Ambrosia (Hyades)

Lycurgue about to hit Ambrosia who transform into a vine, Greek mosaic from Delos, end of the IId before. J.-C.[1]

In Greek mythology, Ambrosia was one of the three or five Hyades. She was the sister of Aesyle (Phaesyle) and Eudora,[2] and Coronis and Polyxo.

Mythology

Dionysus was entrusted as a child to Ambrosia and her sisters, the Hyades. Later, Lycurgus assaulted the child Dionysus who was crossing his lands on Mount Nysa, escorted by the hyades. Lycurgus pursued and killed Ambrosia during this assault while her other sisters escaped and took refuge with Thetis.[3] As she died, she turned into a vine, trapping the murderer in her branches until the god returned.

According to another version, Ambrosia was one of the twelve daughters of Atlas and Pleione and one of five sisters (the Hyades, in Latin Sicule).[4] At the death of their only brother, Hyas, killed by a lion (or a boar), they cried so much that, according to myths, they either turned into stars or were transformed by the moved gods, thus becoming the constellation Hyades while their brother Hyas was transformed into the constellation Aquarius.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ For more, see Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21.1-68. For a detailed study of this mosaic, see Claude Vatin and Philippe Bruneau, «Lycurgue et Ambroisie sur une nouvelle mosaïque de Délos», in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 1966, vol. 90, 90-2, p. 391-427 See online.
  2. ^ Eustathius on Homer's Iliad 1156
  3. ^ Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.21.1 with Asclepiades as the authority
  4. ^ Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.21.4 with Musaeus as the authority

References