, Amphilochus and a daughter Tisiphone, by Manto, daughter of Tiresias, and that he brought the babes to Corinth and gave them to Creon, king of Corinth, to bring up; and that on account of her extraordinary comeliness Tisiphone was sold as a slave by Creon's spouse, who feared that Creon might make her his wedded wife. But Alcmaeon bought her and kept her as a handmaid, not knowing that she was his daughter, and coming to Corinth to get back his children he recovered his son also.
This extract is from: Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer, 1921). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KROMYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
Now the Crommyonian sow, which they called Phaea, was no insignificant creature, but fierce and hard to master. This sow he went out of his way to encounter and slay, that he might not be thought to perform all his exploits under compulsion, and at the same time because he thought that while the brave man ought to attack villainous men only in self defence, he should seek occasion to risk his life in battle with the nobler beasts. However, some say that Phaea was a female robber, a woman of murderous and unbridled spirit, who dwelt in Crommyon, was called Sow because of her life and manners, and was afterwards slain by Theseus.
KYLLINI (Mountain) CORINTHIA
Ischus, a son of Elatus, and the beloved of Coronis at the time when she was with child (Asclepius) by Apollo. The god wishing to punish her faithlessness, caused Artemis to kill her, together with Ischys.
MAVRO (Mountain) XYLOKASTRO
Adjoining Cyllene is another mountain, Chelydorea, where Hermes is said to have found a tortoise, taken the shell from the beast, and to have made therefrom a harp.
NEMEA (Ancient sanctuary) CORINTHIA
Initially, Hercules was required to complete ten labors, not twelve.
King Eurystheus decided Hercules' first task would be to bring him the skin of
an invulnerable lion which terrorized the hills around Nemea
Setting out on such a seemingly impossible labor, Hercules came to
a town called Cleonae, where he stayed at the house of a poor workman-for-hire,
Molorchus. When his host offered to sacrifice an animal to pray for a safe lion
hunt, Hercules asked him to wait 30 days. If the hero returned with the lion's
skin, they would sacrifice to Zeus, king of the gods. If Hercules died trying
to kill the lion, Molorchus agreed to sacrifice instead to Hercules, as a hero.
When Hercules got to Nemea and began tracking the terrible lion, he
soon discovered his arrows were useless against the beast. Hercules picked up
his club and went after the lion. Following it to a cave which had two entrances,
Hercules blocked one of the doorways, then approached the fierce lion through
the other. Grasping the lion in his mighty arms, and ignoring its powerful claws,
he held it tightly until he'd choked it to death.
Hercules returned to Cleonae, carrying the dead lion, and found Molorchus
on the 30th day after he'd left for the hunt. Instead of sacrificing to Hercules
as a dead man, Molorchus and Hercules were able to sacrifice together, to Zeus.
When Hercules made it back to Mycenae, Eurystheus was amazed that
the hero had managed such an impossible task. The king became afraid of Hercules,
and forbade him from entering through the gates of the city. Furthermore, Eurystheus
had a large bronze jar made and buried partway in the earth, where he could hide
from Hercules if need be. After that, Eurystheus sent his commands to Hercules
through a herald, refusing to see the powerful hero face to face.
Many times we can identify Hercules in ancient Greek vase paintings
or sculptures simply because he is depicted wearing a lion skin. Ancient writers
disagreed as to whether the skin Hercules wore was that of the Nemean lion, or
one from a different lion, which Hercules was said to have killed when he was
18 years old.
