Alabandus
Alabandus (Ancient Greek: Ἀλάβανδος) was in Greek mythology a Carian hero, son of Euippus and Callirhoe, although which one is unclear (according to some traditions, his mother's name was Car).[1]
Mythology
Alabandus was the founder of the town of Alabanda, and was after his death worshiped by the inhabitants of that town as a divinity.[2][3][4]
Cicero quotes the Athenian musician Stratonicus, who said "Let Alabandus be my enemy! But let Hercules be yours," for he had grown tired of the praises which the Carians were incessantly bestowing on their mythical founder, to the neglect of more Roman cults (e.g. Hercules, whom the Carians disdained).
Alabandus' original name is unknown. According to the legend, after he had won a prize in some sort of horse race, the people named him Alabandus, as the Carian word for "horse" was ala, and "victory" banda. Accordingly, his name was sometimes given as "Hipponicus".[5]
Notes
- Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of classical mythology: a biographical dictionary. ABC-CLIO. pp. 103. ISBN 0-87436-581-3.
- Stephanus of Byzantium. s. v. Ἀλάβανδα
- Cicero, De Natura Deorum iii. 15, 19
- Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alabandus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 88.
- Banier, Antoine (1739). The Mythology and Fables of the Ancients, Explain'd from History. London: A. Millar. pp. 178.
References
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.