Classical scholia and later mythographers present Arcesius as a figure in the royal genealogy of Ithaca. Parentage varies by source: some scholia and Ovid describe him as a son of Zeus and Euryodeia; other accounts make him the son or grandson of Cephalus through various female figures. A reported variant cited from Aristotle's lost work The State of the Ithacians relates that Cephalus was told by an oracle to mate with the first female encountered; he mated with a she-bear who then transformed into a human woman and bore Arcesius. Regardless of variant, Arcesius functions primarily as an etiological ancestor in the lineage that yields Laertes, Odysseus, and Telemachus.
Primary mythographic sources supply no canonical physical description of Arcesius; he is attested only as a named genealogical king rather than via iconographic detail. Modern documentary material shows the name reused as a theatrical role (e.g., in the opera Die toten Augen) where stage performers portray characters named Arcesius, but these are modern artistic embodiments and are not presented in the supplied texts as traditional descriptions of the mythic figure.
No supernatural powers or habitual magical behaviors are attributed to Arcesius in the supplied sources. His significance is genealogical and etiological—establishing a royal line in Ithacan myth. While some traditions make him a son of Zeus (or descend from divine or liminal circumstances, as in the she-bear birth variant), the sources do not ascribe to Arcesius individual divine agency, miracles, or cultic functions.
La Llorona
The Weeping Woman of Mexican folklore — the ghost of a mother who drowned her children and now wanders rivers and lakes, weeping for them and taking other children she finds at night.
Odin
Odin (Old Norse: Óðinn) is the chief god of the Norse (Æsir) pantheon, a multifaceted deity associated with wisdom obtained by sacrifice, poetic inspiration, death and warfare, and rulership over the hall Valhöll where chosen slain warriors (einherjar) dwell. He appears throughout Germanic tradition from Roman-era accounts through the Viking Age and in later folklore as leader of the Wild Hunt.
Alcidamea
Alcidamea (also given as Alcidamia) is attested in classical mythographic sources as a mortal woman of Corinthian genealogy: the partner of the god Hermes and mother of Bunus (Bounos). Separately, Alcidamea is the Latinized name used in modern entomological taxonomy for a subgenus of solitary bees (Hoplitis (Alcidamea)).
Anaxiroe
Anaxiroe is a named female figure in archaic Greek genealogical tradition associated with the ruling families of Elis. In the supplied sources she appears only in relational roles (daughter of Coronus; in some accounts the wife of Epeius) and carries no supernatural attributes, cult, or ritual functions.
Archilycus
Archilycus (Ancient Greek Ἀρχίλυκος, Archílykos; Latinized Areilycus in some lists) is a mythic mortal attested only in genealogical and cataloguing traditions of ancient Greece. He is recorded as a member of a Boeotian noble lineage and as the father of leaders who took part in the Trojan expedition; he is not presented as a deity, monster, or active narrative character in surviving sources.
Arestor
Arestor (Ancient Greek: Ἀρέστωρ) is an Argive princely figure in Greek mythic genealogies, known primarily as a forefather and eponymic node connecting the foundation myths of Argos/Mycenae and several heroic-age figures (notably as father of one or more figures named Argus). He functions as a mortal genealogical ancestor in the literary tradition rather than as an independently acting supernatural being.
Argeus
Argeus (Ancient Greek: Ἀργεύς, "the hunter") is a personal and place-name attested across classical, Christian, and modern contexts. The name labels several distinct referents — mythological individuals (including a king of Argos), a historical/legendary pretender, a Christian saint, and a Roman toponym for Mount Erciyes — rather than a single supernatural being.
Boethoos
Boethoos (also Boethous/Boethos) is a minor named figure in Greek mythological genealogy, attested as a Lacedaemonian son of Argeios (son of Pelops) and Hegesandra (daughter of King Amyclas of Sparta). He appears only as a genealogical descendant within Peloponnesian heroic lineages in the supplied sources.
Cercaphus
Cercaphus (Ancient Greek Κέρκαφος) is a name borne by several related figures in Greek mythic genealogies and local foundation stories. Most prominently he appears among the Heliadae of Rhodes—portrayed as a son/descendant of Helios whose descendants become eponymous founders of Rhodian cities—but variant traditions attach the name to other ancestral figures in Thessaly and localized etiologies.
Cydragora
Cydragora (also attested Cyndragora) is an alternate personal name used in Greek mythic genealogies for the woman more commonly called Anaxibia, here identified in some traditions as a daughter of Atreus who married Strophius of Phocis and was mother of Pylades. The figure is presented as a mortal mythic woman whose primary role is dynastic and genealogical rather than supernatural.
Dardanus (son of Zeus)
Dardanus is a mythic progenitor and eponymous founder in Greek tradition, named as a son of Zeus and the Pleiad Electra and presented as ancestor of the Trojan royal line and the namesake of places on the Asian shore of the Hellespont.
Iphiloche
Iphiloche is a named mortal woman in Greek mythic genealogies, attested as the bride of Megapenthes (an illegitimate son of Menelaus). She functions as a genealogical connector in classical sources and later scholia, with variant name-forms attested in the manuscript tradition.
Makedon
Makedon (Μακεδών; also Makednos, transcribed Macedon) is the eponymous ancestor and founding progenitor of the Makedones (ancient Macedonians) in fragmentary ancient Greek genealogical narratives. He functions as a legendary first man in etiological accounts that explain the origin of the Macedonian ethnonym and identity.
Onesimachus
Onesimachus (Ancient Greek: Ὀνησίμαχος) is attested in the provided source only as a personal name appearing in Greek mythic genealogical material. He is cited as an alternative father of Amarynceus in one variant; the source treats him as an ordinary mortal figure within genealogical traditions rather than a supernatural being.
Community Record
- [1]Arcesius — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors. "Arcesius." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Arcesius (Q111359487). Wikidata entry Q111359487 for Arcesius.other
- [3]Plaschke, Friedrich - Faces of Historical Opera (archive). Plaschke, Friedrich. Faces of Historical Opera. Archive.org.other
- [4]Eugen d'Albert: Die toten Augen (recording listing). Archive listing for Eugen d'Albert: Die toten Augen (role name Arcesius appears in cast listings).other