Rhodanthe (mythology)

Rhodanthe's name means "rose flower", a composite word made up by the Greek words {{lang|grc|ῥόδον}} meaning "rose",{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*r%3Aentry+group%3D12%3Aentry%3Dr%28o%2Fdon ῥόδον]}} and {{lang|grc|ἄνθος}} meaning "flower, blossom".{{sfn|Liddell|Scott|1940|loc=s.v.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*a%3Aentry+group%3D177%3Aentry%3Da%29%2Fnqos1 ἄνθος]}} Rhodon is the origin the English word rose, and seems to have been borrowed into the Greek language from the East.{{sfn|Beekes|2010|pages=[https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek/page/1290/mode/2up?view=theater 1289–90]}} The Latin word 'rhodantha' means "she who is rose-coloured" or "who has red flowers."{{sfn|Sharr|2019|page=294}}

The myth goes that the queen of Corinth Rhodanthe was so beautiful no man who met her could resist to fall in love with her.{{sfn|Paul|1863|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d2VGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA13 13–14]}} Wishing to escape her countless and ardent suitors, she fled to a temple of Artemis/Diana where she took refuge.{{sfn|Watts|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WAagnZNb0cAC&pg=PA322 322]}} Three of the bolder suitors followed her there, and being smitten by her beauty, declared her to be the new goddess of the temple, and renounced Artemis. They were about to overturn the cult image of Artemis when the god Apollo intervened, and angered about the offence directed at his twin sister, metamorphosed all four involved. The three princes became a worm, a fly and a butterfly.{{sfn|Watts|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WAagnZNb0cAC&pg=PA322 322]}} Rhodanthe herself was transformed into a rosebush, owing to her name.{{sfn|Paul|1863|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d2VGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA13 13–14]}}

Over the years, this unsupported tale has been included in various mythology books{{sfn|Stratikis|2008|pages=53-55}}{{sfn|Folkard|1884|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MzslAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA515 515]}} and websites and passed as genuine ancient Greek lore, however none have also included a citation to an original source dating back to ancient Greece or Rome.

The myth is not found in any modern scholarly works noted for their completeness regarding ancient Greek mythology and folklore, such as the German encyclopedia Der Neue Pauly,Der Neue Pauly. Available at [http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/reference-works referenceworks.brillonline.com] which is considered to be an unparalleled masterpiece of classical German scholarship,Bernhard Kytzler: [http://www.zeit.de/1979/06/kathedrale-der-gelehrsamkeit Kathedrale der Gelehrsamkeit.] In: Die Zeit. Hamburg 1979,6 (2. Febr.), S. 39. (German)Wolfgang Schuller: Einführung in die Geschichte des Altertums. Ulmer, Stuttgart 1994, S. 140. (German) the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith,Which can be found [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DA here] which has been praised for its thorough and accurate entries that draw directly from ancient literary sources,{{Cite journal | last = Green | first = Peter | title = Review: [Untitled] | date = 2013 | journal = The Classical Journal | volume = 108 | issue = 3 | doi = 10.5184/classicalj.108.3.0369 | issn = 0009-8353 | pages = 369–72}} or in Paul M. C. Forbes Irving's Metamorphosis in Greek Myths, a work specifically dealing with the themes of transformation in Greek mythology.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|loc=all 326}} Rhodanthe's story is similarly absent in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae,Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Available a [http://www.limc-france.fr/presentation limc-france.fr] a work that has been praised for its breadth and quality,Hansen, William (2005). Classical Mythology: A Guide to the Mythical World of the Greeks and Romans. pg.14. {{ISBN|0195300351}}Hard, Robin (2008). The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. pg.691. {{ISBN|0415478901}}

The actual origin of the tale is French; the story was coined by Father René Rapin, a Jesuit and writer who lived in the seventeenth century.{{sfn|Watts|2007|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=WAagnZNb0cAC&pg=PA322 322]}} The tale has been described as "pleasing" and "ingenious," but is nonetheless not sourced in actual ancient Greek or Roman beliefs.{{sfn|Paul|1863|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=d2VGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA13 13–14]}}

