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 ...

, Ctesylla (

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 ...

: Κτήσυλλα) was a maiden of Ioulis in

Ceos Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit. Geography It is the island o ...

, daughter of Alcidamas. During the Pythian festival, an

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

named Hermochares saw Ctesylla dancing in front of the altar of

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= ...

and fell in love with her. He threw an apple at her feet on which the text of an oath by

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 ...

' name was carved; Ctesylla picked it up and read the text aloud, which automatically obliged her to marry Hermochares. She became upset about that, but when Hermochares came to her father and wooed her, Alcidamas consented and swore by the name of Apollo that he would marry Ctesylla to Hermochares. As soon as the festival was over, Alcidamas forgot his oath and was planning to give Ctesylla in marriage to another man. Hermochares rushed to the temple of Artemis where Ctesylla was performing the customary sacrifices. In accord with the goddess' will, Ctesylla fell in love with Hermochares at the first sight and ran off with him to Athens, where they got married. However, in retribution for Alcidamas having broken his oath, Ctesylla died in labour. During the funeral ceremony, a dove flew up from her death-bed, and the body of Ctesylla disappeared. Hermochares consulted 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 '' ...

about that and was advised to found a sanctuary dedicated to Ctesylla. He reported this to the people of Ceos; since then at Ioulis, sacrifices were offered to

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols include ...

Ctesylla, whereas in the other parts of Ceos, Ctesylla was a surname of Artemis. The story of Ctesylla and Hermochares parallels that of

Cydippe The name Cydippe (Ancient Greek: Κυδίππη ''Kudíppē'') is attributed to four individuals in Greek mythology. *Cydippe, one of the 50 Nereids, sea-nymph daughters of the 'Old Man of the Sea' Nereus and the Oceanid Doris. She was in the t ...

and

Acontius Acontius (Ancient Greek: Ἀκόντιος), was in Greek mythology a beautiful youth of the island of Ceos, the hero of a love-story told by Callimachus in a poem of which only fragments remain, and which forms the subject of two of Ovid's ''He ...

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 ...

, ''Metamorphoses'', 1 *

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

'', 7. 368 - 370 {{Greek-myth-stub Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Women in Greek mythology People from Kea (island)

See also

References