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 ...
, Calydon (; ) is a minor figure from the homonymous region of
Calydon
Calydon (; , ) was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus, 7.5 Roman miles (approx. 11 km) from the sea.
Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be overcome by heroes of ...
, the son of
Ares
Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
and
Astynome Astynome () is a name which may refer to one of the following characters in Greek mythology:
*Astynome, one of the Niobids.
*Astynome, daughter of Talaus and mother of Capaneus by Hipponous.
*Astynome, commonly referred to by the patronymic Chrysei ...
. Calydon angered the goddess
Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
when he saw her naked, and was then turned into rock as punishment.
Family
Calydon was born to
Ares
Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...
, the god of war, and a mortal woman named
Astynome Astynome () is a name which may refer to one of the following characters in Greek mythology:
*Astynome, one of the Niobids.
*Astynome, daughter of Talaus and mother of Capaneus by Hipponous.
*Astynome, commonly referred to by the patronymic Chrysei ...
. Like his name indicates, he was from
Calydon
Calydon (; , ) was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus, 7.5 Roman miles (approx. 11 km) from the sea.
Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be overcome by heroes of ...
, an ancient city in
Aetolia
Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania.
Geography
The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...
, in western
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
.
Mythology
One day, Calydon accidentally came upon the virgin goddess
Artemis
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...
who was bathing naked. As punishment she turned him into rock, and thus the mountain Gyrus that lay by the
Achelous river
The Achelous (, ''Akhelôios''), also Acheloos, is a river in Epirus, western Greece. It is long. It formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia of antiquity. It empties into the Ionian Sea. In ancient times its spirit was venerated as ...
took his name and was thus called Calydon thereafter.
Interpretation
Calydon seeing the goddess naked constitutes an intrusion which is sexual in nature, putting him in the same class as other rapists; blinding is a common punishment for sexual crimes in Greek mythology.
Calydon's story is only preserved in
Pseudo-Plutarch Pseudo-Plutarch is the conventional name given to the actual, but unknown, authors of a number of pseudepigrapha (falsely attributed works) attributed to Plutarch but now known not to have been written by him.
Some of these works were included in s ...
's ''Treatise on Rivers and Mountains'' (or ''
De fluviis
''De fluviīs'' (Latin for "concerning rivers"), also called ''Dē fluviōrum et montium nōminibus et dē iīs quae in illīs inveniuntur'' ("concerning the names of rivers and mountains and those things which are found in them") or the Greek '' ...
''), a work by an author now known not to have been the actual
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
. This second-century work is today classified as
paradoxography
Paradoxography is a genre of classical literature which deals with the occurrence of abnormal or inexplicable phenomena of the natural or human worlds (Latin ''mirabilia'', 'marvels, miracles'). The term ''paradoxographos'' (paradoxographer) was co ...
or a parody of paradoxography, and might have been written with a humorous, non-serious tone.
See also
*
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias (; ) was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, Greece, Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes (mythology), Everes and the nymph ...
*
Siproites
*
Actaeon
In Greek mythology, Actaeon (; ''Aktaiōn'') was the son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, and a famous Thebes, Greece, Theban Greek hero cult, hero. Through his mother he was a member of the ruling House of Cadmus. Like ...
References
Bibliography
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{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology
Metamorphoses into terrain in Greek mythology
Deeds of Artemis
Children of Ares
Mythological Aetolians