In Greek mythology, Auge (; Ancient Greek: Αὐγή 'sunbeam, daylight, dawn') was the daughter of Aleus the king of Tegea in Arcadia, and the virgin priestess of

Athena Alea Alea (Ancient Greek: ) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, prominent in Arcadian mythology, under which she was worshiped at Alea, Mantineia and Tegea. Alea was initially an independent goddess, but was eventually assimilated with Athen ...

. She was also the mother of the hero Telephus by Heracles.

Auge had sex with Heracles (either willingly, or by force) and was made pregnant. When Aleus found this out, by various accounts, he ordered Auge drowned, or sold as a slave, or shut up in a wooden chest and thrown into the sea. However, in all these accounts, she and her son Telephus end up at the court of the Mysian king Teuthras, where Auge becomes the wife (or the adopted daughter) of Teuthras, and Telephus becomes Teuthras’ adopted son and heir.

Family

Auge was the daughter of Aleus, the grandson of

Arcas In Greek mythology, Arcas (; Ancient Greek: Ἀρκάς) was a hunter who became king of Arcadia. He was remembered for having taught people the arts of weaving and baking bread and for spreading agriculture to Arcadia. Family Arcas was the so ...

, who was the son of Zeus and Callisto. Aleus was the king of

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

and eponym of

Alea Alea or ALEA may refer to: Places * Alea (Arcadia), a town of ancient Arcadia, Greece, located near the modern town in Argolis * Alea (Thessaly), a town of ancient Thessaly, Greece * Alea, Arcadia, a village in the municipal unit Tegea, Arcadia, ...

, and was said to have been the founder of the cult of

and the builder of Temple of Athena Alea at his capital of Tegea. According to the mythographer

Apollodorus Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...

, Auge's mother was Neaera, the daughter of Pereus.

Mythology

Pergamon Altar - Telephus frieze - panel 4–6

From Arcadia to Mysia

There were many versions of Auge's story. A surviving fragment of the Hesiodic '' Catalogue of Women'' (6th c. BC), representing perhaps the oldest tradition, tells us that, Auge having arrived in Mysia (it doesn't say how), the gods appeared before king Teuthras and commanded him to receive her at his court in Mysia. So, according to this account, Teuthras raised Auge as a daughter, and It was in Mysia that Heracles, while seeking the horses of Laomedon, seduced Auge and fathered Telephus. All other accounts place the seduction (or in later accounts, the rape) of Auge by Heracles and Telephus' birth in

, in the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

of mainland Greece. The oldest such account (c. 490–480 BC), by the historian and geographer Hecataeus, says that Heracles used to have sex with Auge whenever he came to Tegea. We are told this by the 2nd century geographer Pausanias, who goes on to say, perhaps drawing upon Hecataeus, that when Aleus discovered that Auge had given birth to Telephus, he shut mother and child up in a chest and threw it into the sea. The chest made its way from Arcadia to the Caicus river in Asia Minor, where the local king Teuthras married Auge. Sophocles, in the fifth century BC, wrote a tragedy ''Aleadae'' (''The sons of Aleus''), which told the story of Auge and Telephus. The play is lost and only fragments now remain, but a declamation attributed to the fourth century BC orator

Alcidamas Alcidamas ( grc-gre, Ἀλκιδάμας), of Elaea, in Aeolis, was a Greek sophist and rhetorician, who flourished in the 4th century BC. Life He was the pupil and successor of Gorgias and taught at Athens at the same time as Isocrates, to wh ...

probably used Sophocles' ''Aleadae'' for one of its sources. According to Alcidamas, Auge's father Aleus had been warned by the

Delphic oracle Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...

that if she had a son, then her son would kill Aleus' sons, so Aleus made Auge a priestess of Athena, telling her she must remain a virgin, on pain of death. But Heracles passing through Tegea, being entertained by Aleus in the temple of Athena, became enamored of Auge and while drunk had sex with her. Aleus discovered that Auge was pregnant and gave her to Nauplius to be drowned. But, on the way to the sea, Auge gave birth to Telephus on

Mount Parthenion Mount Parthenion ( grc, τὸ Παρθένιον ὄρος) or Parthenius or Parthenium) ("Mount of the Virgin", modern el, Παρθένιο - ''Parthenio'') is a mountain on the border of Arcadia and Argolis, in the Peloponnese, Greece. Its ele ...

