Melite or Melita (/ˈmɛlɪtiː/; Ancient Greek: Μελίτη Melitê means 'calm, honey sweet' or 'glorious, splendid'[1]) was the name of several characters in Greek mythology:
- Melita, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys.[2] She was one of the companions of Persephone along with her sisters when the daughter of Demeter was abducted by Hades.[3]
- Melite or Melie,[4] the "gracious" Nereid of the calm seas.[1][5] She was a sea-nymph daughter of the "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.[6][7] Melite and her other sisters appear to Thetis when she cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles at the slaying of his friend Patroclus.[8] Later on, together with her sisters Thaleia, Speio, Cymodoce, Nesaea, Panopea and Thetis, they were able to help the hero Aeneas and his crew during a storm.[9]
- Melite, naiad daughter of the river god Aegaeus and mother of Hyllus by Heracles.[10]
- Melite, one of the Erasinides, four naiad daughters of the Argive river-god Erasinus. Together with her sisters, Anchiroe, Byze and Maera, they became the followers of Britomartis.[11]
- Melite, an Egyptian princess as the daughter of King Busiris and possible sister of Amphidamas. She was the mother of Metus by Poseidon.[12]
- Melite or Meta, daughter of Hoples and the first wife of Aegeus.[13]
- Melite, eponym of a deme in Attica.[14]
- Melite, one of the sacrificial victims of the Minotaur, and the daughter of Thriagonos.[15]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 230. ISBN 9780786471119.
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 142
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter 419
- ^ Corrected as Melie by Scheffero in Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 247
- ^ Homer, Iliad 18.42; Apollodorus 1.2.7ff
- ^ Kerényi, Carl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 64.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 18.39-51
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 5.826
- ^ Apollonius Rhodius, 4.538ff
- ^ Antoninus Liberalis, 40
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 157
- ^ RE, s.v. Melite 6; Apollodorus, 3.15.6.; Scholia on Euripides' Medea 668.
- ^ Harpocration s.v. Melite (= Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 1. 396, frg. 74), Photius, Lexicon s.v. Melite; Suida, s.v. Melite, with references to Hesiod and Musaeus
- ^ RE, s.v. Thriagonos; Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 6.21.
References
edit- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Kerényi, Carl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
This article includes a list of Greek mythological figures with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific Greek mythology article referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended Greek mythology article, if one exists.