Harpalyke (daughter of Harpalykos)

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Harpalyke ( Greek  Ἁρπαλύκη "predatory she-wolf") is a Thracian heroine and Amazon-like hunter in Greek mythology .

She is the daughter of the Thracian Harpalykos , the king of the Amymaians (or Amymonians). When her mother dies early, her father feeds her on the milk of heifers and mares. Since it is his wish that she will later become his successor, he educates her in the martial arts, with which he is successful, because Harpalyke succeeds in saving her wounded father when he is attacked by Neoptolemus, who is returning from Troy .

When her father perishes in an uprising against him by his people, she takes his death so much to heart that she moves into the wilderness and leads the life of a hunter and cattle thief in the woods, which is her undoing, since she finally dies Shepherds, from whose flocks she has seized, caught in hunting nets and slain.

After her death, however, there is a bloody fight among the shepherds because of a kid who was stolen. Hence the custom of atonement to hold a feast at the harpalyk's burial mound and to conduct mock battles.

The figure of the harpalyk is said to have served Virgil as a model for the myth of Camilla , which has very similar elements.

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