Absyrtus

Absyrtus, or Apsyrtus (Greek: Ἄψυρτος), was in Greek mythology the son of Aeëtes and a brother of Medea and Chalciope. His mother is variously given: Hyginus calls her Ipsia,[1] Hesiod and Apollodorus call her Eidyia,[2] Apollonius calls her Asterodeia,[3] and others Neaera or Eurylyte.[4]

When Medea fled with Jason, she took her brother Absyrtus with her, and when she was nearly overtaken by her father, she murdered her brother, cut his body into pieces and strewed them on the road, so that her father might thus be delayed by gathering the limbs of his child. Tomi, the place where this occurred, was believed to have derived its name from temno (τέμνω, "cut").[5]

According to another tradition, Absyrtus was not taken by Medea, but was sent out by his father in pursuit of her. He overtook her in Corcyra, where she had been kindly received by King Alcinous, who refused to surrender her to Absyrtus. When he overtook her a second time in the island of Minerva, he was slain by Jason.[6]

A tradition followed by Pacuvius,[7] Justin,[8] and Diodorus,[9] called the son of Aeëtes, who was murdered by Medea, Aegialeus.[10]

References

  1. ^ Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae, 13.
  2. ^ Apollodorus, 1. 9. §23.
  3. ^ Apollonius of Rhodes, 3. 241.
  4. ^ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 3. 242
  5. ^ Apollodorus 1. 9. §24; Ovid, Tristia 3. 9; compare Apollonius 4. 338, &c. 460, &c.
  6. ^ Gaius Julius Hyginus. Fabulae, 23
  7. ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19.
  8. ^ Junianus Justinus, 42. 3.
  9. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4. 45
  10. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1849). "Absyrtus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston. pp. 3–4. http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0012.html. 

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