Cassiphone Explained

Cassiphone (; grc|Κασσιφόνη|Kassiphónē|fratricide) is a minor figure in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sorceress-goddess Circe and the Trojan War hero Odysseus. She is mentioned in passing in the works of the Hellenistic poet Lycophron and the 12th-century Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes.

Etymology

Cassiphone's name is a compound word that translates to "brother killer", from the words Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: κάσις (kásis) meaning both "brother" and "sister", and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: φόνος (phónos) meaning "murder, manslaughter".

Mythology

Cassiphone is alluded to in obscure lines in Hellenistic poet Lycophron's Alexandra, with an explanation provided in the commentary of twelfth-century Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes, who is the only one to mention her by name; she is most likely a late classical or Hellenistic invention, whose only purpose is to expand on the myth of Telegonus, the son of Odysseus and Circe.^[1] Lycophron writes:^[2]

According to Tzetzes, Cassiphone is the daughter Odysseus had by Circe with whom he spent one year together during his travels to get back home to Ithaca following the end of the Trojan War. The story of the Telegony, the lost sequel to the Odyssey, goes that her full-brother Telegonus left in search of the father he never knew, arrived in Ithaca and there he accidentally ended up killing Odysseus, as he did not recognise him.^{[3] [4]} Telegonus then married Odysseus's widow Penelope, while Circe married Telemachus, Odysseus's son by Penelope.^[5]

According to Lycophron and Tzetzes, Circe then used her powers to bring Odysseus back to life, and he proceeded to wed Cassiphone to Telemachus, who was her half-brother. After some time Telemachus killed Circe following a quarrell with her, angered with her for ordering him around, prompting Cassiphone to kill Telemachus in order to avenge her slain mother.^[1] Odysseus then died again, this time of grief after witnessing those acts.^[6]

See also

• Cain
• Osiris myth
• Perses of Colchis

Bibliography

• 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.
• Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Edward P. Coleridge, B.A. London, George Bell and Sons publishers. 1889. Text available at Internet Archive.
• Book: Bell, Robert E. . Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary . . 1991 . 0-87436-581-3 .
• Evelyn-White, Hugh G., Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, with an English Translation, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
• Book: Henry George . Liddell . Robert . Scott . A Greek-English Lexicon, revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie . Oxford . . 1940 . Henry Liddell . Robert Scott (philologist). Online version at Perseus.tufts project.
• Lycophron, Alexandra, in Callimachus, Lycophron, Aratus. Hymns and Epigrams. Lycophron: Alexandra. Aratus: Phaenomena. Translated by A. W. Mair, G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library 129. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.
• Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Book: Patsi-Garin, Emmy . Greek . Επίτομο λεξικό Ελληνικής Μυθολογίας . Χάρη Πάτση publications . . 1969 . Epitomic Dictionary of Greek Mythology.
• Book: Roscher, Wilhelm Heinrich . Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher . Detailed dictionary of Greek and Roman mythology . German . Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie . 1894 . Leipzig . 2 . B.G. Teubner.
• Book: Smith, William . William Smith (lexicographer) . . London, UK . 1873 . John Murray, printed by Spottiswoode and Co. Online text available at perseus.tufts.
• Tzetzes, John, Lycophronis Alexandra. Vol. II: Scholia Continens, edited by Eduard Scheer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881. Internet Archive.

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: . Brill Reference Online . Cassiphone . 10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e610200 . Visser . Edzard . Basle . 2006 . Hubert . Cancik . Helmuth . Schneider . Christine F. Salazar . November 19, 2023.
2. [Lycophron]
3. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
4. Homerica, The Telegony summary
5. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
6. [John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]