Melissa (mythology) explained

In Greek mythology, Melissa (Ancient Greek: Μέλισσα) may refer to the following women:

• Melissa, a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey,^[1] and from whom bees were believed to have received their name, μέλισσαι.^[2] Bees seem to have been the symbol of nymphs, whence they themselves are sometimes called Melissae, and are sometimes said to have been metamorphosed into bees.^[3] Hence also nymphs in the form of bees are said to have guided the colonists that went to Ephesus;^[4] and the nymphs who nursed the infant Zeus are called Melissae, or Meliae.^{[5] [6] [7]}
• Melissa, daughter of the Cretan king Melissus, who, together with her sister Amalthea, fed Zeus with goats' milk.^[8] She may be the same as the above Melissa.
• Melissa, daughter of Epidamnus and mother of Dyrrhachius by Poseidon. Her father and son gave their name to the town in Illyria which was called Epidamnos and later on Dyrrhachium.^[9]

The name Melissae was transferred to priestesses in general, but more especially to those of Demeter,^[10] Persephone,^[11] and to the priestess of the Delphian Apollo.^[12] According to the scholiasts of Pindar and Euripides, priestesses received the name Melissae from the purity of the bee.^[13]

Notes

1. Col. 9.2.3
2. Scholia ad Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.104
3. [Hesychius of Alexandria|Hesychius]
4. Philostr. Icon. 2.8
5. [Antoninus Liberalis]
6. [Callimachus]
7. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
8. [Lactantius]
9. [Stephanus of Byzantium]
10. Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo 110; Hesychius s.v. Μελισσαι
11. Theocritus, Idylls 15.94 with scholia
12. [Pindar]
13. Compare a story about the origin of bees in Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid 1.434

References

• Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• 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.
• Callimachus, Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair ; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive
• Callimachus, Works. A.W. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Lactantius, Divine Institutes translated by William Fletcher (1810-1900). From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Theocritus, Idylls from The Greek Bucolic Poets translated by Edmonds, J M. Loeb Classical Library Volume 28. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1912. Online version at theoi.com Theocritus, Idylls edited by R. J. Cholmeley, M.A. London. George Bell & Sons. 1901. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.