In Greek mythology, Tereis was one of the names given for the slave who was the mother, by Menelaus, of Megapenthes.[1] According to R. L. Fowler, the name Tereis occurs nowhere else, may be associated with Thrace, and is possibly corrupt.[2]
Sources edit
Homer's Odyssey, and the geographer Pausanias, mention that Megapenthes was the illegitimate son of Menelaus, king of Mycenaean Sparta, by a slave, without naming her.[3] But according to one source, the sixth-century BC mythographer Acusilaus (as reported by the mythographer Apollodorus), the name of the slave was Tereis.[4] Other sources give other names for the slave who bore Megapenthes. For example Apollodorus, in the same passage in which he mentions Tereis, also mentions "Pieris, an Aetolian".[5]
Notes edit
- ^ Fowler, p. 529; Grimal, s.v. Megapenthes 1; Tripp, s.v. Megapenthes (2). for other names given for Megapenthes' slave mother, see below.
- ^ Fowler 2013, p. 529.
- ^ Fowler 2013, p. 529; Homer, Odyssey 4.10–12; Pausanias, 2.18.6.
- ^ Fowler 2013, p. 529; Apollodorus, 3.11.1; Acusilaus fr. 41 Fowler.
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.11.1.
References edit
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404.
- Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0198147411.
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
- Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.