This text is cited July 2004 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Heracles. 1. The fight with the Nemean lion. The mountain valley of Nemea, between Cleonae and Phlius, was inhabited by a lion, the offspring of Typhon (or Orthrus) and Echidna. (Hes. Theog. 327; Apollod. ii. 5.1; comp. Aelian, H. A. xii. 7, Serv. ad Aen. viii. 295.) Eurystheus ordered Heracles to bring him the skin of this monster. When Heracles arrived at Cleonac, he was hospitably received by a poor man called Molorchus. This man was on the point of offering up a sacrifice, but Heracles persuaded him to delay it for thirty days until he should return from his fight with the lion, in order that then they might together offer sacrifices to Zeus Soter; but Heracles added, that if he himself should not return, the man should offer a sacrifice to him as a hero. The thirty days passed away, and as Heracles did not return, Molorchus made preparations for the heroic sacrifice; but at that moment Heracles arrived in triumph over the monster, which was slain, and both sacrificed to Zeus Soter. Heracles, after having in vain used his club and arrows against the lion, had blocked up one of the entrances to the den, and entering by the other, he strangled the animal with his own hands. According to Theocritus (xxv. 251, &c.), the contest did not take place in the den, but in the open air, and Heracles is said to have lost a finger in the struggle. (Ptolem. Heph. 2.) He returned to Eurystheus carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; and Eurystheus, frightened at tile gigantic strength of the hero, took to flight, and ordered him in future to deliver the account of his exploits outside the gates of the town. (Diod. iv. 11; Apollod., Theocrit. ll. cc.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
STYMFALIA (Lake) CORINTHIA
After Hercules returned from his success in the Augean stables, Eurystheus
came up with an even more difficult task. For the sixth Labor, Hercules was to
drive away an enormous flock of birds which gathered at a lake near the town of
Stymphalos.
Arriving at the lake, which was deep in the woods, Hercules had no
idea how to drive the huge gathering of birds away. The goddess Athena came to
his aid, providing a pair of bronze krotala, noisemaking clappers similar to castanets.
These were no ordinary noisemakers. They had been made by an immortal craftsman,
Hephaistos, the god of the forge.
Climbing a nearby mountain, Hercules clashed the krotala loudly, scaring
the birds out of the trees, then shot them with bow and arrow, or possibly with
a slingshot, as they took flight.
Some versions of the legend say that these Stymphalian birds were
vicious man-eaters. The 2nd century A.D. travel writer, Pausanias, trying to discover
what kind of birds they might have been, wrote that during his time a type of
bird from the Arabian desert was called "Stymphalian," describing them
as equal to lions or leopards in their fierceness. He speculated that the birds
Hercules encountered in the legend were similar to these Arabian birds.
"These fly against those who come to hunt them, wounding and killing them
with their beaks. All armor of bronze or iron that men wear is pierced by the
birds; but if they weave a garment of thick cork, the beaks of the Stymphalian
birds are caught in the cork garment... These birds are of the size of a crane,
and are like the ibis, but their beaks are more powerful, and not crooked like
that of the ibis" (Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.22.5)
Pausanias also saw and described the religious sanctuary built by the Greeks of
Stymphalos and dedicated to the goddess Artemis. He reported that the temple had
carvings of the Stymphalian birds up near its roof. Standing behind the temple,
he saw marble statues of maidens with the legs of birds.
This text is cited July 2004 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Heracles. 6. The Stymphalian birds. They were an innumerable swarm of voracious birds, the daughters of Stymphalus and Ornis. They had brazen claws, wings, and beaks, used their feathers as arrows, and ate human flesh. They had been brought up by Ares, and were so numerous, that with their secretions and feathers they killed men and beasts, and covered whole fields and meadows. From fear of the wolves, these birds had taken refuge in a lake near Stymphalus, from which Heracles was ordered by Eurvstheus to expel them. When Heracles undertook the task, Athena provided him with a brazen rattle, by the noise of which he startled the birds, and, as they attempted to fly away, he killed them with his arrows. According to some accounts, he did not kill the birds, but only drove them away, and afterwards they appeared again in the island of Aretias, whither they had fled, and where they were found by the Argonauts. (Apollod. ii. 5.6; Hygin. Fab. 30; Paus. viii. 22.4, &c.; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 300; Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1037, with the Schol.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
STYMFALOS (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
Perseus Encyclopedia
Stymphalian birds : Various WebPages
The story has it that in the old Stymphalus dwelt Temenus, the son of Pelasgus, and that Hera was reared by this Temenus, who himself established three sanctuaries for the goddess, and gave her three surnames when she was still a maiden, Girl; when married to Zeus he called her Grown-up; when for some cause or other she quarrelled with Zeus and came back to Stymphalus, Temenus named her Widow.
This extract is from: Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Harvard University Press
Cited Sept. 2002 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
One of the Pleiades in Taurus, or Seven Sisters. She married Sisyphus, by whom she had a son, Glaucus. Merope was the only Pleiad to marry a mortal, and the star that she represents shines less bright than those which represent her sisters. . .
Bellerophontes, owner of Pegasus, thought that he could fly up to Olympus with the winged horse and see the gods. Zeus would not let that happen, so he sent a horsefly to bite Pegasus. Bellerophontes fell down and Pegasus flew to Olympus alone, where Zeus kept it and placed its figure in the sky in the shape of a constellation.
