Unsolved:Maera (mythology)

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In Greek mythology, Maera or Maira (Ancient Greek: Μαῖρα means "the sparkler") may refer to the following personages:

Humans

  • Maera or Mera,[1] one of the 50 Nereids, sea-nymph daughters of the "Old Man of the Sea" Nereus and the Oceanid Doris.[2] She and her other sisters appear to Thetis when she cries out in sympathy for the grief of Achilles at the slaying of his friend Patroclus.[3]
  • Maera, daughter of Atlas and ancestor of the below Maera.[4] She was the mother by Tegeates, of Leimon, Scephrus, Archedius, Gortys, and Cydon.[5]
  • Maera, descendant of the above Maera.[6]
  • Maera, daughter of Proetus, son of Thersander, son of Sisyphus, was still a maid when she died.[7] Otherwise, she was the mother of Locrus by Zeus.[8] In some accounts, Locrus' mother was Megaclite, daughter of Macareus.[9] Maera's shade appeared to Odysseus when the hero visited the underworld.[10]
  • Maera, one of the Erasinides, Argive naiad daughters of the river-god Erasinus. She and her sisters, Anchiroe, Byze and Melite, received Britomartis.[11]
  • Maera, priestess of Aphrodite, and mother of two sons killed by Tydeus during the war of the Seven Against Thebes.[12]

Animal

  • Maera, name of Hecabe when she was changed into the black bitch of Hecate to spread terror among the Thracians with her howling.[13]
  • Maera, hound of Erigone.[14]

Notes

  1. Hyginus, Fabulae Preface (Latin ed. Scheffero)
  2. Homer, Iliad 18.48
  3. Homer, Iliad 18.39-51
  4. Pausanias, 8.12.7
  5. Pausanias, 8.48.6 & 8.53.2-4
  6. Pausanias, 8.12.7
  7. Pausanias, 10.30.5
  8. Eustathius ad Homer, p. 1688
  9. Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21
  10. Homer, Odyssey 11.326
  11. Antoninus Liberalis, 40
  12. Statius, Thebaid 8.477
  13. Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.399-428
  14. Apollodorus, 3.14.7

References

Further reading

  • Aken, Dr. A.R.A. van. (1961). Elseviers Mythologische Encyclopedie. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • Bartelink, Dr. G.J.M. (1988). Prisma van de mythologie. Utrecht: Het Spectrum.
  • Völcker, K. H. W. (1824). Die Mythologie Des Japetischen Geschlechtes, p. 114.