Macris

In Greek mythology, Macris (Ancient Greek: Μακρἰς meaning "far away" or "long", a reference to the elongated shape of Euboea) was a daughter of Aristaeus and Autonoe.

For the island of Attica, see Makronisos.
Macris
Eponym of Macris
AbodeEuboea, later Macris
(i.e. Drepane, Scheria, Phaeacia)
Personal information
ParentsAristaeus and Autonoë
SiblingsActaeon

Mythology

Macris reared the young Hera in Euboea during the goddess' early childhood in some versions. One day Hera's brother Zeus stole her away, where Mount Cithaeron, in the words of Plutarch, "afforded them a shady recess". When Macris came looking for her ward, the mountain-god Cithaeron drove her away from the couple, saying that Zeus was taking his pleasure there with the goddess Leto.[1]

Sometime later, Macris gave newborn Dionysus honey to eat on Euboea after Hermes saved him. Macris was expelled from Euboea by Hera as punishment. Macris fled to a cave on a small island where she was helped by the goddess Demeter. Demeter taught the residents of the island how to grow cereal grain.[2] According to a scholiast commenting on verses in Argonautica, the island she fled to was subsequently named after her. Apollonius Rhodius, who composed Argonautica, only refers to the island as Drepane but he does mention its connection with Macris and Demeter. Modern Scholars have identified the island with modern Corfu, the historical Corcyra. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, the cave where Macris once lived was later the marriage chamber for Jason and Medea, and the marriage was consummated there on the Golden Fleece. Thereafter Macris's cave was called Medea's Cave.[3]

Notes
  1. Hard, 137; Plutarch fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 286–9 [= FGrHist 388 F1 = Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 3.1.3 (Gifford 1903a, pp. 112–3; Gifford 1903b, p. 92)].
  2. Conner, Nancy. "The Everything Book of Classical Mythology" 2ed
  3. W.H. Race, Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica, pages 409-421

References
  • Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-674-99630-4. Online version at Harvard University Press.
  • Conner, Nancy. "The Everything Book of Classical Mythology" 2ed.
  • Gifford, E. H. (1903a), Eusebii Pamphyli Evangelicae Praeparationis, Volume I, Oxford, E. Typographeo Academico, 1903. Internet Archive.
  • Gifford, E. H. (1903b), Eusebii Pamphyli Evangelicae Praeparationis, Volume III, Oxford, E. Typographeo Academico, 1903. Internet Archive.
  • Plutarch, Moralia, Volume XV: Fragments, translated by F. H. Sandbach, Loeb Classical Library No. 429, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1969. ISBN 978-0-674-99473-7. Online version at Harvard University Press.
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