Sinope (mythology)

"Syrus" redirects here. For the 1st-century saint, see Syrus of Pavia. For the Yugioh GX character, see Syrus Truesdale.

In Greek Mythology, Sinope (Greek: Σινώπη[1]) was one of the daughters of Asopus and thought to be an eponym of the city Sinope on the Black Sea.

According to Corinna[2] and Diodorus Siculus,[3] Sinope was seized by the god Apollo and carried over to the place where later stood the city honouring her name. Diodorus adds that she bore to Apollo a son named Syrus, supposedly afterwards king of the Syrians, who were named after him.

However, the Argonautica[4] and Valerius Flaccus[5] relate that Sinope was abducted to the site by Zeus, who, in his passion, swore to fulfil her dearest wish.[6] Sinope declared she wished to remain a virgin. Sinope later tricked Apollo and the river Halys in the same fashion and remained a virgin all her life.

References

  1. ↑ Σινώπη, Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus
  2. ↑ Frag. 654
  3. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Library, 4.72.2, on Theoi
  4. ↑ Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 2.946-951, on Perseus (Greek text)
  5. ↑ Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica, 5.109, on Perseus (Latin text)
  6. ↑ Cf. also Dionysius Periegeta 775-779 (eponym)