Perse (mythology)

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Perse
Member of the Oceanids
Abode Ocean
Genealogy
Parents Oceanus and Tethys
Siblings Oceanids, Potamoi
Consort Helios
Children Circe, Aeëtes, Pasiphaë, Perses, Aloeus

In Greek mythology, Perse (Ancient Greek : Πέρση, romanized: Pérsē, lit. 'destroyer') is one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. [1] [2] [3] Her name was also spelled as Persa, Perseide, Persea [4] or Perseis (Περσηίς, Persēís). [5] Perse married Helios, the god of the sun, and bore him several children, most notably the sorceress-goddess Circe.

Contents

Mythology

Perse was one of the wives of the sun god, Helios. [6] [7] According to Homer and Hesiod, with Helios she had Circe and Aeëtes, [8] with later authors also mentioning their children Pasiphaë, [9] Perses, [10] Aloeus, [11] and even Calypso, [11] who is however more commonly the daughter of Atlas. It is not clear why Perse bore Helios, the source of all light, such dark and mysterious children. [12]

When Aphrodite cursed Helios to fall in love with the mortal princess Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten about Perse. [13] She seems to have been linked to witchcraft and knowledge of herbs and potions, much like her daughters Circe and Pasiphaë. [14] She might have also been associated with the witchcraft goddess Hecate, who was also called Perseis (as in "daughter of Perses") [15] [16] and who is said to be Circe's mother in one version. [17] [18]

Possible connections

Perseis' name has been linked to Περσίς (Persís), "female Persian", and πέρθω (pérthō), "destroy" or "slay" or "plunder".[ citation needed ]

Kerenyi also noted the connection between her and Hecate due to their names, denoting a chthonic aspect of the nymph, as well as that of Persephone, whose name "can be taken to be a longer, perhaps simply a more ceremonious, form of Perse", [19] as did Fowler, who noted that the pairing made sense given Hecate's association with the Moon. [20] It has been suggested that Hecate's "Perseis" epithet denotes lunar connections. [21] However, as Mooney notes, there is no evidence that Perse was ever a moon goddess on her own right. [22]

An inscription of Mycenaean Greek (written in Linear B) was found on a tablet from Pylos, dating back to 1400–1200 BC. John Chadwick reconstructed [n 1] the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse. Chadwick found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone. [24] [25]

Genealogy

Perse's family tree
Gaia
Uranus
Hyperion Theia Oceanus Tethys
Helios PERSE
Circe Aeëtes Pasiphaë Perses Aloeus

See also

Footnotes

  1. The actual word in Linear B is 𐀟𐀩𐁚, pe-re-*82 or pe-re-swa; it is found on the PY Tn 316 tablet. [23]

Notes

  1. Hesiod, Theogony 356
  2. Kerényi, Carl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 40.
  3. Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p.  270. ISBN   978-0-7864-7111-9.
  4. Virgil, Ciris 66
  5. Tzetzes on Lycophron, 798.
  6. Hecataeus of Miletus, fr. 35A Fowler
  7. Hard, p. 44
  8. Homer, Odyssey 10.135; Hesiod, Theogony 956
  9. Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.591; Apollodorus, 1.9.1; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 48.4
  10. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
  11. 1 2 Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 174.
  12. Bell, s. v. Perse
  13. Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.205 [ permanent dead link ]
  14. Ovid, The Cure for Love Part IV
  15. Apollonius of Rhodes, 3.478
  16. Johannsen, Nina (2006). "Perse(is)". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly . Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Kiel: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e914920 . Retrieved June 25, 2023.
  17. Diodorus Siculus, 4.45.1
  18. The Classical Review vol. 9, p. 391
  19. Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951, pp 192-193
  20. Fowler, p. 16, vol. II
  21. The Classical Review vol. 9, pp 391–392
  22. Mooney, p. 58
  23. Raymoure, K.A. "pe-re-*82". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean. "PY 316 Tn (44)". DĀMOS: Database of Mycenaean at Oslo. University of Oslo.
  24. Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 95. ISBN   0-521-29037-6. At Google Books.
  25. Comments about the goddess pe-re-*82 of Pylos tablet Tn 316, tentatively reconstructed as *Preswa
    "It is tempting to see ... the classical Perse ... daughter of Oceanus  ...; whether it may be further identified with the first element of Persephone is only speculative." John Chadwick. Documents in Mycenean Greek. Second Edition

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