Acacallis (mythology)

Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς) in Greek mythology, was princess of Crete. The Bibliotheca calls her Acalle (Greek: Ἀκάλλη).[1]

Biography and mythology

Acacallis was the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphae or Crete. She was the sister Ariadne, Androgeus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Glaucus, Catreus and Xenodice.[1]

According to a Cretan mythological tradition, she bore a son to Hermes, Cydon, the founder of Cydonia.[2] Other traditions give Cydon as the offspring of Acacallis and Apollo.[3][4] Yet others wrote that Acacallis mothered Cydon with Hermes, and Naxos (eponym of the island Naxos) with Apollo.[5]

Another tradition relates that Acacallis and Apollo had a son named Miletus. Fearing her father's wrath she exposed the child, but Apollo commanded she-wolves to nurse it until it could be taken in and raised by shepherds. He grew up strong and handsome, and Minos was seized with desire for the boy. Miletus fled Crete to avoid being becoming the eromenos of the king, and went on to found the eponymous city, Miletus.[6]

Still other traditions relate that another son was born of her and Apollo, named Amphithemis or Garamas (in some stories, the first mortal born). He was born in Libya, to where Minos had banished the pregnant Acacallis in retribution for her having an illicit relationship. Amphithemis was known as the consort of the Libyan lake nymph Tritonis and father by her of Nasamon and Caphaurus, who were responsible for the death of the Argonaut Canthus.[7]

Yet another son of Acacallis and Apollo was Oaxes, eponym of the town Oaxes in Crete;[8] in another account, however, the mother of Oaxes is called Anchiale.[9]

Finally, Pausanias relates that when Apollo came to Carmanor to be cleansed for the murder of Pytho, he fell in love with Acacallis (said to be a nymph in this particular version), and that from their union were born Phylacides and Phylander. People of the Cretan city Elyrus sent to Delphi a bronze statue of a goat suckling these two children, which suggests that they must have been abandoned by their mother.[10]

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF ACACALLIS' FAMILY ACCORDING TO VARIOUS SOURCES
Relation Sources
Relation Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius Pausanias Antoninus Liberalis Stephanus of Byzantium
Consort Hermes Apollo Hermes Apollo Apollo Apollo
Children Cydon Naxos, Amphithemis Cydon Phylacides, Phylander Miletus Cydon, Oaxes

Acacallis was in Crete a common name for a narcissus.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 1. § 2.
  2. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8. 53. 4
  3. ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Kydōnia
  4. ↑ Schmitz, Leonhar (1867), "Acacallis", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, p. 4
  5. ↑ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 4. 1492
  6. ↑ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 30, the tale of Byblis.
  7. ↑ Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 4. 1490, ff
  8. ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Oaxes
  9. ↑ Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentary on the Eclogues of Vergil 1.65
  10. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10. 16. 5
  11. ↑ Athenaeus, Banquet of the Learned, XV. p. 681; Hesychius of Alexandria s.v.

Sources

  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acacallis". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.