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"You who have your home by
the waters of Cephisus, who dwell in the town of
beautiful horses: songful queens, Graces of splendid Orchomenus, guardians
of the ancient race of Minyans, hear me; I am
praying." [Pindar, Olympian
Odes
14.1]
Heracles: Do they make so light of my hard
warring with the Minyans?
Megara: Misfortune, to repeat it to you,
has no friends. [Euripides,
Heracles
560]
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Minyas is the ancestral eponym of the Minyans
(or Minyae), a race which, coming from Thessaly,
settled in northern Boeotia and founded the city of
Orchomenus, famous in Hellas for its prosperity and
power.
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Minyan Orchomenus
"At Orchomenus is a
sanctuary of Dionysus, but the oldest is one of the
Graces. They worship the stones most, and
say that they fell for Eteocles out of heaven [...]
The treasury of Minyas, a wonder second to none
either in Greece itself or elsewhere, has been
built in the following way. It is made of stone;
its shape is round, rising to a rather blunt apex;
they say that the highest stone is the keystone of
the whole building." [Pau.9.38.1-2]
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The power of the Minyans of Orchomenus in
ancient times is shown in that
Thebes paid tribute to
them, and the evidence of their prosperity may be
derived from the words of
Achilles when he
refused the gifts of
Agamemnon:
"Hateful in my
eyes are his gifts, I count them at a hair's worth.
Not though he gave me ten times, or twenty times
all that now he hath, and if yet other should be
added thereto I care not whence, not though it were
all the wealth that goeth in to Orchomenus, or to
Thebes of Egypt, where treasures in greatest store
are laid up in men's houses ..."
[Hom.Il.9.379]
Orchomenus was built in the district of Andreis,
called after the first settler, Andreus, son of the
river god Peneus [Pau.9.34.6]. Andreus married
Evippe 3 (daughter of Leucon 1, son of
Athamas 1) and had by
her a son Eteocles 2, who inherited the throne.
This Eteocles 2 has been sometimes called son of
Cephisus (the river in Phocis, one of the
RIVER GODS). Eteocles
2 was the first to sacrifice to the
CHARITES
(Graces)—according to the Boeotians via
Pausanias [9.35.3], who says that "it was from Eteocles of Orchomenus
that we learned the custom of praying to three
Graces" (and not to any other
number of them). Also Theocritus says:
"O holy
Graces first adored of Eteocles, O lovers
of that Minyan Orchomenus which
Thebes had cause to hate of old ..."
[16.104]
Eteocles 2 built a temple of the
CHARITES, either for
receiving graces or for giving them or for both
(says Strabo 9.2.40). In the sanctuary, the
CHARITES were
worshipped in the form of stones that fell from
heaven in the time of Eteocles 2 [Pau.9.38.1].
During his reign, Eteocles 2 received Almus (son
of Sisyphus) and gave
him part of the land where the village Almones was
founded. When Eteocles 2 died childless, Almus'
family inherited the whole realm, and Phlegyas 1
became king. He was son of Chryse 1 (daughter of
Almus), and of Ares.
Phlegyas 1 was a warlike ruler, and he spent most
of his time and fortunes ravaging his neighbours.
The author of the
Description
of Greece says that secession from
Orchomenus was accomplished by Phlegyas 1, and that
later
"The Phlegyan
race was completely overthrown by the god with
continual thunderbolts and violent earthquakes. The
remnant were wasted by an epidemic of plague, but a
few of them escaped to Phocis." [Pau.9.36.3]
Phlegyas 1 had a daughter Coronis 2, who is
mother of Asclepius by
Apollo. However, as she
preferred Ischys before
Apollo, the god killed
her while still pregnant but snatched the babe from
the funeral pyre. Others have said that it was
Artemis who punished her
for insulting Apollo, and
that it was Hermes who
snatched the child from the pyre. Still others
affirm that Asclepius'
mother was not Coronis 2 but Arsinoe 2, daughter of
Leucippus 2, son of Perieres 1, son either of
Cynortes or of Aeolus 1.
As for Ischys, he was killed by the thunderbolt of
Zeus for being the lover of
Coronis 2.
Phlegyas 1 was murdered by Lycus 5 and Nycteus
2. They were sons of Hyrieus [Apd.3.10.1] (see
below), but it has also been said that they were
related to the Theban
SPARTI, being sons of
Chthonius 2 [Apd.3.5.5]. After committing their
crime, the brothers sought refuge in
Thebes, where they were
received by Pentheus
1. But after the death of Polydorus 2 (son of
Cadmus and successor of
Pentheus 1), they
usurped power in Thebes,
keeping it until the arrival of
Amphion 1. Lycus 5 and
his wife Dirce were then killed by the twins
Amphion 1 and Zethus
[Apd.3.5.5], who seized power in
Thebes. But others
[Hyg.Fab.8] say that
Hermes forbade the twins
to kill Lycus 5 while forcing the latter to yield
the kingdom to them. By then Nycteus 2 had already
died as a result of his military campaign against
Sicyon.
