Graecus or
Græcus (Ancient Greek: ) was, according to
HesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet. His date is uncertain but leading scholars , agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the eighth century BCE. Since at least Herodotus's time , Hesiod and Homer have generally been considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived, and they are often...
's "Eoiae" or
Catalogue of WomenThe Catalogue of Women is an Ancient Greek poem. Ancient writers sometimes attributed it to Hesiod, although the poem contains a few references to events and things after Hesiod's time that could suggest that they were later added or that the epic is of a completely different author...
on the origin of the
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
, the son of
Pandora IIPandora II was a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrra. She was the mother of Graecus by Zeus.-References:*...
and
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
. His mother
Pandora IIPandora II was a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrra. She was the mother of Graecus by Zeus.-References:*...
(named after her grandmother
PandoraIn Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts...
) was the daughter of
DeucalionIn Greek mythology, Deucalion was a son of Prometheus and Pronoia. When the anger of Zeus was ignited against the hubris of the Pelasgians, Zeus decided to put an end to the Bronze Age with the Deluge. For Lycaon, the king of Arcadia had sacrificed a boy to Zeus. Zeus was appalled to this cannibal...
and
PyrrhaIn Greek mythology, Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion.When Zeus decided to end the Bronze Age with the great deluge, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only survivors...
and sister of
HellenHellen Hellen Hellen (Ancient Greek: ; Katharevousa: was the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes (Greek: Έλληνες), the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha, brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus...
who together with his three sons
DorusIn Greek mythology, Dorus is the name of several individuals:#Dorus was a son of Hellen and founder of the Dorian nation. Each of Hellen's sons founded a primary tribe of Greece - Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians and Xuthus the Achaeans and the Ionians together with his sister's Pandora's...
,
XuthusIn Greek mythology, Xuthus was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder of the Achaean and Ionian nations. He had two sons by Creusa: Ion and Achaeus and a daughter named Diomede....
(with his sons Ion and
AchaeusAchaeus was, according to nearly all traditions, a son of Xuthus and Creusa, and consequently a brother of Ion and grandson of Hellen. The Achaeans regarded him as the author of their race, and derived from him their own name as well as that of Achaia, which was formerly called Aegialus...
) and Aeolos, comprised the set of ancient tribes that formed the
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
/
HellenicAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
nation.
According to
Stephanus of ByzantiumStephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
, Graecus was a son of
ThessalusIn Greek mythology, the name Thessalus is attributed to three individuals.*Thessalus was the son of Jason and Medea and the twin of Alcimenes. After the adventures of the Argonauts and the death of Acastus, Thessalus became king of Iolcus...
.
Graecus or
Græcus (Ancient Greek: ) was, according to
HesiodHesiod was a Greek oral poet. His date is uncertain but leading scholars , agree that Hesiod lived in the latter half of the eighth century BCE. Since at least Herodotus's time , Hesiod and Homer have generally been considered the earliest Greek poets whose work has survived, and they are often...
's "Eoiae" or
Catalogue of WomenThe Catalogue of Women is an Ancient Greek poem. Ancient writers sometimes attributed it to Hesiod, although the poem contains a few references to events and things after Hesiod's time that could suggest that they were later added or that the epic is of a completely different author...
on the origin of the
GreeksThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
, the son of
Pandora IIPandora II was a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrra. She was the mother of Graecus by Zeus.-References:*...
and
ZeusIn Greek mythology, Zeus is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky and thunder. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak. In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical "cloud-gatherer" also derives certain iconographic traits from the...
. His mother
Pandora IIPandora II was a daughter of Deucalion and Pyrra. She was the mother of Graecus by Zeus.-References:*...
(named after her grandmother
PandoraIn Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman. As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts...
) was the daughter of
DeucalionIn Greek mythology, Deucalion was a son of Prometheus and Pronoia. When the anger of Zeus was ignited against the hubris of the Pelasgians, Zeus decided to put an end to the Bronze Age with the Deluge. For Lycaon, the king of Arcadia had sacrificed a boy to Zeus. Zeus was appalled to this cannibal...
and
PyrrhaIn Greek mythology, Pyrrha was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion.When Zeus decided to end the Bronze Age with the great deluge, Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, were the only survivors...
and sister of
HellenHellen Hellen Hellen (Ancient Greek: ; Katharevousa: was the mythological patriarch of the Hellenes (Greek: Έλληνες), the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha, brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus...
who together with his three sons
DorusIn Greek mythology, Dorus is the name of several individuals:#Dorus was a son of Hellen and founder of the Dorian nation. Each of Hellen's sons founded a primary tribe of Greece - Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians and Xuthus the Achaeans and the Ionians together with his sister's Pandora's...
,
XuthusIn Greek mythology, Xuthus was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder of the Achaean and Ionian nations. He had two sons by Creusa: Ion and Achaeus and a daughter named Diomede....
(with his sons Ion and
AchaeusAchaeus was, according to nearly all traditions, a son of Xuthus and Creusa, and consequently a brother of Ion and grandson of Hellen. The Achaeans regarded him as the author of their race, and derived from him their own name as well as that of Achaia, which was formerly called Aegialus...
) and Aeolos, comprised the set of ancient tribes that formed the
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
/
HellenicAncient Greece is the civilisation belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca. 1100 BC and the Dorian invasion, to 146 BC and the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth. It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the...
nation.
Later traditions
According to
Stephanus of ByzantiumStephen of Byzantium, also known as Stephanus Byzantinus was the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled Ethnica...
, Graecus was a son of
ThessalusIn Greek mythology, the name Thessalus is attributed to three individuals.*Thessalus was the son of Jason and Medea and the twin of Alcimenes. After the adventures of the Argonauts and the death of Acastus, Thessalus became king of Iolcus...
. According to
VirgilPublius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works—the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the Aeneid—although several minor poems are also attributed to him.The son of a farmer, Virgil came to be...
,
LatinusLatinus was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology.-Greek mythology:In Hesiod's Theogony, Latinus was the son of Odysseus and Circe who ruled the Tyrsenoi, presumably the Etruscans, with his brothers Ardeas and Telegonus...
is Graecus's brother. The Hellenic tribe Graecians according to legend took their name after Graecus. They were one of the first Greek tribes to colonize
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
. The area that came to be known as
Magna GraeciaMagna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that was extensively colonized by Greek settlers, especially the Achaean collonies of Tatentium, Crotone and Sybaris but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neopolis to the north...
took its name after them. The
Latins"Latins" can refer to several groups of people. Its meaning has changed throughout time, and can still refer to different things even today.-Antiquity:...
used this term in reference to all Hellenic people because the first
HellenesThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
they came into contact with were the Graecians, hence the name Greeks.
External links