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 ...

, Cragaleus (;

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 ...

: ''Κραγαλεύς'') was a son of Dryops who dwelt in the land Dryopis next to a spring which was believed to have appeared at a place where

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

hit the earth with his club.

Mythology

Cragaleus was renowned as just and wise, and was one day visited by

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

, and Heracles who asked him to act as an arbiter in their argument as to which of the three should become patron of

Ambracia Ambracia (; grc-gre, Ἀμβρακία, occasionally , ''Ampracia'') was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was captured by the Corinthians in 625 BC and was situated about from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigabl ...

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinrich ...

. Apollo argued that the city should belong to him on account of the fact that Epirus was once conquered by his son

Melaneus In Greek mythology, Melaneus (; Ancient Greek: Μελανεύς) was the founder of Oechalia (Oikhalia), variously located in Thessaly, Messenia or Euboea and also king of the Dryopes.Antoninus Liberalis4as cited in Nicander's ''Metamorphoses'' ...

, and that he assisted the Ambraciotes in the war against the natives of Epirus, and brought law and order to Ambracia. Artemis reminded that it was she who saved the Ambraciotes from the tyrant Phalecus, having sent a lioness to kill him. Finally, Heracles brought up the fact that it was he who destroyed the many non-Greek peoples of Epirus for trying to steal the kine of

Geryon In Greek mythology, Geryon ( or ;"Geryon"
''

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

ians, who later came to Epirus and founded Ambracia, were his descendants. Cragaleus considered Heracles' argument the most convincing and declared him the winner. Apollo was enraged and turned Cragaleus into stone. Since then, the Ambraciotes sacrificed to Apollo the Saviour, but believed their city to belong to Heracles and the

Heracleidae The Heracleidae (; grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles (Hercules), especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also ...

, and honored Cragaleus with sacrifices as well.

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 ...

4
as cited in Nicander's ''Metamorphoses''

Notes

References

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* '' Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft,'' Band XI, Halbband 22, Komogrammateus-Kynegoi (1922), s. 1566. *

Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (12 February 1845, in Göttingen – 9 March 1923, in Dresden) was a German classical scholar. He specialized in studies of Greek and Roman mythology. He received his education at the Universities of Göttingen and Leip ...

(ed.): ''Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie''. Band 2, Leipzig 1890 - 1894, s. 1403 Epirotic mythology Deeds of Apollo Metamorphoses into inanimate objects in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub

Mythology

See also

Notes

References