Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Stories (20)

• Birth of the Olympian Generation: Overview (Hesiodic)
  Cosmogony / Theogony (bridge toward Olympian cycle) · Hesiodic catalogue after Zeus’s kingship
• Orphic Cosmogony (Brief — Distinct Tradition Note)
  Cosmogony / Theogony — Orphic tradition (not Hesiodic main line) · Orphic / late classical–Hellenistic notices (labeled distinct from Hesiod)
• Ascalaphus Turned into an Owl
  Cosmogony / Theogony — underworld daimones / Demeter’s vengeance · Apollodorean (+ Ovid-labeled Roman enrichment) — orchard-witness of the pomegranate; Demeter (or Persephone) makes him an owl
• Abduction of Persephone and Demeter’s Search
  Olympian gods · Homeric Hymn to Demeter
• Demeter and Triptolemus: The Gift of Grain
  Olympian gods / Eleusinian · Apollodorean / Pausanian Eleusinian (mission of Triptolemus); Homeric Hymn foundation noted as rite-only
• Poseidon and Demeter: Areion and Despoina
  Olympian gods / Arcadian mystery cult · Pausanian Arcadian (Thelpusa / Lycosura); Apollodorean black Demeter notice
• Hecate in Demeter’s Search (Homeric Hymn)
  Olympian gods — Demeter / Persephone / Hecate · Homeric Hymn to Demeter (torch-bearing companion)
• Helios Tells Demeter about Persephone
  Olympian gods — Demeter / Persephone / Helios · Homeric Hymn to Demeter (Helios as all-seeing revealer)
• Demeter Nurses Demophon: Celeus and Metaneira (Homeric Hymn)
  Olympian gods — Demeter / Eleusinian prelude · Homeric Hymn to Demeter — Demophon episode (distinct from Triptolemus grain-mission)
• Dionysus Retrieves Semele from Hades
  Olympian gods — Dionysus / apotheosis of Semele · Apollodorean / Pausanian — descent and renaming as Thyone
• Persephone Eats the Pomegranate: The Return Bargain
  Olympian gods — Demeter / Persephone · Homeric Hymn to Demeter — pomegranate seed and compromise
• Aphrodite and Adonis: Love and Death by the Boar (Classical)
  Olympian gods — Aphrodite / Adonis · Apollodorean / mythographic classical (vs. Bion’s lament)
• Homeric Hymn to Demeter (13)
  Olympian gods — Demeter / short Homeric Hymn · Homeric Hymn XIII — brief praise of Demeter and Persephone
• Minos, Rhadamanthys, and Aeacus: Judges of the Dead
  Olympian gods / underworld order — judicial afterlife · Homeric / Platonic / Apollodorean — three mortal kings as underworld judges
• Minthe Trampled by Persephone
  Olympian gods — Persephone / Hades / plant aetiology · Strabonian / Oppianic Greek + Ovid-labeled Roman — river-nymph rival; mint plant
• Twelfth Labor: Cerberus and the Descent to Hades (Theseus and Pirithous)
  Heroes — Heracles · Apollodorean (Eleusinian initiation; Taenarum descent; Medusa phantom; Theseus raised, Pirithous left; Cerberus mastered without weapons; ascent via Troezen)
• Theseus and Pirithous in Hades: The Attempt on Persephone
  Heroes — Theseus · Apollodorean (descent to seize Persephone; binding on the Chair of Forgetfulness; Heracles frees Theseus)
• Orpheus and Eurydice: The Descent
  Heroes — Orpheus · Apollodorean Greek notice (+ Plato); fuller narrative is largely Roman (Vergil/Ovid)—labeled
• Zagreus: Orphic Dionysus Torn by the Titans
  Heroes / Olympian — Orphic Dionysus (labeled **Orphic**; distinct from Hesiodic–tragic Semele birth) · Orphic (Rhapsodic / mystery anthropogony); classical allusions; late summaries
• Macaria’s Sacrifice (*Heraclidae*)
  Heroes — Heraclidae / Attic tragic asylum · Attic tragic — Euripides *Heraclidae*; voluntary maiden sacrifice for victory

Places appearing with them

• (Mystery setting
• (No single civic locale
• Amyclae
• Banks of the river Trito
• Callichoron
• Chair of Forgetfulness
• Cosmic
• Cosmic egg
• Crete
• Cyprus
• Earth and sea of the nine days’ search
• Eleusis
• Elysian plain
• Gates of Acheron
• Gates of Hades
• Hades
• Heaven
• Hecate’s cave
• Helios’s heavenly seat
• Helios’s vantage
• Hunting wilds
• Lerna
• Lycosura
• Mint beds
• Mount Cyllene
• Mycenae
• Night
• Oenone
• Olympia
• Olympus
• Parthenion
• Phigalia
• Plain of Nysa
• Rarian Field
• Rarian plain
• Rhamnus
• Temple and altar below the city
• The singer’s city
• The wider earth
• Thebes
• Thorikos
• Thrace
• Triphylian Pylus region
• Troezen
• Underworld
• Underworld orchard of Hades

Themes

• Abduction
• Binding
• Birth
• Contest
• Creation
• Divine Council
• Exile
• Hospitality
• Marriage
• Metamorphosis
• Petrification
• Prophecy
• Revenge
• Sacrifice
• Succession
• Theft
• Underworld
• War