Minyas (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Minyas (/ˈmɪniəs, ˈmɪnjəs/; Ancient Greek: Μινύας) was the founder of Orchomenus, Boeotia.^[1]

As the ancestor of the Minyans, a number of Boeotian genealogies lead back to him, according to the classicist H.J. Rose.^[2] Accounts vary as to his own parentage:

Orchomenus and Hermippe, his real father being Poseidon;^[3]
Poseidon either by (1) the Oceanid Callirhoe;^[4] (2) Tritogeneia, daughter of Aeolus;^[5] (3) Euryanassa, daughter of Hyperphas^[6] or lastly, Chrysogone, daughter of Almus;^[7]
father is only mentioned as (1) Aeolus;^[1] (2) Sisyphus;^[8] (3) Chryses, son of Poseidon and Chrysogeneia;^[9] (4) Eteocles^[10] or (5) Ares^[11] (6) Aleus^[12] and lastly (7) Halmus (Almus)^{[citation needed]}.

Minyas was married to Tritolenia (Tritogeneia^[13]), Clytodora, or Phanosyra, daughter of Paion.^[14] The following are the children of Minyas by one of her suppose wives:

By Clytodora,^[4] Presbon, Eteoclymene and Periclymene;
By Phanosyra,^[4] Orchomenus, Diochthondas and Athamas;
Clymene,^[6] also called Periclymene,^[6] mother of Iphiclus and Alcimede by Phylacus or Cephalus;
Cyparissus, the founder of Anticyra;^[15]
the Minyades, three daughters who were turned into bats;^[16]
Persephone, wife of Amphion (son of Iasus) and mother of Chloris and Phylomache, respectively the wives of Neleus^[17] and Pelias; and lastly
Elara, the mother of the giant Tityus.^[18]

More information Relation, Name ...

Comparative table of Minyas' family
Relation	Name	Sources
		Hom.	Hes.	Pindar			Apollon.		Ovid	Apd.	Plut.	Hyg.	Pau.	Ant.	Aelian	Steph.	Eust.	Tzet.	W. Smith
		Sch. Ody.	Fr.	Sch. Pyth	Sch. Isth.	Sch. Oly	Arg.	Sch.	Meta.	Apd.	Gk. Qs.	Fab.	Pau.	Ant.	Aelian	Steph.	Odys.	Lyco.	W. Smith
Parentage	Poseidon and Euryanassa	✓	✓
	Poseidon and Tritogeneia			✓
	Eteocles				✓
	Aeolus						✓^[19]
	Poseidon and Hermippe							✓
	Poseidon and Chrysogone							✓
	Chryses												✓
	Orchomenus													✓
	Poseidon and Callirhoe																	✓
	Ares																		✓
	Aleus																		✓
	Sisyphus																		✓
	Halmus																		✓
Wife	Tritolenia																		✓
	Clytodora																		✓
	Phanosyra																		✓
Children	Clymene	✓					✓			✓		✓	✓
	Elara	✓															✓
	Eteoclymene				✓
	Diochthondas				✓
	Orchomenus							✓					✓
	Athamas							✓
	Presbon							✓
	Leuconoe or								✓
	Leucippe										✓			✓	✓
	Alcithoe or								✓						✓
	Alcathoe										✓			✓
	Arsinoe or										✓
	Arsippe or													✓
	Aristippe														✓
	Periclymene											✓						✓
	Cyparissus															✓
	Persephone	✓

Close

According to Apollonius Rhodius^[20] and Pausanias,^[21] Minyas was the first king to have made a treasury, of which the ruins were still extant in Pausanias' times.