Phlegyas 1 had no sons, so when he died Chryses
1 succeeded to the throne. He was son of
Poseidon and
Chrysogenia, daughter of Almus, and became father
of Minyas, eponym of the Minyans, father of the
MINYADS, and renowned for his wealth:
"The revenues
that Minyas received were so great that he
surpassed his predecessors in wealth, and he was
the first man we know of to build a treasury to
receive his riches." [Pau.9.36.4]
Minyas had a son, Orchomenus 5, who became king
after him. During his kingship, he received Hyettus
from Argos, who, having
exacted punishment from a man (Molurus, son of
Arisbas 2) who had slept with his wife, came as an
exile.
Also Iasus 7 is said to have ruled Minyan
Orchomenus (Hom.Od.11.283). He could have
been the father of Amphion
1, the great king of
Thebes who is otherwise
known as son of Zeus and
Antiope 3.
Orchomenus 5 was childless. So after him the
kingdom reverted to Clymenus 2, son of Presbon, son
of Phrixus 1, son of
Athamas 1. Clymenus 2
was killed by Perieres 2 [Apd.2.4.11], a Theban
charioteer of Menoeceus 1 (father of
Creon 2). Pausanias says
that he was killed by Thebans at a feast and for a
trivial reason. So Erginus 1 (the eldest son of
Clymenus 2) having succeeded his father as king of
the Minyans, attacked
Thebes, and being
victorious, he imposed a tribute on the Thebans.
Later Erginus 1 and the Minyans were defeated by
Heracles 1, who
removed the tribute:
Clymenus 2 (Apollodorus says) had been wounded
with a cast of a stone by the charioteer in a
precinct of Poseidon at
Onchestus, a Boeotian city. As he was being carried
dying to Orchomenus, he charged his son Erginus 1
to avenge his death. So Erginus 1 marched against
Thebes, and having
defeated the Thebans, he concluded a treaty that
Thebes should send him
tribute for twenty years, one hundred cows every
year. But some time later
Heracles 1 fell in
with Erginus 1's heralds on their way to
Thebes to demand the
tribute, and he outraged them, cutting off their
ears, noses, and hands. Then, having fastened them
with ropes, he told them to carry that
tribute to the Minyans. King Erginus 1 then marched
a second time against
Thebes, but was defeated,
whereupon Heracles 1
compelled the Minyans to pay double the tribute to
Thebes. It is in this war
that Amphitryon lost
his life in battle [Apd.2.4.11].
Having been crushed by
Heracles 1, Erginus 1
spent all his energy and time in restoring the
former Minyan wealth. The result was that he came
to old age rich once again , but wifeless and
childless. Wishing to correct what he perceived as
shortcomings, Erginus 1 married a young wife, since
the oracle of Delphi
(which he consulted) had declared:
"Erginus, son
of Clymenus Presboniades,
Late thou camest seeking offspring, but even
now
To the old plough-tree put a new tip."
[Pau.9.37.4]
By his young wife (of unknown name), he had two
sons, Trophonius and Agamedes 1, well known for
their architectonic skills. They built the fourth
temple of Apollo in
Delphi, and the treasury
for Hyrieus. This building, however, had a stone
that the architects could take away from the
outside whenever they wished to rob from the
treasure. Unfortunately, Agamedes 1 was caught by a
trap devised by Hyrieus that prevented him from
leaving the building. So his brother Trophonius cut
off his head, lest when day came his brother should
be tortured, and he himself discovered as being
involved in the thefts.
After these events, the kingdom of Minyan
Orchomenus was taken by Ascalaphus 1 and Ialmenus
1, sons of Ares and
Astyoche 5, daughter of Actor 7, son of Azeus, son
of Clymenus 2. Of the sons of Clymenus 2 (Erginus
1, Stratius 3, Arrhon 1, Pyleus, and Azeus), Azeus
was the youngest. Ascalaphus 1 and Ialmenus 1 are
found among the
ARGONAUTS, the
SUITORS OF HELEN,
and the ACHAEAN
LEADERS. Ascalaphus 1 was killed by Deiphobus 1
(son of Priam 1) during
the Trojan War, but
his brother Ialmenus 1 is reported by Strabo
(9.2.42), to have colonized the Pontus (Black Sea)
after the sack of Troy.
