In the account preserved by Antoninus Liberalis, Autonous and his wife Hippodamia had children whose names were taken from the poor vegetation of their neglected lands (Acanthus meaning 'thorn', alongside siblings named after rushes, thistles, and eroded soil). After a fatal incident in which the family's herds and a servant figure into the narrative (Anthus being attacked by horses), Zeus and Apollo, 'feeling pity', transformed the family members, the servant, and others into birds. Autonous became a quail, Hippodamia a crested lark, Anthus an eponymous anthus-bird, and Acanthus was turned into a bird thereafter called by his name; the tale serves as an aetiology for contemporary bird species and their behaviors.
The source gives no detailed physical description of Acanthus as a human beyond his genealogy (son of Autonous and Hippodamia; brother to Acanthis, Erodius, Anthus, Schoeneus). Antoninus Liberalis reports only that he was 'turned ... into birds called by the same names as they had before they were metamorphosed.' Later commentators have speculatively identified the bird called Acanthus with species such as the siskin, linnet, or blue tit, but these identifications are modern and uncertain and do not appear in the ancient text.
Antoninus Liberalis attributes no supernatural powers to Acanthus beyond the fact of metamorphosis itself. The narrative's general pattern is that transformed humans persist in the world as birds and that their human history can be reflected in species-specific behaviors (the text gives a behavioral example for Anthus: an aversion to horses and imitation of horse cries). No unique behaviors or ongoing supernatural faculties are recorded for Acanthus in the source.
Admetus
Admetus is a mortal king of Pherae in Thessaly in the Greek tragic tradition (notably Euripides' Alcestis). His life becomes the subject of a divine bargain in which Apollo intervenes to delay his appointed death, a bargain that requires another to die in his stead — most famously his wife Alcestis.
Admetus of Pherae
Admetus of Pherae is a mortal king of Thessaly in Greek myth whose household and fate intersect with Olympian gods (notably Apollo and Artemis), the Fates, the personification of Death (Thanatos), and the hero Heracles. He is celebrated for hospitality and justice and is best known from the tragic cycle surrounding his wife Alcestis, who dies in his stead and is later recovered.
Aegiale
Aegiale is a mortal woman in Greek mythic tradition, best known as the wife of the hero Diomedes. In post‑Trojan War nostos narratives she is depicted in several accounts as unfaithful and as plotting against her husband; some traditions attribute her conduct to the vengeance of the goddess Aphrodite.
Aeopolus
Aeopolus (Ancient Greek: Αἰπόλος, gen.: Αἰοπόλου, romanized Aipolus or Aiopólos, lit. 'goatherd') is a mortal figure in Greek mythic genealogical tradition recorded only in brief scholia and summaries. He is named as the father of Cleobule, who in one variant is cited as a possible mother of Myrtilus by Hermes; some sources note he was also called Aeolus. Attestations are limited and no cult, deeds, or narratives are preserved for him.
Aerope
Aerope (Ancient Greek: Ἀερόπη) is a mythological mortal woman of Greek tradition, a Cretan princess connected to the royal house of Mycenae (the Atreidai). In surviving accounts she functions as a human agent whose sexual relationships and/or the transfer of a symbolic object (the "golden lamb") are narrated as catalysts in the dynastic feuds of Atreus and Thyestes; sources preserve variant and sometimes conflicting traditions about her fate and parentage.
Aesacus
Aesacus (Ancient Greek: Αἴσακος) is a mythic son of King Priam of Troy who, grieving the death of a river-nymph beloved, throws himself from a cliff and is transformed mid-plunge by the sea-goddess Tethys into a diving seabird (mergus). In some traditions (Apollodorus and Tzetzes) he is also described as a seer who learned dream-interpretation from his grandfather Merops and interprets Hecabe’s dream about Paris.
Aeëtes
Aeëtes is a mythic, semi-divine king of Aea (identified with Colchis) in the Greek heroic tradition, son of Helios and the Oceanid Perseis. He is guardian of wondrous objects—most famously the Golden Fleece—and functions as a royal task-master whose demands and possessions test visiting heroes (notably Jason and the Argonauts).
Agrius and Oreius
Agrius (Ἄγριος) and Oreius/Orius (Ὄρειος) are twin sons of Polyphonte and a bear in a Greek mythic tale. Presented as 'twin savage bear-like children,' they committed acts of impiety and violence and were ultimately transformed by the gods into ominous birds (vulture and eagle-owl) as part of divine punishment and resolution.
Alcimenes
Alcimenes (Ancient Greek Ἀλκιμένης) is a personal name borne by multiple mortal figures in Greek myth and literary history — including a Boeotian prince, one of the sons of Jason and Medea, and several authors. The sources treat Alcimenes as human characters within mytho-historical narratives and literary tradition rather than as a distinct supernatural class or spirit.
Aloadae
The Aloadae (Otus and Ephialtes) are twin, exceptionally large brothers of Greek myth—variously portrayed as gigantic, hubristic challengers to the Olympian order and as local culture-bringing founders and worshipers of the Muses. Traditions report prodigious growth and strength, an attempt to scale the heavens by stacking mountains, the capture of Ares in some versions, and several differing accounts of their deaths or posthumous punishment.
Amycus
Amycus (Ancient Greek: Amykos / Ἄμυκος) is a named figure in Greek myth chiefly attested as the king of the Bebryces of Bithynia who challenges the Argonauts and is slain in single combat by Pollux. The name is also reused in other, distinct contexts (a centaur in other sources; modern onomastic reuses such as an asteroid, a naval ship, and taxonomic names).
Amykos
Amykos is a semi-divine legendary king of the Bebryces in Bithynia who challenged strangers to lethal boxing matches and was killed by a visiting Argonaut. He is presented in Greek myth as a son of Poseidon and the Bithynian nymph Melia and functions as a localized antagonist encountered during the Argonauts' voyage.
Community Record
- [1]Acanthus (son of Autonous) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Acanthus (son of Autonous)'wiki
- [2]Metamorphoses (Antoninus Liberalis) — Account of Autonous and his family. Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses (passage recounting Autonous, Hippodamia, Anthus, Acanthus and siblings) — as summarized in secondary sourcesliterary