Peneus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Peneus

7 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Peneus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Peneus was a river god in Greek mythology, and one of the three thousand children of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. He was married to the nymph Creusa... For the story in one place, read our article on Peneus.

Ovid (2)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.568–688Io and ArgusThe river gods come to console Peneus for the loss of Daphne, except Inachus, who is mourning his daughter Io. Zeus (Jupiter, 'Jove' in More's translation) takes Io under a cloud, and when Hera (Juno) comes down to look he turns Io into a white heifer. Hera asks for the heifer as a gift and sets the hundred-eyed Argus to watch her, and Io writes her name in the dust with her hoof to tell her father Inachus who she is. Zeus sends Hermes (Mercury), disguised as a shepherd, who plays on his pipe and begins to tell the story of Syrinx.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.452–567Apollo and DaphneApollo ('Phoebus' in More's translation), proud of his victory over the Python, mocks Eros (Cupid) and his little bow, and Eros shoots him with a golden arrow that makes him love, and the nymph Daphne with a leaden arrow that makes her flee from love. Apollo chases her, pleading, and as he catches her she prays to her father, the river Peneus, and begins to change into a laurel. Apollo embraces the tree and says that it shall always be his, and that its leaves shall crown victors and stand at the gates of Augustus' house.

Herodotus (1)

Herodotus, Histories 7.128–130Xerxes at the Peneus and the origin of the Thessalian gorgeXerxes sails to see the outlet of the Peneios between Olympos and Ossa and asks whether the river could be turned aside. It is said that Thessaly was once a lake, and the Thessalians say Poseidon cut the channel, which is explained as the work of an earthquake. Xerxes remarks that the Thessalians were prudent to submit, since he could flood their land.

Strabo (4)

Strabo, Geography 7.fragments.14–19The Peneus, Tempe, Olympus and OrpheusThese fragments follow the river Peneus through Tempe to the sea, with Olympus and Ossa, Gyrton and Magnetis where Pirithous and Ixion ruled. They place Dium and the village Pimplea, where Orpheus is said to have lived, and tell how he drew followers with music and mysteries and was killed by those who suspected him. Homer's Ephyri and Phlegyes are explained as the Crannonians and the people of Gyrton.
Strabo, Geography 7.7.8–9The Epirote and Illyrian tribes, Orestes and CadmusStrabo lists the Epirote tribes and the Illyrian peoples mixed with them, noting that Orestes is said to have held Orestias after killing his mother. He says the Enchelii were ruled by descendants of Cadmus and Harmonia, and tells of the princes of the Lyncestae and Molotti, including Pyrrhus Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. He ends with the Egnatian Way, rivers such as the Achelous and Inachus, and the ruin of these regions.
Strabo, Geography 7.fragments.4–13Macedonia, Paeonia and Orestis: the boundariesThese fragments of the lost end of Book 7 place Paeonia, Orestis and the Haliacmon, and give Strabo's reason for joining Macedonia to Thrace rather than to Greece. They fix the borders of Macedonia by mountains, the Egnatian Way and rivers, and record the early peoples such as the Bottiaei, Pieres, Paeonians and the Chalcidenses at Olynthus. Corcyra's decline and its proverb are also noted.
Strabo, Geography 8.8.1–5Arcadia: mountains, lakes and StymphalusStrabo describes Arcadia, the oldest people of Greece, its mountains such as Cyllene and Lycaeum, and the cities that became ruined or merged into Megalopolis. He mentions the temples of the Alaean Athena (Minerva) and the Lycaean Zeus (Jupiter). He explains the vanishing rivers of Stymphalus and Pheneus, the Styx near Pheneus, and the colony founders who followed the Heracleidae.