Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Stories (25)

• Offspring of Echidna and Typhon (Hesiodic Monster Catalogue)
  Cosmogony / Theogony — monster genealogy · Hesiodic catalogue (*Theogony* Typhonid brood)
• 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
• Dionysus Retrieves Semele from Hades
  Olympian gods — Dionysus / apotheosis of Semele · Apollodorean / Pausanian — descent and renaming as Thyone
• 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
• Madness of Heracles: Murder of Wife and Children (Euripidean, after the Labors)
  Heroes — Heracles · Attic tragic — Euripides (madness *after* return from the labors; Lycus episode; Megara slain; Theseus as comforter)
• 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)
• Apotheosis of Heracles and Marriage to Hebe
  Heroes — Heracles · Apollodorean / Homeric (immortality after the pyre; reconciliation with Hera; marriage to Hebe; Olympian seat)
• Alcestis Rescued from Death
  Heroes — Heracles · Euripidean / Apollodorean (Admetus’s postponed death; Alcestis dies in his place; Heracles wrestles Thanatos or brings her back from the grave)
• 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)
• Death of Meleager: The Brand of the Fates (Althaea)
  Heroes — Calydonian / Meleager · Apollodorean / Bacchylidean (Moirae’s brand; Althaea burns it after the uncles’ deaths)
• Orpheus and Eurydice: The Descent
  Heroes — Orpheus · Apollodorean Greek notice (+ Plato); fuller narrative is largely Roman (Vergil/Ovid)—labeled
• Tantalus: Crime and Punishment
  Heroes — Tantalids / Pelops · Homeric underworld punishment + Apollodorean crimes (feast of Pelops; theft of nectar/ambrosia)
• Orion: Blinding, Death Variants, and the Stars
  Heroes — Orion · Apollodorean / Homeric / astral (Oenopion; scorpion; Artemis; Eos)
• Thetis and the Invulnerability of Achilles (Styx / Fire Variants)
  Heroes — Aeacid / Achilles childhood · Classical handbook and scholiastic variants (Styx; fire-and-ambrosia); Homeric Achilles is *not* invulnerable
• Death of Theseus: Lycomedes on Scyros
  Heroes — Theseus (end) · Apollodorean / Plutarchan biographical tradition
• Odysseus Meets Anticleia (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Odyssey nekyia / family of Odysseus · Homeric — mother and son at the blood-trench
• Laodamia and Protesilaus: Brief Reunion and Death
  Heroes — Thessalian / Trojan first-landing aftermath · Apollodorean / tragic / Ovid-labeled Roman for the statue and second death
• Oedipus Remains King at Thebes (Homeric Variant)
  Heroes — Theban / Homeric vs. tragic Oedipus · Homeric — *Odyssey* 11 (Epicaste); Oedipus continues to rule
• Tityus: Assault on Leto and Eternal Punishment
  Heroes / primordial giants — crime against Leto · Homeric / Apollodorean — Tityus in the underworld
• Contest for Achilles’ Arms: Ajax, Odysseus, Madness, and Suicide
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Little Iliad* / *Aethiopis* end (Proclus) + Attic tragic — Sophocles *Ajax*; Apollodorean
• Laertes; End of the Blood-Feud (*Odyssey* 24)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 24 (+ Apollodorean close)
• Ajax Telamonian: Tomb and Cult
  Trojan — Ajax aftermath / hero cult · Homeric / cyclic / Pausanian / local Rhoetean
• Penelope’s Shroud: The Web Trick (*Odyssey*)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Ithaca during Odysseus’s absence · Homeric — shroud for Laertes; ruse told and exposed
• Achilles’ Heel: Late Invulnerability Tradition
  Trojan — Achilles death lore / later biographic aetiology · Late classical / Roman transmission — Styx-dip heel as the sole mortal spot (labeled)

Characters in shared stories

• Acastus
• Acheron / Gorgyra
• Admetus
• Aeacidae
• Aeacus
• Agamemnon / Achilles
• Ajax
• Alcestis
• Althaea
• Amphimedon’s shade
• Amphitrite
• Amphitryon
• Anticleia
• Antinous
• Ares
• Artemis
• Ascalaphus
• Autolycus
• Cadmeans
• Calliope
• Castor and Polydeuces
• Cedalion
• Centaurs
• Cerberus
• Ceuthonymus
• Chimera
• Cimon
• Circe
• Cleopatra
• Deianeira
• Demeter
• Demophon
• Dionysus
• Disloyal maid
• Echidna
• Electra
• Eos
• Eumolpus
• Eupeithes
• Eurydice