Herse of Athens
Herse (Ancient Greek: Ἕρση, "dew") was a figure in Greek mythology, the Athenian princess as the daughter of King Cecrops of Athens and Aglaurus, daughter of King Actaeus.
Family
Herse was the sister to
Mythology
Erichthonius
According to the
An alternative version of the story [
Jealous sister
Some authors, such as Ovid in his Metamorphoses and Ars Amatoria, wrote a different end for Herse and Aglauros. Ovid tells in Book 2 of his Metamorphoses that Erichthonius was born without a mother. Pallas Athena (better known as Athena, Minerva is her Roman name) placed him in a willow basket and told the sisters not to look on the mysteries. Two daughters, Herse and Pandrosos obeyed, but Aglauros looked and saw the child lying next to a great snake. Corone, the crow, told Athena, who turned her feathers from white to black for her pains. Later in Book 2, Hermes (Mercury in Roman mythology) is in Athens and sees a festival to Athena. He falls in love with Herse and goes to her house to ask for her hand. Aglauros agrees to give Herse his message for the price of gold. Athena sees all of this and goes to the house of Envy and orders the goddess to poison Aglauros. Aglauros, who begins to waste away with jealousy, blocks the passage to Herse's room and refuses to move. Hermes, angry at Aglauros for breaking her promise, changes her into a black marble statue.[4]
Gallery
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Erichthonius Released from His Basket by Antonio Tempesta (1606) -
Daughters of Kekrops Finding Erichthonios by Jacob Jordaens (1640) -
The Discovery of the Child Erichthonius by Peter Paul Rubens (circa 1615) -
Mercury, Herse and Aglauros by Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre (1763) -
Finding of Erichthonius by Peter Paul Rubens (between 1632 and 1633) -
The finding of the infant Erichthonius by Cecrops's daughters by Willem van Herp (circa 1650)) -
Mercury and Herse from the series “Götterlieben” (Prinmaking), Hamburg.
Notes
- ^ Pausanias, 1.2.6
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.1; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.675-863; Morford, pp. 596–597.
- Hyginus, Fabulae 166.
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.708-832
References
- Apollodorus, 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, 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.
- Morford, Mark P. O., Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology, Eighth Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007. .
- 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.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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