ORCJOMENIAN GENEALOGY. 131 by Kallirrhoe, an Oceanic nymph, 1 while Dionysius called him son of Ares, and Aristodemus, son of Aleas : lastly, there were not wanting authors who termed both Minyas and Orchomenos sons of Eteokles. 2 Nor do we find in any one of these gen- ealogies the name of Amphion, the son of lasus, who figures so prominently in the Odyssey as king of Orchomenos, and whose beautiful daughter Chloris is married to Neleus. Pausanias mentions him, but not as king, which is the denomination given to him in Homer. 3 The discrepancies here cited are hardly necessary in order to prove that these Orchomenian genealogies possess no historical value. Yet some probable inferences appear deducible from the general tenor of the legends, whether the facts and persons of which they are composed be real or fictitious. Throughout all the historical age, Orchomenos is a member of the Boeotian confederation. But the Boeotians are said to have been immigrants into the territory which bore their name from Thessaly ; and prior to the time of their immigration, Orchome- nos and the surrounding territory appear as possessed by the Minyce, who are recognized in that locality both in the Iliad and in the Odyssey, 4 and from whom the constantly recurring Epon- ymus, King Minyas, is borrowed by the genealogists. Poetical legend connects the Orchomenian Minyas on the one side, with Pylos and Tryphylia in Peloponnesus ; on the other side, with Phthiotis and the town of lolkos in Thessaly ; also with Corinth, 5 1 Schol. Pindar, Olymp. xiv. 5. 2 Schol. Pindar, Isthm. i. 79. Other discrepancies in Schol. Vett, ad Uiad. ii. Catalog. 18. 3 Odyss. xi. 283. Pausan. ix. 36, 3. 4 Uiad, ii. 5, 1 1. Odyss. xi. 283. Hesiod, Fragm. Eoiai, 27, Diintz. 'Ifrv <5' 'Opx6fj.evov Mivvqiov. Pindar, Olymp. xiv. 4. HaXaLjdvuv Mivvuv imff~ KOTTOI. Hcrodot. i. 146. Pausanias calls them Minyae even in their dealings with Sylla (ix. 30, 1). Buttmann, in his Dissertation (iiber die Minyae der Altesten Zeit, in the Mythologus, Diss. xxi. p. 218), doubts whether the name Minyse was ever a real name ; but all the passages make against his opinion.
- Schol. Apoll. Rhod. ii. 1186. i. 230. 2/c^tof 6e A^/z^rptof $7101 roOf
vepl TTJV 'luXicbv oiKovvrae Mivvaf Kakeia-frai ; and i. 763. TT/V jdp 'lu/Udv / Mivueu $KOVV, uf tyr/ai St^uvW^f fa Sty/^i/crotf : also Eustath. ad Iliad, ii. 512. Steph. Byz. v. Mivva. Orchomenos and Pylos ran together in the mind of the poet of the Odyssey, xi. 458.
