Eleuther

Fortress wall of the city of Eleutherai, whose legendary founder is Eleuther.

Eleuther ( ancient Greek Ἐλευθήρ Eleuthér "liberator") was king of the city of Eleutherai in Greek mythology , which he was named after, as well as the nearby Mount Eleuther .

Life

Eleuther was a son of Apollo and Aithusa , grandson of Poseidon and great-grandson of Aiolus . Since he was descended from the nondivine Deimachos through his grandmother Alkyone and his great-grandmother Enarete , he was a demigod and was considered a hero .

Little is known about Eleuthers life. He is said to have founded the city of Eleutherai , introduced the cult of Dionysus Melanaigis or Eleuthereus and won a prize as a singer at the Pythian Games . If Eleuther is a historical figure, he must have lived after 586 BC, the year the Pythian Games were introduced (see Pythian Games ).

Eleuther was the father of Iasios . His son Chairesilaos was the father of Poimandros , the founder of Tanagra . He also had daughters, but their number and names have not been recorded.

Myths

City founder, king and namesake

Eleuther is said to have founded the city named after him, Eleutherai , which in ancient times was on the border between Attica and Boeotia , and was also the king of the city. Eleuther was also the name of a mountain in the Eleutherai area.

Dionysus Melanaigis

When Dionysus appears to Eleuthers daughters in a black goat skin, they mock him for his clothes. He then beats her madly. In order to redeem his daughters, Eleuther founds the cult of Dionysus Melanaigis (Dionysus with the black fur) on the advice of the oracle .

Dionysus Eleuthereus

Attic skyphos with ship- cart procession during the Great Dionysia . Detail: ship's cart with the wooden statue of the seated Dionysus Eleuthereus.

The worship of Dionysus Melanaigis he produced the famous wooden statue that was later moved to Athens, where according to their origin from Eleutherai as Dionysus Eleuthereus was called. However, a copy of the statue remained in Eleutherai. According to another opinion, the epithet Eleuthereus can also be understood as meaning "liberator from madness", because Dionysus freed the daughters of Eleuther from madness, or in the meaning of "worry-solver" because the numbing effect of wine relieves people of grief, Suffering and worry released.

Pythian games

Eleuther is said to have won a prize at the Pythian Games in Delphi , "because he sang strong and pleasantly: even though he hadn't set up the singing himself".

iconography

There are no known artistic representations of Eleuther.

literature

• August Schultz : Eleuther 1 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886 ( digitized version ).
• Otto Jessen : Eleuthereus . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 2, Stuttgart 1905, Col. 2345 f.

Remarks

1. ↑ Libraries of Apollodor 3.10.1; Pausanias 9.20.2.
2. ↑ Cesare Cassanmagnago (translation): Esiodo: Tutte le opere ei frammenti: con la prima traduzione degli scolii , Milan 2009, ISBN 978-88-452-6319-4 , pp. 480-481, Scholion 54.
3. ↑ Pausanias 9.20.1.
4. ↑ Stephanos of Byzantium , keyword Ἐλευθέραι, there it says: Eleutherai after Eleuther, the son of Apollo.
5. ↑ Thomas Gaisford : Poetae minores graeci. Volume 2. Leipzig 1823, pages 467-468; No. 54 ( Google Books ; in ancient Greek); Cesare Cassanmagnago (translation): Esiodo. Tutte le opere ei frammenti con la prima traduzione degli scolii. Bompiani, Milan 2009, ISBN 978-88-452-6319-4 , pp. 480–481, Scholion No. 54. - Among other things, the Scholion says: “Eleuther is the name of a city in Boeotia, after the king of the same name Stadt, a son of Apollo and Aithusa, a daughter of Poseidon. There is also a mountain, as they say, that bears the name of the hero. "
6. ↑ Suda , keyword Mέλαν. Printed by Karl Kerényi : Dionysos: Urbild des indestörbaren Lebens , Stuttgart 1994, p. 266, footnote 10; Hyginus , Fabulae 225.
7. ↑ Hyginus , Fabulae 225; Pausanias 1.38.8, in the translation by Johann Eustachius Goldhagen : Des Pausanias detailed travel description of Greece , Volume 2, Berlin 1766, p. 164, there the statue is referred to as the "old carved picture"; Karl Kerényi: Dionysos: Urbild des indestörbaren Leben , Stuttgart 1994, pp. 108–116, is of the opinion that the wooden statue was a seated Dionysus who was driven around in the ship- cart procession during the Great Dionysia .
8. ^ Friedrich Adolf Voigt : Dionysus . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Sp. 1070 ( digitized version ) ..
9. ^ Heinrich August Pierer : Universal Lexicon of the Present and Past . Volume 2. 4th edition. Altenburg 1857, page 227 ( online ).
10. ↑ Pausanias 7/10/3. Translation: Johann Eustachius Goldhagen : Des Pausanias detailed travel description of Greece , Volume 2, Berlin 1766, page 506 ( Google Books ).
11. ↑ According to the article index of the iconographic database iconiclime of the Fondation pour le Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) archive link ( Memento of the original of December 13, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .