Autolycus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Autolycus

7 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Autolycus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Autolycus was the son of the god Hermes and Chione in Greek mythology. He married either Neaera or Amphithea, and had two daughters; Anticlea, who lat... For the story in one place, read our article on Autolycus.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.72–85Athens, Crete and central GreeceThese fragments name Butes, Breyon and Cychreus, and then Minos, Androgeos and Ariadne. They end with the families of Eurytus, Autolycus, Locrus, Ileus, Clymene and Thoas.

Homer (2)

Homer, Odyssey 19.317–507Eurycleia washes the stranger; the scarPenelope calls Eurycleia to wash the stranger's feet, and Eurycleia says that he looks like Odysseus. As she bathes him she finds the scar that a boar's tusk made when he hunted on Parnassus, and tells how he got his name, and drops his foot. She is about to cry out, but Odysseus seizes her throat and makes her swear to keep silence.
Homer, Iliad 10.254–337Diomedes and Odysseus arm; Dolon volunteersDiomedes and Odysseus arm with borrowed gear, Thrasymedes and Meriones lending shield, helmet and weapons, and Odysseus wears a boar's-tusk helmet that came from Autolycus. They pray to Athena, who sends a heron on their right as a sign. In Troy, Hector promises a chariot and the best horses at the Achaean ships to whoever will spy on the camp, and Dolon, a son of Eumedes, volunteers.

Apollonius Rhodius (1)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 2.911–1029Sthenelus' barrow, Sinope and the AmazonsThe ghost of Sthenelus appears at his barrow and the heroes pour libations. Argo passes the Parthenius, takes on Deileon, Autolycus and Phlogius at Sinope, and puts in at the mouth of the Thermodon, where the Amazons are arming. Sailing on, the heroes pass the Chalybes, the Tibareni with their strange custom, and the Mossynoeci.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.266–409Peleus, Ceyx and the wolfPeleus, exiled for killing his half-brother Phocus, comes to the court of Ceyx at Trachis, where he is received kindly. Ceyx tells him of his brother Daedalion, who was turned into a hawk after the death of his daughter Chione. A herdsman brings word that a huge wolf is ravaging Peleus' cattle, and the sea-goddess Psamathe, who sent it, at last turns it to marble at the pleading of Thetis. Peleus goes on to Magnesia, where King Acastus purifies him.

Pausanias (2)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.32.1–10Creusis, Thisbe, Tipha and Haliartus: the tomb of Lysander and his merits and faultsPausanias describes the coast of Boeotia: Creusis, the port of Thespiae, Thisbe with its dyke and festival of Hercules, and Tipha, whose people claim Tiphys, the pilot of the Argo. At Haliartus he describes the tomb of Lysander, the Spartan commander killed attacking the walls. He weighs Lysander's merits, such as his victories at sea and his just judgment for Autolycus, against his killing of Athenian prisoners and his decemvirates, and concludes that he did Lacedaemon more harm than good.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.8.1–10Delphi: the Amphictyonic Council, the temples at the entrance and the Castalian springPausanias gives the origin and membership of the Amphictyonic Council and how its composition changed after the Sacred War, the Gallic invasion and the foundation of Nicopolis, with the present thirty members. On entering Delphi he describes the row of temples, including that of Forethought Athena, the precinct of the hero Phylacus and the gymnasium, then the river Plistus and the spring Castaly, with the accounts of its name and its link to the Cephisus.