User:Paul August/Echidna (mythology)

Echidna (mythology)

To Do

• Add Herodotus
• Other cites given in Theoi
• Other cites given in Gantz
• Other cites given in Ogden?

Sources

Ancient

Hesiod

Theogony

270–294.

And again, Ceto bore to Phorcys the fair-cheeked Graiae, sisters grey from their birth: and both deathless gods and men who walk on earth call them Graiae, Pemphredo well-clad, and saffron-robed Enyo, and the Gorgons who dwell beyond glorious Ocean [275] in the frontier land towards Night where are the clear-voiced Hesperides, Sthenno, and Euryale, and Medusa who suffered a woeful fate: she was mortal, but the two were undying and grew not old. With her lay the Dark-haired One1in a soft meadow amid spring flowers. [280] And when Perseus cut off her head, there sprang forth great Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus who is so called because he was born near the springs2of Ocean; and that other, because he held a golden blade3in his hands. Now Pegasus flew away and left the earth, the mother of flocks, [285] and came to the deathless gods: and he dwells in the house of Zeus and brings to wise Zeus the thunder and lightning. But Chrysaor was joined in love to Callirrhoe, the daughter of glorious Ocean, and begot three-headed Geryones. Him mighty Heracles slew [290] in sea-girt Erythea by his shambling oxen on that day when he drove the wide-browed oxen to holy Tiryns, and had crossed the ford of Ocean and killed Orthus and Eurytion the herdsman in the dim stead out beyond glorious Ocean.

295–305

And in a hollow cave she bore another monster, irresistible, in no wise like either to mortal men or to the undying gods, even the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, [305] a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.

306–318

Men say that Typhaon the terrible, outrageous and lawless, was joined in love to her, the maid with glancing eyes. So she conceived and brought forth fierce offspring; first she bore Orthus the hound of Geryones, [310] and then again she bore a second, a monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong. And again she bore a third, the evil-minded Hydra of Lerna, whom the goddess, white-armed Hera nourished, [315] being angry beyond measure with the mighty Heracles. And her Heracles, the son of Zeus, of the house of Amphitryon, together with warlike Iolaus, destroyed with the unpitying sword through the plans of Athena the spoil driver.

319–329

She [Echidna?] was the mother of Chimaera who breathed raging fire, [320] a creature fearful, great, swift footed and strong, who had three heads, one of a grim-eyed lion, another of a goat, and another of a snake, a fierce dragon; in her forepart she was a lion; in her hinderpart, a dragon; and in her middle, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. [325] Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay; [326] but ["she" Echidna?] was subject in love to Orthus and brought forth the deadly Sphinx which destroyed the Cadmeans, and the Nemean lion, which Hera, the good wife of Zeus, brought up and made to haunt the hills of Nemea, a plague to men.

Lasus of Hermione

The Sphinx was daughter of Ekhidna and Typhon, according to Lasus of Hermione.

Acusilaus

"Cerberus is the son of Echidnê and Typho; also other monsters, including the eagle that eats the liver of Prometheus" Acusilaus of Argos: Fragments 6.

Bacchylides

Ode 5.62

So it was, they say, that the gate-destroying unconquerable son [Heracles] of Zeus of the flashing thunderbolt went down to the halls of slender-ankled Persephone [60] to bring up into the light from Hades the razor-toothed dog [Cerberus], son of the fearsome Echidna.

Herodotus

4.8

This is what the Scythians say about themselves and the country north of them. But the story told by the Greeks who live in Pontus is as follows. Heracles, driving the cattle of Geryones, came to this land, which was then desolate, but is now inhabited by the Scythians. [2] Geryones lived west of the Pontus, settled in the island called by the Greeks Erythea, on the shore of Ocean near Gadira, outside the pillars of Heracles. As for Ocean, the Greeks say that it flows around the whole world from where the sun rises, but they cannot prove that this is so. [3] Heracles came from there to the country now called Scythia, where, encountering wintry and frosty weather, he drew his lion's skin over him and fell asleep, and while he slept his mares, which were grazing yoked to the chariot, were spirited away by divine fortune.

4.9

When Heracles awoke, he searched for them, visiting every part of the country, until at last he came to the land called the Woodland, and there he found in a cave a creature of double form that was half maiden and half serpent; above the buttocks she was a woman, below them a snake. [2] When he saw her he was astonished, and asked her if she had seen his mares straying; she said that she had them, and would not return them to him before he had intercourse with her; Heracles did, in hope of this reward. [3] But though he was anxious to take the horses and go, she delayed returning them, so that she might have Heracles with her for as long as possible; at last she gave them back, telling him, “These mares came, and I kept them safe here for you, and you have paid me for keeping them, for I have three sons by you. [4] Now tell me what I am to do when they are grown up: shall I keep them here (since I am queen of this country), or shall I send them away to you?” Thus she inquired, and then (it is said) Heracles answered: [5] “When you see the boys are grown up, do as follows and you will do rightly: whichever of them you see bending this bow and wearing this belt so, make him an inhabitant of this land; but whoever falls short of these accomplishments that I require, send him away out of the country. Do so and you shall yourself have comfort, and my will shall be done.”

