Abrota

For the brush-footed butterfly genus, see Abrota (butterfly).

In Greek mythology, Abrota (Ancient Greek: Αβρώτη) or Habrotê, was the daughter of Onchestus the Boeotian and sister of Megareus. Nisos, the king of Megara in the time of his reign married her and supposed to be the mother of his daughters Scylla, Iphinoe and Eurynome _. On the death of his beloved wife, Abrota, Nisos commanded all the Megarian women to wear a garment of the same kind as Abrota had worn, which was called aphabroma (αφάβρωμα), and was still in use in the time of Plutarch.^[1][2]

Mythology

The only single literary piece that tells us about Abrota was written by the Greek biographer, Plutarch (Quaestiones Graecae) in the following texts:

When Nisus, from whom Nisaea acquired its name, was king, he took a wife from Boeotia, Habrotê, daughter of Onchestus, the sister of Megareus, a woman who, as it appears, was both exceptionally intelligent and remarkably discreet. When she died, the Megarians mourned her with one accord, and Nisus, wishing that her memory and her repute should be established everlastingly, ordered the women of the city to wear the garment that she used to wear ; and because of her he called the garment aphabroma. Even the god seems to have furthered the repute of this woman, for often, when the Megarian women wished to make a change in their raiment, he prevented them by an oracle.

References

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Abrota". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.