Macareus (son of Helios)

In Greek mythology, Macareus was one of the Heliadae, sons of Helios and Rhodos. Macareus and his brothers, Triopas, Actis and Candalus, were jealous of a fifth brother, Tenages's, skill at science, so they killed him and had to escape from Rhodes upon discovery of their crime. (The two Heliadae Ochimus and Cercaphus stayed aside and remained on the island of Rhodes).[1]

Macareus fled to Lesbos, where he became king, and took over many of the neighboring islands. Lesbos, son of Lapithes and grandson of Aeolus, after whom the island came to be named, married Macareus' daughter, Methymna (eponym of Methymna, a city at Lesbos);[2] alternately, Methymna married Lepetymnus, eponym of a mountain on Lesbos,[3] and had by him two sons, Hicetaon and Hypsipylus, who were slain by Achilles during the sack of the city of Methymna.[4] Among Macareus' other daughters were Mytilene, Agamede, Antissa, and Arisbe, all eponyms of cities at Lesbos.[5] His sons were entrusted by him the leadership of the colonies he founded on the neighbouring islands: Cydrolaus was sent to Samos, Neandrus to Cos, Leucippus to Rhodes (where the colonists mixed with the local population), and an unnamed son to Chios.[6] Yet another son of Macareus, Eresus, gave his name to a town on Lesbos (modern Eresos).[7]

References

  1. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 57. 2
  2. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 81
  3. ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, s. v. Methymna
  4. ↑ Parthenius, Love Romances, 21
  5. ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, ss. vv. Mytilene; Agamede; Antissa; Arisbe
  6. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 5. 81. 8
  7. ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium s. v. Eresos
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