Lyse (mythology)
{{Short description|Thespian Princess}}
In Greek mythology, Lyse (Ancient Greek: Λύση means 'loosing, releasing, ransoming') was a Thespian princess as one of the 50 daughters of King Thespius and Megamede, daughter of ArneusApollodorus, 2.4.10; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.222 (or by one of his many wivesDiodorus Siculus, 4.29.2). She bore Eumedes to the hero Heracles.Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+2.7.8&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Lyse 2.7.8]
Mythology
When the Cithaeronian lion was harassing the kine of Thespius, the latter asked Herakles to kill the lion.Apollodorus, 2.4.9 The son of Zeus hunted it for fifty days and finally slayed the beast. The Thespian king entertained him as a guest in a brilliant fashion during that span of time, making Heracles drunk and slept unwittingly with each of his fifty daughters, including Lyse. The hero having thought that his bed-fellow was always the same. Thespius intended this to happen because he strongly desired that all his daughters should have children by Hercules.Apollodorus, 2.4.10 & 2.7.8; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.1 & 3; Tzetzes, Chiliades [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades2.html 2.221–225] In another version of the myth, the latter had an intercourse with Lyse and her siblings for one week,Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority seven laid with Heracles each night.Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html#note51 f.n. 51]
In some accounts, Heracles bedded in a single nightPausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661) with Lyse and her sisters except for one who refused to have a connection with him. The hero thinking that he had been insulted, condemned her to remain a virgin all her life, serving him as his priest.Pausanias, 9.27.6
Notes
References
- 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].
- Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1854. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2013.01.0003 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae. Kaibel. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1887. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2013.01.0001 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
- Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0540 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].
- Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. [http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades2.html Online version at theio.com]