According to one Greek myth, the musician named Arion was the greatest
singer who ever existed. He was the court musician for the King of Corinth, Periander.
So great was Arion's fame that he made a tour of Sicily. During his visit to Sicily
he was awarded many prizes and given gold and much money. Now the crew of the
vessel waiting to take Arion back to Corinth knew of his newly acquired wealth.
They plotted to steal it from him and then cast him into the sea sometime during
the return voyage. In a dream, Arion was informed by Apollo of the plot against
his life. When the time came and the murderous crew made their move, Arion made
one last request--that he be permitted to sing a farewell song. The crew could
see no danger in that and agreed. So he dressed in his finest court garments and
stood on the bow of the ship and began to sing. So sweet was his song that sea
creatures of many kinds surrounded the ship to listen. Among them was a school
of dolphins. Arion saw that the dolphins seemed very pleased with his song and
just before he reached the end of it he plunged overboard amid the dolphins. One
of the animals caught him before he struck the water and raced off with him towards
Corinth. It was with great difficulty that Arion hung on, so swift was the dolphin's
course through the sea. The startled crew looked on helplessly and believed that
surly Arion would fall off the dolphin and drown. But the dolphin safely carried
Arion to Corinth. Arion told the king of the crew's plot and when the vessel docked,
Periander was waiting for them. The crew said that Arion had decided to remain
in Sicily, so great was the wealth he had acquired there. When Arion stepped into
view and the crew saw him, they were so terrified they confessed their plot. King
Periander crucified them to the last man. So pleased was Apollo with the good
dolphin's role in rescuing Arion that the god gave the dolphin a place among the
stars.
They were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, that Zeus turned into doves so that they could escape from Orion, who fell in love with them. The doves flew and became a constellation. Pleiades are also mentioned by Homer (Il. 18.486, Od. 5.272).
PELLANA (Ancient city) XYLOKASTRO
Pellen, a son of Phorbas and grandson of Triopas, of Argos, was believed by the Argives to have founded the town of Pellene in Achaia. (Paus. vii. 26.5)
SIKYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
Aegialeus. A son of Inachus and the Oceanid Melia, from whom the part of Peloponnesus
afterwards called Achaia
derived its name of Aegialeia
(Apollod. ii. 1.1). According to a Sicyonian tradition he was an autochthon, brother
of Phoroneus and first king of Sicyon,
to whom the foundation of the town of Aegialeia
was ascribed (Paus. ii. 5.5, vii. 1.1).
ISTHMUS KORINTHOS (Isthmus) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
At the beginning of the Isthmus is the place where the brigand Sinis used to take hold of pine trees and draw them down. All those whom he overcame in fight he used to tie to the trees, and then allow them to swing up again. Thereupon each of the pines used to drag to itself the bound man, and as the bond gave way in neither direction but was stretched equally in both, he was torn in two. This was the way in which Sinis himself was slain by Theseus. For Theseus rid of evildoers the road from Troezen to Athens, killing those whom I have enumerated and, in sacred Epidaurus, Periphetes, thought to be the son of Hephaestus, who used to fight with a bronze club.(Paus. 2.1.4)
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
(Sinis) or Sinnis (Sinnis). Son of Polypemon, Pemon, or Poseidon,
by Sylea, the daughter of Corinthus. He was a robber, who frequented the Isthmus
of Corinth, and killed the travellers whom he captured by fastening them to the
top of a fir-tree, which he bent, and then let spring up again. He himself was
killed in this manner by Theseus.
(pituokamptes, "pine-bender"). A name applied to the
robber Sinis, who killed travellers by tying them between two pine-trees bent
down so as nearly to meet, and then allowed to spring apart (Pausan. ii. 1, 3).
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Second, he (Theseus) killed Sinis, son of Polypemon and Sylea, daughter of Corinthus. This
Sinis was surnamed the Pine-bender; for inhabiting the Isthmus of Corinth he used
to force the passersby to keep bending pine trees; but they were too weak to do
so, and being tossed up by the trees they perished miserably. In that way also
Theseus killed Sinis.
