Acraea

For the genus of butterflies, see Acraea (butterfly). For the ancient city, see Acraea (city).

Acraea (Ancient Greek: Ἀκραία means 'of the heights' from akraios) was a name that had several uses in Greek and Roman mythology.[1][2]

• Acraea, the naiad daughter of the river-god Asterion near Mycenae, who together with her sisters Euboea and Prosymna acted as nurses to Hera.[3] A hill opposite the temple of Hera near Mycenae was named Acraea for her.[4]

• Acraea and Acraeus are also epithets given to various goddesses and gods whose temples were situated upon hills, including Zeus, Hera,[5] Aphrodite,[6] Athena and Artemis.[7][8]

Notes

1. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Acraea", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, p. 14
2. Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-CLIO. p. 3. ISBN 9780874365818.
3. Pausanias, 2.17.1
4. Pausanias, 2.17.2
5. Apollodorus, 1.9.28; Pausanias, 2.24.1
6. Pausanias, 1.1.3
7. Vitruvius, 1. 7
8. Ezechiel Spanheim, In Callimachi hymnos observationes, in Jov. 82.

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. 1991. ISBN 9780874365818, 0874365813.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acraea". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.