Althaea

A daughter of the Aetolian king Thestius and Eurythemis, and sister of Leda, Hypermnestra, Iphicles, Euippus, and others. She was married to Oeneus, king of Calydon, by whom she became the mother of Toxeus, Thyreus, Clymenus, and Meleager, and of two daughters, Gorge and Deianeira.1

Apollodorus states, that according to some, Meleager was regarded as the fruit of her intercourse with Ares, and that she was mother of Deianeira by Dionysus.2 Althaea is especially celebrated in ancient story on account of the tragic fate of her son Meleager, who also became the cause of her death. Some say that she hanged herself, others in that she killed herself with a dagger.3

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References

Notes

  1. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library i, 7.10, 8.1.
  2. Comp. Hyginus. Fabulae, 120, 171, 174.
  3. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library i, 8.3; Ovid. Metamorphoses viii, 445 ff.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.