:''Caanthus is also a synonym of the
cylindrical bark beetle genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
Ciconissus.''
In
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 ...
, Caanthus or Kaanthos (;
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
: Κάανθος) was the son of
Oceanus
In Greek mythology, Oceanus ( ; , also , , or ) was a Titans, Titan son of Uranus (mythology), Uranus and Gaia, the husband of his sister the Titan Tethys (mythology), Tethys, and the father of the River gods (Greek mythology), river gods ...
and
Tethys, and the brother of
Melia, who was the consort of
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
, and an important cult figure at
Thebes.
Mythology
According to the second-century geographer
Pausanias, Caanthus was commanded by his father Oceanus to seek his sister Melia, who had been abducted by Apollo, but being unable to get Melia away from Apollo, Caanthus set fire to the Apollo's sanctuary, and Apollo shot and killed him.
The story of Caanthus is a close parallel to the more famous story of
Cadmus, the founder and first king of Thebes. Like Caanthus, Cadmus' sister
Europa is abducted by an Olympian god (in this case
Zeus
Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus.
Zeus is the child ...
), and Cadmus is sent by his father to bring Europa back home, and like Caanthus, Cadmus is unsuccessful. Caanthus' story is perhaps also related to the story of the Theban
Amphion. According to
Hyginus, Amphion, like Caanthus, was shot and killed by Apollo because of an attack on his temple.
According to Pausanias, Caanthus was buried near a spring above the Ismenion, the Temple of Apollo at Thebes. Pausanias identified the spring as the famous spring of Ares, where Cadmus killed the dragon guarding it.
According to
Jacob Bryant Caanthus, Cunthus and Cunæthus are all titles of a Deity called Chan-Thoth in Egypt.
[Bryant]
pp. 448–449 n. 64
/ref>
Notes
References
* Bryant, Jacob, ''A New System; or, An Analysis of Antient Mythology'', J. Walker, 1807
Internet Archive
* Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy, ''Python: A Study of Delphic Myth and Its Origins'', University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
, 1959. .
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius, '' Fabulae'' in ''Apollodorus' ''Library'' and Hyginus' ''Fabulae'': Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma'', Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. .
* Larson, Jennifer, "Greek Nymphs : Myth, Cult, Lore", Oxford University Press (US). June 2001.
* Pausanias, ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* Schachter, Albert (1967), "A Boeotian Cult Type" in '' Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies (BICS)'', No. 14, pp. 1–16.
* Schachter, Albert (1981), "Cults of Boiotia: 1. Acheloos to Hera.", ''Bulletin Supplement (University of London. Institute of Classical Studies)'', 38.1. .
* Smith, William; '' Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', London (1873)
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
{{Authority control
Deeds of Apollo
River gods in Greek mythology
Theban mythology