Melanthios (son of Dolios)
Melanthios or Melantheus ( Greek Μελάνθιος or Μελανθεύς ; Latin Melanthius ) is a person of Greek mythology .
In Homer's Odyssey , which knows both forms of name, Melanthios was the son of Dolios and brother of Melantho . While Dolios happily welcomed Odysseus on his return, Melanthios and his sister kept it up with the suitors of Penelope , although she had welcomed Melantho like a daughter. Melanthios, who worked as a goatherd for Odysseus, provided the suitors with the best animals in his herd. When Odysseus returned to Ithaca and was still unrecognized in the city, Melanthios mocked him violently.
In the later developing struggle of Odysseus against the suitors, Melanthios was constantly busy getting the suitors fresh weapons, which he gathered from the house. When he was finally caught, his hands were tied behind his back and hung from a beam overnight. His further fate was cruel: The next morning they fetched Melanthios from the beam, first cut off his nose and ears, then castrated him and then cut off his hands and feet.
literature
- Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Melanthios 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.2, Leipzig 1897, column 2582 ( digitized version ).