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Ancient

Hyginus, Gaius Julius

Fabulae

157

Eumolpus by Chione daughter of Aquilo

When the Argonauts would have consulted him about the voyage, he said that he would advise them about it if they would rid him of the Harpies. So the Argonauts laid a table of viands beside him, and the Harpies with a shriek suddenly pounced down and snatched away the food. When Zetes and Calais, the sons of Boreas, saw that, they drew their swords and, being winged, pursued them through the air.

3.15.2

While Orithyia was playing by the Ilissus river, Boreas carried her off and had intercourse with her; and she bore daughters, Cleopatra and Chione, and winged sons, Zetes and Calais. These sons sailed with Jason¹ and met their end in chasing the Harpies; but according to Acusilaus, they were killed by Hercules in Tenos.²

¹ See above, Apollod. 1.9.21; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.211ff., ii.273ff.; Scholiast on Hom. Od. xiv.533; Scholiast on Soph. Ant. 981; Hyginus, Fab. 14, pp. 42ff., ed. Bunte; Ov. Met. 6.711ff.; Serv. Verg. A. 3.209. According to Hyginus, their wings were attached to their feet, and their hair was sky-blue. Elsewhere （Hyginus, Fab. 19） he describes them with wings on their heads as well as on their feet. Ovid says that they were twins, and that they did not develop wings until their beards began to grow; according to him, the pinions sprouted from their sides in the usual way.

² This is the version adopted by Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.1298-1308, who tells us that when Zetes and Calais were returning from the funeral games of Pelias, Herakles killed them in Tenos because they had persuaded the Argonauts to leave him behind in Mysia; over their grave he heaped a barrow, and on the barrow he set up two pillars, one of which shook at every breath of the North Wind, the father of the two dead men. The slaughter of Zetes and Calais by Herakles is mentioned by Hyginus, Fab. 14, p. 43, ed. Bunte.

3.15.4

Chione had connexion with Poseidon, and having given birth to Eumolpus¹ unknown to her father, in order not to be detected, she flung the child into the deep. But Poseidon picked him up and conveyed him to Ethiopia, and gave him to Benthesicyme（ a daughter of his own by Amphitrite） to bring up.

¹ With this account of the parentage of Eumolpus, compare Paus. 1.38.2; Scholiast on Eur. Ph. 854; Hyginus, Fab. 157. Isoc. 4.68 agrees with Apollodorus in describing Eumolpus as a son of Poseidon, but does not name his mother. On the other hand the Parian Chronicle （Marmor Parium 27ff.） represents Eumolpus as a son of Musaeus, and says that he founded the mysteries of Eleusis. Apollodorus does not expressly attribute the institution of the mysteries to Eumolpus, but perhaps he implies it. Compare Apollod. 2.5.12. It seems to have been a common tradition that the mysteries of Eleusis were founded by the Thracian Eumolpus. See Plut. De exilio 17; Lucian, Demonax 34; Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Εὐμολπίδαι. But some people held that the Eumolpus who founded the mysteries was a different person from the Thracian Eumolpus; his mother, according to them, was Deiope, daughter of Triptolemus. Some of the ancients supposed that there were as many as three different legendary personages of the name of Eumolpus, and that the one who instituted the Eleusinian mysteries was descended in the fifth generation from the first Eumolpus. See Scholiast on Sophocles, Oedipus Colon. 1053; Photius, Lexicon, s.v. Εὐμολπίδαι. The story which Apollodorus here tells of the casting of Eumolpus into the sea, his rescue by Poseidon, and his upbringing in Ethiopia, appears not to be noticed by any other ancient writer.

Pausanias

1.38.2

This Eumolpus they say came from Thrace, being the son of Poseidon and Chione. Chione they say was the daughter of the wind Boreas and of Oreithyia. Homer says nothing about the family of Eumolpus, but in his poems styles him “manly.”

Modern

Grimal

s.v. Chione, p. 101

The name of several heroines:

1. The daughter of Boreas, the north wind, and Orinthia (Table 11). She bore Poseidon a son names EUMOLPUS and threw him into the sea; he was saved by his father.

s.v. Eumolpus, p. 155

According to the generally accepted tradition, Eumolpus was the son of Poseidon and Chione, who was herself the daughter of Boreas and Orinthyia (Table 11). Fearing her father's wrath, Chione threw the new-born child into the sea; but Poseidon rescued him ...

Smith

s.v. Chione 1

1. A daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia, and sister of Cleopatra, Zetes, and Calais. She became by Poseidon the mother of Eumolpus, and in order to conceal the event, she threw the boy into the sea; but the child was saved by Poseidon. (Apollod. 3.15. §§ 2, 4 ; Paus. 1.38.3.)

s.v. Eumolpus

A Thracian who is described as having come to Attica either as a bard, a warrior, or a priest of Demeter and Dionysus. The common tradition, which, however, is of late origin, represents him as a son of Poseidon and Chione, the daughter of Boreas and the Attic heroine Oreithya. According to the tradition in Apollodorus (3.15.4), Chione, after having given birth to Eumolpus in secret, threw the child into the sea. Poseidon, however, took him up, and had him educated in Ethiopia by his daughter Benthesicyma.

Tripp

s.v. Chione (2), p. 161

Chione (2). A daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia. Chione was seduced by Poseidon. Ashamed, she flung her child, Eumolpus, into the sea, but his father rescued him. [Apollodorus 3.15.2, 4.]

s.v. Eumolpus, p. 237

Eumolpus. A Thracian ally of the Elusinians. Eumolpus was a son of Chione by Poseidon. Fearing the anger of her father, Boreas, Chione threw her newborn infant into the sea. Poseidon caught him and took him to ...