In Greek mythology, Euryganeia (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυγάνεια, romanized: Eurygáneia) was a Theban queen. She was one of Oedipus' wives, and in rarer traditions the mother of his four notable children, Eteocles, Polynices, Antigone and Ismene.
Family
Euryganeia was either a daughter of Hyperphas,[1][2] and thus, sister to Euryanassa.[3] In some sources, she was described as Jocasta's sister, which would make her Oedipus' aunt.[4] Euryganeia was occasionally named as Oedipus' second wife and the mother of his children, Polynices, Eteocles, Ismene and Antigone.[5]
According to Pausanias, the statement at Odyssey 11.274—that the gods soon made the incestuous marriage between Oedipus and his mother Jocasta known—is incompatible with her bearing four children to him.[6] The geographer cites the lost epic poem Oedipodea as evidence for the fact that Euryganeia was actually the mother of Oedipus' brood.[7] Pherecydes, on the other hand, attributed two sons (named Phrastor and Laonytus) to the marriage of Jocasta and Oedipus, but agreed that the more famous foursome were the children of Euryganeia.[8]
Mythology
There was a painting of Euryganeia at Plataea in which she was depicted as mournful because of the strife between her children.[9] Following Euryganeia's death, Oedipus married Astymedusa, who plotted against her stepsons.[10][11]
See also
Notes
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.8
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11
- Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 11.326 = Hesiod, fr. 62 (Loeb edition, 1914)
- Anonymous authors cited by the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.5.8; cf. Watson (1994, p. 237).
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.10
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11; this is Oedipodea fr. 2 in West (2003).
- Pherecydes, FGrHist 3 F 48, quoted by the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53.
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 9.5.11
- The Scholia to Iliad 4.376 places the union following Oedipus' discovery that Jocasta was his mother; the marriage took place following Euryganeia's death according to the scholia to Euripides, Phoenissae 53 (citing Pherecydes, FGrHist 3 F 48).
- Eustathius on Homer, Iliad 4.376–81 (vol. i, p. 767) .
References
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Watson, P.A. (1994), Ancient Stepmothers: Myth, Misogyny and Reality, Leiden: Ε. J. Brill, ISBN 90-04-10176-4.
- West, M.L. (2003), Greek Epic Fragments, Loeb Classical Library no. 497, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-99605-4.