Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Aega (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: Αίγη) or Pine or Cynosura or Melissa was, according to

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

, a daughter of

Olenus In Greek mythology, Olenus (; Ancient Greek: Ὤλενος ''Olenos'') was the name of several individuals: *Olenus, son of Hephaestus and father of Helike and Aex, two nurses of infant Zeus. A city in Aulis was named for him. *Olenus, son of Ze ...

, who was a descendant of

Hephaestus Hephaestus (; eight spellings; grc-gre, Ἥφαιστος, Hḗphaistos) is the Greek god of blacksmiths, metalworking, carpenters, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire (compare, however, with Hestia), and volcanoes.Walter Burk ...

. Aega and her sister Helice nursed the infant

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

, and the former was afterwards changed by the god into the constellation called

Capella Capella is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Auriga. It has the Bayer designation α Aurigae, which is Latinised to Alpha Aurigae and abbreviated Alpha Aur or α Aur. Capella is the sixth-brightest star i ...

Mythology

According to other traditions mentioned by Hyginus, Aega was a daughter of

Melisseus In Greek mythology, Melisseus (Ancient Greek: Μελισσεύς means 'bee-man' or 'honey-man'), the father of the nymphs Adrasteia, Ida and Althaea who were nurses of the infant Zeus on Crete. His parentage differs from telling to telling, ranging ...

, king of

, and was chosen to suckle the infant

; but as she was found unable to do it, the service was performed by the goat Amalthea. Hyginus also reports a tradition that while married to Pan she had a son by Zeus whom she called

Aegipan Aegipan ( grc, Αἰγίπαν, Αἰγίπανος, "Goat-Pan") was a mythological being, either distinct from or identical to Pan. His story appears to be of late origin. Mythology According to Hyginus, Aegipan was the son of Zeus (some sour ...

. According to other authors, Aega was a daughter of

Helios In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...

and of such dazzling brightness that the Titans in their attack upon Olympus became frightened and requested their mother

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...

to conceal her in the earth. She was accordingly confined in a cave in Crete, where she became the nurse of Zeus. In the

Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; grc, , , Titan battle) was a ten-year series of battles fought in Ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Twelve Olympi ...

, Zeus was commanded by an

oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

to cover himself with her skin (''aegis''). He obeyed the command and raised Aega among the stars. Similar, though somewhat different accounts, were given by Euemerus and others. It is clear that in some of these stories Aega is regarded as a

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

, and in others as a

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

, though the two ideas are not kept clearly distinct from each other. Her name is either connected with , which signifies a goat, or with , a gale of wind; and this circumstance has led some critics to consider the myth about her as made up of two distinct ones, one being of an astronomical nature and derived from the constellation Capella, the rise of which brings storms and tempests, and the other referring to the goat which was believed to have suckled the infant Zeus in Crete.

Notes

References

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Aratus Solensis, ''Phaenomena'' translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Aratus Solensis, ''Phaenomena''. G. R. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Bell, Robert E., ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary''. ABC-Clio. 1991. . *

Gaius Julius Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

, ''Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

Lactantius Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Cr ...

, '' Divine Institutes'' translated by William Fletcher (1810-1900). From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
{{authority control Women in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Children of Helios Divine women of Zeus Nymphs