Psamathe, Linus, and Crotopus

Catalogue ID: 05-local-and-lesser/152-psamathe-linus-crotopus-pausanias

Cycle: Local and lesser — Argive aetiology / Apollo’s child Linus / Poena

Version line: Pausanian / Conon — Crotopus’s daughter; exposed Linus; Poena and Coroebus sequel

Sources: Pausanias 1.43.7–8, 2.19.8; Conon, *Narratives* 19; Statius, *Thebaid* 1.557–668 (**Roman** poetic expansion—labeled)

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/05-local-and-lesser/152-psamathe-linus-crotopus-pausanias.md

Characters

Coroebus — later slayer of Poena (sequel)
Crotopus — Argive king; father whose fear drives the exposure
Linus — infant son of Apollo; exposed; killed by dogs
People of Crisa — lover; sender of Poena in vengeance
Poena — child-snatching monster (sequel)
Psamathe — daughter of Crotopus; mother of Linus by Apollo

Places

Mycenae — Crotopus’s realm; scene of exposure and dogs
Scironian Rocks — Coroebus’s later foundation (background)

Themes

Narrative

Crotopus ruled Argos. His daughter Psamathe lay with Apollo and bore Linus; fearing her father, she exposed the child. Sheepdogs of Crotopus tore Linus apart. Apollo sent Poena (Punishment), a monster who snatched Argive children, until Coroebus killed her—an act that brought plague and a Delphic exile-foundation (Tripodiscus) treated under Coroebus. Psamathe’s grief and Apollo’s wrath thus open the Argive Poena cycle: the exposed god-child Linus is the cause, Crotopus the harsh grandfather, and the city’s child-murdering daimon the consequence. Catalogue Psamathe and Linus’s death by dogs apart from Coroebus’s killing of Poena.