Cyrene (nymph)
Cyrene ( old Greek Κυρήνη German “supreme ruler”; cf. also old Greek κυρία German “mistress, mistress”) is a nymph of Greek mythology . Cyrene emerged in the ninth Pythian ode of Pindar on her father's Hypseus the king of Lapiths , which by his parents, who Naiade and Gaiatochter Kreusa and the river god Peneus as a hero in the second generation of Okeanos descended.
Pindar further describes that the youthful Cyrene not excelled in weaving and in domestic matters as the female image of the ancient Greek equivalent, but instead in the type of manly Heroine the cattle her father's sword and bronze javelins protected from wild animals. It so happened that while she was herding, Cyrene wrestled with a dreadful lion with his bare hands . As the god Apollo , son of Leto , during a ride in a chariotwho became aware of the fighting Cyrene, impressed by her fighting spirit and resolute manner, inflamed in love for her and, after consulting the centaur Cheiron , abducted the beautiful woman to North Africa . There both were married by the goddess Aphrodite . In Libya , Cyrene gave birth to the hero Aristaeus and a second son, Idmon .
Furthermore, Cyrene is said to have given birth to Diomedes of Thrace (if it is one and the same legendary figure) .
In addition to Pindar, Callimachus also mentions Cyrene in his second and third hymnos.