In Greek mythology, Phoroneus ( /fəˈrɒn.juːs/ ; Ancient Greek: Φορωνεύς means 'bringer of a price' [1] ) was a culture-hero of the Argolid, fire-bringer, [2] law giver, [3] and primordial king of Argos.
In Greek mythology, Phoroneus ( /fəˈrɒn.juːs/ ; Ancient Greek: Φορωνεύς means 'bringer of a price' [1] ) was a culture-hero of the Argolid, fire-bringer, [2] law giver, [3] and primordial king of Argos.
Phoroneus was the son of the river god Inachus and either Melia, the Oceanid [4] or Argia, [5] the embodiment of the Argolid itself: "Inachus, son of Oceanus, begat Phoroneus [6] by his sister Argia".
He was said to have been married to Cinna; [7] or Cerdo, a nymph; [8] or Teledice, [9] also a nymph; or Perimede; [10] or Peitho, [11] and to have fathered a number of children including Apis, Car, [12] Chthonia, Clymenus, [13] Sparton, [14] Lyrcus [15] and Europs, an illegitimate son. [16] An unnamed daughter of his is said to have consorted with Hecaterus and thus became the mother of the five Hecaterides, nymphs of the rustic dance. [17]
In Argive culture, Niobe is associated with Phoroneus, sometimes as his mother, sometimes as his daughter, or as his consort (Kerenyi). According to Hellanicus of Lesbos, Phoroneus had at least three sons: Agenor, Jasus and Pelasgus. After the death of Phoroneus, the two elder brothers divided his dominions, Pelasgus received the country about the river Erasmus, and built Larissa, and Iasus the country about Elis. After the death of these two, Agenor, the youngest, invaded their dominions, and thus became king of Argos. [18] [19]
The Clementine Recognitions mentions Phthia, a daughter of Phoroneus, who became the mother of Achaeus by Zeus. [20]
| Relation | Names | Sources | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hellanicus | Σ ad Pindar | Σ ad Euripides | Parthenius | Strabo | Apollodorus | Pausanias | Hyginus | Clement | Tzetzes | ||
| Parents | Inachus | ✓ | |||||||||
| Inachus and Melia | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Inachus and Argia | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Wife | Perimede | ✓ | |||||||||
| Peitho | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Teledice | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Cerdo | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Cinna | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Children | Agenor | ✓ | |||||||||
| Jasus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Pelasgus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Aegialeus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Apis | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||
| Niobe or Nioba | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||
| Lyrcus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| wife of Hecaterus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Car | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Europs | ✓ | ✓ | |||||||||
| Chthonia | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Clymenus | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Sparton | ✓ | ||||||||||
| Phthia | ✓ | ||||||||||
Hyginus' genealogy expresses the position of Phoroneus as one [21] of the primordial men, whose local identities differed in the various regions of Greece, [22] and who had for a mother the essential spirit of the very earth of Argos herself, Argia. He was the primordial king in the Peloponnesus, authorized by Zeus: "Formerly Zeus himself had ruled over men, but Hermes created a confusion of human speech, which spoiled Zeus' pleasure in this Rule". [23] Phoroneus introduced both the worship of Hera and the use of fire and the forge. [24] Poseidon and Hera had vied for the Argive when the primeval waters had receded, Phoroneus "was the first to gather the people together into a community; for they had up to then been living as scattered and lonesome families". (Pausanias).
Phoroneus' successor was Argus, who was Niobe's son, either by Zeus or Phoroneus himself. He was also the father of Apis, who may have also ruled Argos (according to Tatiānus [25] ). He was worshipped in Argos with an eternal fire that was shown to Pausanias in the 2nd century CE, and funeral sacrifices were offered to him at his tomb-sanctuary. [26] He is also credited as the founder of law. [27]
| PHORONEUS' CHRONOLOGY OF REIGN ACCORDING TO VARIOUS SOURCES | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings of Argos | Regnal Years | Castor | Regnal Years | Syncellus | Regnal Years | Apollodorus | Hyginus | Tatian | Pausanias | ||
| Precessor | 1677 | 50 winters & summers | Inachus | 1677.5 | 56 winters & summers | Inachus | 1675 | Inachus | -do- | -do- | -do- |
| Phoroneus | 1652 | 60 winters & summers | Phoroneus | 1649.5 | 60 winters & summers | Phoroneus | 1650 | Phoroneus | -do- | -do- | -do- |
| Successor | 1622 | 35 winters & summers | Apis | 1619.5 | 35 winters & summers | Apis | 1625 | Apis | -do- | -do- | -do- |
|
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In Greek mythology, Melia was an Oceanid, one of the 3,000 water nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys. She was the mother of culture hero Phoroneus, and Aegialeus, by her brother Inachus, the river-god of Argos. However, in some accounts, Inachus fathered Phoroneus by an Oceanid nymph named Argia. According to Argive tradition, Phoroneus was the first man, or first inhabitant of Argos, who lived during the time of the Great Flood, associated with Deucalion.
In Greek mythology, Teledice is the nymph wife of the first mortal king Phoroneus of Peloponesse, and, according to Pseudo-Apollodorus, the mother of Apis and Niobe. Other sources named the consort(s) of Phoroneus as either Cerdo, Cinna, or Perimede, or Peitho.
In Greek mythology, Cinna was the wife of King Phoroneus of Argos by whom she became the mother of Apis and Niobe. Otherwise, the consort(s) of Phoroneus was identified either as the nymph Cerdo, the nymph Teledice, Perimede, or Peitho.
