Aethon
{{Short description|Set of mythological Greek characters}}
{{unfocused|date=March 2018}}
The ancient Greek word aithôn means "burning", "blazing" or "shining." Less strictly, it can denote the colour red-brown, or "tawny."{{cite web |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D%232363 |title=A Greek-English Lexicon |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |date=1940 |website=Perseus Digital Library |publisher=Clarendon Press |access-date=5 July 2013}} It is an epithet sometimes applied to animals such as horses at Hom. Il. 2.839; oxen at Od.18.372; and an eagle at Il. 15.690 (cf. Hyginus' calling the eagle that tormented Prometheus an aethonem aquilam at Fabulae 31.5.).{{cite web |url=http://www.hs-augsburg.de/~harsch/Chronologia/Lspost02/Hyginus/hyg_fabu.html |title=Hygini genealogiis, volgo fabulae |author= |website=Bibliotheca Augustana |access-date=5 July 2013 |language= la }} The eagle who tormented Prometheus, Aethon, was the child of the monsters Typhon and Echidna.:de:Ethon In English, aithôn may be written Aethon, Aithon or Ethon.{{cite book |last1= Harris |first1= John |last2= Todd |first2= mark | date= 2005|title= My Monster Notebook |url= http://shop.getty.edu/products/my-monster-notebook-978-1606060506|publisher= Getty Publications |isbn= 978-1-60606-050-6|access-date= 12 December 2014}} In Greek and Roman mythology there are a number of characters known as Aethon. Most are horses, variously belonging to:
- HeliosOvid, Metamorphoses 2.153
- AresQuintus Smyrnaeus, 8.239
- HectorHomer, Iliad 8.184
- PallasVirgil, Aeneid 11.89
- Hades (Claudian)
The name is twice applied to humans. In Odyssey 19.183, it is the pseudonym a disguised Odysseus assumes during his interview with Penelope upon his return to Ithaca. According to fr. 43a.5 of Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, Erysichthon of Thessaly was also known as Aethon due to the "burning" hunger (aithôn limos) he was made to endure by Demeter.cf. Callimachus, Hymn to Demeter 6.65 ff.
See also
- Chrysoritis aethon, a species of butterfly
Notes
References
- Callimachus, Hymns translated by Alexander William Mair (1875-1928). London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. [https://topostext.org/work/120 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
- Callimachus, Works. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0481 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0054%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0055 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/QuintusSmyrnaeus1.html Online version at theio.com]
- Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0490 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
{{Greek myth index}}