Phoroneus

Phoroneus

In Greek mythology, Phoroneus /fəˈrɒnˌjuːs/ (Φορωνεύς) was a culture-hero of the Argolid, fire-bringer, primordial king of Argos and son of the river god Inachus and either Melia, the Oceanid[1] or Argia, the embodiment of the Argolid itself: "Inachus, son of Oceanus, begat Phoroneus[2] by his sister Argia," wrote Hyginus, in Fabulae 143.

Family

Phoroneus was said to have been married to Cinna,[3] or Cerdo,[4] or Teledice (or Laodice) the nymph,[5][6] or Perimede,[7] or first to Peitho and second to Europe,[8] and to have fathered a number of children, some of whom are dealt with below; others include Apis (Greek mythology), Car,[9] Chthonia, Clymenus,[10] Sparton,[11] Lyrcus[12] and Europs, an illegitimate son.[13] An unnamed daughter of his is said to have consorted with Hecaterus.[14]

In Argive culture, Niobe is associated with Phoroneus, sometimes as his mother, sometimes as his daughter, or else, likely, as his consort (Kerenyi). In another story, according to Hellanicus of Lesbos, Phoroneus had at least three sons: Agenor, Jasus and Pelasgus, and that after the death of Phoroneus, the two elder brothers divided his dominions between themselves in such a manner that Pelasgus received the country about the river Erasmus, and built Larissa, and Iasus the country about Elis. After the death of these two, Agenor, the youngest, invaded their dominions, and thus became king of Argos.[15][16]

Clement of Alexandria mentions Phthia, a daughter of Phoroneus, who became the mother of Achaeus by Zeus.[17] This version is to some extent confirmed by Aelian, who relates that Zeus assumed the shape of a dove to seduce a certain Phthia.[18]

COMPARATIVE TABLE OF PHORONEUS' FAMILY ACCORDING TO VARIOUS SOURCES
Relation Hellanicus Scholia on Pindar Scholia on Euripides Parthenius Strabo Apollodorus Pausanias Hyginus Clement Tzetzes
Parents - - - - - Inachus & Melia Inachus Inachus and Argia - -
Wife - Perimede Peitho and Europa - - Cerdo - Cinna - Teledice or Laodice
Children Agenor, Jasus, Pelasgus - - Lyrcus a daughter who was wife of Hecaterus Apis & Niobe Car, Europs, Chthonia, Clymenus, Sparton Apis, Nioba Phthia -

Reign

Hyginus' genealogy expresses the position of Phoroneus as one[19] of the primordial men, whose local identities differed in the various regions of Greece,[20] and who had for a mother the essential spirit of the very earth of Argos herself, Argia. He was the primordial king in the Peloponnesus, authorized by Zeus: "Formerly Zeus himself had ruled over men, but Hermes created a confusion of human speech, which spoiled Zeus' pleasure in this Rule".[21] Phoroneus introduced both the worship of Hera and the use of fire and the forge.[22] Poseidon and Hera had vied for thArgive when the primeval waters had receded, Phoroneus "was the first to gather the people together into a community; for they had up to then been living as scattered and lonesome families". (Pausanias).

Phoroneus' successor was Argus, who was Niobe's son, either by Zeus or Phoroneus himself. He was also the father of Apis, who may have also ruled Argos (according to Tatiānus[23]). He was worshipped in Argos with an eternal fire that was shown to Pausanias in the 2nd century CE, and funeral sacrifices were offered to him at his tomb-sanctuary.[24]

Regnal titles
Preceded by
Inachus		 King of Argos Succeeded by
Apis
PHORONEUS' CHRONOLOGY OF REIGN ACCORDING TO VARIOUS SOURCES
Kings of Argos Regnal Years Castor Regnal Years Syncellus Regnal Years Apollodorus Hyginus Tatian Pausanias
Precessor 1677 50 winters & summers Inachus 1677.556 winters & summers Inachus 1675 Inachus -do- -do- -do-
Phoroneus 1652 60 winters & summers Phoroneus 1649.5 60 winters & summers Phoroneus 1650 Phoroneus -do- -do- -do-
Successor 1622 35 winters & summers Apis 1619.5 35 winters & summers Apis1625 Apis-do--do- -do-

Argive Genealogy

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
InachusMelia
ZeusIoPhoroneus
EpaphusMemphis
LibyaPoseidon
BelusAchiroëAgenorTelephassa
DanausPieriaAegyptusCadmusCilixEuropaPhoenix
MantineusHypermnestraLynceusHarmoniaZeus
Polydorus
SpartaLacedaemonOcaleaAbasAgaveSarpedonRhadamanthus
Autonoë
EurydiceAcrisiusInoMinos
ZeusDanaëSemeleZeus
PerseusDionysus
Colour key:

     Male
     Female
     Deity

References

  1. ↑ Apollodorus, 2.1.1.
  2. ↑ The Argive myth was reported to Pausanias, (Description of Greece, 2.15.5).
  3. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae, 145
  4. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 21. 1
  5. ↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 1. 1
  6. ↑ Tzetzes on Lycophron 177
  7. ↑ Scholia on Pindar, Olympian Ode 3. 28
  8. ↑ Scholia on Euripides, Orestes, 932
  9. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1. 39. 5
  10. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 35. 4
  11. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 16. 4
  12. ↑ Parthenius, Love Romances, 1
  13. ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 34. 4
  14. ↑ Strabo, Geography, 10. 3. 19
  15. ↑ Hellanicus of Lesbos, Fragm. p. 47, ed. Sturz.
  16. ↑ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Agenor (2)", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 68
  17. ↑ Clement, Recognitions, 10. 21
  18. ↑ Aelian, Historical Miscellany 1. 15
  19. ↑ In the Argolid, of course, he displaced Prometheus as the primordial fire-giver and the originator of kingship (Yves Bonnefoy and Wendy Doniger, eds. Greek and Egyptian Mythologies, "Myths of Argos and Athens" [University of Chicago 1992:124]).
  20. ↑ See Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951 (1980), p. 222, for other primordial men: Prometheus and Epimetheus, and, in Boeotia, Alkomeneus.
  21. ↑ Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks 1951 (1980), p. 222.
  22. ↑ Hyginus. Fabulae, 143. Compare Prometheus.
  23. ↑ James Cowles Prichard : An Analysis of the Egyptian Mythology. 1819. p. 85
  24. ↑ Pausanias, 2. 20.3.
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