Meander (mythology)

{{Short description|Greek god of the Meander river in Caria}}

{{distinguish|Menander}}

{{redirect|Maiandros|the town of ancient Ionia|Maiandros (Ionia)}}

Meander, Maeander, Mæander or Maiandros (Ancient Greek: Μαίανδρος) was a river god in Greek mythology, patron deity of the Meander river (modern Büyük Menderes River) in Caria, southern Asia Minor (modern Turkey).

He was one of the sons of the Titans Oceanus and his sister/wife (incest) Tethys.Hesiod, Theogony [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Meander 339] & [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hes.+Th.+337 366–370] Meander was the father of Cyanee,Ovid, Metamorphoses [https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Metamorphoses_(tr._Garth,_Dryden,_et_al.)/Book_IX 9.450] Samia (wife of Ancaeus, who begat Perilaus, Enudus, Samus, Alitherses and a daughter Parthenope),Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+7.4.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Maeander 7.4.1] KalamosNonnus, Dionysiaca 369-478 and Callirhoe.Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Alabanda

Mythology

In a story told by Pseudo-Plutarch,{{Cite web |date=1874 |title=Pseudo-Plutarch, De fluviis, IX. MAEANDER |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0400%3Achapter%3D9 |access-date=2023-08-19}} Maeander waged war against the Pessinuntines and vowed to the Mother of the Gods that on obtaining victory, he would sacrifice "the first that came to congratulate him for his good success". As it happened, the first people who greeted him on his return were his mother, his son, and his sister. He fulfilled his vow, but was so grief-stricken that he cast himself into the river, and thus the river Maeander got its name. Parallels to this myth are found in Idomeneus and Jephthah.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

Notes

References

  • Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0129 Greek text available from the same website].
  • Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. [https://topostext.org/work/529 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
  • Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0485 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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [https://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 (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].
  • Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. [https://topostext.org/work/241 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]

{{Greek mythology (deities)|state=collapsed}}

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Category:River gods in Greek mythology

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