Commentary: The ancients are not agreed as to the exact mode in which the ruffian
Sinis despatched his victims. According to Diodorus, Pausanias, and the Scholiast
on Pindar he bent two pine-trees to the ground, tied the extremities of his victim
to both trees, and then let the trees go, which, springing up and separating,
tore the wretch's body in two. This atrocious form of murder was at a later time
actually employed by the emperor Aurelian in a military execution. A Ruthenian
pirate, named Botho, is said to have put men to death in similar fashion. According
to Hyginus, Sinis, with the help of his victim, dragged down a pine-tree to the
earth; then, when the man was struggling to keep the tree down, Sinis released
it, and in the rebound the man was tossed up into the air and killed by falling
heavily to the ground. Apollodorus seems to have contemplated a similar mode of
death, except that he does not mention the cooperation of Sinis in bending the
tree to the earth. According to the Parian Chronicle it was not on his journey
from Troezen to Athens that Theseus killed Sinis, but at a later time, after he
had come to the throne and united the whole of Attica under a single government;
he then returned to the Isthmus of Corinth, killed Sinis, and celebrated the Isthmian
games. This tradition seems to imply that Theseus held the games as a funeral
honour paid to the dead man, or more probably as an expiation to appease the angry
ghost of his victim. This implication is confirmed by the Scholiast on Pindar,
who says that according to some people Theseus held the Isthmian games in honour
of Sinis, whom he had killed. Plutarch tells us (Plut. Thes. 8.2) that when Theseus
had killed Sinis, the daughter of the dead man, by name Perigune, fled and hid
herself in a bed of asparagus; that she bore a son Melanippus to Theseus, and
that Melanippus had a son Ioxus, whose descendants, the Ioxids, both men and women,
revered and honoured asparagus and would not burn it, because asparagus had once
sheltered their ancestress. This hereditary respect shown by all the members of
a family or clan for a particular species of plant is reminiscent of totemism,
though it is not necessarily a proof of it.
This extract is from: Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer, 1921). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
On the Isthmus, too, he slew Sinis the Pine-bender in the very manner in which many men had been destroyed by himself, and he did this without practice or even acquaintance with the monster's device, but showing that valor is superior to all device and practice. Now Sinis had a very beautiful and stately daughter, named Perigune. This daughter took to flight when her father was killed, and Theseus went about in search of her. But she had gone off into a place which abounded greatly in shrubs and rushes and wild asparagus, and with exceeding innocence and childish simplicity was supplicating these plants, as if they understood her, and vowing that if they would hide and save her, she would never trample them down nor burn them. When, however, Theseus called upon her and gave her a pledge that he would treat her honorably and do her no wrong, she came forth, and after consorting with Theseus, bore him Melanippus, and afterwards lived with Deioneus, son of Eurytus the Oechalian, to whom Theseus gave her. From Melanippus the son of Theseus, Ioxus was born, who took part with Ornytus in leading a colony into Caria whence it is ancestral usage with the Ioxids, men and women, not to burn either the asparagus-thorn or the rush, but to revere and honor them.
This extract is from: Plutarch's Lives (ed. Bernadotte Perrin, 1914). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
GONOESSA (Ancient city) XYLOKASTRO
Cypselus and his ancestors came originally from Gonussa above Sicyon (Paus. 5,18,7)
FENEOS (Ancient city) FENEOS
Heurippe, (Heurippa), the finder of horses, a surname of Artemis, under which Odysseus was said to have built her a temple at Pheneus in common with Poseidon Hippius, whea at length he there found his lost horses. (Paus. viii. 14. § 4.)
Cidaria (Kidaria), a surname of the Eleusinian Demeter at Pheneus, in Arcadia, derived either from an Arcadian dance called kidaris, or from a royal head-dress of the same name. (Paus. viii. 15.1)
FLIOUS (Ancient city) NEMEA
(Hebe). Daughter of Zeus and Here, and goddess of eternal youth.
She was represented as the handmaiden of the gods, for whom she pours out their
nectar, and the consort of Heracles after his apotheosis. She was worshipped with
Heracles in Sicyon and Phlius, especially under the name Ganymede or Dia. She
was represented as freeing men from chains and bonds, and her rites were celebrated
with unrestrained merriment. The Romans identified Hebe with Iuventas, the personification
of youthful manhood. As representing the eternal youth of the Roman State, Iuventas
had a chapel on the Capitol in the front court of the Temple of Minerva, and in
later times a temple of her own in the city . It was to Iupiter and Iuventas that
boys offered prayer on the Capitol when they put on the toga virilis, putting
a piece of money into their treasury. Two fine poems in English are suggested
by the myth of Hebe--one the Fall of Hebe, by Thomas Moore, and the other, Hebe,
by James Russell Lowell.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Hebe : Perseus Project
Hebe : Various WebPages
Ctesius (Ktesios), the protector of property, occurs as a surname of Zeus at Phlyus, and of Hermes (Athen. xi.; Paus. i. 31.2). Ctesius occurs also as a proper name. (Hom. Od. xv. 413.)
