Polydora Explained

Polydora (; Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Πολυδώρᾱ in Attic and Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Πολυδώρη in Ionic, means 'many-gifts' or 'the shapely'^[1]) was the name of several characters in Greek mythology:

• Polydora, the 'handsome' Oceanid, one of the 3,000 water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and his sister-spouse Tethys.^{[2] [3]}
• Polydora, a nymph and one of the 50 Danaïdes, daughter of King Danaus. She was the mother of King Dryops of Oeta, by the river-gods Spercheus^[4] or Peneus.^[5]
• Polydora, wife of Aphareus of Messenia and thus, the possible mother of his children, Idas, Lynceus and Peisus.^[6] In some accounts, the consort of Aphareus was called Arene^[7] or Laocoosa.^[8]
• Polydora, daughter of Peleus and Antigone, daughter of King Eurytion of Phthia.^[9] She married Borus, son of Perieres, who wooed her with large dowry, but regardless of this, Polydora became the mother of Menesthius by Spercheios.^[10]
• Polydora, daughter of Perieres and wife of Peleus. In some accounts, she became the mother of Menesthius by Spercheus.^[11]
• Polydora, daughter of Meleager and Cleopatra. She was married to Protesilaus, and after his death she was so affected by grief that she took her own life.^[12]
• Polydora, one of the Amazons.^[13]

See also

• Polydorus

Bibliography

• 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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Kerényi, Carl, The Gods of the Greeks, Thames and Hudson, London, 1951.
• 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.
• 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.

Notes and References

1. Book: Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. 2013. 9780786471119. 279.
2. Book: [[Kerényi]], Carl. The Gods of the Greeks. Thames and Hudson. 1951. London. 41.
3. [Hesiod]
4. [Antoninus Liberalis]
5. [Scholia]
6. Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.152 with a reference to Peisander for Polydora
7. Apollodorus, 3.10.3
8. [Theocritus]
9. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
10. Homer, Iliad 16.177
11. Apollodorus, 3.13.4
12. [Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]
13. Hyginus, Fabulae 163