In Greek mythology, Arethusa (/ˌærɪˈθjuːzə/; Ancient Greek: Ἀρέθουσα, romanized: Aréthousa) is a minor figure from Ithaca who is transformed into a fountain bearing her name. Her story survives in scholia on Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.
Mythology
Arethusa was a woman from the island of Ithaca; other than a son, no other family or lineage of hers is preserved. According to an anonymous scholiast on Homer, Arethusa had a son named Corax (meaning "raven") who was a hunter. One day while hunting a hare, Corax accidentally fell off a cliff and died. Out of grief for losing her son, the inconsolable Arethusa transformed into a fountain bearing her name on the spot Corax died, while the rock there took the name of the dead son thereafter.[1]
In the Odyssey, after returning home following a long ten-year long journey, the disguised king Odysseus finds his slave Eumaeus tending the swine next to the rock of Corax and the fountain of Arethusa.[2][3]
The Arethusa fountain can be still found on Ithaca to this day.
See also
References
Bibliography
- Dindorf, Wilhelm, ed. (1855). Scholia Graeca in Homeri Odysseam Ex Codicibus Aucta Et Emendata. Vol. II. Typographeo Academico.
- Greatheed, Samuel; Parken, Daniel; Williams, Theophilus; Conder, Josiah; Price, Thomas; Ryland, Jonathan Edwards; Paxton Hood, Edwin (1809). "Gell's Antiquities of Ithaca". The Eclectic Review. Vol. V.
- Homer (2015). The Odyssey. Translated by Barry P. Powell. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-992588-9.