Alexandra
- 1211 (Mair, pp. 594, 595)
- the land of the Aoniansf to be their saviour, when they are harassed by an armed host which seeks to sack their land and the shrine of Tenerus.g
- f Boeotians.
- g Son and priest of Ptoian Apollo in Boeotia.
- See also Hornblower, p. 433:
- ...the Aonian land
- to be a Savior, when they are hard pressed by a hoplite army [1210]
- ravaging the land and the temples of Teneros.
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];
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.
fr. 51d [= Strabo, 9.2.34]
- Race, pp. 246, 247
- 51d Strabo, Geography of Greece. “And the same poet calls Tenerus”
- the temple-tending seer with the same name as the plains
fr. 52g (Paean 7) Race, pp. 278, 279 = D7 (Pa. 7) Rutherford, pp. 338–339
- Race, pp. 278, 279
- 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
- ...
- we speak of the hero Tenerus
- of bulls
- before the altar 15
- . . . . . .
- they sang a song
- oracle
- 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).
- Rutherford, p. 339
- MARGINAL TITLE. For the Thebans to . . . To the giver of divine oracles and the word-fulfilling shrine of the god ... and the bright court of Melia, the (rich-haired daughter) of Oceanus . . . for Apollo . . . running over the mountains . . . with gentle-spirited . . . to gleam (?) . . . pouring a drop of pa(eans?) . . . with the Kharites for me next to . . . on a sweet aulos . . . (me) going along the far-shining peak the hero called Tenerus . . . of bulls . . . in front of the altar . . . their voices sounded . . . (he made) an oracle.
fr. 52k 34–46 (Paean 9) Race, pp. 292–295 = A1 (Pa. IX) Rutherford, pp. 189–192
- Race, pp. 292–295
- 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.
- For the sea god Wielder of the Trident
- honored him above all mortals,
and he sped (his chariot) to the region of Euripus::66 At the Ismenion in Thebes (schol.).
- 67 Thebes, whose walls were built by Amphion and Zethus (cf. Od. 11.262–264).
- Rutherford, pp. 191–192
- I have been ordained by some fateful (sign?) near the immortal bed of Melia to link noble verses ... in which Oceanus' daughter Melia, joined with you in your bed, god of Pytho, once (?) bore Tenerus, broad in force, distinguished interpreter of oracles. To him, father with unshorn hair, you entrusted [p. 192] Cadmus' folk in the city of Zeathus on account of his temperate courage. For once the sea god who shakes the trident honoured him above all other men and directed [his chariot] towards the ground of Euripus.
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.
Tzetzes on Lycophron Alexandra 1211
1211 (Müller, p. 963)
- [cited by Grimal, p. 512]