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Lycaon (king of Arcadia)

(Redirected fromLycaon of Arcadia)
For other uses, seeLycaon (Greek myth).

InGreek mythology,Lycaon(/laɪˈkeɪɒn/;Attic Greek:Λυκάων,romanized:Lukáо̄n,Attic Greek:[ly.kǎː.ɔːn]) was a king ofArcadiawho, in the most popular version of the myth, killed and cooked his sonNyctimusand served him toZeus,to see whether the god was sufficiently all-knowing to recognize human flesh. Disgusted, Zeus transformed Lycaon into awolf,while Nyctimus was restored to life.

Zeusturning Lycaon into awolf;engraving byHendrik Goltzius.

Despite being notorious for his horrific deeds, Lycaon was also remembered as aculture hero:he was believed to have founded the cityLycosura,to have established a cult of Zeus Lycaeus and to have started the tradition of the Lycaean Games, whichPausaniasthinks were older than thePanathenaic Games.[1]According toGaius Julius Hyginus(d. AD 17), Lycaon dedicated the first temple toHermesofCyllene.[2]

Family

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Lycaon was the son ofPelasgus[2][3]and either theOceanidMeliboea[4][5][AI-generated translation?]orDeianira,daughter of an elderLycaon.[6]His wife was calledCyllene,anOreadnymphwho gave her name to Mount Cyllenê[7]though sometimes she was regarded as his mother instead.[8][3]In some accounts, the Arcadian townNonakriswas thought to have been named after his wife.[9]Lycaon was also known to have had at least three daughters:Callisto,Dia[10][11][AI-generated translation?]andPsophis.[12]

Sons of Lycaon

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According to theBibliotheca(Pseudo-Apollodorus), Lycaon has 50 sons.[13]An alternate list of Lycaon's sons is given byPausanias.According to his account, almost each of them founded a city in Arcadia and became itseponym.[14]

List of Lycaon's sons
Name Apollodorus Pausanias Others Notes
Acacus ✓ foster-father of Hermes; foundedAcacesium
Acontes 1 ✓
Aegaeon 2 ✓
Alipherus 3 ✓ ✓ foundedAliphera
Ancyor 4 ✓
Archebates 5 ✓
Aseatas ✓ foundedAsea
Bucolion 6 ✓
Canethus 7 ✓
Carteron 8 ✓
Caucon 9 ✓ ✓[15] eponym of theCauconesthat were believed to have settled inTriphylia
Ceteus ✓[16] father of Callisto orMegisto
Charisius ✓ foundedCharisia
Cleitor 10 ✓ ✓[15] possibly eponym ofCleitor
Coretho 11 ✓
Cromus ✓ foundedCromi
Cynaethus 12 ✓
Daseatas ✓ foundedDasea
Eleuther ✓[17] stayed aside from the abomination
Euaemon 13 ✓ possibly eponym ofEuaemon
Eumetes 14 ✓
Eumon 15 ✓
Genetor 16 ✓
Haemon 17 ✓ ✓[15] possibly eponym ofHaemoniae
Harpaleus 18 ✓
Harpalycus 19 ✓
Helix 20 ✓
Helisson ✓ founded the town ofHelisson(also gave his name to a nearby river)
Heraeus 21 ✓ ✓ foundedHeraea
Hopleus 22 ✓
Horus 23 ✓
Hyperes ✓[18] foundedHyperesia
Hypsus ✓ foundedHypsus
Lebadus ✓[17] stayed aside from the abomination
Leo(n) 24 ✓
Linus 25 ✓
Lycius 26 ✓ ✓(possibly) ✓[15] foundedLycoa
Macareus 27 ✓ ✓ founded Macaria
Macednus 28 ✓ foundedMacedonia
Maenalus 29 ✓ ✓ ✓[15] foundedMaenalus
Mantineus 30 ✓ ✓ ✓[15] foundedMantinea
Mecisteus 31 ✓
Melaeneus 32 ✓ ✓ (possibly) foundedMelaeneae
Nyctimus 33 ✓ ✓ ✓[15] succeeded to Lycaon's power
Oenotrus ✓ ✓[19] the youngest, foundedOenotriainItaly
Orchomenus 34 ✓ ✓ ✓[15] foundedOrchomenusandMethydrium
Orestheus ✓ foundedOresthasium
Pallas 35 ✓ ✓ foundedPallantium
Parrhasius ✓[20] foundedParrhasiaand said to be the father ofArcas
Peraethus ✓ foundedPeraetheis
Peucetius 36 ✓
Phassus 37 ✓
Phigalus ✓ foundedPhigalia
Phineus 38 ✓
Phthius 39 ✓ ✓[15] possibly eponym ofPhthiotis
Physius 40 ✓
Plato(n) 41 ✓
Polichus 42 ✓
Portheus 43 ✓
Prothous 44 ✓
Socleus 45 ✓
Stymphalus 46 ✓ ✓[15] possiblyeponymof the townStymphalus
Teleboas 47 ✓ ✓[15]
Tegeates ✓ foundedTegea
Thesprotus 48 ✓ ✓[15] foundedThesprotia
Thocnus ✓ foundedThocnia
Thyraeus ✓ foundedThyraeum
Titanas 49 ✓
Trapezeus ✓ foundedTrapezus
Tricolonus ✓ foundedTricoloni

Mythology

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There are several versions of the Lycaon myth already reported byHesiod(Fragmenta astronomica,byEratosthenes,Catasterismi), told by several authors. The most popular version is the one reported byOvidin the first book of hisMetamorphoses.

