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Aetna (Ancient Greek: Αἴτνη Aἴtnē) was in Greek and Roman mythology a Sicilian nymph[1] and, according to Alcimus,[2] a daughter of Uranus and Gaia or of Briareus.[3] Stephanus of Byzantium says that according to one account Aetna was a daughter of Oceanus.[4] Simonides said that she had acted as arbitrator between Hephaestus and Demeter respecting the possession of Sicily. By Zeus or Hephaestus she became the mother of the Palici.[5]

Mount Etna in Sicily was believed to have derived its name from her and under it Zeus buried Typhon, Enceladus, or Briareus. The mountain itself was believed to be the place in which Hephaestus and the Cyclopes made the thunderbolts for Zeus.[6]

Notes

  1. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1870), "Aetna", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, p. 54, archived from the original on 2009-03-15, retrieved 2007-11-05((citation)): CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ Alcimus, ap. Schol. Theocrit. i. 65; Ellis, p. l.
  3. ^ Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. p. 14. ISBN 9780874365818.
  4. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Παλιχη; Ellis, pp. l–li.
  5. ^ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 9.584
  6. ^ Euripides, Cyclops 296; Propertius, 3.15.21; Cicero, De Divinatione 2.19

References

Further reading

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Aetna". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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