Olympusa Explained

In Greek mythology, Olympusa (Ancient Greek: Ὀλυμπούση) was a Thespian princess as one of the 50 daughters of King Thespius and Megamede, daughter of Arneus^[1] (or by one of his many wives^[2]). She bore Halocrates to the hero Heracles.^[3]

Mythology

When the Cithaeronian lion was harassing the kine of Thespius, the latter asked Herakles to kill the lion.^[4] The son of Zeus hunted it for fifty days and finally slayed the beast. The Thespian king entertained him as a guest in a brilliant fashion during that span of time, making Heracles drunk and slept unwittingly with each of his fifty daughters, including Olympusa. The hero having thought that his bed-fellow was always the same. Thespius intended this to happen because he strongly desired that all his daughters should have children by Hercules.^[5] In another version of the myth, the latter had an intercourse with Olympusa and her siblings for one week,^[6] seven laid with Heracles each night.^[7]

In some accounts, Heracles bedded in a single night^[8] with Olympusa and her sisters except for one who refused to have a connection with him. The hero thinking that he had been insulted, condemned her to remain a virgin all her life, serving him as his priest.^[9]

Notes

1. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
2. [Diodorus Siculus]
3. Apollodorus, 2.7.8
4. Apollodorus, 2.4.9
5. Apollodorus, 2.4.10 & 2.7.8; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.1 & 3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.221–225
6. [Athenaeus]
7. Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
8. Pausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
9. Pausanias, 9.27.6

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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• 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.
• 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.
• Tzetzes, John, Book of Histories, Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826. Online version at theio.com