Aidoneus

Aidoneus (Ancient Greek: Ἀїδωνεύς) was a mythical king of the Molossians in Epirus, who is represented as the husband of Persephone. After Theseus, with the assistance of Pirithous, concealed Helen at Aphidnae, he went to Epirus to procure for Pirithous Kore, the wife of Aidoneus, as a reward. When Aidoneus discovered that they had come with the intention of carrying off his wife, he had Pirithous killed by Cerberus, and kept Theseus in captivity, who was afterwards released at the request of Heracles.[1] Eusebius calls the wife of Aidoneus a daughter of queen Demeter, with whom he had eloped.[2] Thus the story of Aidoneus is the legend of Hades' kidnapping of Persephone, in the form of a real-world history, and is undoubtedly the work of a late interpreter of ancient myths.[3]

For the Greek god who sometimes went by this name, see Hades.

Notes

1. Plutarch, Theseus 31, 35
2. Eusebius of Caesarea, Chronicon p. 27
3. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Aidoneus", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, p. 88

Reference

• Plutarch, Lives with an English Translation by Bernadotte Perrin. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. 1. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Aidoneus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.