Chalciope (daughter of Aeetes) explained

Chalciope (; grc|Χαλκιόπη|Khalkiópē|lit=bronze-face’ or ‘with the brass voice), in Greek mythology, was a Colchian princess as the daughter of King Aeëtes.^[1] Acusilaus, Hesiod and Hesychius referred to her as Iophossa (Ιoφώσσης)^[2] while according to Pherecydes, she was called Euenia (Εύηνίαν).^[3]

Family

Chalciope's mother was the Oceanid Idyia,^[4] and her siblings were the witch Medea^[5] and Absyrtus. She married Phrixus by whom she had the following sons:

• Argus, Phrontis, Melas and Cytisorus^[6] or
• Argus, Phrontides, Melas and Cylindrus^[7] or
• Argos, Phrontis, Melias, Sorus, Katis and Hellen^[8]
• some authors added Presbon.^[9]

Chalciope's marriage and family was recounted by her son Argus to Jason in the following lines:^[10]

Mythology

Chalciope supposedly persuaded Medea to help Jason because her sons were rescued in the island of Dia by the Argonauts after they were shipwrecked.^[11]

The following recounts the encounter between Chalciope and her sons after their rescue by the heroes of the Argo:^[12]

When Aeetes was dethroned and banished by his brother Perses, Chalciope expressed great filial devotion and stayed by her father's side,^[13] even though he had killed her husband Phrixus whom he mistakenly feared to drive him away from his kingdom.^[14]

Notes

1. [Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]
2. [Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]
3. Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1149
4. Apollonius Rhodius, 3.243; Compare Apollodorus, 1.9.23
5. Apollodorus, 1.9.23; Hyginus, Fabulae 3; 14 & 21
6. Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1155-1156 with scholia ad 2.1122; Apollodorus, 1.9.1
7. Hyginus, Fabulae 3 (erroneously referred to Cytisorus as "Cylindrus"), 14 & 21
8. Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 22.
9. Scholia ad Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1122 with Epimenides adding Presbon to the usual list of the four sons of Chalciope and Phrixus; Pausanias, 9.34.8 where Chalciope was mentioned as the unnamed daughter of Aeetes
10. Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1147-1156
11. Hyginus, Fabulae 3, 14 & 21
12. Apollonius Rhodius, 3.256-267
13. Hyginus, Fabulae 254
14. Hyginus, Fabulae 3; compare with Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1150-1151 where Phrixus was implied to have died of old age

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollonius Rhodius: the Argonautica, translated by Robert Cooper Seaton, W. Heinemann, 1912. Internet Archive.
• Hyginus, Gaius Julius, Fabulae, in The Myths of Hyginus, edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Online version at ToposText.
• Tzetzes, John, Lycophronis Alexandra. Vol. II: Scholia Continens, edited by Eduard Scheer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881. Internet Archive.