2.1.1
- Ocean and Tethys had a son Inachus, after whom a river in Argos is called Inachus.1 He and Melia [Μελίας], daughter of Ocean, had sons, Phoroneus, and Aegialeus. Aegialeus having died childless, the whole country was called Aegialia; and Phoroneus, reigning over the whole land afterwards named Peloponnese, begat Apis and Niobe by a nymph Teledice. Apis converted his power into a tyranny and named the Peloponnese after himself Apia; but being a stern tyrant he was conspired against and slain by Thelxion and Telchis. He left no child, and being deemed a god was called Sarapis.2 But Niobe had by Zeus ( and she was the first mortal woman with whom Zeus cohabited) a son Argus, and also, so says Acusilaus, a son Pelasgus, after whom the inhabitants of the Peloponnese were called Pelasgians. However, Hesiod says that Pelasgus was a son of the soil.
- 1 As to Inachus and his descendants, see Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 177 (who follows Apollodorus); Paus. 2.15.5; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 932; Scholiast on Hom. Il. i.22. According to Apion, the flight of the Israelites from Egypt took place during the reign of Inachus at Argos. See Eusebius, Praeparatio Evangelii, x.10.10ff. On the subject of Phoroneus there was an ancient epic Phoronis, of which a few verses have survived. See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, pp. 209ff.
2.1.5
- the daughters that had been borne to Danaus by Europe,
3.5.6
- Zethus married Thebe, after whom the city of Thebes is named; and Amphion married Niobe, daughter of Tantalus,1 who bore seven sons, Sipylus, Eupinytus, Ismenus, Damasichthon, Agenor, Phaedimus, Tantalus, ...
Hymn 4—To Delos
- 79–85
- And the earth-born nymph Melia [Μελίη],l [80] wheeled about thereat and ceased from the dance and her cheek paled as she panted for her coeval oak, when she saw the locks of Helicon tremble. Goddesses mine, ye Muses, say did the oaks come into being at the same time as the Nymphs? The nymphs rejoice when the rain makes the oaks to grow; and again the Nymphs weep when there are no longer leaves upon the oaks.
- l The Meliae or Ash-nymphs were of the same class as the Dryads or Hamadryads. The Melia referred to here was the sister of Ismenus.
1.52
- Such were the gifts which he sent to Delphi. To Amphiaraus, of whose courage and fate he had heard, he dedicated a shield made entirely of gold and a spear all of solid gold, point and shaft alike. Both of these were until my time at Thebes, in the Theban temple of Ismenian Apollo.
Fabulae
- Theogony (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 95)
- [6] From Ocean and Tethys came the Oceanids: Hestyaea, Melite, Ianthe, Admete, Stilbo, Pasiphae, Polyxo, Eurynome, Euagoreis, Rhodope, Lyris, Clytia, <unintelligible>, Clitemneste, Mentis, Menippe, Argia. From the same seed came also the Rivers: ... Ismenus, ...
- 11 (Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 100)
- The Children of Niobe
- Thera, *Tantalus, Ismenus, ... these are the sons and daughters of Niobe, Amphion's wife.
X 1241.4.5–10 (Grenfell and Hunt, pp. 104 (Greek text), 109 (translation), 110 (commentary)).
Metamorphoses
- 6.221–224
- There some of Amphion’s seven sons mounted their strong horses, sitting firm on their backs bright with Tyrian purple, and guided them with rich gold-mounted bridles. While one of these, Ismenus, who was his mother’s first-born son,
9.10.5
- Higher up than the Ismenian sanctuary you may see the fountain which they say is sacred to Ares, and they add that a dragon was posted by Ares as a sentry over the spring. By this fountain is the grave of Caanthus. They say that he was brother to Melia [Μελίας] and son to Ocean, and that he was commissioned by his father to seek his sister, who had been carried away. Finding that Apollo had Melia [Μελίαν], and being unable to get her from him, he dared to set fire to the precinct of Apollo that is now called the Ismenian sanctuary. The god, according to the Thebans, shot him.
