Echetus
KingEchetus(/ˈɛkɪtəs/;Ancient Greek:Ἔχετος,romanized:Ékhetos), inGreek mythology,is a king ofEpirusand son ofEuchenorandPhlogea(Φλόγεα).
Mythology
[edit]He is mentioned in Book 18 ofHomer'sOdyssey,as well as in Book 21 in which he is described as the "destroyer of all mortals" byAntinous(one of the suitors).
In Book 18, the beggar Irus was threatened with being handed over to Echetus, who would then have had Irus' nose, ears and testes cut off and thrown to his dogs. The story also described how Echetus had a daughter,Metope,who had an intrigue with a lover; as a punishment Echetus mutilated the lover and blinded Metope by piercing her eyes with bronze needles. He then incarcerated her in a tower and gave her grains of bronze, promising that she would regain her sight when she had ground these grains into flour.[1][2]
Eustathiusand thescholiaon this passage call the daughter and her loverAmphissaandAechmodicusrespectively.[3][4]
Theories on the basis of Echetus
[edit]It is thought that Echetus was a mythological creation, used to scare disobedient children or used as the villain in bedtime stories. An alternate theory is that Echetus was a real king around the time of Homer, and that he was quite deformed and possibly acannibal;no evidence currently exists to support this theory, however.
Notes
[edit]- ^Homer,Odyssey18.85, 18.116 & 21.307
- ^Apollonius of Rhodes,Argonautica4.1093
- ^George W. Mooney,Commentary on Apollonius: Argonautica4.1093
- ^Eustathius,Commentaries on Homer,p. 1839
References
[edit]- Apollonius Rhodius,Argonauticatranslated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853-1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollonius Rhodius,Argonautica.George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer,The Odysseywith an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919.ISBN978-0674995611.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.