Classical Mythology, 7th Edition - obinfonet: dia logou

MYTHS OF LOCAL HEROES AND HEROINES 607
on condition that he be given the cattle. He sacrificed a pair of bulls, and from
a vulture that was feeding on their flesh, he learned that Iphiclus' debility was
the result of being frightened as a child while watching his father gelding some
rams. On that occasion, Phylacus had stuck the knife, still bloody, into an oak
tree, and the tree's bark by now covered it over. If it could be found and the rust
from its blade scraped off and put in Iphiclus' drink for ten days, his impotence
would cease. All this came to pass and Iphiclus became the father of two sons,
Podarces and Protesilaiis. Melampus was given the cattle, which he drove back
to Pylos and handed over to Neleus. In return he got Pero and gave her to Bias.
The myth of Melampus is like the tenth Labor of Heracles. He must bring
back cattle from a distant place guarded, like Geryon's Erythia or Hades itself,
by a dog. Like Heracles, Melampus is the bringer of cattle and even the conqueror
of death itself. 7
Other legends of Melampus are located in the Péloponnèse. According to
Herodotus (2. 49), he introduced the rituals of Dionysus to Greece. At Tiryns the
daughters of King Proetus resisted Dionysus, who caused them to rush over the
countryside, leaving their homes and killing their children. In return for half of
the kingdom, Melampus cured the madness of the daughters of Proetus by joining
a group of strong young men in performing a kind of war dance, although
one daughter, Iphinoë, died during the pursuit. This myth was connected with
the festival of the Agriania, which involved a ritual pursuit of women by night
and a return the next day to the normal order of society. It was celebrated at Orchomenus
and at many other places in Greece.
Amphiaraus, a seer and one of the Seven against Thebes, was a descendant
of Melampus. The wife of Proetus, Stheneboea, is prominent in the myth of
Bellerophon (see pp. 613-615).
BOEOTIA
The principal myths of Boeotia are those of Thebes, involving the families of
Cadmus and Laius (see Chapter 17). At Orchomenus, the daughters of Minyas
resisted Dionysus and were driven mad, tearing apart one of their children, chosen
by lot, and rushing out of the city. Unlike the daughters of Proetus, the
Minyads did not return to normal life; they became winged creatures of the
night, either owls or bats. Clymene, however, one of the daughters of Minyas,
appears as the wife of five different husbands and thus becomes both the aunt
of Jason (through her marriage to Pheres) and the mother (by Iasus) of Atalanta.
THE LOVES OF HELIUS
As wife of Helius (the Sun), Clymene became the mother of Phaëthon (see pp.
57-58). Helius also loved the Eastern princess Leucothoë, daughter of the Persian
king Orchamus. Disguising himself as Eurynome, her mother, he seduced