Acoetes

The helmsman of a Tyrrhenian pirate ship whose sailors attempted to debauch Dionysus, who had assumed the form of a handsome youth. Acoetes recognized the deity and tried to restrain his shipmates. When Dionysus revealed himself, he turned the sailors into dolphins but spared Acoetes and made him his priest on Naxos.

The members of the Tyrrhenian crew are: Acoetes, Aethalion, Alcimedon, Dictys, Epopeus, Libys, Lycabas, Medon, Melanthus, Opheltes, and Proreus. Hyginus additionally lists Aethalides, Melas, and Simon.

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References

Sources

  • Ovid. Metamorphoses iii, 582 ff.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.
  • Virgil. Fabulae, 134.