Thespius
In Greek mythology, Thespius (/ˈθɛspiəs/; Ancient Greek: Θέσπιος Théspios) or Thestius (/ˈθɛstʃəs, ˈθɛstiəs/; Ancient Greek: Θέστιος)[1][2] was a legendary founder and king of Thespiae, Boeotia. His life account is considered part of Greek mythology.
Biography
Thespius was reportedly son of
Thespius' maternal grandparents were Phrasimus and Diogenia, the daughter of the river god Cephissus.[13] He married Megamede, daughter of Arneus. They supposedly had fifty daughters together, although Thespius may have fathered some of the daughters from unnamed mistresses with Megamede being their stepmother.[3] The daughters are often referred to as the Thespiades,[14] also being the subject of an 1853 painting by Gustave Moreau.
Mythology
All his daughters came of marrying age but Thespius seems to have sought no husband for them; he instead desired grandchildren from the hero
Alternate sources claim that Heracles slept with the daughters in a single night. In this version, only forty-nine slept with the hero, with the fiftieth being destined to serve as a virgin priestess of a temple to Heracles, as a punishment for her refusal to sleep with him.[1] In another version, there were fifty-one grandsons of Thespius, forty of which colonized the island of Sardinia.[16]
Descendants
The Bibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus[17] lists the following daughters and grandchildren. The grandchildren were all Heracleidae in the wider sense of the term.
According to Hellanicus, a certain Sthephanephoros ("crown bearer") was called one of the sons of Heracles who were born from the daughters of Thestios.[18]
Daughter | Grandson | Daughter | Grandson |
---|---|---|---|
Aeschreis | Leucones | Hippocrate | Hippozygus |
Aglaia or Aeglaea | Antiades | Iphis | Celeustanor |
Anthea | Unknown child | Laothoe | Antiphus |
Anthippe | Hippodromus | Lyse | Eumedes |
Antiope | Alopius | Lysidice | Teles |
Argele | Cleolaus | Lysippe | Erasippus |
Asopis | Mentor | Marse | Bucolus |
Calametis | Astybies | Meline | Laomedon |
Certhe | Iobes | Menippis | Entelides |
Chryseis | Onesippus | Nice | Nicodromus |
Clytippe | Eurycapys | Nicippe | Antimachus
|
Elachia | Buleus | Olympusa | Halocrates |
Eone | Amestrius | Oria | Laomenes |
Epilais | Astyanax | Panope
|
Threpsippas |
Erato | Dynastes | Patro | Archemachus |
Euboea | Olympus | Phyleis | Tigasis |
Eubote | Eurypylus | Praxithea | Nephus |
Eurybia | Polylaus | Procris | Antileon |
Euryce (Euryte?) | Teleutagoras | Pyrippe | Patroclus |
Eurypyle | Archedicus | Stratonice | Atromus |
Eurytele | Leucippus | Terpsicrate | Euryopes |
Exole | Erythras | Tiphyse | Lyncaeus |
Heliconis | Phalias | Toxicrate | Lycurgus |
Hesychia | Oestrobles | Xanthis | Homolippus |
Hippo | Capylus | Unnamed daughter | Creon |
Notes
- ^ a b Pausanias, 9.27.7
- ^ Harpocration, Lexicon of the Ten Orators s.v. Stephanephoros
- ^ a b Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.2
- ^ a b Apollodorus, 3.15.1
- ^ Suda, s.v. Maidens, Virgins (Παρθένοι)
- ^ Plutarch, Theseus 19.5
- ^ Pausanias, 2.25.6; Plutarch, Theseus 32.1; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Orneiai
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.76.1
- ^ Pausanias, 2.6.5, citing Hesiod (Ehoiai fr. 224) for Erechtheus
- ^ Pausanias, 9.26.6
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Thespeia
- ^ Scholia on Homer, Iliad 2.498 call him son of Teuthras or Cepheus
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.1
- ^ Zimmerman, p. 268.
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.4.10
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.1, 4–6
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.7.8
- ^ Harpocration, Lexicon of the Ten Orators s.v. Stephanephoros as cited in Hellanicus, Phoronis Book 10 and Atthis Book 2
References
- .
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. 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.
- Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Lives with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, 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.
- Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Zimmerman, John Edward, Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Bantam Books, 1966. ISBN 0-553-25776-5.