Rhoeo

In Greek mythology, Rhoeo (/ˈriːoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Ῥοιώ Rhoiṓ) was the daughter of Staphylus and Chrysothemis, sister to Parthenos and Molpadia or Hemithea.

This article is about the figure from Greek mythology. For the genus of plants, see Tradescantia.

Mythology

Parthenius relates that she once experienced a great jealousy of her sister Hemithea when Staphylus arranged for the latter to spend a night with Lyrcus, his guest, whom both Hemithea and Rhoeo fell in love with.[1]

She became the lover of Apollo and by him the mother of Anius. When her father discovered her pregnancy, he believed she was impregnated by a man rather than a god. He placed her in a chest and cast her out to sea (parallel to Danae and Perseus). She landed on the island of Delos, which was sacred to Apollo. She gave birth to a son on the island and named him Anius (as if from ἀνιάομαι "to suffer"); she then put him on the altar of Apollo and prayed to the god that the baby be saved if it was his. Apollo concealed the child for a while, then raised him and taught him the art of divination and granted him certain honors.[2][3]

Rhoeo eventually married Zarex, son of Carystus or Carycus, who accepted Anius as his son. She had two more children with him.[4] Later, becoming a priest of Apollo and the king of Delos, Anius gave aid to Aeneas and his retinue when they were travelling from Troy to the future site of Rome.

One source mentions Rhoeo as a possible mother of Jason with Aeson.[5]

Notes

1. Parthenius, Erotica Pathemata 1
2. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.62
3. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 570
4. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 580
5. Tzetzes, Chiliades 6.979–980

References

• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• John Tzetzes, Book of Histories, Book V-VI translated by Konstantinos Ramiotis from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theio.com.
• Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882-1943), S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

Further reading

• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Rhoeo"
• Müller, Karl Otfried (1844). Introduction to a Scientific System of Mythology (Translated by John Leitch). Original from the University of Michigan: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. p. 341.