Talk:Acantha
| This article is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[edit] Comments
I think this page is two different myths mushed together. The best I can find out is that Acantha was a nymph (who are always female) who Apollo tried to rape, but Acantha fought back, scratching his face. In punishment Apollo turned her into an acanthus tree.
Acanthus and Acanthis (brother and sister) seem to be a different myth, but I can't find a clear description of the myth.
There is some confusion due to this, probably because more than one mythical figure was associated with the class of plants that bear the stem --acanth. From the Encyclopedia Mythica:
Acanthus: The son of Autonous and Hippoamia. The horses of his father tore him to pieces.
Acanthis: The sister of Acanthus. When she cried over the death of her brother the gods turned her into a thistle finch.
Acantha: The spirit of the acanthus tree who was once a nymph loved by the sun god and who, at her death, was transformed into a sun-loving herb.
(http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/greek/articles.html)
Nymphs are nature spirits or minor goddesses which are always regarded as female; one source for this is Princeton's Word Net: http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=nymph Since the only articles I can find that relate to this character refer to her as female (with the exception of the many which are lifted from this article), I'll change her back into a female. Acantha1979 22:31, 11 June 2006 (UTC)Acantha
- Can you attribute the myths of all three characters to any (printed and established, I hope!) source other than Encyclopedia Mythica or the other (unsourced) websites currently given in the works cited? As it stands, the Acanthus/Acanthis characters are believable, since the thistle finch would live on acanthus plants. However, this Acantha sounds like a product of modern times. I've never heard of one of the gods' lovers physically attacking their pursuers. A feminist myth of fighting back against rapists? Anyway, I change some of the wording to reflect the original sources' information. I hope the article sounds a little more coherent now. 67.162.118.167 (talk) 01:43, 25 March 2008 (UTC) Chris G.