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Rulers of
Orchomenus
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Line of
Athamas
1
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Line of
Sisyphus
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Andreus & Evippe 3
(granddaughter of
Athamas 1, son
of Aeolus 1)
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Eteocles 2 (son of Andreus and
Evippe 3)
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Almus (son of
Sisyphus, son
of Aeolus 1)
received by Eteocles 2
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Phlegyas 1 (son of Chryse 1,
daughter of Almus)
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Chryses 1 (son of Chrysogenia,
daughter of Almus)
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Minyas (son of Chryses 1)
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Orchomenus 5 (son of Minyas)
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Clymenus 2 (son of Presbon, son
of Phrixus 1, son of
Athamas 1, son
of Aeolus 1)
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Erginus 1
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Ascalaphus 1 and Ialmenus
1 (descendants of Clymenus 2)
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The Minyans
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Strabo (9.2.40) says that some of the Minyans
emigrated to Iolcus (the city in Thessaly on the
coast of the Gulf of Pagasae), and suggests that
this could be the reason why the
ARGONAUTS were called
'Minyans'. The captain of the expedition,
Jason, could be regarded
as a full-blooded Minyan if he indeed were the son
of Alcimede 1, daughter of Clymene 3, daughter of
Minyas, as Apollonius Rhodius says (at least two
other women are called mothers of
Jason):
"So many then
were the helpers who assembled to join the son of
Aeson. All the chiefs the dwellers thereabout
called Minyans, for the most and the bravest avowed
that they were sprung from the blood of the
daughters of Minyas; thus
Jason himself was the son of Alcimede
who was born of Clymene the daughter of Minyas."
[Argonautica
1.228]
Ascalaphus 1 and Ialmenus 1 were both Minyans
and ARGONAUTS in a
strict sense, but they do not appear in Apollonius
Rhodius' list of
ARGONAUTS (only
Apollodorus includes them).
The poem
The
Returns , as read by Pausanias 10.29.6,
confirms that Clymene 3 was daughter of Minyas. But
the identity of Alcimede 1 is more uncertain. In
any case, such a direct relation to Minyas as
suggested by Apollonius Rhodius, is applicable only
to Iphiclus 1 and Jason in
his own list of
ARGONAUTS. The
Orchomenian rulers are ultimately descendants of
Aeolus 1 (through
Athamas 1 and
Sisyphus), and in that
sense the Minyans are Aeolids. Any Aeolid may or
not be called 'Minyan' depending on the context,
but still 16 out of 55
ARGONAUTS in
Apollonius Rhodius' list may count
Aeolus 1 as their
ancestor: Acastus, Admetus 1, Arius 1, Castor 1,
Erginus 2, Idas 2, Iphiclus 2, Lacoon, Leodocus,
Lynceus 1, Meleager,
Menoetius 2, Periclymenus 1, Polydeuces, Talaus,
and Tiphys [see complete lists at
ARGONAUTS].
It is told that when the
ARGONAUTS came to
Libya they were driven into the Syrtis, quicksands
in Libya, carrying their ship overland to Lake
Tritonis. There was no return for ships once they
had come far within Syrtis:
"For on every
hand are shoals, on every hand masses of seaweed
from the depths; and over them the light foam of
the wave washes without noise." [Apollonius
Rhodius,
Argonautica
4.1235]
Since there is no outlet from Lake Tritonis to
the sea, they could do nothing. Then the
ARGONAUTS propitiated
the gods with a golden tripod on the shore, and
Triton appeared to them in the form of a youth.
Triton showed them the way out, and presented the
Argonaut Euphemus 1 with a clod of earth.
Later, Euphemus 1 had a dream. It seemed to him
that the clod of earth was being suckled by milk,
and that from it a little woman grew. And this
woman Euphemus 1 desired and embraced in love,
although he pitied her as though she were a maiden
whom he fed with his own milk. But then she
comforted him, saying that she was daughter of
Triton and Libya, and exhorting him to restore her
to the sea near Anaphe (one of the Cyclades, north
of Crete and east of
Thera). She then promised him to return, and
prepare a home for his descendants.
So after consulting with
Jason, the admiral of the
ARGONAUTS, Euphemus 1
cast the clod into the sea. From it rose the island
Calliste (later called Thera, and today called
Santorini) where the descendants of Euphemus 1 (and
of the crew of the 'Argo', that is, the so called
Minyan clan) came after being expelled from
Lemnos by the Tyrrhenians
or by the Pelasgians. But first they sailed away
from Lemnos to
Sparta in Lacedaemon
where they appeared as suppliants, camping at
Taygetum. The Lacedaemonians received them because
the DIOSCURI had been
in the ship's company of the 'Argo', and so the
Minyans were allowed to mingle with the
Lacedaemonians, receiving land and being
distributed among the Lacedaemonian tribes. The
Minyans married Lacedaemonian women, and gave in
marriage to others the women they had brought from
Lemnos.
