Boeotus

A son of Poseidon or Itonus or Arne (Antiope or Melanippe), and brother of Aeolus III. He was the ancestral hero of the Boeotians, who derived their name from him.

According to one story, their mother was blinded and imprisoned by her father and Aeolus and Boeotus were exposed, but they were suckled by a cow and survived. They were found and brought to the court of king Metapontus and his wife Theano of Icaria, who raised them as their own. Their foster father became more fond of them than of his own sons by Theano, so Theano ordered her natural sons to murder them during a hunt. Aeolus and Boeotus managed to kill their attackers with the help of Poseidon. Having learned their true parentage, they rescued their mother from her prison and Poseidon restored her sight.

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References

Sources

  • Diodorus Siculus. Historical Library iv, 67.3 ff.
  • Hyginus. Fabulae, 186.
  • Pausanias. Description of Greece ix, 1.1.
  • 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.