ISTHMUS KORINTHOS (Isthmus) LOUTRAKI-PERACHORA
A legend of the Corinthians about their land is not peculiar to them, for I believe that the Athenians were the first to relate a similar story to glorify Attica. The Corinthians say that Poseidon had a dispute with Helius (Sun ) about the land, and that Briareos arbitrated between them, assigning to Poseidon the Isthmus and the parts adjoining, and giving to Helius the height above the city. Ever since, they say, the Isthmus has belonged to Poseidon.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Oct 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Isthmius (Isthmios), i. e. the god worshipped on the Isthmus (of Corinth), a surname of Poseidon, in honour of whom the Isthmian games were celebrated. (Paus. ii. 9. Β 6 )
Alcyoneus. A giant, who kept possession of the Isthmus of Corinth at the time when Heracles drove away the oxen of Geryon. The giant attacked him, crushed twelve waggons and twenty-four of the men of Heracles with a huge block of stone. Heracles himself warded off the stone with his club and slew Alcyoneus. The block, with which the giant had attempted the life of Heracles, was shewn on the Isthmus down to a very late period. (Pind. Nem. iv. 44, with the Schol.) In another passage (Isth. vi. 45, &c.) Pindar calls Alcyoneus a Thracian shepherd, and places the struggle with him in the Phlegraean plains.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
Titan son of the Titan Laepethus and Oceanus' daughter Clymene or
Themis.
His brother was Prometheus and together they had the task to create
the human beings and give them what they would need to survive. Prometheus made
the humans out of clay and stole the fire from Zeus and brought it to them, which
he was severely punished for.
Epimetheus married the first woman, Pandora, and as a wedding gift
the gods gave her a box that was never to be opened. Not being able to resist
her curiosity, Pandora eventually opened it, and all the sorrows and sicknesses
of the world flew out of it. She closed the box, but only hope remained.
The couple had a daughter: Pyrrha, wife of Deucalion.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Epimetheus : Various WebPages
Chalinitis, the tamer of horses by means of the bridle (Chalinos), a surname of Athena, under which she had a temple at Corinth. In order to account for the name, it is related, that she tamed Pegasus and gave him to Bellerophontes, although the general character of the goddess is sufficient to explain the surname. (Paus. ii. 4.1)
Lysius (Lusios), i. e. the Deliverer, a surname of Dionysus, under which he was worshipped at Corinth, where there was a carved image of the god, the whole figure of which was gilt, while the face was painted red. (Paus. ii. 2. Β§ 5.) He was also worshipped at Sicyon, where the Theban Phanes was said to have introduced the god (ii. 7. Β§ 6), and at Thebes. In the last-mentioned place he had a sanctuary near one of the gates, and there was a story that the god had received the surname from the fact of his once having delivered Theban prisoners from the hands of the Thracians in the neighbourhood of Haliartus (ix. 16. Β§ 4; Orph. Hymn. 49, 2, &c.)
KYLLINI (Mountain) CORINTHIA
National god of Arcadia, one of the "youngest" Greek gods, identified with the Egyptian Mendes, son of Zeus and Hybris, said to have been borne by Penelope to Hermes, hunts on mountains, invents pipe, heard piping on Mount Maenalus, represented with pipe, gives oracles, causes panic fears, discovers mourning Demeter in cave, appears to Philippides, his cult at Athens, sacrifices to Pan and Dionysus, caves sacred to, mountains sacred to, oak-tree sacred to, tortoises sacred to, his herd of goats, his altars, images, sanctuaries, temple, Pans, Titles—Deliverer, Nomian, Oenois, Scolitas.
Aegocerus (Aigokeros), a surname of Pan, descriptive of his figure with the horns of a goat, but is more commonly the name given to one of the signs of the Zodiac. (Lucan, ix. 536; Lucret. v. 614; C. Caes. Germ. in Arat. 213.)
