Melaeneus Explained

In Greek mythology, Melaeneus (Ancient Greek: Μελαινέα) was an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon either by the naiad Cyllene,^[1] Nonacris^[2] or by unknown woman. He was the possible founder of the Arcadian deme of Melaenae.^[3]

Mythology

Melaeneus and his siblings were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them, Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. These brothers mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged king of the gods threw the meal over the table. Melaeneus was killed, along with his brothers and their father, by a lightning bolt of the god.^[4]

Notes

1. [Dionysius of Halicarnassus]
2. [Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]
3. Pausanias, 8.3.3
4. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]

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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937-1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
• Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. 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.