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Figures in the ancient sources

Autonoe in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Autonoe

15 passages from 6 ancient authors that tell of Autonoe, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Autonoe was the daughter of King Cadmus of Thebes and the goddess Harmonia, in Greek mythology. She was married to Aristaeus, and had two children, Ac... For the story in one place, read our article on Autonoe.

Hesiod (1)

  1. Hesiod, Theogony 960–1022Goddesses and mortal men; the end of the poem (960-1022)The Muses are asked to sing of the goddesses who lay with mortal men. Demeter bears Plutus to Iasion, Harmonia bears Ino, Semele, Agave, Autonoe and Polydorus to Cadmus, and Callirrhoe bears Geryon. The list continues with Eos and Tithonus, Aphrodite and Anchises, Thetis and Peleus, and ends with Circe and Calypso bearing sons to Odysseus before the poet turns to the company of women.

Apollodorus (1)

  1. 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.

Euripides (1)

  1. Euripides, Bacchae 1095–1152Messenger speech: the death of PentheusThe Maenads stone Pentheus in the pine, then tear the tree up by the roots. Pentheus falls and pulls off his headband so that his mother will know him, but Agave, possessed, begins the killing, and Ino, Autonoe and the others tear him apart. Agave carries his head on a thyrsos toward the palace, and the messenger leaves, urging reverence for the gods.

Theocritus (1)

  1. Theocritus, Idylls 26.1–38Idyll 26: The Bacchae and PentheusIno, Autonoe and Agave lead their bands of Maenads to the mountain and build altars to Semele and Dionysus. Pentheus, watching them from a hidden place, is discovered, and the women tear him to pieces. The poem ends with a plea that no one blame what the gods demand.

Pausanias (1)

  1. Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.44.1–10Megara to the Isthmus: Nisaea, Pagae and the Sciron roadPausanias notes the grave of Orsippus, the sanctuary of Tutelary Apollo, the old gymnasium and the port of Nisaea with the tomb of Lelex. He describes Pagae, with its Saviour Artemis and the shrine of Aegialeus, and Aegosthena, with the sanctuary of Melampus and the tomb of Autonoe. The Sciron road leads past the Molurian rock, with the story of Ino and Melicertes, the rocks of Sciron, the temple of Zeus the Hurler and the tomb of Eurystheus, to the border with Corinth.

Nonnus of Panopolis (10)

  1. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 5.280–408Book 5: Actaion among his dogsAutonoe and Aristaios have a son, Actaion, a hunter who spies on Artemis bathing. The goddess turns him into a stag, and his own dogs tear him to pieces while he keeps his human mind and laments. Autonoe searches the hills and does not know his remains.
  2. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 46.265–369Book 46: Agaue's lament; Dionysos leaves Thebes for AthensDionysos restores Agaue's senses, and she mourns over Pentheus's head, cursing her sanity and calling herself a child-murderer. Pentheus is buried, and Dionysos gives the mourners a drink of forgetfulness and sends Cadmos and Harmonia wandering west towards their fate as stone snakes. He then goes in procession to Athens.
  3. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 5.122–228Book 5: Harmonia's necklace; the children of CadmosThe gods bring wedding gifts, and Aphrodite gives Harmonia a serpent-shaped necklace that Hephaistos had made. Harmonia bears four daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Agaue and Semele, and a son, Polydoros. Cadmos gives Autonoe to Aristaios.
  4. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 44.253–318Book 44: The Furies and Dionysos drive the Theban women to the mountainPersephone sends a Fury who sprinkles water of Styx and Cocytos over Agaue's rooms and buries the knife of Procne under a fir tree on Cithaeron, smearing it with Gorgon's blood. Dionysos, wearing a bull's head, enters the palace and drives the women mad. He calls to Autonoe with a false tale that her son Actaeon lives and is the lover of Artemis, urging her to run to the mountains.
  5. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 46.210–264Book 46: Agaue kills Pentheus and shows his head to CadmosThe women tear Pentheus apart, and Agaue, believing him a lion, cuts off his head and carries it in triumph to Cadmos, boasting of her kill. Cadmos laments over her words, tells her that she holds her own son, and curses Cithaeron and Dionysos for the ruin of his family.
  6. 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.
  7. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 8.333–418Book 8: The thunderbolt and the birth of DionysosZeus warns Semele that his thunder is not gentle, but gives way to the Fates and comes to her with lightning. Semele takes hold of the thunderbolts and is burnt to ashes. Hermes carries the unborn child, washed in fire, to his father. Zeus then calms Hera and gives Semele a place among the gods.
  8. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 46.97–209Book 46: Pentheus in women's dress climbs the tree on CithaeronMaddened by Dionysos and Mene, Pentheus puts on Agaue's robe and veil and dances in the streets, seeing two suns and two Thebes. He goes out to Cithaeron and climbs a tree to spy on the Bacchants. They find him, Agaue uproots the tree, and Pentheus, his madness gone, falls to the ground and begs his mother in vain to spare him.
  9. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 5.229–279Book 5: The inventions of AristaiosThe poet lists the skills of Aristaios: hunting with dogs and nets, keeping bees, pressing oil, and tending flocks. His sacrifice to Zeus brings the cooling etesian winds. His wedding to Autonoe is celebrated with dancing in the streets of Thebes.
  10. Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 45.0–95Book 45: Agaue runs to the mountain; Pentheus rebukes TeiresiasAutonoe and Agaue, maddened by Dionysos, rush to the hills to join the Bacchic dance, and Agaue swears she will defy Pentheus. The hills ring with the revels of Thebes' women. Pentheus meets the garlanded Teiresias and angrily accuses him of lying oracles and taking Lydian gold, arguing that Dionysos, with his horns and fawnskin, cannot be a son of Zeus.