Chloris in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Chloris

5 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Chloris, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Chloris is a name attributed to various characters in Greek mythology. One of the characters named Chloris was a nymph that lived in the Elysian Fiel... For the story in one place, read our article on Chloris.

Homer (1)

Homer, Odyssey 11.225–332The women of oldPersephone sends up the ghosts of the women who were wives and daughters of heroes, and Odysseus questions each in turn. He sees Tyro, Antiope, Alcmene, Megara, Epicaste, Chloris, Leda, Iphimedeia, Phaedra, Procris, Ariadne, Maera, Clymene and Eriphyle. He then breaks off, saying that the night is late.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Fasti 5.183–274Fasti 5: The Floralia: Flora and ChlorisOvid addresses Flora on 3 May, and she answers him. She says she was the nymph Chloris, carried off by Zephyr, who made her his wife and queen of flowers. She tells how she helped Hera (Juno) conceive Ares (Mars) with a flower, and describes her power over crops, vines, olives and honey.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.29.1–10Delphi: Polygnotus' painting of the underworld (2): Indolence, Ariadne, Phaedra, Theseus and PirithousPausanias continues the underworld painting with the comrades of Ulysses bringing black rams, the figure of Indolence plaiting a rope eaten by a she-ass, and Tityus. He describes Ariadne and Phaedra, with the account of Dionysus and the bridge at Zeugma, then Chloris, Thyia, Procris, Clymene, Megara and Eriphyle. Near them are Elpenor, Ulysses at the trench with Tiresias and Anticlea, and Theseus and Pirithous seated with their swords.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.21.1–10Argos: the market-place, the death of Pyrrhus and the head of MedusaIn and around the Argive market-place Pausanias notes the tomb of Cerdo, a temple of Asclepius, the tomb of Hypermnestra, the sanctuary of Trumpet Athena and the grave of Epimenides. He describes the marble building where Pyrrhus was cremated, the mound said to hold the Gorgon’s head with two rationalising accounts of Medusa, and the grave of Gorgophone. He ends with the stone trophy over the tyrant Laphaes and the sanctuary of Latona with the story of Chloris.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.36.1–8Orchomenus: Phlegyas, Minyas and his treasury, and HyettusPausanias continues the kings of Orchomenus: Chryse's son Phlegyas, whose warlike Phlegyans raided Delphi and were destroyed by the god, then Chryses and Minyas, who built the first treasury. He says Greek historians neglected the treasury of Minyas in favour of the Egyptian pyramids. He recounts the reign of Orchomenus, the arrival of the exile Hyettus from Argos and the marriage of Chloris, daughter of Amphion, to Neleus.