Aegyptus
Aigyptos ( ancient Greek Αἴγυπτος , Latin Aegyptus , German Egyptus ) from the family of Io , is in Greek mythology as the son of Belos and Anchinoë or Aëria (Eeria, also called Potamitis), twin brother of Danaos and brother of Cepheus and Phineus. With various women he was the father of 50 sons (the Aegyptiads ), all of whom, with the exception of Lynkeus, were killed by their wives - the Danaids - on their wedding night .
Belos, who ruled a large empire in Africa, divided his country so that Aigyptus would rule over Arabia and Danaos over Libya. In addition, Aegyptus defeated the melampods , "the black-footed", and named their country Egypt after themselves .
When Belos died, both brothers fought over his inheritance. Aegyptus proposed a mass marriage to resolve the dispute, but Danaos rightly feared an ambush. So he fled to Argos with his 50 daughters . Aigyptus now ordered his sons to marry and not to return until Danaos was not dead. When Danaos, now king of Argos, did not consent to the wedding, the sons of Aegyptus besieged the city. Lack of water eventually forced Danaos to give up. However, he gave each daughter a sharp needle or a dagger for the wedding night, with which all but Hypermnestra killed their husbands. The severed heads were presented to Danaos.
Aigyptos fled to Aroe when he found out all of this when he arrived in Greece. He died there shortly afterwards. Pausanias reports that his grave is in the Serapis sanctuary in Patrai .
The mothers of the sons of Aegyptus were his wife Argyphie , as well as the concubines Arabia, Phoenissa, Tyria, Kaliadne, Gorgones and Hephaistine.
literature
- Julius Adolf Bernhard : Aigyptos 1) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Col. 155–157 ( digitized version ).
- Konrad Wernicke : Aigyptos 3 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume I, 1, Stuttgart 1893, column 1005 f.
- Michael Grant and John Hazel, Lexikon der ancient Mythen und Gestalten , Munich (dtv) 1980, ISBN 3-423-32508-9 , p. 30
Web links
- Aigyptos in the Greek Myth Index (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Libraries of Apollodor 2,1,5