Kanake (mythology)
Kanake ( Greek Κανάκη ) was in Greek mythology a daughter of Aiolos , the progenitor of the Aioler (not to be confused with the administrator of the winds appointed by Zeus ), and Enarete and a lover of Poseidon . Her brothers were Athamas , Kretheus , Deioneus , Makareus , Perieres , Salmoneus and Sisyphus , their sisters were called Alkyone , Arne , Kalyke , Peisidike , Perimele and Tanagra . With Poseidon she fathered five children: Aloeus , Epopeus , Hopleus , Nireus and Triopas .
Kanake had a love affair with her brother Makareus: when her father wanted to marry their daughters and sons by drawing lots, she was already pregnant by her brother. Because Kanake had not succeeded in aborting the child, her father killed it after the birth (allegedly he had it thrown to dogs and birds) and forced Kanake to kill himself with a sword which he gave her. Makareus then committed suicide.
In Letter XI from Ovids Heroides , Kanake writes to Makareus and laments the fate of having a child from her own brother and the cruel decision of her father.
Based on the wind god, whose children were married to each other, Euripides designed the drama Aiolos , in which the motif of incestuousness between Kanake and her brother, which leads both to death, is treated.
From the Roman emperor Nero it was passed down that he preferred to play the role of Canace parturiens ("The Kanake giving birth").
literature
- Hans von Geisau: Kanake. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, Col. 104-104.