In Greek genealogical fragments and later mythographic summaries Demonice is presented as a daughter of King Agenor of Pleuron (mother attested in traditions as Epicaste in the same genealogical networks). She became the consort of the god Ares and bore sons—commonly named Evenus, Molus, Pylus, and in some accounts Thestius—who function as eponymous ancestors for local rivers, cities, and tribal names in Aetolia and neighbouring regions. Her presence in myth serves an etiological role, linking divine parentage to regional ethnonyms and place-names.
Surviving sources do not record a detailed physical description. A fragment attributed to Hesiod's Catalogue of Women calls Demodoce (Demodoce/Demonice) 'exceeding beauty' and notes that many mighty princes wooed her, indicating her beauty is a notable characteristic in the surviving testimony.
The sources assign no divine or magical powers to Demonice; she is treated as a mortal princess. Her primary narrative 'ability' is genealogical influence: through her union with Ares she produces offspring who serve as eponymous founders or name-givers for rivers, cities, and tribes, thereby transmitting divine affiliation into human lineages.
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.
Alke
Alke (Ancient Greek: Ἀλκή) is the anthropomorphic personification of prowess, courage, and battle-strength in archaic and classical Greek poetic tradition. She is attested as a named figure depicted on Athena's aegis in Homeric epic and the name also appears in later mythographic lists as a number of distinct proper-name figures.
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.
Community Record
- [1]Demonice of Aetolia (Wikipedia). Wikipedia contributors, 'Demonice of Aetolia,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [2]Marpessa of Aetolia (Wikipedia) — discussion of Evenus parentage variants. Wikipedia contributors, 'Marpessa of Aetolia,' Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopediawiki
- [3]Calydon - Greek Mythology Link (genealogical compilations). Calydon, Greek Mythology Link (maicar.com) — genealogical summaries relating Aetolian housesother
- [4]Ares - Greek Mythology Link (notes on Ares and offspring). Ares, Greek Mythology Link (maicar.com) — accounts of Ares' unions and childrenother
- [5]Thestius in Greek Mythology - Greek Legends and Myths. Thestius, Greek Legends and Myths — genealogical notes and variant traditionsfolk