Dione (mythology)
Dione /daɪˈoʊniː/ is the name of four women in ancient Greek mythology, and one in the Phoenician mythology of Sanchuniathon. Dione is translated as "Goddess", and given the same etymological derivation as the names Zeus, Diana, et al. Very little information exists about these women or goddesses.
Titaness/Oceanid
Dione is one of the Titanides or Titanesses. She is called a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, hence an Oceanid, and otherwise a daughter of Gaia and either Uranus or Aether. She and Zeus are called the parents of Aphrodite by some ancient sources.[1]
Daughter of Atlas
Dione the daughter of Atlas is a nymph who married king Tantalus. She bore him sons Pelops and Broteas, and daughter Niobe.[2]
Hyade
One of the Hyades is named Dione.[3]
Nereid
Among the 50 marine (specifically Mediterranean Sea) nymphs called the Nereides was one Dione, like the others a daughter of Nereus and Doris.[4][5]
Phoenician
In the Phoenician History, a literary work attributed to Sanchuniathon, a daughter of Ouranos/Heaven and Ge/Earth is called Dione and also Baaltis.[6] She is a sister of Kronos/Elus whom the latter made his wife after their father sent her, and her sisters, to kill Kronos/Elus. The latter gave the city Byblos to Dione.
The identity of this Dione is uncertain. Some scholars[7] identify her with Asherah, proposing that Sanchuniathon merely uses Dione as a translation of Asherah's epithet Elat. Other scholars propose that by Dione Sanchuniathon meant Dione the Titaness. (See also Ba`alat Gebal.)
Notes
- ↑ Smith, s.v. "Dione"
- ↑ Smith, s.v. "Tantalus"
- ↑ Smith, s.v. "Hyades"
- ↑ Smith, s.v. "Nereis"
- ↑ Apollodorus. The Library, Book 1.
- ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea. "The Theology of the Phoenicians", in Praeparatio evangelica, 4th century
- ↑ Frank Moore Cross, Walter A. Maier, and Saul M. Olyan
References
- Smith, William. "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology". John Murray. Retrieved 13 July 2013.