Myrmidon (hero)

In Greek mythology, Myrmidon was the eponymous ancestor of the Myrmidons.[1]

He was the son of Zeus and Eurymedusa,[2][3] daughter of Cleitor (Cletor) of Arcadia[4][5] or of the river god Achelous.[6][7] Zeus was said to have approached Eurymedusa in the form of an ant (Greek μύρμηξ myrmēx), which was where her son's name came from; others say that Myrmex was the name of Eurymedusa's mortal husband, and that it was his shape that Zeus assumed to approach her.[8]

Myrmidon married Peisidice, daughter of Aeolus and Enarete, and by her became the father of Antiphus and Actor.[9] Also given as his sons are Erysichthon and Dioplethes, himself father of Perieres,[10] although Erysichthon and Perieres have been ascribed different parentage as well. He also had two daughters: Eupolemeia (mother of the Argonaut Aethalides by Hermes)[11][12] and Hiscilla (mother of Phorbas by Triopas).[13]

References

  1. ↑ Hellanicus in Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, vol. 1, 48, 17
  2. ↑ Eustathius on Iliad, 113. 1 & 320. 42
  3. ↑ Eratosthenes in Servius on Aeneid, 2. 7
  4. ↑ Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, 1. p.41 (p. 34)
  5. ↑ Arnobius, Adversus Nationes, 4. 26
  6. ↑ Clement of Alexandria, Recognitions, 10. 22
  7. ↑ Pseudo-Clement, Homilia, 5. 13
  8. ↑ Scholia on Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus, 1. p.426
  9. ↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 7. 3
  10. ↑ Scholia on Homer, Iliad, 16. 177
  11. ↑ Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 54
  12. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae, 14
  13. ↑ Hyginus, Poetical Astronomy, 2. 14

Sources