Cyrene (mythology)
Encyclopedia
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...

, as recorded in Pindar
Pindar
Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...

's 9th Pythian ode, Cyrene (or Kyrene, Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 ) ("sovereign queen") was the daughter of Hypseus
Hypseus
In Greek mythology, the name Hypseus may refer to:*Hypseus, King of the Lapiths, son of the river god Peneus by the naiad Creusa, daughter of Gaia. By Chlidanope he had four daughters: Cyrene, Themisto, Alcaea and Astyagyia .*Hypseus, who fought on Phineus' side against Perseus...

, King of the Lapiths. When a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

 attacked her father's sheep, Cyrene wrestled with the lion. Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...

, who was present, immediately fell in love with her and kidnapped her. He took her to North Africa and founded the city of Cyrene in her name. The region, Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica
Cyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...

, is also named for her. Together, she and Apollo had two sons: Aristaeus
Aristaeus
A minor god in Greek mythology, which we read largely through Athenian writers, Aristaeus or Aristaios , "ever close follower of the flocks", was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keeping; he was the son of Apollo and the huntress Cyrene...

 and Idmon
Idmon
In Greek mythology, Idmon was an Argonaut seer. His father is said to have been Apollo but his mortal father was Abas . His mother was Asteria, daughter of Coronus, or Cyrene, or else Antianeira, daughter of Pheres. By Laothoe he had a son Thestor...

.

Cyrene is also mentioned in the second and third hymns of Callimachus
Callimachus
Callimachus was a native of the Greek colony of Cyrene, Libya. He was a noted poet, critic and scholar at the Library of Alexandria and enjoyed the patronage of the Egyptian–Greek Pharaohs Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes...

 as well as in 'The Poet and the Women' (written by Aristophanes
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...

) whence Mnesilochus comments that he "can't see a man there at all-only Cyrene" when setting eyes upon the poet Agathon who emerges from his house to greet Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

 and himself dressed in women's clothing.

With Ares
Ares
Ares is the Greek god of war. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. In Greek literature, he often represents the physical or violent aspect of war, in contrast to the armored Athena, whose functions as a goddess of intelligence include military strategy and...

, Cyrene (if indeed this is the same Cyrene) was the mother of Diomedes of Thrace
Diomedes King of Thrace
- Summary: :King Diomedes of Thrace was a giant, the son of Ares and Cyrene. He lived on the shores of the Black Sea ruling the warlike tribe of Bistones...

.
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