Mestra
In Greek mythology, Mestra (Ancient Greek: Μήστρα, Mēstra)[1] was a daughter of Erysichthon of Thessaly.[2][3] Antoninus Liberalis called her Hypermestra and Erysichthon Aethon.[4] According to Ovid, she was married to the thief Autolycus.[5]
Mythology
According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, Erysichthon had angered Demeter by violating one of her sacred groves, and he was cursed with insatiable hunger. Having exhausted all his wealth on food, he sells his daughter Mestra into slavery.
Unwilling to remain a slave, Mestra prays to Poseidon, who had previously deflowered her, to rescue her. The god transforms her into a fisherman. When the master searches for her, Mestra, in disguise, convincingly denies seeing any woman on the shore and the master leaves, deceived. Mestra returns home and her father soon discovers her ability to change shape. He repeatedly sells her to different buyers, but each time she escapes by transforming into various animals, returning home, and providing her father with the proceeds to buy more food. In the end, driven by his relentless hunger, Erysichthon eats himself to death.[6]
In Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, rather than selling her into slavery, Erysichthon would repeatedly sell his daughter to suitors for the bride prices they would pay.[7] Sisyphus also hoped to win her as a bride for his son Glaucus although that marriage did not take place.[8][9] Ultimately, Poseidon carried away Mestra to the island of Cos, and she bore him a son Eurypylus.[10]
"And earth-shaking Poseidon overpowered her
far from her father, carrying her over the wine-dark sea
in sea-girt Cos, clever though she was;
there she bore Eurypylus, commander of many people."
Notes
- ^ She is also occasionally referred to as Mnestra in modern sources, though the form is not anciently attested; cf. Clytemnestra, whose name does appear with and without the n in ancient authors. The Pseudo-Apollodoran Bibliotheca (2.1.5) uses the form Mnestra for one of Danaus' daughters who marries and then murders Aegius, son of Aegyptus.
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.739; cf. Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 43a
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.741–842; cf. Callimachus, Hymn to Demeter 24–69
- ^ Antoninus Liberalis, 17
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.739
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.850–54
- ^ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 43a (Berlin papyrus 7497); Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.871–74; Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1393
- ^ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 43a.2–83; cf. West (1985a, p. 64)
- ^ Hard, Robin (2004). The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology. New York: Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 433, 663. ISBN 0-203-44633-X.
- ^ Hesiod, Ehoiai 43a.79(55)–82(58)
References
- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
- Callimachus, Works. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Hesiod, Catalogue of Women from Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914. Online version at theio.com
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Further reading
- Fantham, E. (1993), "Sunt quibus in plures ius est transire figuras: Ovid's Self-Transformers in the Metamorphoses", CW, 87 (2): 21–36, doi:10.2307/4351453, JSTOR 4351453.
- Hopkinson, N. (1984), Callimachus: Hymn to Demeter, Cambridge, ISBN 978-0-521-60436-9
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link). - Ormand, K. (2004), "Marriage, Identity, and the Tale of Mestra in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women", American Journal of Philology, 125 (3): 303–38, doi:10.1353/ajp.2004.0030, JSTOR 1562169, PMID 21966749, S2CID 36204915.
- Robertson, N. (1983), "Greek Ritual Begging in Aid of Women's Fertility and Childbirth", TAPA, 113: 143–69, doi:10.2307/284008, JSTOR 284008.
- Robertson, N. (1984), "The Ritual Background of the Erysichthon Story", American Journal of Philology, 105 (4): 369–408, doi:10.2307/294833, JSTOR 294833.