This seems nice, but as time went by the
Lacedaemonians found the Minyans insolent, who
demanded equal right to the kingship. So they
seized them and cast them into prison, having in
mind to kill them. But the Spartan wives of the
Minyans asked permission to enter the prison and
visit their husbands; and when permission was
granted, they gave their husbands their own
garments, and themselves put on the men's clothing.
Thus the Minyans, disguised as women, got out of
prison and camped at Taygetum again.
It was then that Theras interceded, promising to
lead the Minyans out of the country to the island
of Calliste. Eurysthenes 1 and Procles 2 (kings and
founders of the Spartan royal houses, counted among
the HERACLIDES), in
spite of their mutual enmity, combined to help
Theras, who was their mother's brother and their
guardian as well, to found a colony in Calliste.
This is how part of the Minyans left Lacedaemon
with thirty-oared ships, but the greater part
migrated to the district of Triphylia—between
Elis and
Messenia [Hdt.4.148].
Now, in Calliste lived the descendants of
Membliarus since Cadmus
left Membliarus in the island. But when Theras
landed, they gave up the kingship to him of their
own accord as they considered that the family of
Theras went back to
Cadmus himself. Theras
(son of Autesion 1, son of Tisamenus 1, son of
Thersander 1, son of Polynices, son of
Oedipus, son of
Laius 1, son of Labdacus
1, son of Polydorus 2, son of
Cadmus) renamed the
island and called it Thera after himself.
The Mynians appear as colonists elsewhere as
well. Teos in Ionia is said to have been founded by
Athamas 4, a descendant of
Athamas 1 [Pau.7.3.6;
Strab.14.1.3].
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The MINYADS
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MINYADS are called those daughters of Minyas who
refused to honour Dionysus
2 and were punished by the god. Some affirm
that the MINYADS were Alcathoe (or Alcithoe),
Arsippe, and Leucippe 4 [Lib.Met.10; Aelian,
Varia
Historia 3.42], others say Alcathoe and
Leuconoe 1 [Ov.Met.4.1ff.], and still others
Alcathoe, Arsinoe 5, and Leucippe 4
[Plu.GQ.38].
Plutarch says that the MINYADS, becoming insane,
conceived a craving for human flesh, and drew lots
to decide whose children should be eaten. The lot
then fell upon Leucippe 4 to contribute her son
Hippasus 11 to be torn to pieces. Plutarch also
tells what happened to the descendants of the
MINYADS:
" ... every
year, at the festival of the Agrionia, there takes
place a flight and pursuit of them by the priest of
Dionysus with sword in hand. Any one of
them that he catches he may kill, and in my time
the priest Zoilus killed one of them."
[Plutarch,
Moralia
Greek Questions 38]
According to Antoninus Liberalis, the MINYADS
reproached other women their joining the
MAENADS. So
Dionysus 2, coming to
them as a young girl, exhorted them to honour the
cult and mysteries of the god. But the MINYADS,
paying no attention to the young girl's words,
angered the god who then turned into a bull, a lion
and a leopard. Terrified by these and other
miraculous events, the MINYADS cast lots, and
decided that Leucippe 4's son Hippasus 11 should be
torn into pieces. After that they joined the
MAENADS in the
mountains, but were turned into birds by
Hermes.
Ovid says that the MINYADS denied that
Dionysus 2 was the son
of Zeus. So they refused to
join a Bacchic festival, staying at home without
interrupting their household tasks:
"While other
women are deserting their tasks and thronging this
so-called festival, let us also, who keep to Pallas
[Athena], a truer goddess, lighten with
various talk the serviceable work of our hands, and
to beguile the tedious hours, let us take turns in
telling stories, while all the others listen."
[Ov.Met.4.37]
This way of neglecting the god's rites was
convenient for the poet, who makes the MINYADS tell
the stories he himself had in mind while they spin
their wool. So they narrate the misfortunes of
Pyramus and Thisbe, and
the story of
Hermaphroditus,
and how Hephaestus
caught Ares and
Aphrodite in his net
with links of bronze and how the goddess avenged
herself by ruining the love affairs of
Helius, who had spied on
her. But when the MINYADS were done with their
tales, both gods and poet turned them into bats.
Aelian asserts that the MINYADS refused to join
the divine madness of the Boeotian women, and
rebelled against the dance in honour of
Dionysus 2 for love of
their husbands. So they stayed at their looms,
toiling industriously in honour of
Athena, the patron deity
of crafts. And as they sat and worked, ivy and
vines began to envelop the looms while snakes made
their lair in the baskets of wool. Although
wine and milk started
dropping down from the ceiling, they still refused
to worship the god. And then, being out of their
minds, they tore to pieces the little boy of
Leucippe 4, whereupon they went to join the
MAENADS. But, being
polluted by murder, they were chased by the
MAENADS. After these
events, the MINYADS changed their shapes: one
turned into a crow, another into an owl, and a
third into a bat.
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