Thoas (mythology) explained

In Greek mythology, Thoas (Ancient Greek: Θόας, "fleet, swift")^[1] may refer to the following figures:

• Thoas, a king of Lemnos saved by his daughter Hypsipyle from the massacre by the Lemnian women. He was a son of Dionysus and Ariadne, and sometimes identified with Thoas, the king of the Taurians, below.
• Thoas, a king of the Taurians when Iphigenia became priestess of Artemis. He is sometimes identified with Thoas, the king of Lemnos above.
• Thoas, a king of Aetolia. He was the son of Andraemon and Gorge, and a Greek leader and hero in the Trojan War.
• Thoas, a king of Corinth. He was a son of Ornytion and a grandson of Sisyphus.
• Thoas, a son of Jason and Hypsipyle, and a grandson of Thoas, the king of Lemnos (above). He was the twin brother of Euneus.

Other Greek mythological figures named Thoas include:

• Thoas, the Spartan son of Icarius, and the brother of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus.^[2] According to the mythographer Apollodorus, Icarius and the Naiad nymph Periboea had five sons: Thoas, Damasippus, Imeusimus, Aletes and Perileos, and a daughter Penelope.^[3] According to Strabo, however, the mother by Icarius of "Penelope and her brothers" was Polycaste, the daughter of Lygaeus.^[4]
• Thoas (or Thoon?), a Giant who, according to the mythographer Apollodorus, along with the Giant Agrius, was killed by the Moirai (Fates) with bronze clubs, during the Gigantomachy, the battle fought between the Giants and the Olympian gods.^[5]
• Thoas, an Athenian, who according to Plutarch, was the brother of Euneus and Solois, and accompanied Theseus on his return from his expedition against the Amazons. This Thoas is different than the Thoas (see above), who was the son of Jason and Hypsipyle, and who also had a brother named Euneus.^[6]
• Thoas, a defender of Thebes in the war of the Seven against Thebes. He was killed by Tydeus.^[7]
• Thoas, in Homer's Iliad, is a Trojan warrior killed by Menelaus during the Trojan War.^[8]
• Thoas, one of the Suitors of Penelope who came from Dulichium along with other 56 wooers.^[9] He, with the other suitors, was shot dead by Odysseus with the help of Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Telemachus.^[10]
• Thoas, a companion of Aeneas in Italy. He was crushed with a stone, by Halesus an ally of Turnus.^[11]

Notes

1. [LSJ]
2. Grimal, s.v. Thoas 6, Table 19, p. 513; Parada, s.v. Thoas 1; Smith, s.v. Thoas 3.
3. [Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]
4. Parada, s.v. Thoas 1; Strabo, 10.2.24
5. Parada, s.v. Thoas 5; Grant, pp. 519–520; Smith, s.v. Thoon; Apollodorus, 1.6.2. Frazer translates Apollodorus 1.6.2 Θόωνα as "Thoas". Citing only Apollodorus 1.6.2, Parada names the Giant "Thoas" (Θόας), and Smith names the Giant "Thoon (Θόων)". Grant, citing no sources, names the Giant "Thoas", but says "he was also called Thoon".
6. Parada, s.vv. Thoas 11, Solois; Plutarch, Theseus 26.3
7. Parada, s.v. Thoas 10; Statius, Thebaid 8.869
8. Parada, s.v. Thoas 7; Homer, Iliad 16.311
9. Parada, s.v. Thoas 4; Apollodorus, E.7.26–27
10. Apollodorus, E.7.33
11. Parada, s.vv. Thoas 6, Halesus 2; Virgil, Aeneid 7.723–725 (Halesus as ally of Turnis), 10.411–415 (Thoas killed by Halesus).

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.
• Grant, Michael, John Hazel, Who's Who in Classical Mythology, Routledge, 2004. .
• Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. .
• Plutarch, Theseus in Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus. Lycurgus and Numa. Solon and Publicola. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library No. 46. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1914. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). LacusCurtis, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6 - 14
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Statius, Statius with an English Translation by J. H. Mozley, Volume II, Thebaid, Books V - XII, Achilleid, Loeb Classical Library No. 207, London: William Heinemann, Ltd., New York: G. P. Putnamm's Sons, 1928. . Internet Archive.
• Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library