In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Canace was a daughter of Aeolus

Aeolus

Aeolus was the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology. In fact this name was shared by three mythic characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which...

 and Enarete

Enarete

In Greek mythology, Enarete , daughter of Deimachus, was the wife of Aeolus and ancestress of the Aeolians. Her children were Canace, Sisyphus, Deioneus, Salmoneus, Macar, Cretheus, Athamas, Perieres, Calyce, Peisidice, Perimede and in some myths, Alcyone. She may have been the mother of Arne, if...

, and lover of Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

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Canace had seven brothers and six sisters. Her brothers were Athamas

Athamas

The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology, Athamas , was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus or Frixos and Helle. He later divorced Nephele and married Ino, daughter of Cadmus. With Ino, he had two children: Learches and Melicertes...

, Cretheus

Cretheus

In Greek mythology, Cretheus or Krētheus was the king and founder of Iolcus, the son of Aeolus and Enarete. His wives were Tyro and either Demodice or Biadice. With Tyro, he fathered Aeson, Pheres, and Amythaon...

, Deioneus

Deioneus

In Greek mythology, Deioneus or Deion is a name attributed to the following individuals:*Son of Aeolus, king of Phocis, and father of Cephalus, Actor, Aenetus, Phylacus, Nisus and Asterodia....

, Macar (also called Macareus

Macareus (son of Aeolus)

Macareus or Macar was, in Greek mythology, the son of Aeolus and either Enarete or Amphithea.He and his sister Canace fell in love with each other and had a child together...

), Perieres

Perieres

In Greek mythology, Perieres or Perieris, was a son of Aeolus and husband of Gorgophone. He was the father of Leucippus and Aphareus. He is often confused with Gorgophone's second husband, Oebalus . With Oebalus, Gorgophone was the mother of Tyndareus, Hippocoon and Icarius....

, Salmoneus

Salmoneus

In Greek mythology, Salmoneus was the son of Aeolus and Enarete, the brother of Athamas, Sisyphus, Cretheus, Perieres, Deionus, Canace, Alcyone, and Perimede. Salmoneus was the father of Tyro by his first wife Alcidice, the second one being Sidero....

 and Sisyphus

Sisyphus

In Greek mythology Sisyphus was a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity...

. Her sisters were Alcyone

Alcyone

In Greek mythology, Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus, either by Enarete or Aegiale. She married Ceyx, son of Eosphorus, the Morning Star....

, Arne, Calyce

Calyce (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Kalyke , Calyce or Calycia is the name of several characters.*A daughter of Aeolus and Enarete. Some sources state that she was the mother of Endymion, king of Elis, by her husband Aethlius, king of Elis or by Zeus...

, Peisidice, Perimele and Tanagra. With Poseidon, she was the mother of Aloeus

Aloeus

Aloeus can indicate one of two characters in Greek mythology:*Aloeus, the son of Poseidon and Canace, husband first of Iphimedeia and later of Eriboea , and father of Salmoneus , and the eponym of Otus and Ephialtes, collectively known as the Aloadae. These giants made war on the gods and...

, Epopeus

Epopeus

Epopeus was a mythical Greek king of Sicyon, with an archaic bird-name that linked him to epops , the hoopoe, the "watcher"...

, Hopleus, Nireus

Nireus

Nireus is a name that may refer to:*Nireus , in Greek mythology:**Nireus, king of Syme**Nireus, a son of Poseidon and Canace**Nireus, a companion of Heracles*173086 Nireus, an asteroid*Papilio nireus, a species of butterfly...

 and Triopas

Triopas

In Greek mythology, Triopas, Triophas or Triops was the name of several characters, whose relations are unclear. He belonged to the house of Phoroneus....

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She was forced by her father to commit suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 as punishment for falling in love with her brother Macar/Macareus. This story was told by Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 poet Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

 in the Heroides

Heroides

The Heroides , or Epistulae Heroidum , are a collection of fifteen epistolary poems composed by Ovid in Latin elegiac couplets, and presented as though written by a selection of aggrieved heroines of Greek and Roman mythology, in address to their heroic lovers who have in some way mistreated,...

, a selection of eighteen story-poems that pretend to be letters from mythological women to their lovers and ex-lovers.

Her story was also put to the stage in the verse tragedy Canace

Canace (play)

Canace is a verse tragedy by Italian playwright Sperone Speroni . It is based on the Greek legend of Canace, the daughter of Aeolus, who was forced by her father to commit suicide for having fallen in love with her brother, Macar....

(1588), by Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 playwright Sperone Speroni

Sperone Speroni

Sperone Speroni degli Alvarotti was an Italian Renaissance humanist, scholar and dramatist. He was one of the central members of Padua's literary academy Accademia degli Infiammati and wrote on both moral and literary matters.-Biography:...

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