Nevertheless, the rose is featured in some genuine ancient Greek traditions. The rose was seen as the sacred flower of the goddess of love and desire, Aphrodite.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7gyVn5GjXPkC&pg=PA63 63], [https://books.google.com/books?id=7gyVn5GjXPkC&pg=PA96 96]}} Following the gruesome death of her beloved Adonis, it is said that she accidentally pricked herself on a white rose, which was then stained red by her blood.{{sfn|Cyrino|2010|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7gyVn5GjXPkC&pg=PA96 96]}} Alternatively, it was Adonis's red blood that became the rose, or Aphrodite's hot tears.{{sfn|Forbes Irving|1990|page=280}} Rhodanthe appears as a female given name in the romance novel Rhodanthe and Dosicles ({{lang|grc|Τὰ κατὰ Ῥοδάνθην καὶ Δοσικλέα}}), by the Byzantine author Theodore Prodromos (c. 1100 – c. 1165/70).{{sfn|Wagner|1970|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DYZGUSijxAcC&pg=PR15 15]}}{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = Brill's New Pauly | publisher = Brill Reference Online | url = https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/theodorus-brill140040 | doi = 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_brill140040 | last1 = Knell | first1 = Heiner | last2 = Folkerts | first2 = Menso | location = Germany | title = Theodorus | date = 2006 | editor-first1 = Hubert | editor-last1 = Cancik | editor-first2 = Helmuth | editor-last2 = Schneider | translator = Francis G. Gentry | access-date = November 12, 2023}}

• Acantha
• Amethyste
• Orchis
• Rainbow crow

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | author-link = Robert S. P. Beekes | url = https://archive.org/details/etymological-dictionary-of-greek/ | last = Beekes | first = Robert S. P. | title = Etymological Dictionary of Greek | location = Leiden, the Netherlands | publisher = Brill Publications | date = 2010 | volume = ΙΙ | isbn = 978-90-04-17419-1 | series = Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series | editor = Lucien van Beek}}
• {{cite book | author-link = Monica Cyrino | last = Cyrino | first = Monica S. | date = 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7gyVn5GjXPkC | title = Aphrodite | series = Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World | location = New York and London | publisher = Routledge publications | isbn = 978-0-415-77523-6}}
• {{cite book | title = Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore of the Plant Kingdom | first = Richard | last = Folkard | date = 1884 | publisher = S. Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MzslAQAAMAAJ | location = Michigan}}
• {{cite book | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | last = Forbes Irving | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1990 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}
• {{cite book | first1 = Henry George | last1 = Liddell | first2 = Robert | last2 = Scott | title = A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie | location = Oxford | publisher = Clarendon Press | date = 1940 | author1-link = Henry Liddell | author2-link = Robert Scott (philologist)}} [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057 Online version at Perseus.tufts project.]
• {{cite book | title = The Rose Garden | first = William | last = Paul | publisher = Kent and Co. | location = London | date = 1863 | edition = 2nd | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=d2VGAAAAYAAJ}}
• {{cite book | last = Sharr | first = Francis Aubie | title = Western Australian Plant Names and their Meanings | date = 2019 | publisher = Four Gables Press | location = Kardinya, Western Australia | isbn = 9780958034180 | author-link = Francis Aubie Sharr}}
• {{cite book | last = Stratikis | first = Potis | isbn = 9789607261533 | date = December 2008 | title = Οι Μύθοι των Λουλουδιών | publisher = Stratikis publications | location = Athens, Greece | trans-title = The Flower Myths | language = Greek}}
• {{cite book | first = Wilhelm | last = Wagner | isbn = 90-6032-432-3 | date = 1970 | title = Medieval Greek Texts: Being a Collection of the Earliest Compositions in Vulgar Greek, Prior to the Year 1500 | publisher = John Benjamins Publishing | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DYZGUSijxAcC}}
• {{cite book | last = Watts | date = May 2, 2007 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=WAagnZNb0cAC | first = Donald C. | title = Dictionary of Plant Lore | location = Bath, United Kingdom | publisher = Elsevier | isbn = 978-0-12-374086-1}}

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

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Category:Fictional queens

Category:Fakelore

Category:Shapeshifting

Category:Rhodanthe

Category:French literature