In
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 ...
, Biston (
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 ...
: Βίστων or Βιστών) was the son of
Ares
Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...
and
Callirrhoe Callirrhoe (, grc, Καλλιρρόη; also Callirhoe) may refer to:
* Callirhoe (mythology), several figures in Greek mythology, including:
** Callirrhoe (Oceanid), daughter of Oceanus and Tethys
** Callirrhoe (daughter of Achelous)
* Callirrhoe ...
,
daughter of river-god
Nestus
Nestos ( ), Mesta ( ), or formerly the Mesta Karasu in Turkish (Karasu meaning "black river"), is a river in Bulgaria and Greece. It rises in the Rila Mountains and flows into the Aegean Sea near the island of Thasos. It plunges down towering ca ...
. His two brothers were
Odomas and
Edonus In Greek mythology, Edonus ( grc, Ἠδωνός) was the ancestor of the Edonians in Thrace and Thracian Macedonia. He was the son of Ares (god of war) and Calliope (muse of epic poetry). The names ''Edonus, Edonian, Edonic'' is therefore used also ...
(eponyms of two Thracian tribes, the
Odomanti
Odomanti or Odomantes ( grc, Ὀδόμαντες) were an ancient tribe. Some regard it as Paeonian, while others claim, that the tribe was with certainty Thracian. The Odomanti are noted by Herodotus, Thucydides, Stephanus of Byzantium and Pliny ...
and the
Edoni
The Edoni (also ''Edones'', ''Edonians'', ''Edonides'') ( el, Ἠδωνιοί) were a Thracian people who dwelt mostly between the Nestus and the Strymon rivers in southern Thrace, but also once dwelt west of the Strymon at least as far as the Axi ...
). Alternately, he was called son of
Paeon and grandson of Ares. In some accounts, he was the son of either the
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
Terpsichorus['']Etymologicum Magnum
''Etymologicum Magnum'' ( grc, Ἐτυμολογικὸν Μέγα, ) (standard abbreviation ''EM'', or ''Etym. M.'' in older literature) is the traditional title of a Greek lexical encyclopedia compiled at Constantinople by an unknown lexicograp ...
'', 197. 59 s. v. ''Bistoniē'' or
Calliope
In Greek mythology, Calliope ( ; grc, Καλλιόπη, Kalliópē, beautiful-voiced) is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses" ...
.
Mythology
Biston built the city of
Bistonia on the shores of
Lake Bistonis
Lake Vistonida ( el, Λίμνη Βιστωνίδα, older form: Βιστωνίς) is a lake in Porto Lagos, Xanthi regional unit, Greece. It encompasses a unique ecosystem and the local climate can be described as mid-Mediterranean. It hosts a va ...
in
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
.
He also introduced the Thracian practice of tattooing both men and women with eye-like patterns as a magical fetish, in response to an oracle which guaranteed victory against the neighbouring
Edonians
The Edoni (also ''Edones'', ''Edonians'', ''Edonides'') ( el, Ἠδωνιοί) were a Thracian people who dwelt mostly between the Nestus and the Strymon rivers in southern Thrace, but also once dwelt west of the Strymon at least as far as the Axi ...
tribe if so adorned. The Thracian Bistonians were famous for their warlike nature and cult of Ares whom they worshipped in the form of an upright standing sword.
See also
*
Bistones
Bistones ( el, "Βίστονες") is the name of a Thracian people who dwelt between Mount Rhodopé and the Aegean Sea, beside Lake Bistonis, near Abdera "extending westward as far as the river Nestus". It was through the land of the Bistones ...
*
Bistonis
Bistonis is a nymph in Greek mythology who gave birth to a son of Ares, Tereus. Although she is mentioned in several surviving classical texts, she is the main subject of few or none. In at least one poem, written by Moschus in the 3rd century BC ...
, the
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 ...
who lives at Lake Bistonis.
Notes
References
*
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
, ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Kings in Greek mythology
Children of Ares
Greek mythology of Thrace
{{Greek-myth-stub