Electra (Oceanid)

In Greek mythology, Electra (/ɪˈlɛktrə/; Ancient Greek: Ἠλέκτρα, romanized: Ēléktra, lit. 'amber') was one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Family

According to Hesiod, she was the wife of Thaumas, and by him, the mother of Iris, the goddess of rainbows and a messenger for the gods, and the Harpies.^[4]

The names of Electra's Harpy daughters vary. Hesiod and Apollodorus named them Aello and Ocypete. Virgil named Celaeno as one of the Harpies.^[5] However, while Hyginus, Fabulae Preface had the Harpies, Celaeno, Ocypete, and Podarce, as daughters of Thaumas and Electra, at Fabuale 14.18, the Harpies were said to be named Aellopous, Celaeno, and Ocypete, and were the daughters of Thaumas and Ozomene.^[6] Ozomene may have been a secondary name for Electra, meaning "many-branches."

The late 4th-early 5th century poet Nonnus gives Electra and Thaumas two children: Iris, and the river god Hydaspes.^[7]

Mythology

Along with her sisters, Electra was one of the companions of Persephone when the daughter of Demeter was abducted by Hades.^[8]

Notes

^ Hesiod, Theogony 349 & 362–366; Homeric Hymn to Demeter 5 & 418; Apollodorus,1.2.2
^ Kerényi, Carl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 41.
^ Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 122. ISBN 9780786471119.
^ Hesiod, Theogony 265–269, 780–381; also Apollodorus, 1.2.6; Hyginus, Fabulae Preface.
^ Virgil, Aeneid 3 211–212; Servius on Virgil, Aeneid 3.212
^ Hyginus, Fabulae 14.18
^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 26.358–362
^ Homeric Hymn to Demeter 418; Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 4.30.4

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.
Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae in Apollodorus' Library and Hyginus' Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology, Translated, with Introductions by R. Scott Smith and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Hackett Publishing Company, 2007. ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Kerényi, Carl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, II Books XVI–XXXV. Loeb Classical Library No. 345, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Electra 1."