Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Euphemus
open-in-new
<h2 id="family">Family</h2> <p>Euphemus was a son of <a href="/facts/Poseidon/kTYc88aD">Poseidon</a>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> granted by his father the power to walk on water.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> His mother is variously named: (1) <a href="/facts/Europa_(Greek_myth)/gYY3R45x">Europe</a>, daughter of the giant <a href="/facts/Tityos/c6YqVwcv">Tityos</a>;<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> (2) <a href="/facts/Doris_(Greek_myth)/8VoS7dfS">Doris</a> (Oris),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> (3) Mecionice,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> daughter of either <a href="/facts/Eurotas/Sv5mpq1v">Eurotas</a> or <a href="/facts/Orion_(mythology)/eekDxh9u">Orion</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a> or (4) lastly, Macionassa.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11"><sup>11</sup></a> In some accounts he is said to have been married to <a href="/facts/Laonome/bsh5mgBa">Laonome</a>, sister of <a href="/facts/Heracles/CIQWycTu">Heracles</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12"><sup>12</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="mythology">Mythology</h2> <p>Euphemus birthplace is given as "the banks of the <a href="/facts/Cephissus_(Boeotia)/2B3khbBB">Cephissus</a>" by <a href="/facts/Pindar/ceN1a17e">Pindar</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13"><sup>13</sup></a> or <a href="/facts/Hyria_(Boeotia)/48jWxv3u">Hyria</a> in <a href="/facts/Boeotia/V8Prmucy">Boeotia</a> by the <i><a href="/facts/Megalai_Ehoiai/uYb8NQul">Megalai Ehoiai</a></i>,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14"><sup>14</sup></a> but his later residence was <a href="/facts/Taenarum/UwlX9M0V">Taenarum</a> in <a href="/facts/Laconia/2A8Lals6">Laconia</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15"><sup>15</sup></a> Euphemus joined the voyage of the Argonauts, and served the crew as helmsman.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16"><sup>16</sup></a> He let a dove fly between the <a href="/facts/Symplegades/1t93PITr">Symplegades</a> to see if the ship would be able to pass as well.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17"><sup>17</sup></a> By a <a href="/facts/Lemnos/vGsNrEGG">Lemnian</a> woman (<a href="/facts/Malicha/xyc544Uq">Malicha</a>, Malache, or Lamache) he became the father of Leucophanes.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18"><sup>18</sup></a> </p><p>Euphemus was mythologically linked to the Greek colonization of <a href="/facts/Libya/HMPH8PWR">Libya</a> and foundation of <a href="/facts/Cyrene,_Libya/bPSt1CR4">Cyrene</a>. In <a href="/facts/Pindar%27s_First_Pythian_Ode/IpbM2Hj6">Pindar's Pythian Ode</a> 4, the myth of him as the ancestor of the colonizers is recounted in the form of a prophecy by <a href="/facts/Medea/bf2scTHY">Medea</a>, and runs as follows. When the Argonauts stop by the lake Tritonis in <a href="/facts/Libya/HMPH8PWR">Libya</a>, they encounter <a href="/facts/Eurypylus_of_Cyrene/Ghhw9rK7">Eurypylus</a>, a son of Poseidon, who offers them a clod of earth as a sign of hospitality. Euphemus takes the clod with instructions to throw it on the ground beside the entrance to the Underworld at <a href="/facts/Taenarum/UwlX9M0V">Taenarum</a> by which his descendants in the fourth generation would then rule over Libya. The clod is accidentally washed overboard and carried to the island <a href="/facts/Thera/0mwy5FSA">Thera</a>, and Libya is colonized from that island by <a href="/facts/Battus_I_of_Cyrene/mI9qGl7W">Battus</a> of <a href="/facts/Santorini/0mwy5FSA">Thera</a>, an alleged distant descendant of Euphemus (by 17 generations), who founds <a href="/facts/Cyrene_(city)/bPSt1CR4">Cyrene</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19"><sup>19</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20"><sup>20</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21"><sup>21</sup></a> </p><p>The <i>Argonautica</i> by Apollonius Rhodius appears to follow a different version of the same myth: in the poem, when the Argonauts arrive near Lake Tritonis, Euphemus accepts the clod of earth from <a href="/facts/Triton_(mythology)/DhS8o3WY">Triton</a> who first introduces himself as Eurypylus but later reveals his true divine identity.