9.10.6
- Here then is the tomb of Caanthus. They say that Apollo had sons by Melia [Μελίας], to wit, Tenerus and Ismenus [Ἰσμηνόν]. To Tenerus Apollo gave the art of divination, and from Ismenus the river got its name. Not that the river was nameless before, if indeed it was called Ladon before Ismenus was born to Apollo.
9.26.1
- So sacred this sanctuary has been from the beginning. On the right of the sanctuary is a plain named after Tenerus the seer, whom they hold to be a son of Apollo by Melia [Μελίας];
fr. 21 Fowler 2001, p. 289 (= FGrHist 3 F 21 = Schol. Ap. Rhod 3.1177-87f)
- Fowler 2001, p. 289
fr. 126 Fowler 2001, p. 342 (= FGrHist 3 F 126 = Schol. Eur. Phoen. 159)
- Fowler 2001, p. 342
- Fowler 2013, p. 367
Pythian
- 11.1–6 (Race, pp. 380, 381)
- Daughters of Cadmus, you, Semele, neighbor
- of the Olympian goddesses, and you, Ino Leucothea,
- who share the chambers of the Nereid sea nymphs,
- go with the most nobly born mother of Heracles
- and join Melia [Μελίαν]3 at the treasury of the golden tripods, [4]
- the sanctuary which Loxias4 especially honored
- and named the Ismenion,5 the true seat of seers. [6]
- 3 Mother by Apollo of Tenerus and Ismenus (cf. Paus. 9.10).
- 4 Cult name of Apollo in his prophetic guise.
- 5 The temple of Apollo, named for his son Ismenus, famous for rendering oracles.
- Rutherford p. 341
- Pyth. 11. 4 the singer calls the daughters of Kadmos πὰρ Μελίαν χρυσέων ἐς ἄδυτον τριπόδων ('to Melia, to the inviolate treasury of golden tripods').6
fr. 29 (Race, pp. 232, 233)
- Shall it be Ismenus [Ἰσμηνὸν], or Melia [Μελίαν] of the golden spindle,
- or Cadmus, or the holy race of the Spartoi,
- or Thebe of the dark-blue fillet,
- or the all-daring strength of Heracles,
- or the wondrous honor of Dionysus,
- or the marriage of white-armed Harmonia
- that we shall hymn?
fr. 52g 1–5 (Paean 7) (Race, pp. 278, 279; Rutherford, p. 339)
- FOR THE THEBANS TO . . . FOR . . .
- (I come to?) the giver of divine oracles
- and to the word-fulfilling
- sanctuary of the god47 . . . and to the splendid hall
- of Oceanus’ daughter . . . Melia [Μελίας] [4]
- for Apollo at least
- 47 Apollo. Tenerus, his son by Melia, was the prophet both of Apollo Ptoïus in the plain that bears his name and of Apollo Ismenius in Thebes (cf. Pyth. 11.4–6 and Pae. 9.41–46).
fr. 52k 34–46 (Paean 9) (Race, pp. 292–295; cf. Rutherford, pp. 191–192)
- I have been ordained by some divine . . .
- to compose, beside the immortal couch [λέχει] of Melia [Μελίαν], [35]
- a noble song with the pipe
- and by the skills of my mind in your honor.
- I entreat you, Far-Shooting god,
- as I dedicate to the Muses’ arts
- your oracle66 . . . [40]
- in which Melia [Μελία], daughter of Oceanus,
- having shared your bed [λέχει], Pythian god,
- bore mighty Tenerus, chosen prophet of oracles.
- To him, unshorn father, you entrusted
- the people of Cadmus and Zethus’ city67 [45]
- because of his wise courage.
- 66 At the Ismenion in Thebes (schol.).
- 67 Thebes, whose walls were built by Amphion and Zethus (cf. Od. 11.262–264).
