Phoenix (son of Agenor)

In Greek mythology, Phoenix or Phoinix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ Phoinix, gen.: Φοίνικος means "sun-red") is the eponym of Phoenicia who together with his brothers were tasked to find their abducted sister Europa.

For other uses, see Phoenix (Greek myth).

Phoenix
Phoenix from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
Abode	Phoenicia
Personal information
Parents	Agenor and Telephassa
Siblings	Cadmus, Cilix, Europa
Consort	Cassiopeia, Alphesiboea
Children	Carme, Cilix, Phineus, Doryclus, Adonis

Family

Phoenix was a son of Agenor by either Telephassa, Argiope,[1] or Damno[2] and brother of Cadmus, Cilix, and Europa.[1][3] He was believed to have fathered a number of children with different women. By Cassiopeia, Phoenix had a daughter Carme[4] and three sons: Cilix, Phineus, and Doryclus, as well as a stepson Atymnius, whose natural father was Zeus;[5] by Alphesiboea, he had Adonis.[6] He was also credited as the father of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia and husband of another Cassiopeia.[7]

According to the Iliad, Europa was not Phoenix's sister, but his daughter,[8] while Cadmus was identified as his son.[9] Europa is otherwise called one of his two daughters by Perimede, daughter of Oeneus, the other one being Astypalaea;[10] she is also included on the list of his children by Telephe, her siblings in this case being Peirus, Phoenice, and Astypale (apparently identical to the aforementioned Astypalaea).[11] Telephe, daughter of Epimedusa, is probably the same as Telephassa, whom Moschus[12] calls wife and not the mother of Phoenix.

Comparative table of Phoenix' family

Relation	Names	Sources
		Hes.	Hom.	Sch. Ili.	Pher.	Hella.	Bac.	Sch. on Eur.	Mosc.	Con.	Apollod.	Hyg.	Pau.	Anton.	Non.	Tzet.
Parents	Agenor and Damno				✓
	Agenor and Telephassa										✓
	Agenor and Argiope											✓
	Agenor													✓
	Belus														✓	✓
Wife	Cassiopeia	✓												✓
	Telephassa								✓
	Telephe							✓
	Alphesiboea										✓
	Perimede												✓
Children	Europa	✓	✓[13]	✓		✓	✓[13]	✓	✓	✓	✓[14]		✓
	Phineus	✓
	Astypale							✓				✓	✓
	Phoenice							✓
	Peirus							✓
	Cadmus			✓		✓				✓
	Thasus									✓
	Adonis										✓
	Cepheus											✓
	Carme													✓

Mythology

When Europa was carried off by Zeus, her three brothers were sent out by Agenor to find her, but the search was unsuccessful. Phoenix eventually settled in a country in Asia which he named Phoenicia after himself.[3][15]

Argive family tree

Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Inachus Melia Zeus Io Phoroneus Epaphus Memphis Libya Poseidon Belus Achiroë Agenor Telephassa Danaus Pieria Aegyptus Cadmus Cilix Europa Phoenix Mantineus Hypermnestra Lynceus Harmonia Zeus Polydorus Sparta Lacedaemon Ocalea Abas Agave Sarpedon Rhadamanthus Autonoë Eurydice Acrisius Ino Minos Zeus Danaë Semele Zeus Perseus Dionysus

Colour key:      Male      Female      Deity

Notes

1. Hyginus. Fabulae, 6 & 178
2. Gantz, p. 208; Pherecydes fr. 21 Fowler 2000, p. 289 = FGrHist 3 F 21 = Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1177-87f.
3. Pseudo-Apollodorus. Bibliotheca, 3.1.1
4. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 40
5. Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 2. 178
6. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 14. 4
7. Hyginus. Astronomica, 2.9.1
8. Homer, Iliad, 14. 321
9. Scholia on Homer, Iliad B, 494, p. 80, 43 ed. Bekk. as cited in Hellanicus' Boeotica
10. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 4. 1
11. Scholia on Euripides, Phoenician Women, 5
12. Moschus, Idylls, 2. 42
13. Though Europa was unnamed in this text, she was definitely the daughter of Phoenix who coupled with Zeus.
14. Europa's mother was not named by Apollodorus, if her father was Phoenix.
15. Hyginus, Fabulae, 178

References

• Fowler, Robert. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404.
• Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).