Pallas
God of Warcraft
Personal information
ParentsCrius and Eurybia
SiblingsAstraeus and Perses
ConsortStyx
ChildrenNike, Kratos, Bia, Zelus, occasionally Selene and Eos

In Greek mythology, Pallas (/ˈpæləs/; Greek: Πάλλας) was, according to Hesiod, the son of the Titans Crius and Eurybia, the brother of Astraeus and Perses, the husband of Styx, and the father of Zelus ("Zeal" or "Emulation"), Nike ("Victory"), Kratos ("Strength" or "Power"), and Bia ("Might" or "Force").[1] Hyginus says that Pallas, whom he calls "the giant", also fathered with Styx: Scylla, Fontus ("Fountains") and Lacus ("Lakes").[2] Pallas was sometimes regarded as the Titan god of warcraft and of the springtime campaign season.[3]

Family

The Homeric Hymn "To Hermes" makes the moon goddess Selene (usually the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia), the daughter of a Pallas, son of (an otherwise unknown) Megamedes, which is possibly the same as this Pallas.[4] Ovid uses the patronymic "Pallantias" or "Pallantis" as another name for Aurora, the Roman equivalent of the Greek Eos ("Dawn"), who was the sister of Selene; Ovid apparently regarding Aurora (or Eos) as the daughter of (or otherwise related to) Pallas.[5]

The Suda in discussing Athena's epithet "Pallas" suggests a possible derivation "from brandishing (pallein) the spear".[6] The geographer Pausanias reports that Pellene, a city in Achaea, was claimed by its inhabitants to be named after Pallas, while the Argives claimed it was named for the Argive Pellen.[7]

Family tree

Family of Eurybia and Crius
PontusGaiaUranus
EurybiaCrius
AstraeusEosPersesAsteriaPallasStyx
BoreasAstraeaHecateZelusKratos
NotusEosphorusNikeBia
EurusStars
Zephyrus

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Hard, p. 49; Hesiod. Theogony, 375-383; Apollodorus, 1.2.2, 1.2.4. Compare with Pausanias, 8.18.1–2.
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae, preface.
  3. ^ Daly, p. 109.
  4. ^ Hard, p. 46; Vergados, p. 313; Hymn to Hermes (4), 99 f.
  5. ^ Ovid, Fasti, 4.373, Metamorphoses 9.418, 15.191, 700; Frazer, p. 292; Keightley, p. 62; Vergados, p. 313; York, p. 39; Smith, "Pallantias".
  6. ^ Suda s.v. Παλλάς (Pallas).
  7. ^ Pausanias, 7.26.12.

References