Menoetius

Menoetius was a Titan, a son of Iapetus and brother of Atlas, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Hesiod calls him overweening, and says that Zeus struck him with a smoking thunderbolt and sent him down to Erebus for his wantonness and excessive pride in his strength (Hesiod, Theogony 507–516). Apollodorus places his fall in the war of the gods against the Titans (Library 1.2.3).

Family

In Hesiod, Iapetus took as his wife the neat-ankled Clymene, a daughter of Oceanus, and she bore him Atlas, glorious Menoetius, the cunning Prometheus with his shifting wiles, and Epimetheus, who was dull of wit and a mischief to men from the start, because he was the first to accept from Zeus the woman he had formed (Theogony 507–514). Apollodorus gives the mother as Asia and names the same four sons (Library 1.2.3). No ancient source names a wife or children of the Titan Menoetius.

The Punishment of Menoetius

Hesiod says that far-seeing Zeus sent the overweening Menoetius down to Erebus, striking him with a smoking thunderbolt, because of his wantonness and manliness that went beyond measure (Theogony 514–516). Hesiod puts his fate beside those of his brothers. Atlas holds up the broad sky at the ends of the earth, in front of the clear-voiced Hesperides, standing under strong necessity, because Zeus assigned him this fate (Theogony 517–520). Prometheus is bound by Zeus in cruel chains, and an eagle eats his liver (Theogony 521–534).

Apollodorus says that Menoetius is the one whom Zeus smote with a thunderbolt in the battle with the Titans and hurled down to Tartarus (Apollodorus, Library 1.2.3). Hesiod does not name the war in his lines on Menoetius and names the place of his fall as Erebus.

Menoetius, the Father of Patroclus

The name Menoetius belongs also to a mortal hero, and the two should not be confused. In the Iliad, Patroclus is the son of Menoetius, the son of Actor, from Opus; Nestor recalls how Menoetius gave Patroclus his charge when he sent him from Phthia to join Achilles (Iliad 11.765–790). Patroclus himself says that Menoetius brought him as a boy from Opus to the house of Peleus, after he had killed the son of Amphidamas in a quarrel over dice (Iliad 23.84–90). Apollodorus gives his mother as Sthenele, a daughter of Acastus, or as Periopis or Polymele (Library 3.13.8). Apollodorus also lists Menoetius, son of Actor, among the Argonauts (Library 1.9.16). He is a son of Actor, and no ancient source links his family with the Titan Menoetius.

Menoetius Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 507–534; Apollodorus, Library 1.2.3, 1.9.16, 3.13.8; Homer, Iliad 11.765–790, 23.84–90.

See Also: Iapetus, Clymene, Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, Patroclus, Titanomachy, Zeus