Tereis Explained

In Greek mythology, Tereis was one of the names given for the slave who was the mother, by Menelaus, of Megapenthes.^[1] According to R. L. Fowler, the name Tereis occurs nowhere else, may be associated with Thrace, and is possibly corrupt.^[2]

Sources

Homer's Odyssey, and the geographer Pausanias, mention that Megapenthes was the illegitimate son of Menelaus, king of Mycenaean Sparta, by a slave, without naming her.^[3] But according to one source, the sixth-century BC mythographer Acusilaus (as reported by the mythographer Apollodorus), the name of the slave was Tereis.^[4] Other sources give other names for the slave who bore Megapenthes. For example Apollodorus, in the same passage in which he mentions Tereis, also mentions "Pieris, an Aetolian".^[5]

References

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Fowler, R. L. (2000), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 1: Text and Introduction, Oxford University Press, 2000. .
• Fowler, R. L. (2013), Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2013. .
• Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. .
• Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Pausanias, 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, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). .

Notes and References

1. Fowler, p. 529; Grimal, s.v. Megapenthes 1; Tripp, s.v. Megapenthes (2). for other names given for Megapenthes' slave mother, see below.
2. Fowler 2013, p. 529.
3. Fowler 2013, p. 529; Homer, Odyssey 4.10 - 12; Pausanias, 2.18.6.
4. Fowler 2013, p. 529; Apollodorus, 3.11.1; Acusilaus fr. 41 Fowler.
5. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]