[1]
Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1093 ff.
[2]
Rose, H.J. (1929). A Handbook of Greek Mythology. E.P. Dutton and Company. p. 261. Retrieved 28 April 2024.
[3]
Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 1.230
[4]
Scholia ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 14.5c; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875
[5]
Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.122 - most probably an error and it should be read as “. . Argonauts, most of them from Minyas, son of Poseidon, and Tritogeneia, daughter of Aeolus . .” with Minyas and Tritogeneia being the ancestors of the majority of the heroes instead of Minyas being a son of Poseidon and Tritogeneia. The latter was usually listed as his spouse rather than his mother. Compare with Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875
[6]
Scholia ad Homer, Odyssey 11.326 = Hesiod, fr. 62 (Loeb edition, 1914)
[7]
Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1094: Minyas himself is the son of Poseidon and "Chrysogone", daughter of Almus.
[8]
Scholia ad Homer, Iliad 2.511
[9]
Pausanias, 9.36.4
[10]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79
[11]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79 with Dionysius as the authority
[12]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79 with Aristodemus as the authority
[13]
Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.122; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875
[14]
Smith, s.v. Minyas.
[15]
Scholia on Homer, Iliad 2.159; on Odyssey 11.362
[16]
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.1-168; Antoninus Liberalis, 10 as cited in Nicander's Metamorphoses; Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 38
[17]
Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 11.281, citing Pherecydes (fr. 117 Fowler)
[18]
Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey 7.324; Eustathius on Homer, Odyssey 7.324, p. 1581
[19]
Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.1553: "He (i.e. Minyas) is called Aeolian, not as being the immediate offspring of Aeolus, but as being descended from his stocks. Sisyphus, the son of Aeolus, had two sons, Almus and Porphyrion. Minyas, the builder of Orchomenus, was the son of Neptune, by Chrysogone, the daughter of Almus thus he was a descendant of Aeolus by the mother's side."
[20]
Apollonius Rhodius, 1.229
[21]
Pausanias, 9.38.2

Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853-1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0198147404.
Smith, William. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, v. 2, page 1092
Thirlwall, Connop (1895). A History of Greece. Original from the University of Virginia: Longmans. p. 92.

[:0-1] [1]
Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1093 ff.

[Rose_-_Mythology_Handbook-2] [2]
Rose, H.J. (1929). A Handbook of Greek Mythology. E.P. Dutton and Company. p. 261. Retrieved 28 April 2024.

[3] [3]
Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 1.230

[:2-4] [4]
Scholia ad Pindar, Olympian Odes 14.5c; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875

[5] [5]
Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.122 - most probably an error and it should be read as “. . Argonauts, most of them from Minyas, son of Poseidon, and Tritogeneia, daughter of Aeolus . .” with Minyas and Tritogeneia being the ancestors of the majority of the heroes instead of Minyas being a son of Poseidon and Tritogeneia. The latter was usually listed as his spouse rather than his mother. Compare with Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875

[:3-6] [6]
Scholia ad Homer, Odyssey 11.326 = Hesiod, fr. 62 (Loeb edition, 1914)

[7] [7]
Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 3.1094: Minyas himself is the son of Poseidon and "Chrysogone", daughter of Almus.

[8] [8]
Scholia ad Homer, Iliad 2.511

[9] [9]
Pausanias, 9.36.4

[10] [10]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79

[11] [11]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79 with Dionysius as the authority

[12] [12]
Scholia ad Pindar, Isthmian Ode 1.79 with Aristodemus as the authority

[:1-13] [13]
Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.122; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 875

[14] [14]
Smith, s.v. Minyas.

[15] [15]
Scholia on Homer, Iliad 2.159; on Odyssey 11.362

[16] [16]
Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.1-168; Antoninus Liberalis, 10 as cited in Nicander's Metamorphoses; Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae 38

[17] [17]
Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 11.281, citing Pherecydes (fr. 117 Fowler)

[18] [18]
Scholiast on Homer, Odyssey 7.324; Eustathius on Homer, Odyssey 7.324, p. 1581

[19] [19]
Scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.1553: "He (i.e. Minyas) is called Aeolian, not as being the immediate offspring of Aeolus, but as being descended from his stocks. Sisyphus, the son of Aeolus, had two sons, Almus and Porphyrion. Minyas, the builder of Orchomenus, was the son of Neptune, by Chrysogone, the daughter of Almus thus he was a descendant of Aeolus by the mother's side."

[20] [20]
Apollonius Rhodius, 1.229

[21] [21]
Pausanias, 9.38.2

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Minyas (mythology)

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