Melos of Delos
Melos (Ancient Greek: Μήλος, romanized: Mḗlos, lit. 'apple, sheep') in Greek mythology is a childhood friend and later kin-in-law of Adonis, the beloved of the goddess Aphrodite, who is connected to apples via his metamorphosis into one.
Mythology
[edit]Melos was originally from the Aegean island of Delos, but later moved to Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean. When the ruler of Cyprus, Cinyras, saw that Melos was of sound character, he made Melos a companion to his son Adonis. Melos eventually married a woman named Pelia, who was kin to Cinyras and Adonis, and had a son by her, also named Melos. The child was raised inside the sanctuary of Aphrodite. When Adonis was slain by a boar during hunting, Melos was so distraught over the loss of his childhood companion that he ended his life by hanging himself from an apple tree, which took his name thereafter.
Pelia, not standing the deaths of her kin and her husband, took her life in the same way as Melos. After Aphrodite's own period of mourning was over, she turned Melos into an apple fruit, and Pelia into a dove. Their son, Melos, was sent back to Delos, where he founded the city Melon. The sheep there also took his name, for he first taught the Delians to shear them and make clothing out of their wool; the Greek noun μῆλον means 'apple' and 'sheep' both.[1][2][3][4]
The apple was seen as the most important fruit symbol of Aphrodite, as the emblem of her victory in the beauty contest; in the ancient Greek society, the apple fruit became "the love token par excellence".[5]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues 8.37
- ^ Smith, s.v. Melus 2
- ^ Forbes Irving 1990, p. 279.
- ^ Grimal 1987, pp. 282-283.
- ^ Cyrino 2010, p. 64.
Bibliography
[edit]- Cyrino, Monica S (2010). Aphrodite. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77523-6.
- Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
- Grimal, Pierre (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Translated by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop. New York, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Smith, William, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London. John Murray: printed by Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street, 1873.
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