Melanippe

The name Melanippe is the feminine counterpart of Melanippus.

In Greek mythology, the name Melanippe (Ancient Greek: Μελανίππη; mɛləˈnɪpi or mɛləˈnɪpaɪ, mel-uh-NIP-ee) referred to several different people:

Family

• Melanippe I: Also known as Hippe 'the mare' or Euippe 'the good mare'. She is the daughter of the Centaur Chiron, and the sister of Endeïs, Ocyrhoe, Carystus, and Aristaeus. She was the consort of Aeolus, son of Hellen, and through him, she bore a daughter named Melanippe / Arne. She escaped to Mount Pelion so that her father would not find out that she was pregnant, but, being searched for, she prayed to Artemis asking for assistance, and the goddess transformed her into a mare. Other accounts state that the transformation was a punishment for her having scorned Artemis, or for having divulged the secrets of gods. She was later placed among the stars.^[1][2][3]
• Melanippe II: Wife of Hippotes, son of Mimas, she is also the granddaughter-in-law of Aeolus, son of Hellen and Melanippe I. Through a union with Hippotes, she gave birth to Aeolus, son of Hippotes, King of Aeolia and wielder of the Winds.^[4]
• Melanippe III: Also known as Arne^[5] or Antiope^[6]. Melanippe III has two interpretations of her familial connections, with one more popular than the other. In any case, through a union with Poseidon, she gave birth to Boeotus and Aeolus, son of Poseidon.
  • She is potentially the daughter of Melanippe, daughter of Chiron and Aeolus, son of Hellen, making her the sister to a litany of siblings, including Cretheus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Deion, Magnes, Perieres, Canace, Alcyone, Pisidice, Calyce, Perimede, Macedon,^[7] Minyas,^[8] Mimas,^[9] Cercaphus,^[10] Aethlius,^[11] Ceyx,^[12] Tanagra,^[13] Iope^[14] and Tritogeneia^[15].
  • She is potentially the daughter of Melanippe, wife of Hippotes, and either Hippotes, son of Mimas or of Desmontes. This connection makes her the granddaughter of Mimas, the great-granddaughter of Aeolus, son of Hellen and Melanippe I, and the great-great-granddaughter of Chiron.

Others

• Melanippe: a Aetolian princess as the daughter of King Oeneus of Calydon and Althaea, daughter of King Thestius of Pleuron. As one of the Meleagrids, she was turned into a guinea fowl by Artemis after the death of her brother, Meleager.^[16]
• Melanippe: an Amazon, sister of Hippolyta, Penthesilea and Antiope, daughter of Ares. Heracles captured her and demanded Hippolyte's girdle in exchange for her freedom. Hippolyte complied and Heracles let her go.^[17][18] Some say that it was Melanippe whom Theseus abducted and married.^[19] Yet others relate that she was killed by Telamon.^[20]
• Melanippe: a nymph who married Itonus, son of Amphictyon.^[21]
• Melanippe: possible wife of King Chalcodon of Euboea and mother of Elephenor.^[22]
• Melanippe: an emendation for "Medippe" (name of one of the sacrificial victims of Minotaur) in Servius' commentaries on Aeneid.

Notes

1. ^ Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterisms 18
2. ^ Hyginus, De astronomia 2.18
3. ^ Smith, "Melanippe" 1.
4. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.67.3
5. ^ Fowler 2013, p. 188 (citing Scholia on Iliad 2.494); [./Pausanias_(geographer) Pausanias], 9.40.5. Compare with [./Diodorus_Siculus Diodorus Siculus], 4.67.3, which makes Arne the daughter of Aeolus son of Hippotes.
6. ^ Bell, s.v. Antiope (4); [./Hyginus_(Fabulae) Hyginus], [./Fabulae Fabulae] 157.
7. ^ [./Hellanicus_of_Lesbos Hellanicus] fr. 74 Fowler (Fowler 2000, p. 183; Fowler 2013, pp. 155–156; [./Eustathius_of_Thessalonica Eustathius of Thessalonica] on [./Dionysius_Periegetes Dionysius Periegetes] 427, cited by Fowler 2013, p. 156.
8. ^ [./Apollonius_of_Rhodes Apollonius of Rhodes], [./Argonautica Argonautica] 3.1093–2094, who also has Cretheus and Athamas as sons of Aeolus (3.360).
9. ^ [./Diodorus_Siculus Diodorus Siculus], 4.67.3
10. ^ [./Strabo Strabo], 9.5.18.
11. ^ [./Pausanias_(geographer) Pausanias], 5.8.2.
12. ^ [./Clement_of_Alexandria Clement of Alexandria], 4 47 P (pp. 122, 123).
13. ^ Bell, s.v. Tanagra; [./Pausanias_(geographer) Pausanias], 9.20.1.
14. ^ Bell, s.v. Iope (1); [./Stephanus_of_Byzantium Stephanus of Byzantium], s.v. Iope.
15. ^ Smith, s.v. Trigoneia: "a daughter of Aeolus, and the wife of Minyas, or according to others, the mother of Minyas by Poseidon", citing Tzetzes on Lycophron 873; Scholia on [./Pindar Pindar], Pythian 4.120.
16. ^ Antoninus Liberalis, 2 as cited in Nicander's Metamorphoses
17. ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.16.3
18. ^ Justin's Epitome of Trogus Pompeius' History of the World, Book 2, part IV Archived 2012-10-14 at the Wayback Machine
19. ^ Apollodorus, E.1.16
20. ^ Scholia on Pindar, Nemean Ode 3.64
21. ^ Pausanias, 9.1.1
22. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1034

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica 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.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873).