lomêla.—Legend of Têreus.—Daughters of Erechtheus—Prokris.—Kreüsa.—Oreithyia, the wife of Boreas.—Prayers of the Athenians to Boreas—his gracious help in their danger.—Erechtheus and Eumolpus.—Voluntary self-sacrifice of the three daughters of Erechtheus.—Kreüsa and Iôn.—Sons of Pandiôn—Ægeus, etc.—Thêseus.—His legendary character refined.—Plutarch—his way of handling the matter of legend.—Legend of the Amazons.—Its antiquity and prevalence.—Glorious achievements of the Amazons.—Their ubiquity.—Universally received as a portion of the Greek past.—Amazons produced as present by the historians of Alexander.—Conflict of faith and reason in the historical critics. 191-217
CHAPTER XII.
KRETAN LEGENDS. MINOS AND HIS FAMILY.
Minôs and Rhadamanthus, sons of Zeus.—Europê. Pasiphaê and the Minôtaur.—Scylla and Nisus.—Death of Androgeos, and anger of Minôs against Athens.—Athenian victims for the Minôtaur.—Self-devotion of Thêseus—he kills the Minôtaur.—Athenian commemorative ceremonies.—Family of Minôs.—Minôs and Dædalus—flight of the latter to Sicily.—Minôs goes to retake him, but is killed.—Semi-Krêtan settlements elsewhere connected with this voyage of Minos.—Sufferings of the Krêtans afterwards from the wrath of Minôs.—Portrait of Minôs—how varied.—Affinity between Krête and Asia Minor. 218-230
CHAPTER XIII.
ARGONAUTIC EXPEDITION.
Ship Argô in the Odyssey.—In Hesiod and Eumêlus.—Jasôn and his heroic companions.—Lemnus.—Adventures at Kyzikus, in Bithynia, etc.—Hêraklês and Hylas.—Phineus.—Dangers of the Symplêgades.—Arrival at Kolchis.—Conditions imposed by Æêtês as the price of the golden fleece.—Perfidy of Æêtês—flight of the Argonauts and Mêdea with the fleece.—Pursuit of Æetes—the Argonauts saved by Medea.—
Return of the Argonauts—circuitous and perilous.—Numerous and wide-spread monuments referring to the voyage.—Argonautic legend generally.—Fabulous geography—gradually modified as real geographical knowledge increased.—Transposition of epical localities.—How and when the Argonautic voyage became attached to Kolchis.—Æêtês and Circe.—Return of the Argonauts—different versions.—Continued faith in the voyage—basis of truth determined by Strabo.231-256
CHAPTER XIV.
LEGENDS OF THEBES.
Abundant legends of Thêbes.—Amphioôn and Zethus, Homeric founders of Kadmus and Bœôtus—both distinct legends.—Thêbes.—How Thebes was founded by Kadmus.—Five primitive families at Thêbes called
Sparti.—The four daughters of Kadmus: l.Inô; 2. Semelê; 3. Autonoê and her son Actæôn; 4. Agavê and her son Pentheus.—He resists the god Dionysus—his miserable end.—Labdakus, Antiopê, Amphiôn, and Zêthus.—Laius—Œdipus—Legendary celebrity of ŒEdipus and his family.—The Sphinx.—Eteoklês and Polynikês.—Old epic poems on the sieges of Thêbes. 256-269