, and according to Alcidamas, Nauplius, ignoring his orders, sold mother and child to the childless Mysian king Teuthras, who married Auge and adopted Telephus. Alcidamas' version of the story must have diverged from Sophocles in at least this last respect. For, rather than the infant Telephus being sold to Teuthras, as in Alcidamas, an ''Aleadae '' fragment seems to insure that in the Sophoclean play, as in many later accounts (see below), the new-born Telephus was instead abandoned on Mount Parthenion, where he is suckled by a deer. Euripides wrote a play ''Auge'' (408 BC?) which dealt with her story. The play is lost, but a summary of the plot can be pieced together from various later sources, in particular a narrative summary, given by the Armenian historian

Moses of Chorene Movses Khorenatsi (ca. 410–490s AD; hy, Մովսէս Խորենացի, , also written as ''Movses Xorenac‘i'' and Moses of Khoren, Moses of Chorene, and Moses Chorenensis in Latin sources) was a prominent Armenian historian from the late an ...

. A drunken Heracles, during a festival of Athena, rapes "Athena's priestess Auge, daughter of Aleus, as she conducted the dances during the nocturnal rites." Auge gives birth secretly in Athena's temple at Tegea, and hides the new-born child there. The child is discovered, and Aleus orders Telephus exposed and Auge to be drowned, but Heracles returns and apparently saves the pair from immediate death, and the play perhaps ended with the assurance (from Athena to Heracles?) that Auge and Telephus would be wife and son to Teuthras.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

, gives a version of the story similar to Pausanias', saying that, after discovering "her ruin by Heracles", Aleus put Auge and Telephus into a chest and cast it into the sea, that it washed up at the mouth of the Caicus, and that Teuthras married Auge, and adopted Telephus. The later accounts of the 1st century BC Historian

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

and the 1st or 2nd century AD mythographer

add additional details, as well as provide slight variations. Diodorus, adds that Aleus did not believe Auge when she told him that Heracles was the father. As in Alcidamas, Diodorus says that Aleus gave Auge to Nauplius to be drowned and that Auge gave birth to Telephus near Mount Parthenion. But instead of selling Auge, as in Alkidamas, according to Diodorus, Nauplius gave Auge to "some Carians" who took her to Mysia and gave her to Teuthras. According to Apollordorus, Heracles did not know that Auge was the daughter of Aleus when he had sex with her. As in Euripides' ''Auge'', Apollodorus says that Auge delivered her baby secretly in Athena's temple, and hid it there. Apollodorus adds that an ensuing famine, was declared by an oracle to be the result of some impiety in the temple, and a search of the temple caused Auge to be found out. As in Sophocles' account, Apollodorus says that Aleus gave Auge to Nauplius to be disposed of. In one place Apollodorus says that Aleus gave Nauplius Auge "to sell far away in a foreign land", while in another he says "to be put to death". But in either case, Nauplius instead gave Auge to Teuthras who married her.

Telephus

As mentioned above, in the '' Catalogue of Women'', Telephus is born in Mysia, while in Euripides' ''Auge'', as well as the accounts of Strabo and Alcidamas, the infant Telephus arrives together with Auge in Mysia, where he is adopted by Teuthras. But in other accounts, Telephus is left behind in Arcadia, having been abandoned on

, either by Aleus, or by Auge when she was being taken to the sea by Nauplius to be drowned. However Telephus is suckled by a deer and found, and raised by King

Corythus Corythus is the name of six mortal men in Greek mythology. *Corythus, son of Marmarus, and one of the court of Cepheus. He wounded Pelates during the battle at the wedding feast of Perseus and Andromeda. *Corythus, an Italian king and father, ...