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22"><sup>22</sup></a> Later, Euphemus has a dream of the clod producing drops of milk and then changing into a woman; in his dream, he has sex with the woman, and at the same time cries over her as if she were nursed by him; she then tells him that she is a daughter of <a href="/facts/Triton_(mythology)/DhS8o3WY">Triton</a> and <a href="/facts/Libya_of_Egypt/I1gfoBjK">Libya</a> and the nurse of future children of Euphemus, and instructs him to entrust her to the care of the <a href="/facts/Nereids/f6T4rJdS">Nereids</a>, promising that she would return in the future to provide a home for Euphemus' children. Euphemus consults Jason about this dream and, following his advice, throws the clod in the sea, whereupon it transforms into the island <a href="/facts/Calliste_(mythology)/BebJLMp7">Calliste</a> (<a href="/facts/Santorini/0mwy5FSA">Thera</a>). The island is later colonized by the descendants of Euphemus who had previously been expelled from Lemnos and failed to find refuge in <a href="/facts/Sparta/6V9o1DSz">Sparta</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:23" href="#fn:23"><sup>23</sup></a> </p><p>Euphemus was portrayed on the chest of <a href="/facts/Cypselus/U8Ht70RD">Cypselus</a> as the winner of the chariot race at the funeral games of <a href="/facts/Pelias/dHeWTvI4">Pelias</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:24" href="#fn:24"><sup>24</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="in-popular-culture">In popular culture</h2> <p>In the 1963 <a href="/facts/Motion_picture/wM3b9Kk3">motion picture</a> <a href="/facts/Jason_and_the_Argonauts_(1963_film)/VehDl8Xt">Jason and the Argonauts</a> Euphemus is portrayed by British actor/<a href="/facts/Stunt_performer/Fhqzz6q2">stuntman</a> Doug Robinson. The film relegates him to being only a minor character recognized as being a champion swimmer. In contrast to his mythology, Euphemus is killed by the film's villain <a href="/facts/Acastus/36LXNzUQ">Acastus</a> who betrayed the Argonauts. </p> <h2 id="notes">Notes</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Apollonius_of_Rhodes/v5Jy5F63">Apollonius Rhodius</a>, <i>Argonautica</i> translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853-1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. <a href="https://topostext.org/work/126">Online version at the Topos Text Project.</a></li> <li>Apollonius Rhodius, <i>Argonautica</i>. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0227">Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus/HJRTmcfI">Gaius Julius Hyginus</a>, <i>Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus</i> translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. <a href="https://topostext.org/work/206">Online version at the Topos Text Project.</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Herodotus/hTgRSAnv">Herodotus</a>, <i>The Histories</i> with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. <a href="https://topostext.org/work/22">Online version at the Topos Text Project.</a> <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0125">Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/John_Tzetzes/sY4LJy1z">John Tzetzes</a>, <i>Book of Histories,</i> Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. <a href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/TzetzesChiliades1.html">Online version at theio.com</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Pausanias_(geographer)/3jMP2VVl">Pausanias</a>, <i>Description of Greece</i> with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1">Online version at the Perseus Digital Library</a></li> <li>Pausanias, <i>Graeciae Descriptio.</i> <i>3 vols</i>. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159">Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Pindar/ceN1a17e">Pindar</a>, <i>Odes</i> translated by Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DP.">Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.</a></li> <li>Pindar, <i>The Odes of Pindar</i> including the Principal Fragments with an Introduction and an English Translation by Sir John Sandys, Litt.D., FBA. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1937. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0161%3Abook%3DP.">Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library</a>.</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gaius_Valerius_Flaccus/IAXpxUGT">Gaius Valerius Flaccus</a>, <i>Argonautica</i> translated by Mozley, J H. Loeb Classical Library Volume 286. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. <a href="http://www.theoi.com/Text/ValeriusFlaccus1.html">Online version at theio.com.</a></li> <li>Gaius Valerius Flaccus, <i>Argonauticon.</i> Otto Kramer. Leipzig. Teubner. 1913. <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2007.01.0058">Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Argonautica_Orphica/I0WX0Mly"><i>The Orphic Argonautica</i></a>, translated by Jason Colavito. © Copyright 2011. <a href="https://topostext.org/work/549">Online version at the Topos Text Project.</a></li></ul> <h2 id="bibliography">Bibliography</h2> <ul><li>Merkelbach, R.; West, M.L. (1967), <i>Fragmenta Hesiodea</i>, Oxford, <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-19-814171-8{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).