Thersites: familiar from the Iliad, 2. 212 ff. (but in Homer he is not of noble birth); and see p. 154.

parch the wheat-grain: roast it over a fire, killing the seed.

together with . . . Helle: the eponym of the Hellespont (‘the Sea of Helle’, see below; cf. Aesch. Persians68); late sources (e.g. P. 9. 34. 4) explain that she was due to be sacrificed with Phrixos.

the wrath of Hera: because Athamas and Ino (who was also driven mad) had taken in the young Dionysos, her husband’s child by another woman, see p. 101. Pausanias (1. 44. 11) cites an alternative tradition that the deaths resulted from Athamas’ anger when he discovered how Ino had deceived him.

Athamantia: a. plain in southern Thessaly (cf. AR 2. 514).

Ephyra, now known as Corinth: the exact location of Ephyra—the home of Sisyphos that lay ‘in a corner of horse-rearing Argos’, Il. 6. 152 f.—is unknown, but its identification with Corinth (which is referred to separately in the Iliadas one of the towns ruled by Agamemnon, 2. 570) is altogether dubious. It seems that when the Corinthians (notably the early epic poet Eumelos) found themselves short of significant local myth, they annexed the material from Ephyra, which had declined into obscurity.

who killed the. . . Chimaera: see p. 64; the full story is deferred because he was exiled to Argos.

punishment in Hades: Homer describes it, Od. 11. 593 ff., but does not explain the reason. For the present explanation, cf. P. 2. 5. 1; for the abduction of Aegina, see p. 126.

Dawn . . . carried him off: for Cephalos and Procris, see p. 134; the Cephalos associated with Dawn is described below as a son of Hermes, see p. 131 and note.

but of Cynortas: to give the father of Tyndareus (an important figure in the Laconian genealogies) a purely Laconian descent, see p. 119, and p. 120 and note.

Seriphos: a rocky island in the south-eastern Aegean, later of proverbial insignificance, but important in myth for the involvement of these sons of Magnes with Perseus and Danae, see p. 65.

founded a city: called Salmone (Strabo 7. 3. 31); Elis was in the north-west Peloponnese. On Salmoneus, see also Virgil Aen. 6. 585 ff.

Poseidon had intercourse with her: see Od. 11. 235 ff.

Pelias: so called because he had been left with a livid or black-and-blue mark (pelion ti), resembling a bruise (or a birthmark).

Sidero: see DS 4. 68. 2, she married Salmoneus after the death of Tyro’s mother, Alcidice, and treated Tyro harshly ‘as a stepmother would’; it seems that no further explanation is required. Her name suggests that she had an ironnature.

in Messene, he founded Pylos: Nestor’s ‘sandy Pylos’ ( Il. 9. 295 etc.) lay in the south-western Peloponnese, but it has been disputed since ancient times whether it should be identified with the Messenian Pylos near Sphacteria (as assumed here) or with the Pylos that lay further north in the west-central province of Triphylia. The archaeological evidence suggests that the former was the city behind the legend (although there are elements in Homer’s accounts, notably in Il. 11. 711 ff., which favour the more northerly location). Strabo argued for the Triphylian location (8. 3. 7).

he was killed by Heracles: for his attack on Pylos, see p. 87. The story of Periclymenos’ death was told in Hes. Cat. (fr. 33b): Athene told him who the bee was, and Heracles killed it with an arrow. In the later tradition Heracles is also said to have shot him as an eagle (Ov. Met. 12. 549 ff., Hyg. 10) or swatted him as a fly (sc. AR 1. 156). He was granted his powers of transformation by his grandfather Poseidon (Hes. Cat. fr. 33a. 13 ff.).

purified his ears: snakes, as chthonic creatures, are naturally associated with prophecy, and other seers (e.g. Cassandra and Helenos, according to one tradition, Tzetz. Arg. Lye.) are said to have acquired their prophetic powers in this way.

could understand. . . the birds flying overhead: the interpretation of bird-flights was an important aspect of technical divination, but this takes us into the realm of magic.

Phylacos: for his birth, see p. 44; Phylace lay in south-eastern Thessaly.

Melampous promised his assistance: the basic elements of the following story can be found in Homer, Od. 11. 287 ff., without the name of the seer, or, predictably, the talking woodworms; we are simply told that Iphicles released Melampous in return for the oracles that he had delivered for him (ibid. 297 f., cf. P. 4. 36. 3).

gelding lambs . . . took fright: in Pherecydes’ version (sc. Od. 11, 287), his father pursued him with his knife because he saw him doing something improper (masturbating presumably) and there is no mention of the gelding; but the original story may have included both elements. This caused Iphicles to become impotent.

scraped off the rust. . . in a drink: because the rust comes from the instrument that inflicted the harm, it will also cure it, following a basic principle of sympathetic magic (compare the cure of Telephos on p. 150).

the women of Argos mad: see p. 63 (where this story is combined with the story of the cure of Proitos’ daughters) and note.

Apollo mas serving him: for the circumstances, see pp. 119—20. Apollo performs the following favours in gratitude for the kind treatment that he has received from Admetos (cf. Hyg. 50).

coils of snakes: as creatures of the earth, they are portents of death; hence the favour that Apollo asks of the Fates.

Kore sent her back: out of pity and admiration for her self-sacrifice (cf. Plato Symposium179c). Kore is a name for Persephone (see p. 33 and note).

Heracles fought with Hades for her: as in Eur. Alcestis(although the theme goes back to Phrynichos, an early Athenian tragedian); after blundering into Admetos’ house at the time of Alcestis’ funeral, Heracles rescued her out of gratitude for Admetos’ hospitality and remorse for his own tactless behaviour. In the play, he wrestled not with Hades personally, but with Death (Thanatos) when he came up for his prey.