Althaea
Mortal woman
In Greek mythology, Althaea (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλθαία, romanized: Althaía, lit. 'healer'), also rendered Althea or Althaia, was queen of Calydon through her marriage to King Oeneus. Althaea appears in myths surrounding the fabled Calydonian boar hunt, and is infamous for murdering her son Meleager.
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- Mentions
- 2
- Connected characters
- 1
- Books
- 1
Mentions in the Iliad
A. T. Murray, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1924 · Homer, Iliad with an English Translation · CC BY-SA 3.0 US
“he then, wroth at heart against his dear mother Althaea, abode beside his wedded wife, the fair Cleopatra, daughter of Marpessa of the fair ankles, child of Evenus, and of Idas that was mightiest of men that were then upon the face of earth; who also took his bow to face the king”
“the while she knelt and made the folds of her bosom wet with tears, that they should bring death upon her son; and the Erinys that walketh in darkness heard her from Erebus, even she of the ungentle heart. Now anon was the din of the foemen risen about their gates, and the noise of the battering of walls, and to Meleager the elders”
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Connections
Son · Sources
he then, wroth at heart against his dear mother Althaea, abode beside his wedded wife, the fair Cleopatra, daughter of Marpessa of the fair ankles, child of Evenus, and of Idas that was mightiest of men that were then upon the face of earth; who also took his bow to face the king
and the half clear plough-land, to be cut from out the plain. And earnestly the old horseman Oeneus besought him, standing upon the threshold of his high-roofed chamber, and shaking the jointed doors, in prayer to his son, and earnestly too did his sisters and his honoured mother beseech him
Il. 9.555 · Il. 9.584
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In art
Heracles amphora. National Archaeological Museum of Athens. CC BY-SA 3.0. https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1569735
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04 / PROVENANCE
Sources and verification
The character is matched to the catalogue.
- Wikipedia · Althaea (mythology) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Excerpt; remaining sentences omitted.
Reference material remains distinct from the poem’s assertions. Characters who share a name retain separate pages.