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 ...

, Megaletor ( grc, Μεγαλήτωρ, Megalḗtо̄r, great-hearted) is a minor figure, a prince of the

Molossians The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On t ...

, who was transformed into a bird by the will of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.

Family

Philaeus was one of the sons of the

Molossian The Molossians () were a group of ancient Greek tribes which inhabited the region of Epirus in classical antiquity. Together with the Chaonians and the Thesprotians, they formed the main tribal groupings of the northwestern Greek group. On thei ...

king

Munichus In Greek mythology, Munichus (; Ancient Greek: Μούνιχος ''Moúnikhos'') may refer to: *Munichus, son of Dryas, king of the Molossians and a seer. He was husband of Lelante and by her father of three sons, Philaeus, Alcander and Megaletor ...

by his wife

Lelante In Greek mythology, Lelante ( grc, Ληλάντη, Lēlántē) is a minor figure, a queen of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death. Family She was the wife of ...

. He had two brothers,

Alcander Alcander ( Gr. ) was a young man of Sparta who attacked Lycurgus Lycurgus or Lykourgos () may refer to: People * Lycurgus (king of Sparta) (third century BC) * Lycurgus (lawgiver) (eighth century BC), creator of constitution of Sparta * Lycu ...

and

Philaeus ''Philaeus'' is a genus of jumping spiders that was first described by Tamerlan Thorell in 1869. ''Philaeus maoniuensis'' was moved to genus '' Yllenus'' in 2003. Species it contains seven species with a wide distribution. Most species are fro ...

, and a sister named

Hyperippe In Greek mythology, the name Hyperippe (; Ancient Greek: Ὑπερίππη) may refer to: * Hyperippe, daughter of Danaus and Crino, who married and killed Hippocorystes, son of Aegyptus and Hephaestine. * Hyperippe, daughter of Arcas and one of t ...

Mythology

The entire family was seen as just and righteous and therefore especially favored by the gods. One day raiders attacked them in the fields; the family ran off to their house and began to throw various objects at them in self-defense, whereupon the offenders set the house ablaze. The god of justice,

would not let his favourites suffer such a cruel and undeserving death that he changed them all six of them into various birds in order to save them from the flames; Megaletor himself was changed into a 'ichneumon bird', a bird that is very hard to say what it could be identified with. Antoninus Liberalis, ''Metamorphoses'
14
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* Antoninus Liberalis, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* *

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 ...

'', Volume II: Books 9-15. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library 43. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 1916. Deeds of Zeus Princes in Greek mythology Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Epirotic mythology {{Greek-myth-stub

Family

Mythology

See also

References

Bibliography