Maron (mythology) explained

In Greek mythology, Maron or Maro (; Ancient Greek: Μάρων, gen. Μάρωνος) was the hero of sweet wine. He was an experienced man in the cultivation of the vine.^[1]

Family

Maron was the son of Euanthes^[2] (some also call him a son of Oenopion, Silenus, and a pupil of Silenus),^[3] and grandson of Dionysus and Ariadne. As the son of Bacchus^[4] and the Cretan princess, Maron was brother to Thoas, Staphylos and Eunous.^[5]

Mythology

Maron was mentioned among the companions of Dionysus.^[6] The city Maroneia in Thrace was named after its founder Maron; there he was venerated in a sanctuary. The god Osiris (Dionysus) left Maron, who was now old, in that land to supervise the culture of the plants which he introduced to the a city.^[7] "Maron who haunts the vines at Ismaros and, by planting and pruning them, makes them produce sweet wine, especially when farmers see Maron handsome and splendid, exhaling a breath sweet and smelling of wine."^[8]

Maron was also a priest of Apollo at Ismarus and the only one spared by the hero Odysseus when he pillaged the city.^[9] In Odyssey (9.200) before making Polyphemus drunk and fall asleep, Odysseus narrates:^[10]

References

• Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists or Banquet of the Learned. London. Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden. 1854. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae. Kaibel. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1887. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Euripides, Cyclops with an English translation by David Kovacs. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Eustathius. ad Hom. pp. 1615, 1623
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. Greek text available 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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

Notes and References

1. [Diodorus Siculus]
2. [Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]
3. [Nonnus]
4. [Euripides]
5. [Theophilus of Antioch]
6. [Athenaeus]
7. Diodorus Siculus, 1.20.1–2
8. Philostratus the Athenian, Heroicus 680
9. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
10. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D9%3Acard%3D193 9.193–230