Eurynome in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Eurynome

7 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Eurynome, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Eurynome was a Titan goddess in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, hence an Oceanid. She was the third wife of Zeus, with who... For the story in one place, read our article on Eurynome.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.1–13Deucalion, Hellen and their descendantsThe Catalogue of Women opens with the descendants of Deucalion and Hellen, saying that Deucalion was the son of Prometheus and Pronoea, that Hellen fathered Dorus, Xuthus and Aeolus, and that Thyia bore Magnes and Macedon to Zeus. The fragments then turn to the Aloiadae, Eurynome, Endymion, the sons of Actor and Molione, Periclymenus, and the sons of Neleus whom Heracles killed. Most are short quotations from later writers who cite Hesiod for a name or a descent.

Homer (4)

Homer, Iliad 18.368–467Thetis at the house of HephaestusThetis comes to the bronze house that Hephaestus built among the stars, and finds him at work on twenty tripods that move by themselves on golden wheels. His wife Charis welcomes her, and Hephaestus remembers how Thetis and Eurynome took him in when Hera cast him from heaven. Thetis begs him to make armour for her son, and he promises to do it.
Homer, Odyssey 18.110–301The suitors' gifts; Penelope appearsThe suitors laugh and congratulate Odysseus, and Amphinomus gives him bread and wine, and Odysseus warns him that no man should be arrogant, for the gods can change a man's lot. Athena puts it into Penelope's heart to show herself to the suitors, and she is made more beautiful with sleep and with divine gifts. She reproaches Telemachus for letting the stranger be mistreated, and the suitors give her presents of dresses, a necklace and earrings.
Homer, Odyssey 19.96–163Penelope questions the strangerPenelope has a chair set for the stranger by the fire and asks him who he is. Odysseus answers that she should not ask about his family and country, which would make him weep, and praises her fame. Penelope tells how the gods ruined her beauty when Odysseus left, how she put off the suitors with the web of Laertes' shroud, and how her parents now urge her to remarry.
Homer, Odyssey 23.288–372Odysseus tells his tale; the dawnThey go to bed, and Odysseus tells Penelope the story of his wanderings, the Cicones, the Lotus-eaters, the Cyclops, Aeolus, the Laestrygonians, Circe, Hades, the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, the cattle of the Sun, Calypso and the Phaeacians. At dawn he tells Penelope to stay in her room and goes out to the country with Telemachus and the two herdsmen, to see his father, with Athena casting night about them.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.169–271Ares and Aphrodite; Leucothoe and ClytieLeuconoe takes up the tale and tells how the Sun saw Ares (Mars) and Aphrodite (Venus) together and told Hephaestus (Vulcan), who trapped them in a net. Aphrodite takes revenge by making the Sun love Leucothoe, daughter of Orchamus, and he comes to her disguised as her mother. Clytie, the Sun's earlier love, tells Orchamus, who buries his daughter alive, and the Sun turns her into frankincense, while Clytie, abandoned, pines and becomes a heliotrope.

Pausanias (1)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.41.1–10Phigalia: the sanctuary of Eurynome and the temple of Apollo at BassaePausanias describes the common grave of the Oresthasians at Phigalia, the river Lymax, named from the purification of Rhea, and the river Neda. At their meeting stands the sanctuary of Eurynome, opened only once a year, with a wooden image bound in golden chains and shaped like a fish below the hips. He describes the stone temple of Apollo the Succourer on Mount Cotilius at Bassae, built by Ictinus, which he ranks next to the temple at Tegea for beauty. The spring on Mount Cotilius and an Aphrodite at Cotilum close the section.