Cassiphone ( grc, Κασσιφόνη, Kassiphónē, fratricide) is a minor figure in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sorceress-goddess Circe and the Trojan War hero

Odysseus Odysseus ( ; grc-gre, Ὀδυσσεύς, Ὀδυσεύς, OdysseúsOdyseús, ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; lat, UlyssesUlixes), is a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey''. Odysse ...

. She is mentioned in passing in the works of

Lycophron Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely). Life and ...

and the Byzantine scholar

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, Iōánnēs Tzétzēs; c. 1110, Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who is known to have lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He was able to p ...

Etymology

Cassiphone's name is a compound word that translates to "brother killer", from the words (''kásis'') meaning both "brother" and "sister", and (''phónos'') meaning "murder, manslaughter".

Mythology

Cassiphone is alluded to in obscure lines in Hellenistic poet

's ''Alexandra'', with an explanation provided in the commentary of Byzantine scholar

, who is the only one to mention her name; she is most likely a late classical or Hellenistic invention, whose only purpose is to expand on the myth of Telegonus. Lycophron writes: According to Tzetzes, Cassiphone is the daughter

had by Circe with whom he spent one year together during his travels to get back home to Ithaca following the end of the Trojan War. The story of the '' Telegony'' goes that when her full-brother Telegonus left in search of his father he accidentally ended up killing him, having not recognised him. Telegonus then married Odysseus's widow Penelope, while Circe married Telemachus, Odysseus's son by Penelope. According to Lycophron and Tzetzes, Circe then brought Odysseus back to life who proceeded to wed Cassiphone to Telemachus, her half-brother. Telemachus then killed Circe after a quarrell with her, prompting Cassiphone to kill Telemachus as she avenged her mother.Tzetzes ad Lycophro
806
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Footnotes

References

Bibliography

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: ...

, ''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
* Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica'' translated by Edward P. Coleridge, B.A. London, George Bell and Sons publishers. 1889
Text available at Internet Archive.
* * Hyginus, Gaius Julius
''The Myths of Hyginus''
Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. *
Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
*

, ''Alexandra'', in ''Callimachus, Lycophron, Aratus. Hymns and Epigrams. Lycophron: Alexandra. Aratus: Phaenomena''. Translated by A. W. Mair, G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library 129. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921. * Marcus Tullius Cicero, ''Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero'' translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* * * {{cite book , author-link = William Smith (lexicographer) , last = Smith , first = William , title = A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology , location = London, UK , date = 1873 , publisher = John Murray, printed by Spottiswoode and Co}
Online text available at perseus.tufts.
Women in Greek mythology Mythological fratricides Children of Circe Children of Odysseus Revenge Mariticides

Etymology

Mythology

See also

Footnotes

References

Bibliography