Editing Amymone

{{Short description|Danaid in Greek mythology}}
{{For|the butterfly with this name|Mestra amymone{{!}}''Mestra amymone''}}[[File:Paphos Haus des Dionysos - Poseidon und Amymone 1 cropped.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Poseidon approaches Amymone, whose identity is symbolized by the water jug. The [[Cupid]] above represents the erotic motive of the scene ([[Roman mosaic|Roman-era mosaic]], [[House of Dionysos]] at [[Paphos]])]]
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Amymone''' ({{IPAc-en||æ|m||ɪ|'|m|oʊ|n|iː}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀμυμώνη|Amymóne}}, "blameless; innocent"<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tzóka |first1=Spýros |title=Στο και πέντε / «Αμυμώνη» ίσον ζωή |url=https://www.avgi.gr/arheio/114794_amymoni-ison-zoi |website=Αυγή [Dawn] |access-date=28 July 2023 |language=el |date=10 October 2014}}</ref>) was one of the 50 [[Danaïdes|Danaids]] as a daughter of [[Danaus]], king of [[Libya]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Benjamin E. |url=https://archive.org/details/centurycyclopedi09smituoft/page/52/mode/2up |title=Century Cyclopedia of Names |publisher=Century |year=1895 |volume=i |location=New York |page=53}}</ref> As the "blameless" Danaid, her name identifies her as, perhaps, identical to [[Hypermnestra]] ("great wooing" or "high marriage"): the one Danaid who did not assassinate her husband on their wedding night.

== Family ==
[[Apollodorus of Damascus|Apollodorus]] names Amymone as one of the four daughters of Danaus and his consort [[Europa (Greek myth)|Europa]], the queen of an unnamed country.<ref name=":0">Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D5 2.1.5]</ref> Amymone's only full sisters are [[Automate (mythology)|Automate]], [[Agave (mythology)|Agave]], and [[Scaea]].<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022:text=Library:book=2:chapter=1&highlight=amymone 2.1.]</ref> She was either the wife of [[Enceladus (son of Aegyptus)|Enceladus]] or [[Lynceus (mythology)|Lynceus]], both one of the 50 sons of the [[Egypt|Egyptian]] king [[Aegyptus]].

== Mythology ==

=== Encounter with Poseidon ===
[[File:Villa Carmiano Triclinio 1 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Neptune and Amymone, fresco in [[Stabiae]], Italy, 1st century]]
Amymone is the subject of multiple, sometimes conflicting myths. She is most well-known for her involvement with Poseidon. In one common telling, Poseidon dried up all the springs around [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] due to [[Inachus]], the first king of Argos, making a sacrifice to Hera and claiming the lands belonged to her instead of Poseidon, whose cult preceded hers in the region.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stephans |first1=Susan |title=Callimachus: Aetia |date=2015 |publisher=Dickinson College Commentaries |location=Carlisle, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-1-947822-07-8 |url=https://dcc.dickinson.edu/callimachus-aetia/book-3/fountains-argos |access-date=28 July 2023}}</ref><ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D15%3Asection%3D4 2.15.4]</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=William |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology: Amymo'ne |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=amymone-bio-1&highlight=amymone |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Perseus Digital Library}}</ref> One day, Amymone was sent out to fetch water. On her trip, she spotted a stag and shot an arrow at it. However, she missed and accidentally struck a [[satyr]] who began to pursue her. Seeing this, Poseidon intervened and took her for himself; afterwards the god revealed the springs of [[Lerna]] to her, a cult site of great antiquity near the shores of the Argolid.<ref>Apollodorus. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%202.1.4&lang=original 2.1.4]</ref><ref name=":2">Hyginus, ''[https://topostext.org/work/206#169 Fabulae]'' 169</ref> [[File:Kykladitisses exhibition in the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens Greece 24.jpg|thumb|Marble torso of Amymone from a larger group that would have included Poseidon. 2nd-century BC, [[Archaeological Museum of Delos]], Greece.]]

In another version of the myth, Amymone fell asleep when she was out to fetch water and was attacked by a satyr. Poseidon then intervened and scared the satyr away by throwing his [[trident]], and lodged it in a rock. Poseidon questioned why she was there, and after hearing the reason— to fetch water— he had Amymone remove his trident from the rock, where a spring then gushed forth.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /> This fountain, river, or spring created by and named after Amymone is mentioned by multiple ancient authors including [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]],<ref>Pliny, ''The Natural History'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=4:chapter=9&highlight=amymone 4.9]</ref> [[Ovid]],<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Ov.%20Met.%202.240&lang=original 2.240]</ref> and Apollodorus.<ref>Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%202.5.2&lang=original 2.5.2]</ref> They claim the spring is near to the lake of Lerna where the [[Lernaean Hydra|hydra]] lived. However, authors such as [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] claim that the hydra instead lived in the river Amymone.<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%205.17.11&lang=original 5.17.11]</ref> 

After Poseidon took Amymone, she gave birth to [[Nauplius (mythology)|Naupilus]], a renowned seafarer and navigator who gave his name to the port city of [[Nafplio]] (Nauplia).<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%204.35.2&lang=original 4.35.2]</ref>

[[Aeschylus]] wrote a now lost [[satyr play]] called ''Amymone'' about the seduction of Amymone by [[Poseidon]], which followed the trilogy that included ''[[The Suppliants (Aeschylus)|The Suppliants]]''.<ref>Sommerstein 2002, 89.</ref>

=== As a Danaid ===
According to Apollodorus, she is the wife of Prince Enceladus, whom she slew on their wedding night.<ref name=":0" /> This would have made her one of the 49 Danaids who killed their husbands, with only Hypermnestra refusing.<ref>"[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0061:poem=14&highlight=hypermnestra Commentary on the Heroides of Ovid: Hypermnestra]". ''Perseus Digital Library''. Retrieved 2025-03-28.</ref> However, she has also been named as the innocent Danaid who refused to kill her husband, therefore either making Amymone and Hypermnestra the same figure, or replacing Hypermnestra.<ref>Scholia on [[Pindar]], ''Pythian Ode'' 9.200</ref> In this version of the myth, her husband would have been [[Lynceus (mythology)|Lynceus]] and she would have given birth to [[Abas (son of Lynceus)|Abas]], the first of the [[List of kings of Argos|Danaid Dynasty]] that led to [[Perseus]], the legendary founder of [[Mycenae]].<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' [https://topostext.org/work/141#4.663 4.673]; [https://topostext.org/work/141#5.128 5.138] & [https://topostext.org/work/141#5.236 5.236]</ref> 

Amymone is represented by a water pitcher, a reminder of the sacred springs and lake of Lerna and of the copious wells that made Argos the "well-watered" and, by contrast, a reminder that her sisters were forever punished in [[Tartarus]] for their murderous crimes by being forever forced to carry a jug to fill a bathtub (pithos) without a bottom (or with a leak) to wash away their sins.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Danaus, King of Argos |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Danaus-Greek-mythology |access-date=2025-04-01 |website=Britannica}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040604123546/http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/DANAIDS.html Carlos Parada, "Greek Mythology Link":] Danaids
* [http://www.kankeleit.de/amymone_english.php Amymone and Poseidon. Continuous Narrative on Roman Mosaics]

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[[Category:Danaïdes]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Women of Poseidon]]
[[Category:Mortal parents of demigods in classical mythology]]
[[Category:Libyan characters in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythology of Argos, Peloponnese]]