Arion (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Arion or Areion (Ancient Greek: Άρείων) is a divinely-bred, extremely swift immortal horse that, according to the Latin poet Sextus Propertius, was also endowed with speech. Arion's siring by Poseidon in stallion form vary by author: according to the Pseudo-Apollodorus, the horse was foaled by Demeter while she was "in the likeness of a Fury"; Pausanias reported that, according to Antimachus, the horse was the foal of Gaia, the Earth, herself. In the Epic Cycle Arion was mounted most notably by Adrastus, king of Argos.
The earliest literary mention of Arion is in Homer, Iliad, XXIII, 346. Statius also made mention of the horse in Thebaid, VI, 301.
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[edit] Pausanias
- "Demeter, they say, had by Poseidon a daughter, whose name they are not permitted to divulge to the uninitiated, and a horse called Areion. For this reason they say that they were the first Arcadians to give the surname Hippius ['guide of the horses'] to Poseidon."
In support of the lineage they advance, Pausanias reports, the Arcadians cite some verses from the Iliad and the Thebaid.
[edit] Statius and Antimachus
According to the Thebaid, Adrastus flees from Thebes "...wearing mourning clothes and carried by green-maned Areion." Latin scholia assert that these verses indicate that Neptune was Arion's sire. Antimachus of Colophon says that Arion was a child of the Earth:
- "Adrastus, son of Talaus, descendant of Cretheus,
- The very first of the Danai to drive his famous horses,
- Swift Caerus and Areion of Thelpusa,
- Whom near the grove of Oncean Apollo
- Earth herself sent up a marvel for mortals to see."
This fabulous horse, of divine race, had the peculiarity of having a green mane. Heracles, waging war with the Eleans, acquired this horse from Oncus. The son of Zeus would have thus ridden upon Arion when he seized Elis. Thereafter, Heracles gave Arion to Adrastus; this is why Antimachus said of Arion: "Adrastus was the third lord who tamed him."
[edit] Pseudo-Apollodorus
The Pseudo-Apollodorus (III, 6, 8) recounts that in the defeat of the Argives, the same battle in which Eteocles and Polynices slew each other, Adrastus alone among the Argive leaders survived, saved by his horse Arion that Demeter, in the likeness of a Fury, had conceived by Poseidon. The scholiasts of the Iliad (XXIII, 347) and of Lycophron (153) attribute to him the same origin.
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- The Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, (III, 6, 8).
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, (VIII, 25, 7-9).
- Sextus Propertius, Elegies (II, 34).
- Statius, Thebaid (IV, 43; VI, 424 and following verses).
