Auge

Auge and a drunken Heracles, bronze mirror case from Elis (c. 325 BC). National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Stathatos 312.[1]

In Greek mythology, Auge (/ˈɔː/;[2] Ancient Greek: Αὐγή, romanizedAugê, lit.'sunbeam, daylight, dawn';[3][4] Modern Greek: "av-YEE"), was the daughter of Aleus the king of Tegea in Arcadia, and the virgin priestess of Athena Alea. She was also the mother of the hero Telephus by Heracles.

Heracles and Auge, antique fresco in Pompeii

Auge had sex with Heracles (either willingly, or by force) and was made pregnant. When Aleus found this out, by various accounts, he ordered Auge drowned, or sold as a slave, or shut up in a wooden chest and thrown into the sea. However, in all these accounts, she and her son Telephus end up at the court of the Mysian king Teuthras, where Auge becomes the wife (or the adopted daughter) of Teuthras, and Telephus becomes Teuthras’ adopted son and heir.

  1. ^ Stewart, p. 112; Bauchhenss-Thüriedl, p. 48 Auge 9; LIMC 22638 (Auge 9).
  2. ^ Dictionary of Name Pronunciation - Pronounce Auge
  3. ^ Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, A Greek–English Lexicon, s.v.
  4. ^ Stewart, p. 110.