Phoenix (son of Agenor)
In Greek mythology, Phoenix (Greek: Φοῖνιξ Phoinix, gen.: Φοίνικος), the eponym of Phoenicia, was a son of Agenor and Telephassa (or Argiope[1]), brother of Cadmus, Cilix and Europa.[1][2]
When Europa was carried off by Zeus, her three brothers were sent out by Agenor to find her, but the search was unsuccessful. Phoenix eventually settled in a country in Africa which he named Phoenicia after himself.[2][3]
Phoenix was believed to have fathered a number of children with different women. By Cassiopeia, he had a daughter Carme[4] and three sons, Cilix, Phineus, and Doryclus, as well as a stepson Atymnius whose natural father was Zeus;[5] by Alphesiboea, he had Adonis.[6] According to the Iliad, Europa was not his sister, but his daughter.[7] Europa is otherwise called one of his two daughters by Perimede, daughter of Oeneus, the other one being Astypalaea;[8] she is also included on the list of his children by Telephe, her siblings in this case being Peirus, Phoenice, and Astypale (apparently identical to the aforementioned Astypalaea).[9] Telephe, daughter of Epimedusa, is probably the same as Telephassa, whom Moschus[10] calls wife and not mother of Phoenix.
References
- 1 2 Hyginus, Fabulae, 6 & 178
- 1 2 Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 1. 1
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae, 178
- ↑ Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 40
- ↑ Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 2. 178
- ↑ Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 3. 14. 4
- ↑ Homer, Iliad, 14. 321
- ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece, 7. 4. 1
- ↑ Scholia on Euripides, Phoenician Women, 5
- ↑ Moschus, Idylls, 2. 42