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Comaetho (lover of Cydnus)

Queen in Greek mythology From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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In Greek mythology, Comaetho (Ancient Greek: Κομαιθώ, romanized: Komaithṓ, lit.'bright-haired'[1]) is a queen or Naiad nymph of Cilicia who fell in love with the local river-god Cydnus. The goddess Aphrodite then transformed her into a spring, and the queen was acquatically joined with her beloved for the rest of time.

Family

The fifth-century poet Nonnus describes Comaetho as a daughter of Cydnus, though elsewhere he simply describes her as his lover.[2] Like Cydnus, now known as the Berdan River, Comaetho was from Cilicia, a region located in southern Asia Minor. Comaetho is both described as a mortal woman and a Naiad nymph.

Mythology

The maid Comaetho ruled over the Cilicians. As she approached marriage age, the girl fell in love with the river-god Cydnus and pined for him until the goddess Aphrodite turned her into a spring, presumably in order to unite the two.[3][4] Thereafter Comaetho was glad to join him in wedlock and mingle her newly-formed waters with those of Cydnus.[2][5][6]

Background

The earliest attestation of this story comes from a fragment of Parthenius, preserved by Eustathius of Thessalonica who is in turn quoted by Stephanus of Byzantium; in this case the story would be the earliest example of a full metamorphosis into a body of sweet water.[4]

The myth might have arisen as a geographical, aetiological narrative in order to describe a spring near Glaphyrae, a town in Cilicia, and thus could be traced back to Parthenius's own Metamorphoses work.[5] Some doubts have been cast over this assertment, as it is most likely that that work was written in hexameters.[7]

The story of Comaetho has been compared to that of the river-god Alpheus and the nymph Arethusa, owing to their shared theme of contrast of the water and the fire of love.[4] It also bears similarities with another fragmentary text by Parthenius regarding the story of Byblis; both myths feature maidens suffering from their incestuous passions, if Cydnus is taken to be Comaetho's father.[5]

See also

Other maidens and their fathers linked incestuously:

References

Bibliography

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