Cleopatra is presented in Greek genealogical and mythic lists as one of the Danaids, the fifty daughters of King Danaus. The research notes identify at least two women named Cleopatra among that group: one whose mother is given as a hamadryad (Atlantia or Phoebe) who married Agenor, and another described as the daughter of the naiad Polyxo who married Hermus. As Danaids they figure in the foundational myth in which Danaus' daughters marry the sons of Aegyptus and, excepting Hypermnestra, kill their husbands on the wedding night. The Cleopatras therefore appear as named members of this collective familial narrative rather than as independent divine beings or cult figures.
No specific physical description for either Cleopatra of the Danaids is attested in the supplied sources. Visual and literary traditions commonly represent Danaids collectively in sculpture, painting, and as a chorus in tragedy, but the available material does not individualize the named Cleopatras with distinctive iconographic traits. References note a Danaid subject in art (for example, a statue by H. W. Bissen) and the Danaids' frequent appearance as a thematic group, which implies collective depictions rather than detailed portraits of these specific sisters.
The sources attribute no supernatural powers to the Cleopatras; they are mortal mythic women whose primary documented action is participation in the Danaid episode of marriage to the sons of Aegyptus and the subsequent killing of those husbands on the wedding night (with Hypermnestra as the usual exception). Their narrative role functions within literary and iconographic contexts—serving as chorus figures or protagonists in tragic treatments—and as types in receptional comparisons with other mythic or literary women.
Acanthus (son of Autonous)
Acanthus is a mythic human figure in a Greek metamorphosis tale (recorded by Antoninus Liberalis) who, with his family, was transformed by Zeus and Apollo into a bird named after him. The story functions etiologically, explaining the origin and behaviors of certain birds by linking them to formerly human persons and their experiences.
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).
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- [1]Cleopatra (Danaid) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Cleopatra (Danaid)'wiki
- [2]Cleopatra (mythology) — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Cleopatra (mythology)'wiki
- [3]DANAIDS - Greek Mythology Link. maicar.com, 'DANAIDS' genealogical listingother
- [4]A Classification of Themes of Mythology, of Allegories and of Ancient History in the Art of Painting. The Art of Painting — Danaid motif summaryother
- [5]Selected receptional/commentary bibliographies. Diotíma bibliographies noting tragic and receptional uses of the Danaidsother