Unsolved:Chios (mythology)

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In Greek mythology, Chios (/ˈk.ɒs/; Ancient Greek: Χίος) may refer to two possible eponyms of the island of Chios:

  • Chios, one of the Oceanids as a daughter of the Titan Oceanus possibly by his sister-wife, Tethys.[1]
  • Chios, son of Poseidon and an unnamed Chian nymph. He received his name from the heavy snowfall that occurred while his mother was in labour (cf. Ancient Greek χιών chiōn "snow").[2]

The island could as well have taken its name from the nymph Chione, or simply from the snowy weather.[3][4]

Notes

  1. Hecataeus of Miletus, fr. 18 Fowler = FGrHist 1 F 141
  2. Pausanias, 7.4.8
  3. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Khios
  4. Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 5.38

References