Acaste (Oceanid)
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Acaste or Akastê | |
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Companion of Persephone | |
Member of the Oceanids | |
Personal information | |
Parents | Oceanus and Tethys |
Siblings | Other Oceanids and the Potamoi |
Greek deities series |
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Aquatic deities |
Nymphs |
In Greek mythology, Acaste or Akeste[1] (/əˈkæstiː/; Ancient Greek: Ακαστη Akastê means 'unstable' or 'irregular' from akastatos; feminine form of Acastus) was one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and her sister-spouse Tethys.[2]
Family[edit]
Hesiod mentioned Acaste as one of the Oceanids:
- "Cerceis lovely of form, and soft eyed Pluto, Perseis, Ianeira, Acaste, Xanthe, Petraea the fair, Menestho, and Europa, Metis, and Eurynome, and Telesto saffron-clad, Chryseis and Asia and charming Calypso, Eudora, and Tyche, Amphirho, and Ocyrrhoe, and Styx who is the chiefest of them all. These are the eldest daughters that sprang from Ocean and Tethys; but there are many besides."[3]
Mythology[edit]
Acaste only appeared in one myth, along with her sisters, she was one of the companions of Persephone when the maiden was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld[1]. Persephone recounted her kidnapping to her mother Demeter in the following passage:
- "All we were (i.e. Persephone and her companions) playing in a lovely meadow, Leucippe and Phaeno and Electra and Ianthe, Melita also and Iache with Rhodea and Callirhoe and Melobosis and Tyche and Ocyrhoe, fair as a flower, Chryseis, Ianeira, Acaste and Admete and Rhodope and Pluto and charming Calypso; Styx too was there and Urania and lovely Galaxaura with Pallas who rouses battles and Artemis delighting in arrows: we were playing and gathering sweet flowers in our hands, soft crocuses mingled with irises and hyacinths, and rose-blooms and lilies, marvellous to see, and the narcissus which the wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus."[4]
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b Bane, p. 19.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 346; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 405; Bell, p. 2; Bane, p. 11.
- ^ Hesiod, Theogony 346
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter 417 ff.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
References[edit]
- Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN 9780786471119.
- Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. 1991. ISBN 9780874365818, 0874365813.
- Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.