Scholia on Pindar
Scholiast on Pindar Pythian 11.5–6 (Drachmann, pp. 254–255).
- 11.5 (Drachmann, p. 254)
- 5. ἴτε σὺν Ἡρακλέος ἀριστογόνῳ: ...
- 11.5 [cont.] (Drachmann, p. 255)
- [1] σιν ό Πίνδαρος [Pindar] ... προσκαλέω [summons]
- [2] ... Θήβησιν ἡρωίδας [Theban heroines] ...Ἰσμήνιον [Ismenion] ...
- [3] Τενέρου [Tenerus]] ἱερόν [sacrifice (n.) / filled with (adj.)] εἰμί [sum] ... χρηστήριον. [an oracle/oracular] τριπόδων [tripods] ... θησαυρόν [store, treasure]
- [4] ... Ἰσμήνιον [Ismenion]
- Rutherford, p. 196 n. 22
- For Tenerus' Theban connections see Dr iii. 255. 1 ff. ... ('He summons the heroines of Thebes to come to the Ismenion, in which is the sacred of Tenerus')
- [5] ... ἡ [his/her?] δὲ [?] Μελία [Melia] Ἰσ-
- [6] [Ἰσ]μηνυ ἀδελφὴ [Ismenus' sister] ὑπὸ [under the power of?] Ἀπόλλωνς [Apollo] φθαρεῖσα [ruined, raped?] χαἰ [his/her?] γεννήσασα [begat] Τε-
- [7] [Τε]νέρον [Tenerus] ἀφ᾽ [without male heirs] οὗ [his/her? not?] ἐν [sum] Θηβαίς Τηνεριχὸν πεδίον [the Theban Teneric plain].
- Larson, p. 304 n. 57
- ...Schol. Pind. Pyth 11.5–6 (Melia is sister of Ismenos and mother of Teneros).
- 11.6 (Drachmann, p. 255)
- 6. πὰρ Μελίαν χρυσέων: Μελία Ὠχεανοῦ θυγάτηρ, (Melia Oceanus' daughter) ἕξ (from out of?) ἧς χαἰ (her?)
Apollo
Teneros
ὁ (his/her?)
μάντις (prophet),
ὅς (his/her?)
παρ᾽ (beside)
Ismenus
τᾥ
ποταμῷ (river)
ἐμαντεύετο (devine, prophesy).
χαἰ (his/her?)
αὐτόθι (on the spot)
μαντεῖον (oracle)
εστιν (sum),
ὅ (his/her?)
Ismenion
χαλεῖται (?),
ἔστι (sum)
δὲ (but)
χαἰ (his/her?)
πηγὴ (spring)
ὁμώνυμος (having the same name)
τῇ (as?)
ήρωιδι ("the heroine", per Larson, p. 305 n. 58)
- Fontenrose, p. 319
- The Pindaric Scholiast (see note 83) agrees that Ismenos was Melia's brother, not her son, as Pausanias has it.
- Larson, p. 304 n. 57
- ...Schol. Pind. Pyth 11.5–6 (Melia is sister of Ismenos and mother of Teneros).
- Larson, p. 305
- According to Schol. Pind. Pyth. 11.6, at the site of the Ismenion there is a spring with the name of "the heroine" Melia.
9.2.34 [= Pindar frs. 51b & 51d (Race, pp. 246, 247)
- The Teneric Plain is named after Tenerus. In myth he was the son of Apollo by Melia [Μελίας], and was a prophet of the oracle on the Ptoüs Mountain, which the same poet [i.e. Pindar] calls three-peaked:
- "and once he took possession of the three-peaked hollow of Ptoüs."
- And he calls Tenerus
- "temple minister, prophet, called by the same name as the plains."
- The Ptoüs lies above the Teneric Plain and Lake Copais near Acraephium. Both the oracle and the mountain belonged to the Thebans. And Acraephium itself also lies on a height. They say that this is called Arne by the poet, the same name as the Thessalian city.