Proetus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Proetus

11 passages from 8 ancient authors that tell of Proetus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Proetus was a king of the cities of Argos and Tiryns in Greek mythology, son of Abas and Aglaea. His twin brother was Acrisius, with whom they quarrel... For the story in one place, read our article on Proetus.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.14–18Atalanta, Danaus and the daughters of ProetusThe longest fragment describes the suitors of Atalanta and the foot-race in which Hippomenes distracts her with golden apples. Shorter pieces record that Danaus made waterless Argos well-watered and that Aegyptus sent his fifty sons there. A last group tells how the daughters of Proetus lost their beauty because of their wantonness.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 6.119–236Diomedes and Glaucus exchange armourDiomedes and Glaucus meet between the armies, and Diomedes asks who he is, saying that he will not fight a god. Glaucus answers that the generations of men are like leaves, and tells how his forefather Bellerophon was sent to Lycia, where he overcame the Chimaera, the Solymi and the Amazons. Diomedes, learning that their grandfathers were guest-friends, plants his spear and they exchange armour, Zeus taking the wits of Glaucus so that he gives gold for bronze.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.2.1–2Acrisius and Proetus; the daughters of ProetusTwin brothers Acrisius and Proetus quarrel in the womb and, once grown, fight for the kingdom of Argos and invent the shield; they end by splitting the land, Acrisius ruling Argos and Proetus Tiryns. Proetus's daughters go mad and roam the Peloponnese, for reasons that Hesiod and Acusilaus give differently, and the seer Melampus cures them in return for a share of the kingdom, although Iphinoe dies in the chase. Proetus marries them to Melampus and Bias.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.3.1–2Bellerophon and the ChimaeraBellerophon, after killing a man by accident, is purified by Proetus, and Stheneboea falsely accuses him when he rejects her. Proetus sends him to Iobates in Lycia with a letter calling for his death, and Iobates sets him to kill the Chimaera, which he does from the air on the winged horse Pegasus. He then defeats the Solymi and the Amazons and kills the ambush set for him, after which Iobates gives him his daughter and the kingdom.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Nemean Odes 10.1–90Nemean 10: for Theaeus — Castor and PolydeucesPindar praises Argos, the city of Danaüs and Hera, and its famous heroes, among them Proetus, and the victories of Theaeus in wrestling. He tells how Idas killed Castor in a quarrel over cattle, how Polydeuces prayed to Zeus to die with his brother, and how Zeus allowed them to share their fate by living alternately under the earth and on Olympus.

Diodorus Siculus (1)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 6.2.1–6.9.1Book 6: other fragmentsThe fragments that follow take up the gods named after lands they conquered, the Titans Xanthus and Balius, crowns, Picus who was called Zeus, and the Dioscori. They go on to Salmoneus, who imitated Zeus's thunder, to Admetus, Alcestis and Melampus, and end with Bellerophon at the court of Proetus and the Chimaera.

Ovid (1)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.149–249Phineus turned to stonePerseus, outnumbered, calls to his friends to avert their eyes, and shows the Gorgon's head to one after another of his enemies, and each is turned to stone in whatever attitude he was in. Phineus, seeing his friends become statues, begs for mercy and turns away, but is changed to stone himself. Perseus then goes to Seriphos and turns King Polydectes, who had mocked him, to stone.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.16.1–7Mycenae: Perseus, the Argive kings, the Lion Gate and the tombsPausanias lists the Argive kings from Argos and Triopas to Danaus and Lynceus, the division between Acrisius and Proetus, and the death of Acrisius by Perseus’ quoit. He gives accounts of why Perseus founded Mycenae, and of how the Argives later destroyed it. He describes the surviving walls with the lion gate, the Persea fountain, the treasuries of Atreus and the graves of Agamemnon and his companions, with Clytemnestra and Aegisthus outside the walls.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.25.1–10Argive roads: Oenoe, Lyrcea, Orneae, Tiryns, Midea and LessaPausanias follows the roads leading out of Argos. The Mantinea road passes a double sanctuary of Aphrodite and Ares, Oenoe named for Oeneus, and Mount Artemisius with the springs of the Inachus; another leads to Lyrcea and Orneae. On the Epidaurus road he notes the pyramid-like monument of the fight between Proetus and Acrisius, the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns, the ruins of Midea, and Lessa with its temple of Athena and Mount Arachnaeus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.18.1–8Nonacris: the water of the Styx and the daughters of ProetusPausanias gathers the poetic references to the Styx in Hesiod, Epimenides and Homer, and describes the water trickling down the cliff at Nonacris. It is deadly to creatures and breaks or corrodes almost everything except a horse's hoof, and he reports without confirming that Alexander died of it. He also tells how the daughters of Proetus fled to a cave in the Aroanian mountains and were healed of madness at Lusi by Melampus, so that the local Artemis was called Hemerasia.

Bacchylides (1)

Bacchylides, Epinicians (Odes of Victory) 11.1–126Ode 11: Alexidamus of Metapontion and the daughters of ProetusVictory is honoured as the judge of prowess beside Zeus, and Metapontion rejoices at the Pythian win of the boy wrestler Alexidamus, who lost an Olympic crown to a faulty judgement. The poet tells how Hera drove the daughters of Proetus mad for boasting that their father was richer than she, and how Proetus prayed to Artemis at Lusus, saw them healed and set up her altar. Artemis, the Soother, then went with the Achaeans to Metapontion, where a grove is dedicated to her by the Casas.