Melite (heroine)

For other uses, see Melite (mythology).

In Greek mythology, Melite (/ˈmɛlɪtiː/; Ancient Greek: Μελίτη), daughter of Apollo, or alternatively Myrmex, was the eponym of the deme Melite in Attica.[1] According to a scholiast on Aristophanes, Melite was a lover of Heracles who was initiated into the lesser mysteries during his stay in Attica; there was a temple of Heracles the Protector from Evil (Alexikakos) in the deme Melite.[2] Heracles and Melite have been recognized in the figures portrayed alongside Demeter on the right half of the west pediment of the Parthenon.[3]

Melite was also said to have been a companion of Poseidon.[4]

  1. ^ Harpocration s.v. Melite (= Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 1. 396, frg. 74), Photius, Lexicon s.v. Melite; Suida, Suda Encyclopedia s.v. Melite, with references to Hesiod and Musaeus
  2. ^ Scholia on Aristophanes, Frogs 501
  3. ^ Roscher, s. 2644
  4. ^ Scholia on Plato, Parmenides 1