Lityerses

A natural son of Midas, lived at Celaenae in Phrygia, engaged in rural pursuits, and hospitably received all strangers that passed his house, but he then compelled them to assist him in the harvest, and whenever they allowed themselves to be surpassed by him in their work, he cut off their heads in the evening, and concealed their bodies in the sheaves, accompanying his deed with songs. Heracles, however, slew him, and threw his body into the Meander.

The Phrygian reapers used to celebrate his memory in a harvest song which bore the name of Lityerses.

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Concerning the song Lityerses see Eichstädt, H.K.A. De dramate Graecorum comico-satyrico inprimis de Sosithei Lytiersa, p. 16 ff.; Ilgen, K.D. De Scoliorum Poesi, p. 16 ff.

References

Sources

  • Athenaeus, x, p. 615; xiv, p. 619.
  • Eustathius on Homer, p. 1164.
  • Hesychius, Photus, Suidas, s.v.
  • Pollux, iv, 54.
  • Scholiast on Theocritus, x, 41.
  • 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.