4.10

So he drew one of his bows (for until then Heracles always carried two), and showed her the belt, and gave her the bow and the belt, that had a golden vessel on the end of its clasp; and, having given them, he departed. But when the sons born to her were grown men, she gave them names, calling one of them Agathyrsus and the next Gelonus and the youngest Scythes; furthermore, remembering the instructions, she did as she was told. [2] Two of her sons, Agathyrsus and Gelonus, were cast out by their mother and left the country, unable to fulfill the requirements set; but Scythes, the youngest, fulfilled them and so stayed in the land. [3] From Scythes son of Heracles comes the whole line of the kings of Scythia; and it is because of the vessel that the Scythians carry vessels on their belts to this day. This alone his mother did for Scythes. This is what the Greek dwellers in Pontus say.

Hyginus

Fabulae

Preface

From Typhon and Echidna: Gorgon, Cerberus, the dragon which guarded the Golden Fleece at Colchis, Scylla who was woman above but dog-forms below [whom Hercules killed]; Chimaera, Sphinx who was in Boeotia, Hydra serpent which had nine heads which Hercules killed, and the dragon of the Hesperides.

151

CHILDREN OF TYPHON AND ECHIDNA

From Typhon the giant and Echidna were born Gorgon, the three-headed dog Cerberus, the dragon which guarded the apples of the Hesperides across the ocean, the Hydra which Hercules killed by the spring of Lerna, the dragon which guarded the ram’s fleece at Colchis, Scylla who was woman above but dog below, with six dog-forms sprung from her body, the Sphinx which was in Boeotia, the Chimaera in Lycia which had the fore part of a lion, the hind part of a snake, while the she-goat itself formed the middle. From Medusa, daughter of Gorgon, and Neptues, were born Chrysaor and horse Pegasus; from Chrysaor and Callirhoe, three-formed Geryon.

Ovid

Metamorphoses

4.500–501

And with a monstrous composite of foam—

once gathered from the mouth of Cerberus,

the venom of Echidna,

7.406–409

Medea, seeking his destruction, brewed

the juice of aconite, infesting shores

of Scythia, where, 'tis fabled, the plant grew

on soil infected by Cerberian [Echidneae "of Echidna"] teeth.

Apollodorus

2.3.1

It is said, too, that this Chimera was bred by Amisodarus, as Homer also affirms, [Illiad 16.328] and that it was begotten by Typhon on Echidna, as Hesiod relates

2.5.1

First, Eurystheus ordered him to bring the skin of the Nemean lion;¹ now that was an invulnerable beast begotten by Typhon.

1 As to the Nemean lion, compare Hes. Th. 326ff.; Bacch. 8.6ff., ed. Jebb; Soph. Trach. 1091ff.; Theocritus xxv.162ff.; Diod. 4.11.3ff.; Eratosthenes, Cat. 12; Tzetzes, Chiliades ii.232ff.; Hyginus, Fab. 30. According to Hesiod, the Nemean lion was begotten by Orthus, the hound of Geryon, upon the monster Echidna. Hyginus says that the lion was bred by the Moon.

2.5.10

He [Geryon] owned red kine, of which Eurytion was the herdsman and Orthus, the two-headed hound, begotten by Typhon on Echidna, was the watchdog.

2.5.11

These apples were not, as some have said, in Libya, but on Atlas among the Hyperboreans.3 They were presented < by Earth> to Zeus after his marriage with Hera, and guarded by an immortal dragon with a hundred heads [Ladon], offspring of Typhon and Echidna, which spoke with many and divers sorts of voices.

the Caucasus the eagle, offspring of Echidna and Typhon, that was devouring the liver of Prometheus,

3.5.8

For Hera sent the Sphinx,2 whose mother was Echidna and her father Typhon; and she had the face of a woman, the breast and feet and tail of a lion, and the wings of a bird.

E1.1

Third, he slew at Crommyon the sow that was called Phaea after the old woman who bred it;1 that sow, some say, was the offspring of Echidna and Typhon.

