Theog.

Hesiod’s Theogony.

Thuc.

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War(fifth century BC).

Tzetz.

Johannes Tzetzes (Byzantine scholar, twelfth-century AD).

VM

The Vatican Mythographers (ed. G. H. Bode, Scriptores Rerum Mythicarum Latini Tres, Celle, 1834; late Latin compendia).

Dates: all are BC unless otherwise indicated.

Cross-references: these are selective, and the Index should also be consulted.

Textual matters: notes on these, and on points of language, have been kept to a bare minimum, except with regard to dubious passages and interpolations (marked by square brackets in the text) and to etymologies, which depend on wordplay in the original Greek (indicated by italics in the text).

Homer and Hesiod: it is convenient to refer to ‘Homer’, but this implies no judgement as to whether the Iliadand the Odysseywere composed by the same author, or on the extent to which each poem can be regarded as the work of a single poet. There is disagreement on whether the Hesiodic Theogonyand Works and Dayswere written by the same author; and other works attributed to Hesiod by the ancients, notably the Catalogue of Womenand the Shield, were certainly written at a later period.

Modern authors: all references are to editors or translators of the Library(see Select Bibliography).

Pherecydes, Acousilaos, and Hellanicos: for these early mythographer-historians, who are important sources for Apollodorus, see the Introduction.

Ouranos. . . Ge: respectively the Sky and the Earth (who was also referred to as Gaia, the form preferred by Hesiod). For the early history of the universe, cf. Theog. 116 ff., but the present account sometimes diverges significantly (perhaps following a theogony from the epic cycle, summarized by Proclus in Photius 319A). In Theog., Chaos—representing a yawning gap rather than disorder— comes into being first, followed by Gaia, Tartaros, and Eros (116 ff.), and Gaia gives birth to Ouranos from herself (126 f.).

the Cyclopes: cf. Theog. 139 ff.; named the ‘Round-Eyed’ because of their single round eye. Their individual names were suggested by their prime function, as the beings who armed Zeus with his thunder (see p. 28): (a)steropemeans lightning, bronte, thunder, and argesrefers to the brightness associated with the thunderbolt. For other kinds of Cyclops, see p. 63 and note and pp. 164 f.

in Hades: here used in a loose sense to refer to the Underworld as a whole. In the early tradition at least, a clear distinction was drawn between Hades (where the souls of dead mortals dwell) and Tartaros, a dungeon for gods and monsters that lay far beneath it (cf. Theog. 720–819, Il;. 8. 13 ff.).

who had been thrown into Tartaros: only the Cyclopes and Hundred-Handers; Hesiod’s account, in which Ouranos also hides away their Titan children (Theog. 154 ff), diverges significantly.

adamantine: made of adamant, a mythical metal of extreme hardness.

from the drops of blood that flowed out: from those that fell on Ge, the Earth, causing her to conceive the Furies, and the Giants whom she will bring to birth later (p. 34); cf. Theog. 183 ff. (In Ap.’s theogony the severed genitals play no part in the birth of Aphrodite, see p. 29 and note.)

Mount Dicte: in most sources Mount Ida, in Theog. 484, Aigaion; Dicte only in Hellenistic and later sources, e.g. AR 1. 509. Although Dicte was associated with the cult of Zeus, there was no cave there.

Curetes: Cretan semi-divinities associated with fertility; estimates of their number vary from two to ten.

Amaltheia: either a nymph with a she-goat (see p. 89 and note) or the goat itself, as here (cf. Callim. Hymn1. 47 f).

Metis: personifies practical or cunning intelligence. In Theog. 494 ff., where the stratagem is not explained, the advice is offered by Gaia.

a helmet: this leather helmet or cap makes its wearer invisible. It will be used by Perseus, see pp. 65 f. and note. In Theog. 501 ff. the Cyclopes arm Zeus alone, in gratitude for their release.

they shared power: following Il. 15. 187 ff.

Pluto over the halls of Hades: Pluto, ‘the Wealthy One’, was a ritual title for Hades, god of the Underworld; his name is also applied to his realm (although in classical Greek a genitive form was used in such cases, to indicate that the ‘halls of Hades were being referred to rather than the god himself).

Oceanides: the daughters of Oceanos and Tethys, who were nymphs of springs and groves. Hes. names forty-one of the ‘eldest’ daughters (Theog. 346 ff), but remarks that there were three thousand (364); Ap. only gives the names of those who will be mentioned in the following genealogies. For Hesiod, Amphitrite was a Nereid (243). The sons of Oceanos and Tethys were the rivers of the earth (337 ff). Theog. should be consulted for further details on all these divine genealogies (although Ap. sometimes chooses variants from other sources).

Nice, Cratos, Zelos, and Bia: abstractions signifying Victory, Power, Emulation, and Force (all needed by Zeus for his victory against the Titans). See Theog. 383 ff.

oaths: specifically the oaths of the gods.

Pontos: a personification of the Sea. Ap. offers no genealogy; in Theog. 132 ff. he is borne by Gaia without prior intercourse. An ancestor of marine beings, and also of monstrous beings not easily associable with Zeus’ immediate family, see Theog. 233–336.

Nereids: beautiful sea nymphs, usually said to be fifty in number, who lived with their father in a cave at the bottom of the sea ( Il. 18. 37 ff., Theog. 240 ff.). Most of their names were suggested by aspects of the sea.

Hebe, Eileithuia, and Ares: respectively, the personification of youth (who performed household duties for the gods, notably as cupbearer, and later married Heracles, p. 91), the goddess of childbirth, and the god of war. For the genealogies in 3. 1 to 4. 6, cf. Theog. 886–933.

Eirene, Eunomia, and Dice: the Horai, Seasons, were associated with the seasons of growth in particular; these Hesiodic names (Theog. 901 f.)—Peace, Good Order, and Justice—point to the social conditions favouring successful agriculture.

by Dione he had Aphrodite: as in Il. 5. 370 f.; but in Theog. 188 ff. Aphrodite grows from the sea-foam (aphros)that surrounds the severed genitals of Ouranos when they are cast into the sea. Described above as a Titanid (but in Theog. 353, a daughter of Oceanos and Tethys), Dione was honoured at Dodona as the consort of Zeus, but otherwise she was of little importance in either cult or myth.