Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Arceophon () was a wealthy man of Salamis in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, son of Minnyrides (), a

Phoenicia Phoenicians were an Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples, ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syria, Syrian ...

Mythology

Arceophon fell in love with Arsinoë, daughter of King Nicocreon (, Nikokréon) of Salamis (a descendant of

Teucer In Greek mythology, Teucer (; , also Teucrus, Teucros or Teucris), was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax the Great, Ajax, in the ...

), and wooed her, but Nicocreon refused to give his daughter to Arceophon because of the latter's Phoenician descent. Arceophon was upset and began to come to Arsinoë's house by night, hoping to win her heart, but in vain. He then tried to bribe Arsinoë's nurse so that she might arrange for them to meet, but Arsinoë reported this to her parents, who cut off the nurse's tongue, nose and fingers and drove her out of their house. Having lost every hope, Arceophon died of suicide by starvation. The fellow citizens grieved at his death and buried him with honors. When Arsinoë leaned out of the window to take a look at the funeral ceremony,

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

turned her into stone. The story of Arceophon and Arsinoë is comparable to that of

Iphis In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Iphis ( or ; , Genitive case, gen. Ἴφιδος ''Íphidos'') was a child of Telethusa and Ligdus in Crete, born female and raised as male, who was later transformed by the goddess Isis into a m ...

and Anaxarete.

References

Mythological Cypriots Suicides in Greek mythology Phoenician characters in Greek mythology {{Greek-myth-stub