Quintus Smyrnaeus

6.249ff. (pp. 272–273)

There lay the bulk of giant Geryon

Dead mid his kine. His gory heads were cast

in dust, dashed down by that resitles club

Before him that most murderous hound

Orthros, in furious might like Cerberus

His brother-hound

6.260ff. (pp. 272–273)

And there, a dread sight even for Gods to see,

Was Cerberus, whom the Loathy Worm [Έχιδνα] had borne

To Typho in a craggy cavern's gloom

Close on the borders of Eternal Night,

Modern

Caldwell

p. 7

[Digram showing Echidan as descending from Phorkys and Keto]

p. 46

[295] She〫bore another unbeatable monster, in no way

like mortal men or immortal gods, in a

hollow cave, the divine and hard-eyed Echidna,

295-303 "She" is presumably Keto. Echidna is another ambivalently-regarded hybrid, half-serpent and half-nymph. Hesiod does not specify which half is which, but the viper-maiden met by Herakles is described by Herodotos (4.8-10) as a woman from the buttocks up and a serpent below. This would conform with other composit monsters (Harpies, Sphinx, etc.); if they are part woman, the upper part is human (since this is the part of the mother with which the male child is familiar; the other, lower part is unseen, therefore exciting curiosity and fantasy).

Clay

p. 159

At this point, we must raise the thorny question of the referents of the pronouns at lines 319 and 326.³²

³² There is a similar difficulty at 295, where ἡ designates the mother of Echidna. Here, however, the modern scholarly consensus (West [1966] 249; Abramowicz [1940-46] 171; Lemke [1968] 48-49; Siegmann [1969] 756; Wilamowitz [1959] 3: 259; and Hamilton [1989] 89) assigns the role to Keto, with the exception of Schwabl [1969] 174-76, who insists that the reference must be to Kallirhoe. Cf. Welker (1865) 125.

³⁴ At 319, the mother of the Chimaera is identified as Echidna by Wilamowitz (1959) 3.260; Marg (1970) 165; Schwabl (1969) 177-78; cf, Apollodorus 2.3.1 (citing Hesiod as his authority); Hydra, by West (1966) 254-55; Abramowicz (1940-46) 167; and Keto, by Siegmann (1969) 756; Lemke (1968) 52; and Hamilton (1989) 91-92. At 326, the mother of Phix and the Nemean Lion is identified as Echidna by Wilamowitz (1959) 3.260; Marg (1970) 167; and Schwabl (1969) 183; cf. Apollodorus 3.5.8; Chimaera; Abramowicz (1940-46) 167; Siegmann (1969) 756; West (1966) 256; Hamilton (1989) 91; cf. Scholia at 326 (p. 62 Di Gregorio). Only Lemke (1968) 53 nominates Keto. For a summary of earlier opinions, see Abramowicz (1940-46) 167.

Ogden

p. 70

[List of sources, probably mostly for Typhon]

p. 148 [viewable from my laptop]

Already in the Theogony we are given a geneaology that embraces most of the principal drakontes, pure and composit. Hesiod's phraseology, with a number of (perhaps wilfully) vague 'and she's picking up after descending lines and excursuses have been pursued, leaves it impossible to reconstruct his family tree with certainty. According to West's understanding, the sea-creatures Ceto and Phorcys are the first generation and the ultimate ancestors of all. ... The most likely alternative to this reconstruction, and the one favoured by the present author, identifies Echidna

p. 149

as the mother of the Chimaera (as oppossed to the Hydra) and of the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion (as opposed to the Chimaera), to produce a much flatter tree in which Echidna becomes more fecund. She is now the mother to Orthus, Cerberus, Hydra by Typhon, the Chimaera by father unstated (by default we may guess Typhon again), and then the Sphinx and the Nemean Lion by her own son Orthus (see Table 4.1).

The tradition after Hesiod, which culminates in Apollodorus and Hyginus, sought to flatten and simplyfy the genealogy even beyond this, whilst also expanding it, concentrating almost all the monsters together as the immediate children of Typhon and Echidna. Thus Apollodorus makes Typhon and Echidna parents not only to the Nemean Lion, Ortus, the Chimaera, and the Sphinx, but also to her Hesiodic brother Ladon, as well as to a creature unmentioned by Hesiod, the Sow of Crmmyon. From Hesiod Hyginus' Typhon and Echidna retain as children Cerberus and Hydra and (probably) the Chimaera and the Sphinx too. Then from amongst Echidna's Hesiodic siblings Ladon and Gorgon' again become their children, as do two monsters unmentioned by Hesiod, the Colchis drakōn and Scylla In the meantime, the pair had also aquired another

p. 150

monstrous child, according to Acusilaus and Pherecydes, in the form of the eagle that devoured Prometheus' liver.⁴

⁴ Acusilaus of Argos F13 Fowler, Pherecydes F7 Fowler. Echidna (no mention of Typhon) is also said to be the mother of an unamed 'double-formed' son, presumably an anguipede à la Cecrops, at Nonnus Dionysiaca 18. 273-7