In Greek mythology, Heliconis (Ancient Greek: Ἑλικωνίς means 'dweller on Helicon') was a Thespian princess as one of the 50 daughters of King Thespius and Megamede, daughter of Arneus1 (or by one of his many wives2). She bore Phalias to the hero Heracles.3
Mythology
When the Cithaeronian lion was harassing the king of Thespius, the latter asked Heracles to kill the lion.4 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 Heliconis. 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 Heracles.5 In another version of the myth, the latter had an intercourse with Heliconis and her siblings for one week,6 seven laid with Heracles each night.7
In some accounts, Heracles bedded in a single night8 with Heliconis 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.9
Notes
Notes
- Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.222
- Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.2
- Apollodorus, 2.7.8
- Apollodorus, 2.4.9
- Apollodorus, 2.4.10 & 2.7.8; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.1 & 3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.221–225
- Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority
- Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
- Pausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
- Pausanias, 9.27.6
References
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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. 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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae. Kaibel. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1887. 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. 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. 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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. 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. Online version at theio.com