Mestra
InGreek mythology,Mestra(Ancient Greek:Μήστρα,Mēstra)[1]was a daughter ofErysichthon of Thessaly.[2]Antoninus Liberaliscalled herHypermestraand ErysichthonAethon.[3]
Family[edit]
Mestra was the mother of KingEurypylusofCosbyPoseidon.[4]According toOvid,she was married to the thiefAutolycus.[5]
Mythology[edit]
Mestra had the ability to change her shape at will, a gift of her loverPoseidonaccording toOvid.[6]Erysichthon exploited this gift in order to sate the insatiable hunger with which he had been cursed byDemeterfor violating a grove sacred to the goddess.[7]The father would repeatedly sell his daughter to suitors for thebride pricesthey would pay, only to have the girl return home to her father in the form of various animals.[8]Mestra's great-granduncleSisyphusalso hoped to win her as a bride for his sonGlaucusalthough that marriage did not take place.[9][10]
Ultimately, Poseidon carried away Mestra to the island of Cos.[11]
"And earth-shaking Poseidon overpowered her
far from her father, carrying her over the wine-dark sea
in sea-girt Cos, clever though she was;
there she bore Eurypylus, commander of many people. "
Notes[edit]
- ^She is also occasionally referred to asMnestrain modern sources, though the form is not anciently attested; cf.Clytemnestra,whose name does appear with and without thenin ancient authors. ThePseudo-ApollodoranBibliotheca(2.1.5) uses the formMnestrafor one ofDanaus' daughters who marries and then murdersAegius,son ofAegyptus.
- ^Ovid,Metamorphoses8.739; cf.Hesiod,Ehoiaifr. 43a
- ^Antoninus Liberalis,17
- ^Hesiod,Ehoiai43a.79(55)–82(58)
- ^Ovid,Metamorphoses8.739
- ^Ovid,Metamorphoses8.850–54
- ^Ovid,Metamorphoses8.741–842; cf.Callimachus,Hymn to Demeter24–69
- ^Hesiod,Ehoiaifr. 43a (Berlin papyrus 7497); Ovid,Metamorphoses8.871–74;TzetzesonLycophron,1393
- ^Hesiod,Ehoiaifr. 43a.2–83; cf.West (1985a,p. 64)
- ^Hard, Robin (2004).The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology.New York: Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 433, 663.ISBN0-203-44633-X.
- ^Hesiod,Ehoiai43a.79(55)–82(58)
References[edit]
- Antoninus Liberalis,The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalistranslated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992).Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus,The Librarywith an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Callimachus,Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair,London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
- Callimachus,Works.A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hesiod,Catalogue of WomenfromHomeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homericatranslated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.Online version at theio
- Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphosestranslated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses.Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Further reading[edit]
- Fantham, E. (1993), "Sunt quibus in plures ius est transire figuras:Ovid's Self-Transformers in theMetamorphoses",CW,87(2): 21–36,doi:10.2307/4351453,JSTOR4351453.
- Hopkinson, N. (1984),Callimachus: Hymn to Demeter,Cambridge,ISBN978-0-521-60436-9
{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). - Ormand, K. (2004), "Marriage, Identity, and the Tale of Mestra in the HesiodicCatalogue of Women",American Journal of Philology,125(3): 303–38,doi:10.1353/ajp.2004.0030,JSTOR1562169,PMID21966749,S2CID36204915.
- Robertson, N. (1983), "Greek Ritual Begging in Aid of Women's Fertility and Childbirth",TAPA,113:143–69,doi:10.2307/284008,JSTOR284008.
- Robertson, N. (1984), "The Ritual Background of the Erysichthon Story",American Journal of Philology,105(4): 369–408,doi:10.2307/294833,JSTOR294833.