, or his herdsmen. Seeking knowledge of his mother, Telephus consulted the Delphic oracle which directed him to Mysia, where he was reunited with Auge and adopted by Teuthras. According to the mythographer Hyginus (whose account is apparently taken from an older tragic source, probably Sophocles' ''Mysians''), after Auge abandoned Telephus on Mount Parthenion she fled to Mysia where, as in the ''Catalogue of Women'', she became the adopted daughter (not wife) of Teuthras. When Telephus goes to Mysia on the instruction of the oracle, Teuthras promises him his kingdom and his daughter Auge in marriage if he would defeat his enemy Idas. This Telephus did, but Auge still faithful to Heracles, attacked Telephus with a sword in their wedding chamber, but the gods intervened sending a serpent to separate them, causing Auge to drop her sword. Just as Telephus was about to kill Auge, she called out to Heracles for rescue and Telephus then recognized his mother.

Iconography

The 2nd century geographer Pausanias names Auge as one of many figures appearing in the ''Nekyia'' ("Underworld"), a large mural by Polygnotus which decorated one of the interior walls of the 5th century BC

Lesche of the Knidians The Lesche of the Knidians (also known as the Lesche of the Cnidians) was a Lesche, i.e. a club or meeting place, at the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi, it is one of those structures there that was destroyed in their most part. Today, the only surviv ...

, a building near the

Cassotis In Greek mythology, Cassotis (Ancient Greek: Κασσοτίς or Κασσωτίς) was the naiad (a Pegaea) who lived in the spring at the Oracle at Delphi, dedicated to Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitiv ...

spring at

Delphi Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), in ancient times was a sacred precinct that served as the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient classical world. The oracle ...

. However Pausanias's identification of Auge has been questioned. The earliest certain representation of Auge occurred on the frieze of the temple of

at Tegea (finished c. 350–340 BC). Inscriptions show that Auge and Telephus were represented on the metopes of the temple. Pausanias mentions seeing a portrait painting of Auge at the same temple. Also at Tegea, Pausanias, describes an image of Auge on her knees, at the temple of Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. According to the Tegeans it was at this place that Auge "fell on her knees" and gave birth to Telephus, while she was being taken to the sea by Nauplius. According to Pausanias, the tomb of Auge was still shown at Pergamon, where the Attalids venerated Telephus as a founding hero. Pausanias describes the tomb as "a mound of earth surrounded by a basement of stone and surmounted by a figure of a naked woman in bronze". Auge also figures in several panels of the

Telephus frieze The Pergamon Altar () was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The structure was 35.64 ...

on the 2nd century BC

Great Altar of Pergamon The Pergamon Altar () was a monumental construction built during the reign of the Ancient Greek King Eumenes II in the first half of the 2nd century BC on one of the terraces of the acropolis of Pergamon in Asia Minor. The structure was 35.64 me ...

: being seen by Heracles in the sanctuary of Athena (panel 3); waiting shrouded and mournful, as carpenters build the wooden vessel she will be shut up in, and cast adrift at sea (panels 5 and 6); being found on the shore by Teuthras (panel 10); establishing the cult of Athena (panel 11); arming Telephus (panels 16, 17); being given in marriage to Telephus, by Teuthras (panel 20); and recognizing and being recognized by Telephus (panel 21).

Pompeian Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

frescoes (1st century AD) show Auge being raped while washing clothing at a spring.Collard and Cropp 2008a
p. 262
(which may reflect Euripides' ''Auge'', see Euripides, ''Auge'' test. iia (Hypothesis), Collard and Cropp 2008a
pp. 264, 265, with n. 1
; Rosivach, p. 44 with n. 126; Kerenyi, p. 338. Pausanias
8.47.4
also places the rape at a spring. Compare with Alcidamas, ''Odysseus'' 15 (Garagin and Woodruff
p. 286
, which says that the rape (or seduction?) took place in Athena's temple.

