Chapter 5: The Line of Deukalion
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♠ Bakchylides, Paianes fr 4.50-51 SM – Bacchylidis Carmina cum fragmentis, pp. 83-87, ed. B. Snell and H. Maehler. Leipzig 1970.
♠ Pindar, Pythian 4.124-26
And both his father’s brothers [125] came when they heard the report of Jason. Pheres was near by; he came from the Hypereian spring, and Amythaon came from Messene. Greek Text
♠ ApB 1.9.11-12 – Apollodoros, Bibliotheke (Library)
Cretheus founded Iolcus and married Tyro, daughter of Salmoneus, by whom he had sons, Aeson, Amythaon, and Pheres. Amythaon dwelt in Pylus and married Idomene, daughter of Pheres, and there were born to him two sons, Bias and Melampus. The latter lived in the country, and before his house there was an oak, in which there was a lair of snakes. His servants killed the snakes, but Melampus gathered wood and burnt the reptiles, and reared the young ones. And when the young were full grown, they stood beside him at each of his shoulders as he slept, and they purged his ears with their tongues. He started up in a great fright, but understood the voices of the birds flying overhead, and from what he learned from them he foretold to men what should come to pass. He acquired besides the art of taking the auspices, and having fallen in with Apollo at the Alpheus he was ever after an excellent soothsayer. Continue Reading Greek Text
♠ Scholion at Theokritos 3.43c – Scholia in Theocritum Vetera, pp. 129-30, ed C. Wendel. Stuttgart 1914.
♠ Eustathios’ commentary on the Odyssey p. 1685, 37 – Eustathii Commentarii ad Homeri Odysseam, Vol. 1, pp. 415-16. Leipzig 1825.
♠ Scholion at Homer, Odyssey 11.290 – Scholia Graeca in Homeris Odysseam, vol. 2, pp. 499-500, ed. W. Dindorf. Oxford 1855.
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 37 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 25, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 129 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, pp. 62-63, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
P. Oxy. 2487 fr. 1, ed. Lobel
. . . gave . . . [paid ba]ck a great harm. . . . then b[ore blam]eless Abas . . . in the lofty palace . . . [who] rivaled [the Oly]mpians [in sightliness;] . . . [fa]ther of men and gods . . . and to mount the same bed; [and she bore Proitos] and Akrisios the king.
[And the] father of [me]n an[d of go]ds s[ettled them: Akrisios] was k[i]ng in well-buil[t A]rgos . . . rugged . . . [Eury]dike . . . [o]f Lakedai[mo]n . . . [fair-]cheeked, well fur[nishe]d with wi[ts.
And she bore] f[a]ir-ankle[d Dana]e [in her h]a[lls, who bore Perseus, mi]g[ht]y in[st]ille[r] of fear. [But Proitos dwelt in Tiry]ns, a well-[b]ui[l]t city, [and he married the daughte]r of great-hearted [Apheida]s so[n] of Arkas, S[th]eneboi[a] of beau[tiful] locks. . . . cow-eyed Sthen[e]boia . . . mounting the same bed, [the daughter of gr]eat-h[e]arte[d Apheidas s]on of Arkas . . . s who knew [most b]eautiful works, [Lysippe and Iphi]noe and Iphianassa, . . . palace of their father . . . (Tansl. Silvio Curtis)
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 130 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 64, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
He says however that Hesiod and Archilochos (fr. 54 Diehl) already knew that all Hellenes are called Panhellenes, the one saying how Panhellenes wooed the daughters of Proitos, and the other, etc. (Transl. Mary Emerson)
♠ Hesiod, Ehoiai (Catalogue of Women) fr 131 MW – Fragmenta Hesiodea, p. 64, ed. R. Merkelbach and M. L. West. Oxford 1967.
Danae was born to Akrisios by Eurydike, daughter of Lakdedaimon; and to Proitos by Stheneboia were born Lysippe and Iphinoe and Iphianassa. They, when fully grown, went mad; as Hesiod tells it, this was because they did not accept the mystic rites of Dionysos, but according to Akousilaos (2 F 28), it was because they showed contempt for the xoanon[wooden image] of Hera. (Transl. Mary Emerson)
♠ Pherekydes 3F114 – Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker 1, pp. 90-91, ed. F. Jacoby, 2d ed. Leiden 1957.
SCHOL. MV Hom. Od. o 225: Melampous the son of Amythaon did many other astonishing things through divination, not least that there arose the most famous contest for a prize; for when the daughters of Proitos, king of the Argives, Lysippe and Iphianassa, sinned against Hera through youthful lack of forethought – for happening upon a temple of the goddess, they scoffed at it by saying that their father’s house was more sumptuous – and when they went mad because of this, Melampous happened to turn up and promised a total cure if he were offered a reward that was great enough to be worthy of the cure. Already the illness had lasted ten years and brought distress not only on the maidens themselves but also on those around them. So when Proitos had promised Melampous a share in his kingdom and one of his daughters in marriage, whichever he preferred, Melampous healed the sickness by means of supplication and sacrifices to Hera. And he took Iphianassa in marriage, reaping the profit of the cures with herself as the bride-price. The story is in Pherekydes. (Transl. Mary Emerson) Greek Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, February 2022
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