Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records.
In
Greek mythologyGreek 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...
,
Taygete ' onMouseout='HidePop("16751")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Greek_language">Greek
Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
Ταϋγέτη , Mod. ) was a
nymphA nymph in Greek mythology is a female spirit typically associated with a particular location or landform. Other nymphs, always in the shape of young nubile maidens, were part of the retinue of a god, such as Dionysus, Hermes, or Pan, or a goddess, generally Artemis. Nymphs were the frequent target...
, one of the
PleiadesThe Pleiades , companions of Artemis, were the seven daughters of the titan Atlas and the sea-nymph Pleione born on Mount Cyllene. They are the sisters of Calypso, Hyas, the Hyades, and the Hesperides...
according to
ApollodorusApollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace...
(3.10.1) and a companion of
ArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. In the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo...
, in her archaic role as
potnia theronPotnia Theron is an ancient title of the Minoan Goddess, an aspect of her power that was assumed by Artemis among others in the Olympian hierarchy that was later introduced in mainland Greece...
, "Mistress of the animals."
Mount TaygetosMount Taygetus, Taugetus, or Taigetus is a mountain range in the Peloponnese peninsula in Southern Greece. It is the tallest mountain in the Peloponnese, reaching 2,407 m at the Profitis Elias summit. The Taygetus range is about 100 km long, extending from the center of the Peloponese to Cape...
in
LaconiaLaconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is a prefecture in Greece. Laconia has the legal status of a prefecture, with Sparti its administrative capital. Its main towns and cities are Amyclae, Areopolis, Gytheion, Molaoi, Monemvasia, Mystras, Neapoli and Sellasia...
, dedicated to the Goddess, was her haunt.
As he mastered each of the local nymphs one by one, Olympic Zeus pursued Taygete, who invoked her protectress Artemis. The goddess turned Taygete into a doe, any distinction between the
TitanIn Greek mythology, the Titans , were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary Golden Age...
ess in her human form and in her doe form is blurred: the nymph who hunted the doe in the company of Artemis
is the doe herself. As
PindarPindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is best preserved...
conceived the
myth-elementIn the study of mythology, a mytheme is the essential kernel of a myth—an irreducible, unchanging element, one that is always found shared with other, related mythemes and reassembled in various ways—"bundled" was Claude Lévi-Strauss's image—or linked in more complicated...
in his third Olympian Ode, "the doe with the golden horns, which once Taygete had inscribed as a sacred dedication to Artemis Orthosia," ("right-minded" Artemis) was the very Cerynian Hind that
HeraclesIn Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles , Alcides or Alcaeus , was a divine hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
later pursued. For the poet, the transformation was incomplete, and the doe-form had become an offering. Pindar, who was a very knowledgeable mythographer, hints that the mythic doe, even when slain and offered to Artemis, also
continues to exist, to be hunted once again (though not killed) by Hercules at a later time.
Karl KerenyiOne of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, Károly Kerényi was born in Temesvár, Hungary , and then lived in Hungary...
points out (
The Heroes of the Greeks) "It is not easy to differentiate between the divine beast, the heroine and the goddess."
Later mythographers have misconceived her transformation as a punishment from Artemis, for her loss of virginity in the rape.
According to
PausaniasPausanias was a Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between...
(iii. 1, 2, etc.) Taygete conceived through Zeus Lacedaemon, the mythical founder of
SpartaSparta was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 BC it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars...
, and
EurotasIn Greek mythology, Eurotas was a son of Myles and grandson of Lelex. He was the father of Sparta by Clete. He was the brother of Lacedaemon, who was also the husband of his daughter Sparta, according to Pausanias. Eurotas has been said to have carried the waters, stagnating in the plain of the...
. He noted, at Amyclae, that the rape of Taygete was represented on the throne.