Carmanor (deity)
In Greek mythology, Carmanor or Karmanor (Greek: Καρμάνωρ, Karmánōr) was a Cretan demi-god related to the harvest; his name might derive from keiro, "to cut/shear" (but see below).
Mythology
Carmanor was the Lord of Tarrha, Crete (in the Greek Aegean) and the Cretan consort to Demeter in Greek mythology,[1] with whom he had a son, Euboulos, the patron of ploughing, and a daughter Chrysothemis[2], a singer.
Carmanor's granddaughter, who shares the same powers and function and name origin, was named Karme (Carme). The name Karmanor could contain a reference to her name, simply meaning "the man of Karme", an epithet with the masculine -or suffix[3] describing his role; Karmanor was a double of Iacchus, the consort of Demeter, and was the purifier of Apollo after he had slain the earth-dragon Pytho, that possessed Delphi. "The name does not appear to be Greek", observed Walter Burkert of Karmanor.[4]
References
- ↑ Kerenyi 1970, p. 412.
- ↑ "Chrysothemis". Theoi. Aaron J. Atsma.
- ↑ Compare Antenor etc.
- ↑ Burkert, The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age Harvard University Press (1992:63); for the root krm as West Semitic "vineyard", see Stanislav Segert, A Basic Grammar of the Ugaritic Language, s.v. "krm", with comparisons in Hebrew, Syrian and Arabic.