Agron (Kos)

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Agron ( Greek  Ἄγρων ) was a resident of the island of Kos in Greek mythology . He was the son of Eumelos and grandson of Merops. His sisters were Meropis and Byssa .

He and his sisters only tilled their fields, which brought them abundant crops, as they worked with care and honored Gaia as the only goddess. Therefore, they never attended the festivals and celebrations in honor of the other gods. If someone asked Agron's sisters to make a sacrifice for Athena , he said that it was probably not appropriate, since the goddess was gray-eyed, but his sisters were black-eyed. In addition, he said, the owl (Athena was considered "owl-eyed") was a hated bird to him. When invited to a festival of Artemis , he said he despised a goddess who wandered about at night. And when it came to honoring the Hermes , he said he had no respect for a god who was a thief.

Athena, Artemis and Hermes were extremely angry about this. Therefore one evening they went to Eumelus and his children in human form, greeted and invited Eumelus and Agron to a feast in honor of Hermes. The daughters asked her to come to the sacred grove for the rites of Athena and Artemis. When Meropis gave a contemptuous answer, she was turned into a little owl , Byssa into the bird Byssa and Agron, who wanted to flee, was turned into a plover by Hermes . Since Eumelos had to watch this, he cursed Hermes and was ultimately transformed by Hermes into a long-eared owl .

In the case of Hyginus Mythographus , a legend also appears on Kos with certain similarities, since there the nymph Echemeia insults Artemis and has to go down alive to Hades as punishment . Her heartbroken husband is turned into an eagle, and the eagle is placed among the stars.

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