In Greek mythology, Phoenice or Phoenike (Ancient Greek: Φοινίκη) may refer to three distinct characters:
- Phoenice, an Attican princess as the daughter of the autochthonous King Actaion and sister to Aglauros, Erse and Pandrosos. After she died a virgin, her father named after her the Phoenician letters in her honour.[1]
- Phoenice, a Phoenician princess as the daughter of King Phoenix and Telephe. She was sister to Europa, Astypalea and Peirus.[2] Phoenice was said to be the mother of Proteus by the god of the sea, Poseidon.[3]
- Phoenice, a dear companion of Artemis who was seduced (or raped) by Zeus. When she found out, Artemis turned her into a bear, and then later fixed her among the stars as the constellation Ursa Minor.[4]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Suda, s.v. Phoenician letters with the authority of Skamon in his second book on Discoveries
- ^ Scholia on Euripides, Phoenissae 5
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Torōnē
- ^ Hard 2015, p. 8.
References[edit]
- Hard, Robin (2015). Constellation Myths: With Aratus's 'Phaenomena'. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-871698-3.
- 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. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
