Beroe (nymph)
Beroe ( Greek Βερόη ) was a daughter of Adonis and Aphrodite in Greek mythology . The city of Berytos , today's Beirut , was named Beroe after her in Hellenistic times .
The freely designed myth of Beroe is told in detail in Chants 41 to 43 of the Dionysiacs of Nonnos of Panopolis , an epic from late antiquity . Here Beroe first appears as an allegory of the city named after her, more precisely for the famous legal school located there. This is somewhat anachronistic , since this school only existed since the middle of the 2nd century, long after the mythical period described by Nonnos.
Accordingly, Nonnos describes the circumstances of the birth: Beroe is born by Aphrodite above the Solons law book . Hermes, who holds the Roman law of the Twelve Tables , and Themis , the goddess of law, help her in birth. Aion wraps the newborn in the robes of Dike (justice) and Astraea , the daughter of Themis and personification of Dike, becomes the nurse and waters the baby from her breasts with wisdom and a sense of justice. Then Aphrodite wishes that her daughter would become the patroness of the most famous city of justice. Harmonia proclaims that this dignity should only be given to the oldest of all cities, that is Berytos, where in the distant time (so she prophesies and thus resolves the anachronism) the most famous of all law schools will have its place.
Then it is told how Dionysus and Poseidon both fell in love with Beroe, hit by the arrow of Eros , and this rivalry leads to a fight that is finally decided by Zeus in favor of Poseidon.
In coins of Berytos from the time of Elagabal and Macrinus you can see how she is overwhelmed by Poseidon while fetching water. Older coins show Amymone instead of Beroe, so the legend has been transferred to Beroe. After Nonnos, Amymone was also an epithet of Beroe.
literature
- Friedrich Anton Rigler : De Beroe Nonnica. Potsdam 1860.
- Ferdinand Dümmler : Beroe 2 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 304.