Agreus, a hunter, occurs as a surname of Pan and Aristaeus. (Pind. Pyth. ix. 115; Apollon. Rhod. iii. 507; Diod. iv. 81; Hesych. s.v.)
Aegipan (Aigipan), that is, Goat-Pan, was according to some statements a being distinct from Pan, while others regard him as identical with Pan. His story appears to be altogether of late origin. According to Hyginus (Fab. 155) he was the son of Zeus and a goat, or of Zeus and Aega, the wife of Pan, and was transferred to the stars (Hygin. Poct. Astr. ii. 13.28). Others again make Aegipan the father of Pan, and state that he as well as his son was represented as half goat and half fish (Eratosth. Catast. 27). When Zeus in his contest with the Titans was deprived of the sinews of his hands and feet, Hermes and Aegipan secretly restored them to him and fitted them in their proper places (Apollod. i. 6.3; Hygin. Poet. Astr. l. c.). According to a Roman tradition mentioned by Plutarch (Parallel. 22), Aegipan had sprung from the incestuous intercourse of Valeria of Tusculum and her father Valerius, and was considered only a different name for Silvanus.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Pleiades. The seven daughters of Atlas and the Ocean-nymph Pleione, born on the Arcadian mountain Cyllene, sisters of the Hyades. The eldest and most beautiful, Maia, became the mother of Hermes by Zeus; Electra and Taygete, of Dardanus and Lacedaemon by the same; Alcyone, of Hyrieus by Poseidon; Celaeno, of Lycus and Nycteus by the same; Sterope or Asterope, of Oenomaus by Ares; Merope (i. e. "the mortal"), of Glaucus by Sisyphus. Out of grief, either for the fate of Atlas or for the death of their sisters, they killed themselves and were placed among the constellations. According to another legend, they were pursued for five years by the giant hunter Orion, until Zeus turned the distressed nymphs and their pursuer into neighbouring stars. As the constellation of the seven stars, they made known by their rising (in the middle of May) the approach of harvest, and by their setting (at the end of October) the time for the new sowing. Their rising and setting were also looked upon as the sign of the opening and closing of the sailing season. One of the seven stars is invisible; this was explained to be Merope, who hid herself out of shame at her marriage with a mortal. The constellation of the Pleiades seems also to have been compared to a flight of doves (peleiades). Hence the Pleiades were supposed to be meant in the story told by Homer of the ambrosia brought to Zeus by the doves, one of which is always lost at the Planctae Rocks, but is regularly replaced by a new one. Among the Romans, the constellation was called Vergiliae, the stars of spring. As being the daughters of Atlas, the name Atlantides is often used of them.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A daughter of Oceanus, and mother of the Pleiades by Atlas.
Maia. The daughter of Atlas and Pleione, one of the Pleiades, and mother of Hermes by Zeus. The Romans identified her with an old Italian goddess of spring, Maia Maiestas (also called Fauna, Bona Dea, Ops), who was held to be the wife of Vulcan, and to whom the flamen of that god sacrificed a pregnant sow on the first of May.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Maia or Maias, a daughter of Atlas and Pleiono (whence she is called Atlantis
and Pleias), was the eldest of the Pleiades, and in a grotto of mount Cyllene
in Arcadia she became by Zeus the mother of Hermes. Areas, the son of Zeus by
Callisto, was given to her to be reared. (Hom. Od. xiv. 435, Hymn. in Merc. 3;
Hes. Theog. 938; Apollod. iii. 10. 2, 8. 2; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 219; Horat. Carm.
i. 10. 1, 2. 42, &c. )
Maia is also the name of a divinity worshipped at Rome, who was also
called Majesta. She is mentioned in connection with Vulcan, and was regarded by
some as the wife of that god, though it seems for no other reason but because
a priest of Vulcan offered a sacrifice to her on the first of May, while in the
popular superstition of later times she was identified with Maia, the daughter
of Atlas. It is more probable that Maia was an ancient name of the bona dea, who
was also designated by the names of Ops, Fauna, and Fatua. (Macrob. Sat. i. 12;
Gellius, xiii. 22; Fest. p. 134, ed. Muller.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Celaeno (Kelaino), a Pleiad, daughter of Atlas and Pleione, and by Poseidon the
mother of Lycus and Eurypylus, or, according to others, of Lycus and Chimaereus
by Prometheus (Apollod. iii. 10.1; Ov. Her. xix. 135; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod.
iv. 1561; Tzetz. ad Lycoph 132).
