Electra (Oceanid)

In Greek mythology, Electra (/ɪˈlɛktrə/; Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, Ēlektra "amber") was the Oceanid daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.[1] According to Hesiod, she was the wife of Thaumas, and by him, the mother of Iris, the goddess of rainbows and a messenger for the gods, and the Harpies.[2]

For other uses, see Electra (Greek mythology).

The names of Electra's Harpy daughters vary. Hesiod and Apollodorus name them: Aello and Ocypete. Virgil, names Celaeno as one of the Harpies.[3] However while Hyginus, Fabulae Preface has the Harpies, Celaeno, Ocypete, and Podarce, as daughters of Thaumas and Electra, at Fabuale 14.18, the Harpies are said to be named Aellopous, Celaeno, and Ocypete, and are the daughters of Thaumas and Ozomene.[4] Ozomene may have been a secondary name for Electra, meaning "many-branches."

The late 4th-early 5th century poet Nonnus gives Electra and Thaumas two children, Iris, and the river god Hydaspes.[5]

Notes

1. Hesiod, Theogony 337–370; Homeric Hymn, 2.5, 2.418–423; Apollodorus,1.2.2.
2. Hesiod, Theogony 265–269, 780–381; also Apollodorus, 1.2.6; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface.
3. Virgil, Aeneid 3 211–212; Servius, On Virgil, Aeneid 3.212.
4. Hyginus, Fabulae 14.18.
5. Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.358–362.

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homeric Hymn to Demeter (2), in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabuae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI–XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
• Servius, Commentary on the Aeneid of Vergil, Georgius Thilo, Ed. 1881.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Electra 1."
• Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library