Libya (mythology) ( Ancient Greek: Λιβύη, romanized: Libýē) is the daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt, in both Greek and Roman mythology. She personified the land of Ancient Libya in North Africa, from which the name of modern-day Libya originated. [1]
Mythology
Libya, like Ethiopia or Scythia was one of the mythic outlands that encircled the familiar Greek world of the Hellenes and their "foreign" neighbors.
Personified as an individual, Libya was the daughter of Epaphus [2]—King of Egypt, and the son of Zeus and Io—and Memphis, [3] daughter of the river-god Nilus. [4] In one account, her mother was called Cassiopeia. [5]
Libya was ravished by the god Poseidon to whom she bore twin sons, Belus [6] and Agenor. [7] Some sources name a third son, named Lelex. [8] According to late accounts, Lybee (Libya) consorted instead with Zeus and became the mother of Belus. [9]
In Hyginus' Fabulae, Libye was called the daughter of Palamedes (corrected as Epaphus), who mothered Libys by Hermes. [10]
Argive genealogy in Greek mythology
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Notes
- ^ Marshall, Eireann. "Constructing the self and the other in Cyrenaica". In Laurence, Ray; Berry, Joanne (eds.). Cultural Identity in the Roman Empire. Routledge. pp. 49–63. ISBN 0-415-13594-X.
- ^ Pausanias, 1.44.3; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.287; Hyginus, Fabulae 157; Solinus, Polyhistor 24.1; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 649; Scholia on Euripides, Phoenissae 5
- ^ Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 894 (Gk text)
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.1.4
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 149
- ^ Eusebius, Chronography 63
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.1.4 & 3.1.1; Hyginus, Fabulae 157
- ^ Pausanias, 1.44.3
- ^ Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21–23
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 160
References
- Isidore, Etymologiae xiv.4.1, 5.1
- Augustine, De civitate dei xviii.12
- Lactantius Placidus, Commentarii in Sattii Thebaida iv.737
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theio.com
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