Aphareus

A son of the Messenian king Perieres and Gorgophone, the daughter of Perseus.1 His wife is called by Apollodorus2 Arene, and by others Polydora or Laocoosa.3 Aphareus had three sons, Lynceus, Idas, and Peisus. He was believed to have founded the town of Arene in Messenia, which he called after his wife. He received Neleus and Lycus, the son of Pandion who had fled from their countries into his dominions. To the former he assigned a tract of land in Messenia, and from the latter he and his family learned the orgies of the great gods.4 Pausanias in this passage mentions only the two sons of Aphareus, Idas and Lynceus, who are celebrated in ancient story under the name of Apharetidai (Ἀφαρητίδαι) or Apharetiadai (Ἀφαρητιάδαι), for their fight with the Dioscuri, which is described by Pindar.5

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References

Notes

  1. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library i, 9.5.
  2. iii, 10.3.
  3. Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, i, 152; Theocritus, xxii, 106.
  4. Pausanias. Description of Greece iv, 2.3 ff.
  5. Nemean Odes x, 111 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.