The different versions of the myth are as follows:[21]

  • According to theBibliotheca,Lycaon had sired 50 sons with many wives. These sons were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. They mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged Zeus threw the meal over the table, which explains the name of the cityTrapezus(from τραπέζι "table" ), and killed Lycaon and his sons with lightning. Only the youngest son,Nyctimus,was saved due to the intervention ofGaia.[22]
  • John Tzetzesrecords two similar versions which agree with Apollodorus' account; one mentions that the idea to serve Zeus a slaughtered child belonged to Maenalus, one of Lycaon's sons, while the other makes Nyctimus the victim.[15]
  • According toPausanias,Lycaon was instantly transformed into a wolf after sacrificing a child on the altar of Zeus and sprinkling the blood on the altar.[23]
  • According toLycophron,all were transformed into wolves for having devoured Nyctimus. Lycophron extends the characteristics of Lycaon and his sons onto all the Arcadians.[24]
  • The version recounted byHyginusin hisFabulae[25]is basically the same as that of Pseudo-Apollodorus. InAstronomica,Hyginus describes the victim of Lycaon as beingArcas,son of Jupiter (Zeus) andCallisto,the daughter of Lycaon. Restored to life, Arcas was brought up to be a hunter. His mother was subsequently transformed into a bear, whom Arcas pursued without realizing her true identity; they strayed into a temple where entrance was punished by death. Zeus saved them both by turning them into the constellationsArctophylaxandUrsa Major,the Great Bear.[26]
  • Nicolaus Damascenustells that Lycaon's sons were nefarious. To test Zeus they mixed the flesh of a boy into the sacrifices, whereupon all who were present during the murder of the child were killed by lightning.
  • According to Ovid, Lycaon mistrusted and derided the signs of Zeus' divine nature which the god openly demonstrated upon arrival to Arcadia. Determined to find out whether the guest was truly a god or a mortal, Lycaon served Zeus the flesh of a prisoner, partly cooked and partly roasted. Moreover, in his quest to test Zeus' immortality Lycaon attempted to murder the god while he slept. Thereupon Zeus brought the roof down and transformed the fleeing Lycaon into a wolf.[27]
  • According to the dictionarySuda,Lycaon had diligently been guarding the laws established by his father for the Arcadian people. In order to keep his subjects from injustice, he would tell them that Zeus frequented his home in the guise of a mortal man so as to keep watch over how lawful the humans were. One day when he was about to perform a sacrifice, the people were eager to know if the god was present; to find out if Lycaon told them the truth about Zeus' visits, they killed one of the king's fifty sons and mixed him in with the sacrificial meat, whereupon all of them were killed by lightning.[28]
  • According to Eratosthenes, Lycaon butchered his grandson (that is, Arcas), who was put together again by Zeus and placed upon the constellations, whereas Lycaon's house was struck by a thunderbolt.[29]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Pausanias,8.2.1
  2. ^abHyginus,Fabulae225
  3. ^abFowler, Robert L.(2013).Early Greek Mythography: Volume II Commentary.Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. p. 107.ISBN978-0-19-814741-1.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. ^Apollodorus,3.8.1.
  5. ^TzetzesadLycophron,481.
  6. ^Dionysius of Halicarnassus,Antiquitates Romanae1.11.2& 1.13.1;Greek Papyri III No. 140b
  7. ^Dionysius of Halicarnassus,Antiquitates Romanae1.13.1
  8. ^Apollodorus, 3.8.1;ScholiaadEuripides,Orestes1642
  9. ^Pausanias, 8.17.6
  10. ^ScholiaonApollonius Rhodius,1.1213;Etymologicum Magnum,288. 33 (underDryops)
  11. ^Tzetzes ad Lycophron,480.
  12. ^Stephanus of Byzantium,s.v.Psōphis
  13. ^Apollodorus,3.8.1
  14. ^Pausanias,8.3.1–5
  15. ^abcdefghijklmTzetzes on Lycophron,481[AI-generated translation?]
  16. ^Hyginus,Astronomica2.1.6withAraethus of Tegeaas authority
  17. ^abPlutarch,Quaestiones Graecae,39
  18. ^Stephanus of Byzantium,s.v.Hyperēsia
  19. ^Dionysius of Halicarnassus,Antiquitates Romanae1.11.2
  20. ^The dictionary of classical mythology, Pierre Grimal, p. 346-7
  21. ^Hertz, Wilhelm (1862).Der Werwolf. Beitrag zur Sagengeschichte(in German). von A. Kröner, Stuttgart.
  22. ^Apollodorus,3.8.1–2
  23. ^Pausanias, 8.2.3
  24. ^Lycophron, 480
  25. ^Hyginus,Fabulae176
  26. ^Theoi: Astronomica, Bear-watcher,byGaius Julius Hyginus(translated by Mary Grant).
  27. ^Ovid,Metamorphoses,1. 216 - 239
  28. ^Suda s. v. Lykaōn
  29. ^Pseudo-Eratosthenes,Catasterismi,8

References

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  • Media related toLycaonat Wikimedia Commons
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