Athamas in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Athamas

10 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Athamas, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Athamas was a king of the region of Boeotia in Greek mythology, son of Aeolus and Enarete. He had three wives; the goddess Nephele; the daughter of Ca... For the story in one place, read our article on Athamas.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 1.9.1–15Athamas, Sisyphus, Salmoneus, Melampus and AdmetusThe sons of Aeolus: Athamas, whose children Phrixus and Helle flee on the golden ram and who later loses Ino and Learchus to madness, then Sisyphus, Deion, Perieres, Magnes and Salmoneus, who is struck down for impersonating Zeus. Salmoneus's daughter Tyro bears Pelias and Neleus to Poseidon, and the section follows Neleus and Nestor at Pylus, Pelias in Thessaly, and Cretheus's line with the seer Melampus winning Pero for his brother Bias. It ends with Pheres, Admetus and Alcestis.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.4.1–4Cadmus and the founding of ThebesAfter the death of Telephassa, Cadmus is told at Delphi to follow a cow and found a city where it lies down. He kills the dragon of Ares, sows its teeth to raise the Spartoi, serves Ares for a year, and marries Harmonia. Their daughters Autonoe, Ino, Semele and Agave are named; Semele is destroyed when she asks to see Zeus in his glory, Dionysus is born from Zeus's thigh, and Ino and Athamas rear him and are driven mad. The section ends with Actaeon, torn apart by his own dogs after seeing Artemis bathing.

Apollonius Rhodius (2)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2.1030–1225The birds of Ares and the sons of PhrixusNear the island of Ares the heroes scare off the birds that shoot their feathers like arrows, by wearing helmets and clashing shields. On the island they find the four shipwrecked sons of Phrixus, who are Jason's kinsmen, and who tell them of Aeetes and the sleepless serpent. Argus agrees to guide the Argonauts to Colchis.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.299–438The banquet and Aeetes' demandsAt the banquet Aeetes questions his grandsons, and Argus tells how his ship was wrecked and why the Argonauts have come. Aeetes grows angry and agrees to give up the Fleece only if Jason will yoke the fire-breathing bulls, plough the field of Ares and sow the dragon's teeth, and Jason accepts.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.396–562The Minyades become bats; Athamas and InoThe daughters of Minyas, who have scorned Dionysus (Bacchus), find their looms turning to vines and ivy, and they are changed into bats. Hera (Juno), angry at the honour done to Semele's sister Ino, goes down to the Underworld and sends the Fury Tisiphone to the house of Athamas, who goes mad and kills his son Learchus. Ino leaps from a cliff with her other son Melicertes, and Aphrodite (Venus) asks Poseidon (Neptune) to make them sea-gods, and Ino's Theban companions are changed into rocks and birds.

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.34.1–10Itonian Athena, Coronea, Mount Laphystius and the early history of OrchomenusPausanias describes the sanctuary of Itonian Athena, where the Boeotians hold their general assembly, and the story of the priestess Iodama. At Coronea he lists the altars in the market-place and the sanctuary of Hera, as well as Mount Libethrius and the sanctuary of Laphystian Zeus where the golden ram saved Phrixus and Helle. He then begins the history of Orchomenus with Andreus, Athamas and the founders of Haliartus and Coronea, and Eteocles.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.3.1–10Ionia: Colophon, Clarus, Teos, Erythrae, Clazomenae and PhocaeaPausanias gives the early history of several Ionian cities. At Colophon, the sanctuary of Clarus is linked to the Cretan Rhacius and to Manto, daughter of Tiresias, and her son Mopsus. He tells of Lebedus, destroyed by Lysimachus to enlarge Ephesus, of Teos with its Minyan, Attic and Boeotian settlers, and of Erythrae, which had Cretan, Lycian, Carian and Pamphylian inhabitants. He then covers the founding of Clazomenae and of Phocaea, whose settlers had to obtain kings of the race of Codrus before the Ionians would admit them.

Nonnus of Panopolis (3)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 10.0–138Book 10: Athamas' madness; Ino leaps into the seaAthamas, driven mad, flogs a she-goat for his wife, hunts his son Learchos as a stag and kills him, and boils Melicertes in a cauldron. Ino snatches the child and runs to the sea, calling on Zeus and Hermes. She leaps in and is received by Poseidon as Leucothea, and Semele mocks her from heaven.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 9.229–321Book 9: Hera drives Ino mad; Athamas takes ThemistoHera falls on the house of Athamas, and Ino runs mad from her chamber to Delphi. Apollo calms her with laurel and sleep, and she afterwards founds dances for Bacchos. Athamas forgets her and marries Themisto, who bears him sons.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 5.533–621Book 5: Autonoe's grief; Zeus desires PersephoneiaAutonoe gathers her son's bones and buries them. Agaue bears Pentheus, and Ino marries Athamas and bears Learchos and Melicertes. Zeus, who once begot Zagreus on Persephoneia in the shape of a dragon, watches her bathe and is caught by desire for her.