Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer)

Table of Contents

Go to

[4] Reigning over the Egyptians Epaphus married Memphis, daughter of Nile, founded and named the city of Memphis after her, and begat a daughter Libya, after whom the region of Libya was called.¹ Libya had by Poseidon twin sons, Agenor and Belus.² Agenor departed to Phoenicia and reigned there, and there he became the ancestor of the great stock; hence we shall defer our account of him.³ But Belus remained in Egypt, reigned over the country, and married Anchinoe, daughter of Nile, by whom he had twin [p. 137] sons, Egyptus and Danaus,⁴ but according to Euripides, he had also Cepheus and Phineus. Danaus was settled by Belus in Libya, and Egyptus in Arabia; but Egyptus subjugated the country of the Melampods and named it Egypt < after himself>. Both had children by many wives; Egyptus had fifty sons, and Danaus fifty daughters. As they afterwards quarrelled concerning the kingdom, Danaus feared the sons of Egyptus, and by the advice of Athena he built a ship, being the first to do so, and having put his daughters on board he fled. And touching at Rhodes he set up the image of Lindian Athena.⁵ Thence he came to Argos and the reigning king Gelanor surrendered the kingdom to him;⁶ < and having made himself master of the country he named the inhabitants Danai after himself>. But the country being [p. 139] waterless, because Poseidon had dried up even the springs out of anger at Inachus for testifying that the land belonged to Hera,⁷ Danaus sent his daughters to draw water. One of them, Amymone, in her search for water threw a dart at a deer and hit a sleeping satyr, and he, starting up, desired to force her; but Poseidon appearing on the scene, the satyr fled, and Amymone lay with Poseidon, and he revealed to her the springs at Lerna.⁸

¹ Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 894.

² Compare Tzetzes, Chiliades vii.349ff.

³ See below, Apollod. 3.1.

⁴ The following account of Egyptus and Danaus, including the settlement of Danaus and his daughters at Argos, is quoted verbally, with a few omissions and changes, by the Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.42, who mentions the second book of Apollodorus as his authority. Compare Aesch. Supp. 318ff.; Scholiast on Eur. Hec. 886, and Scholiast on Eur. Or. 872; Hyginus, Fab. 168; Serv. Verg. A. 10.497.

⁵ Compare Hdt. 2.182; Marmor Parium 15-17, pp. 544, 546, ed. C. Müller (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, vol. i); Diod. 5.58.1; Strab. 14.2.11; Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii iii.8. As to the worship of the goddess, see Cecil Torr, Rhodes in Ancient Times (Cambridge, 1885), pp. 74ff., 94 sq. In recent years a chronicle of the temple of Lindian Athena has been discovered in Rhodes: it is inscribed on a marble slab. See Chr. Blinkenberg, La Chronique du temple Lindien (Copenhagen, 1912).

⁶ Compare Paus. 2.16.1, Paus. 2.19.3.

⁷ Compare Paus. 2.15.5.

⁸ Compare Eur. Ph. 187ff.; Lucian, Dial. Marin. vi.; Philostratus, Imagines, i.8; Scholiast on Hom. Il. iv.171; Prop. iii.18.47ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 169. There was a stream called Amymone at Lerna. See Strab. 8.6.8; Paus. 2.37.1, Paus. 2.37.4; Hyginus, Fab. 169.

Cross references from Sir Richard Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax:
* [719-865]

Cross references from Diana Buitron-Oliver, Attic Vase Painting in New England Collections:
11 [BLACK-FIGURE NECK-AMPHORA]

Cross references from Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898):
nauplius [Nauplius]
oeax [Oeax]
epaphus [Epăphus]
nauplius [Nauplius]

This text is based on the following book(s):
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
OCLC: 28280131
ISBN: 0674991354, 0674991362

Buy a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com: vol. 1; vol. 2