Megaletor | |
Gender: | Male |
Prince | |
Relatives: | |
Lbl21: | Birthplace |
Data21: | Molossia |
In Greek mythology, Megaletor (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Μεγαλήτωρ|Megalḗtо̄r|great-hearted) is a minor figure, a prince of the Molossians, who was transformed into a bird by the will of Zeus, the god of justice, in order to escape a fiery death.
Philaeus was one of the sons of the Molossian king Munichus by his wife Lelante. He had two brothers, Alcander and Philaeus, and a sister named Hyperippe.
The entire family was seen as just and righteous and therefore especially favored by the gods. One day raiders attacked them in the fields; the family ran off to their house and began to throw various objects at them in self-defense, whereupon the offenders set the house ablaze. The god of justice, Zeus would not let his favourites suffer such a cruel and undeserving death that he changed them all six of them into various birds in order to save them from the flames; Megaletor himself was changed into a 'ichneumon bird', a bird that is very hard to say what it could be identified with.[1] [2]