Notes

References

Aelian Aelian or Aelianus may refer to: * Aelianus Tacticus, Greek military writer of the 2nd century, who lived in Rome * Casperius Aelianus, Praetorian Prefect, executed by Trajan * Claudius Aelianus, Roman writer, teacher and historian of the 3rd centu ...

. ''On Animals, Volume I: Books 1-5''. Translated by A. F. Scholfield.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

No. 446. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958
Online version at Harvard University Press
*

, ''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
* Bauchhenss-Thüriedl, Christa, "Auge" in '' Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)'' III.1 Artemis Verlag, Zürich and Munich, 1981. . pp. 45–51. * Callimachus, ''Hymn to Delos'' in ''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
* Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008a), ''Euripides Fragments: Aegeus–Meleanger'',

No. 504. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008b), ''Euripides Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus: Other Fragments'',

No. 506. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008.
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*

, ''Diodorus Siculus: The Library of History''. Translated by C. H. Oldfather. Twelve volumes.

. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989
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* Gantz, Timothy, ''Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources'', Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: (Vol. 1), (Vol. 2). * Garagin, M., P. Woodruff, ''Early Greek Political thought from Homer to the Sophists'', Cambridge 1995. . * Grenfell, Bernard P., Arthur S, Hunt, ''The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Part XI'', London, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1915
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No. 483. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
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, No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018.
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* Ovid, ''

Heroides The ''Heroides'' (''The Heroines''), or ''Epistulae Heroidum'' (''Letters of Heroines''), is a collection of fifteen epistolary Epistolary means "in the form of a letter or letters", and may refer to: * Epistolary ( la, epistolarium), a Christi ...

'' in ''Heroides. Amores.'' Translated by Grant Showerman. Revised by G. P. Goold.

No. 41. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Ovid, '' Ibis'' in ''Art of Love. Cosmetics. Remedies for Love. Ibis. Walnut-tree. Sea Fishing. Consolation.'' Translated by J. H. Mozley. Revised by G. P. Goold.

No. 232, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1929
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Page, Denys Lionel, Sir, ''Select Papyri, Volume III: Poetry.'' Translated by Denys L. Page.

No. 360. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1941. . * Pausanias, ''Description of Greece'' 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.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Pollitt, Jerome Jordan (1986), ''Art in the Hellenistic Age'', Cambridge University Press. . * Pollitt, Jerome Jordan (1990), ''The Art of Ancient Greece: Sources and Documents'', Cambridge University Press. . *

Quintus Smyrnaeus Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; el, Κόϊντος Σμυρναῖος, ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose ''Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus Smy ...

, ''Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy'', Translator: A.S. Way; Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1913
Internet Archive
* Robert, Carl, ''Die Nekyia des Polygnot'', M. Niemeyer, 1892. * Rosivach, Vincent J., ''When a Young Man Falls in Love: The Sexual Exploitation of Women in New Comedy'', Psychology Press, 1998. . * Stewart, Andrew, "Telephos/Telepinu and Dionysos: A Distant Light on an Ancient Myth" in ''Pergamon: The Telephos Frieze from the Great Altar, Volume 2'', Renée Dreyfus and Ellen Schraudolph, editors, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1996. . *

, ''Geography'', translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924)
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6–14
* Webster, Thomas Bertram Lonsdale, ''The Tragedies of Euripides'', Methuen & Co, 1967 . * Winnington-Ingram, Reginald Pepy, ''Sophocles: An Interpretation'', Cambridge University Press, 1980. {{ISBN, 9780521296847. Mythological rape victims Princesses in Greek mythology Women of Heracles Women in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Arcadian mythology Tegea