Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Stories (26)

• Dionysus Retrieves Semele from Hades
  Olympian gods — Dionysus / apotheosis of Semele · Apollodorean / Pausanian — descent and renaming as Thyone
• 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)
• Birth of Theseus: Aethra, Aegeus, and Poseidon (Double Paternity)
  Heroes — Theseus · Apollodorean / Plutarchan compilation (Trozenian conception; Aegeus and Poseidon both named as fathers)
• Tokens under the Rock; Decision for the Land Road
  Heroes — Theseus · Apollodorean / Plutarchan (recognition tokens; Theseus chooses the bandit-ridden Isthmus road over the sea)
• Road Labor: Periphetes the Club-Bearer
  Heroes — Theseus · Apollodorean (first Isthmus labor; Periphetes slain with his own club)
• Arrival at Athens: Medea’s Poison and Recognition by the Sword
  Heroes — Theseus · Apollodorean (Medea as Aegeus’s wife plots poison; recognition by sword/sandals; Medea flees)
• Hippolytus and Phaedra (Euripides)
  Heroes — Theseus · Attic tragic — Euripides, *Hippolytus* (Phaedra’s forbidden love; Theseus’s curse; Artemis and Aphrodite)
• Orestes’ Wanderings and Alternate Purifications (beyond *Eumenides*)
  Heroes — Atreid / Oresteia aftermath · Apollodorean / Pausanian / Euripidean notices (multi-site cleansing)
• Asclepius Resurrects Hippolytus
  Heroes — Asclepiad / Hippolytus aftermath (beyond Euripides’ death) · Apollodorean / Pausanian / cultic — Asclepius raises Hippolytus; Zeus’s bolt follows
• Aethra Recovered at Troy by Acamas and Demophon
  Trojan — Sack / Theseid nostoi · Cyclic / Apollodorean / Plutarchan — Theseus’s mother freed from Helen’s service
• Procne, Philomela, and Tereus
  Local and lesser — Attic / Thracian metamorphosis · Apollodorean (Tereus; tongue; Itys; bird metamorphoses); tragic (*Tereus* of Sophocles, lost)
• Asclepius at Epidaurus: Healing Cult Myth
  Local and lesser — Epidaurian cult · Pausanian Epidaurian (local birth; incubation; sacred dogs and snakes); inscriptional iamata
• Oreithyia and Boreas
  Local and lesser — Attic / Thracian wind myth · Apollodorean / Platonic Attic (abduction from the Ilissus); Herodotus on Boreas as Athenian ally
• Procris and Cephalus (Apollodorus)
  Local and lesser — Attic / Cephallenian marital tragedy · Apollodorean (gifts of Artemis; accidental killing); Pherecydes / tragic fragments
• Icarius and Erigone: Dionysus’s Gift of Wine
  Local and lesser — Attic Dionysiac aetiology · Apollodorean / Eratosthenic / Attic handbook (Icarius; first wine; Erigone; Maera; catasterism)
• Hygieia: Birth and Cult (Brief)
  Local and lesser — Asclepiad / healing gods · Classical cult / Apollodorean Asclepiad family / Pausanian
• The Aiora: Swing Festival and Expiation for Erigone
  Local and lesser — Attic ritual aetiology · Attic / Eratosthenic / lexicographic (Aiora founded after hanging-plague)
• Eos Abducts Cephalus
  Local and lesser — Dawn’s mortal loves / Attic Cephalus cycle · Euripidean / Hesiodic *Catalogue* notices / Apollodorean allusion (+ Pausanian)
• Gardens of Adonis (Athenian Rite)
  Local and lesser — Adonis / Attic women’s ritual · Classical Athenian — Adonia; brief Greek rite (not Roman elegy)
• Croesus and Solon: Who Is the Happiest Man? (Herodotus)
  Local and lesser — Lydian / Herodotus legends · Herodotean — Solon’s visit and Croesus’s later recognition
• Boötes: Icarius among the Stars
  Local and lesser — catasterism / Attic Dionysiac aftermath · Classical astral — Icarius as Boötes (with Maera as dog-star)
• Artemis at Brauron: Iphigenia and the Attic Cult
  Local and lesser — Attic cult aetiology / Artemis Brauronia · Euripidean / Pausanian — Iphigenia brings the Tauric image to Brauron (or Halai)
• Codrus: The Last King of Athens Sacrifices Himself
  Local and lesser — Attic kings / Pausanian–Lycurgan legend · Pausanian / Lycurgan Attic (Codrus; Dorian invasion oracle)
• Pan and Pheidippides before Marathon (Herodotus)
  Local and lesser — Attic cult aetiology / Herodotean logos · Herodotean — Pan appears to the runner; cult of Pan established under the Acropolis
• Epimenides Purifies Athens
  Local and lesser — Cretan holy man / Attic purification aetiology · Classical Greek notices — Epimenides summoned after Cylonian pollution
• Damia and Auxesia: Aeginetan Cult and Athenian Hostages (Herodotus)
  Local and lesser — Epidaurian–Aeginetan–Attic cult logos · Herodotean — olive-wood statues; Aeginetan theft; Athenian disaster

Characters in shared stories

• Adonis
• Aegeus
• Aeginetans
• Aethra
• Alcmaeonids
• Althaea
• Amphitrite
• Amphitryon
• Antiope
• Aphrodite
• Aresthanas
• Artemis
• Artemis Brauronia
• Ascalaphus
• Athena
• Athenian maidens
• Athenian women
• Attic girls
• Attic maidens
• Boreas
• Brontes
• Castor and Polydeuces
• Centaurs
• Cephalus
• Cerberus
• Ceuthonymus
• Chione
• Chorus of Trozenian women
• Citizens of Athens
• Cleobis and Biton
• Codrus
• Coronis
• Croesus
• Cylon’s murdered suppliants
• Cyrus
• Damia and Auxesia
• Deion
• Demeter
• Demophon
• Dionysus