There are several other mythological beings of this name : namely,
a Harpy (Virg. Aen. iii. 211), a daughter of Ergeus (Hygin. Fab. 157), a daughter
of Hyamus (Paus. x. 6.2), a Danaid (Strab. xii.; Apollod. ii. 1. 5), and an Amazon.
(Diod. iv. 16.)
Daughter of Atlas and Pleione, one of the Pleiades, wife of Oenomaus.
Gave her name to the mount Taygetus in Peloponnese
Alcyone or Halcyone (Alkuone). A Pleiad, a daughter of Atlas and Pleione, by whom Poseidon begot Aethusa, Hyrieus and Hyperenor (Apollod. iii. 10.1; Hygin. Praef. Fab.; Ov. Heroid. xix. 13..) To these children Pausanias (ii. 30.7) adds two others, Hyperes and Anthas.
Agoraea and Aoraeus (Agoraia and Agoraios), are epithets given to several divinities
who were considered as the protectors of the assemblies of the people in the agora,
such as Zeus (Paus. iii. 11.8, v. 15.3), Athena (iii. 11.8), Artemis (v. 15.3),
and Hermes (i. 15.1, ii. 9.7, ix. 17.1). As Hermes was the god of commerce, this
surname seems to have reference to the agora as the market-place.
Cyllenius (Kullenios), a surname of Hermes, which he derived from mount Cyllene in Arcadia, where he had a temple (Paus. viii. 17.1), or from the circumstance of Maia having given birth to him on that mountain. (Virg. Aen. viii. 139, &c.)
MYSSEON (Ancient city) TRIKALA KORINTHIAS
A Titan, father of Astraeus, Pallas and Perses. River Crius named afetr him. (Paus. 7.27.11)
Astraeus (Astraios), a Titan and son of Crius and Eurybia. By Eos he became the father of the winds Zephyrus, Boreas, and Notus, Eosphorus (the morning star), and all the stars of heaven. (Hesiod. Theog. 376, &c.) Ovid (Mct. xiv. 545) calls the winds fratres Astraei, which does not mean that they were brothers of Astraeus, but brothers through Astraeus, their common father.
NEMEA (Ancient sanctuary) CORINTHIA
Apesantius (Apesantios), a surname of Zeus, under which he had a temple on mount Apesas near Nemea, where Perseus was said to have first offered sacrifices to him. (Paus. ii. 15.3; Steph. Byz. s. v. Apesas)
PELLANA (Ancient city) XYLOKASTRO
Crius : Various WebPages
SIKYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
Acroreites (Akroreites), a surname of Dionysus, under which he was worshipped at Sicyon, and which is synonymous with Eriphius, under which name he was worshipped at Metapontum in southern Italy. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Akroreia.)
Alexander (Alexandros), the defender of men, a surname of Hera under which she was worshipped at Sicyon. A temple had been built there to Hera Alexandros by Adrastus after his flight from Argos. (Schol. ad Pind. Nem. ix. 30 ; comp. Apollod. iii. 12.5)
Apotropaei (Apotropaioi), certain divinities, by whose assistance the Greeks believed that they were able to avert any threatening danger or calamity. Their statues stood at Sicyon near the tomb of Epopeus (Paus. ii. 11.2). The Romans likewise worshipped gods of this kind, and called them dii averrunci, derived from averruncare. (Varro, de L. L. vii. 102; Gellius, v. 12)
STYMFALOS (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
Chera, a surname of Hera, which was believed to have been given her by Temenus, the son of Pelasgus. He had brought up Hera, and erected to her at Old Stymphalus three sanctuaries under three different names. To Hera, as a maiden previous to her marriage, he dedicated one in which she was called pais; to her as the wife of Zeus, a second in which she bore the name of teleia; and a third in which she was worshipped as the chera, the widow, alluding to her separation from Zeus. (Paus. viii. 22.2)
KORINTHOS (Ancient city) PELOPONNISOS
(Antikleia). The daughter of Autolycus, wife of Laertes, and mother of Odysseus. She died of grief at the long absence of her son. It is said that before marrying Laertes she lived on intimate terms with Sisyphus; whence Odysseus is sometimes called a son of Sisyphus.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
