Alope

According to surviving summary accounts of the myth, Alope was the daughter of Cercyon and was famed for her beauty. Poseidon, taking the form of a kingfisher, seduced her and she bore a son, Hippothoon. Alope left the infant exposed; her father Cercyon recognized the child by its clothing, had Alope imprisoned and put to death, and again ordered the child exposed. A passing mare suckled the surviving infant until shepherds found him and named him Hippothoon. Poseidon thereafter changed Alope's body into a spring which took her name. The town of Alope in ancient Thessaly was believed to derive its name from her, and a monument marking the spot where she was thought to have been killed was reported on the road from Eleusis to Megara. Variant local traditions (e.g., Philonides' account) sometimes give different filial attributions (an Alope called daughter of Actor), but the core elements above are those preserved in the summarized classical sources.

Classical summaries describe Alope primarily as being 'known for her great beauty' but provide no detailed physical description (such as height, dress, complexion, or distinctive marks) in the surviving account cited. The narrative also records that Poseidon approached her in the guise of a kingfisher; this detail pertains to the god's assumed form during the conception of her son rather than to Alope's own appearance. Later material memorializes her in the landscape: the myth concludes with her metamorphosis into a spring that bore her name and with a monument marking the believed site of her death on the road from Eleusis to Megara.

In the provided sources Alope is a mortal woman and is not described as possessing supernatural powers. Her notable acts in the tale are human: she conceives a child by Poseidon (who appears in the form of a kingfisher) and, according to the account, leaves the infant exposed. The metamorphosis that makes her the eponymous spring is an act of divine intervention by Poseidon rather than an inherent ability of Alope. Functionally, her role in myth is etiological: her fate explains place-names and local memorials rather than expressing autonomous supernatural agency.