Alastor
{{Short description|Set of mythological Greek characters}}
{{About||the fictional character|Alastor the Radio Demon|other topics with the same name}}
{{Greek deities (personifications)}}
Alastor ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|l|æ|s|t|ər|,_|-|t|ɔː|r}}; Ancient Greek: Ἀλάστωρ, English translation: "avenger"{{Cite book|last=Graves, Robert|title=The Greek Myths - The Complete and Definitive Edition|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|year=2017|isbn=9780241983386|pages=413}}) refers to a number of people and concepts in Greek mythology:{{Citation | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | contribution = Alastor | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | volume = 1 | pages = 89 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0098.html | access-date = 2008-06-10 | archive-date = 2010-12-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101213142755/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0098.html | url-status = dead }}
- Alastor, an epithet of the Greek God Zeus, according to Hesychius of Alexandria and the Etymologicum Magnum, which described him as the avenger of evil deeds, specifically familial bloodshed. As the personification of a curse, it was also a sidekick of the Erinyes.{{Citation | last = Rose | first = Herbert Jennings | author-link = H. J. Rose | contribution = Alastor | editor-last = Hornblower | editor-first = Simon | title = Oxford Classical Dictionary | publisher = Oxford University Press | place = Oxford | year = 1996 }} The name is also used, especially by the tragic writers, to designate any deity or demon who avenges wrongs committed by men.Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1479, 1508 & The Persians 343; Euripides, Phoenician Women 1550; Sophocles, The Trachiniae 1092; Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum 13; Pausanias, 8.24.8 In Euripides' play Electra, Orestes questions an oracle who calls upon him to kill his mother, and wonders if the oracle was not from Apollo, but some malicious alastor.Euripides, Electra 979 There was an altar to Zeus Alastor just outside the city walls of Thasos.{{Citation | first = Susan Guettel | last = Cole | editor-last = Herman Hansen | editor-first = Mogens | contribution = Civic Cult and Civic Identity | title = Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium August, 24-27 1994 | year = 1994 | pages = 310 | place = Copenhagen | publisher = Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y-c56ta4BKwC | isbn = 978-87-7304-267-0 }}
- By the time of the 4th century BC, alastor in Greek had degraded to a generic type of insult, with the approximate meaning of "scoundrel".
- Alastor, a prince of Pylos and son of King Neleus and Chloris, daughter of Amphion.Homer, Odyssey 11.284 He was the brother of Asterius, Deimachus, Epilaus, Eurybius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Nestor, Periclymenus, Phrasius, Pylaon, Taurus and Pero.Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=9&highlight=Deimachus 1.9.9] When Heracles took Pylos, he killed Alastor and his brothers, except for Nestor.Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, 1.156; Apollodorus, 2.7.3 According to Parthenius of Nicaea, he was to be married to Harpalyce, who, however, was taken from him by her father Clymenus.Parthenius, [https://topostext.org/work/550#13 13] from the Thrax of Euphorion and from Dectadas
- Alastor, a Lycian warrior who was a companion of Sarpedon. He fought in the Trojan War and was slain by the Greek hero Odysseus during the battle.Homer, Iliad 5.677; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.257
- Alastorides is a patronymic form given by Homer to Tros, who was probably a son of the Lycian Alastor mentioned above.Homer, Iliad 10.463
- Alastor, a Pylian soldier who fought under their leader Nestor during the Trojan War.Homer, Iliad 4.295 He remembered for having, together with Mecisteus, carried the wounded Teucer off the battlefield as they later did also with Hypsenor.Homer, Iliad 8.333 & 13.422
- Alastor, a black horse belonging to the Greek God Hades. He was one of the four horses drawing Hades's chariot when he rose from the Underworld to bring Persephone down with him. The other three were Orphnaeus, Aethon, and Nycteus.Claudian, De Raptu Proserpinae 1.286
- Alastor, in Christian demonology, came to be considered a kind of possessing entity.{{Citation | last = Sorenson | first = Eric | title = Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity | publisher = Mohr Siebeck | year = 2002 | pages = 78 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zh4o4LijeQkC | isbn = 3-16-147851-7}} He was likened to Nemesis. The name Alastor was also used as a generic term for a class of evil spirits.
See also
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|}}
Notes
{{Reflist|2|refs=}}
References
- Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. Agamemnon by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0004 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0003 Greek text available from the same website].
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
- Claudius Claudianus, The Rape of Proserpine translated by Platnauer, Maurice. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 135 & 136. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1922. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/1*.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
- Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Electra, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0096 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 2. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0095 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Phoenissae, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0118 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0117 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths, Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. {{ISBN|978-0143106715}}
- Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-241-98338-6|024198338X}}
- 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. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://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. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee, S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. [https://topostext.org/work/550 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
- Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0643 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More. 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].
- Sophocles, The Trachiniae of Sophocles edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0196 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
- Sophocles, Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0195 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
{{Greek mythology index}}
Category:Demons in Christianity
Category:Personifications in Greek mythology
Category:Mythology of Heracles