Callirrhoe

"Fair-flowing." A maiden of Calydon, who, when she was loved by Coresus, a priest of Dionysus, rejected all the offers he made to her. At length, he implored his god to punish the cruel maiden. Dionysus now visited the people of Calydon with a general madness, which raged there like a plague. The Dodonaean oracle, which was consulted about the mode of averting the calamity, answered, that Dionysus must be propitiated, and that Callirrhoe must be sacrificed to him, or some one else in her stead. The maiden endeavored in vain to escape her fate; but when she was led to the altar, Coresus, instead of performing the sacrifice, felt his love for her revive so strongly, that he sacrificed himself in her stead. When Callirrhoe saw Goresus lying dead she repented. Overcome by pity, and shame at her conduct towards him, she cut her throat at the spring in Galydon not far from the harbor, which derived its name from her.

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