</li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Hyginus, Fabulae, 173 <a href="/wiki/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus" target="_blank">/wiki/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Apollodorus, 1.9.16 <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Euphemus" target="_blank">https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Euphemus</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Emily Kearns, "Euphemus", in Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth (editors), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford University Press 2009. <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Judith Maitland, "Poseidon, Walls, and Narrative Complexity in the Homeric Iliad", The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol 49, No 1 (1999), pp 1–13 at p 13, JSTOR 639485 accessed 23 November 2011. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Apollodorus, 1.9.16 <a href="https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Euphemus" target="_blank">https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.16&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Euphemus</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Apollonius Rhodius, 1.182; Hyginus, Fabulae 14 <a href="/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius" target="_blank">/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Hyginus, Fabulae 14; Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.45 <a href="/wiki/Pindar" target="_blank">/wiki/Pindar</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.43 <a href="/wiki/Tzetzes" target="_blank">/wiki/Tzetzes</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Hesiod, Megalai Ehoiai fr. 253 Merkelbach & West (1967) in scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.35; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 886 <a href="/wiki/Hesiod" target="_blank">/wiki/Hesiod</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.43 <a href="/wiki/Tzetzes" target="_blank">/wiki/Tzetzes</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:11"><p>John Lempière, Argonautae <a href="http://www.argonauts-book.com/lempriegraveres-summary.html" target="_blank">http://www.argonauts-book.com/lempriegraveres-summary.html</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:12"><p>Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 886; Scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 76 <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:13"><p>Pindar, Pythia 4.46. <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:14"><p>Hesiod, Megalai Ehoiai fr. 253 Merkelbach & West (1967) in scholia on Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.35 <a href="/wiki/Hesiod" target="_blank">/wiki/Hesiod</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:15"><p>Apollonius Rhodius, 1.179; Orphic Argonautica 205; Hyginus, Fabulae 14; Valerius Flaccus, 1.365 <a href="/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius" target="_blank">/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:16"><p>Pindar, Pythian Ode 4. 22; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 886 <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:17"><p>Apollonius Rhodius, 2.536–562 <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:18"><p>Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.45; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 886 <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:19"><p>Emily Kearns, "Euphemus", in Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth (editors), The Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford University Press 2009. <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:20"><p>Judith Maitland, "Poseidon, Walls, and Narrative Complexity in the Homeric Iliad", The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol 49, No 1 (1999), pp 1–13 at p 13, JSTOR 639485 accessed 23 November 2011. <a href="/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)" target="_blank">/wiki/JSTOR_(identifier)</a> <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:21"><p>Herodotus, Histories 4.150; Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.14–56 <a href="/wiki/Herodotus" target="_blank">/wiki/Herodotus</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:22"><p>Apollonius Rhodius, 4.1551–1562 <a href="/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius" target="_blank">/wiki/Apollonius_Rhodius</a> <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:23"><p>Apollonius Rhodius, 4.1731–1764 <a href="#fnref:23" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:24"><p>Pausanias, 5.17.9 <a href="/wiki/Pausanias_(geographer)" target="_blank">/wiki/Pausanias_(geographer)</a> <a href="#fnref:24" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>