In Greek mythology, Thersanon or Thersanor[note 1] is one of the Argonauts, the crew of the legendary Argo. Born on the island of Andros, Thersanon was the son of the sun god Helios by a woman named Leucothoe; he joined Jason and the other Argonauts in the quest for the golden fleece, kept by King Aeëtes of Colchis, one of Thersanon's paternal half-brothers.[2]

Parentage

Hyginus names Leucothoe as his mother; according to Ovid, Leucothoe was a mortal princess of Babylon that Helios fell in love with; but when her father discovered the affair thanks to Clytie, he buried Leucothoe alive, and afterwards her dead body was turned into a frankincense tree by Helios.[3][4][5] Hyginus assigning them a son might indicate that he knew a very different version of the myth, or perhaps he refers to another woman, such as the sea goddess Leucothea, whom he elsewhere refers to as "Leucothoe" in the same work.[6][7][8]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ The text of the Fabulae is corrupted, and the Argonaut's name has been corrected to either Thersanon or Thersanor; the form "Thersanor" appears in an alphabetic list of Argonauts on a papyrus (POxy 61.4097).[1]

References

  1. ^ Scott Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 103; p. 189
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14.4
  3. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.192–270
  4. ^ Hard, p. 45
  5. ^ Gantz, p. 34
  6. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 125
  7. ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Leucothoe
  8. ^ Forbes Irving 1990, p. 266.

Bibliography

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