Evadne

In Greek mythology, Evadne (Greek: Εὐάδνη) was a name attributed to the following individuals:

1. A daughter of Poseidon and Pitane^[1] who was raised by Aepytus of Arcadia and became the mother of Iamus by Apollo. When Aepytus discovered her pregnancy, he was furious. Ashamed of her pregnancy, Evadne gave birth in the wilderness, where she fled and left the child exposed to the elements. Five days later, Aepytus returned from the Delphic Oracle, where he had been told that Evadne’s child was the son of Apollo and destined to be a gifted prophet. He demanded that the child be brought to him, and so Evadne retrieved Iamus from the patch of violets where she had left him. Iamus had been nurtured for those five days by the honey of bees. Evadne named the child Iamus (“Boy of the Violets”).^[2] He went on to found the Iamidae, a family of priests from Olympia.^[3][4]
2. A daughter of Iphis of Argos or Phylax and wife of Capaneus, with whom she gave birth to Sthenelus. Her husband was killed by a lightning bolt at the siege of Thebes and she threw herself on his funeral pyre and died.^[5][6][7][8]
3. A daughter of Strymon and Neaera, wife of Argus (king of Argos), mother of Ecbasus, Peiras, Epidaurus and Criasus.^[9]
4. A daughter of Pelias, given by Jason in marriage to Canes, son of Cephalus and a king of Phocis.^[10]

Popular culture

• Evadne is a character in The Maid's Tragedy, a play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher
• In the 1970s Wonder Woman television series, Wonder Woman was shown to have had a cousin named Evadne played by actress Dorrie Thomson who competed in the contest for the title to become Wonder Woman
• Dr Evadne Hinge was half of the musical duo Hinge and Bracket
• Female main character in Rebecca West's short story "Indissoluble Matrimony"
• Evadne is a character in Mary Shelley's The Last Man
• Evadne Clapham is a minor character in Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time

See also

• List of Greek mythological figures

References

1. Hyginus, Fabulae, 175
2. Pindar, Olympian Ode 6
3. Pausanias, Description of Greece, 4. 2. 3
4. Pindar, Olympian Ode 4
5. Bibliotheca 3. 7. 1
6. Hyginus, Fabulae, 256
7. Euripides, The Suppliants, 985
8. Virgil, Aeneid, Book VI, 447.
9. Bibliotheca 1. 2. 1
10. Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4. 53. 2