Perse (mythology)

Short description: Oceanid nymph and wife of Helios in Greek mythology

Perse

Member of the Oceanids
Abode| Ocean
Personal information
Parents| Oceanus and Tethys
Siblings| Oceanids, Potamoi
Consort| Helios
Children| Circe, Aeëtes, Pasiphaë, Perses, Aloeus
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Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Perse (Ancient Greek:) is one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys.[1][2][3] Her name was also spelled as Persa, Perseide, Persea[4] or Perseis (Περσηίς, Persēís).[5] Perse married Helios, the god of the sun, and bore him several children, most notably the sorceress-goddess Circe.

## Contents

* 1 Mythology
* 2 Possible connections
* 3 Genealogy
* 4 See also
* 5 Footnotes
* 6 Notes
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Mythology

Perse was one of the wives of the sun god, Helios.[6][7] According to Homer and Hesiod, with Helios she had Circe and Aeëtes,[8] with later authors also mentioning their children Pasiphaë,[9] Perses,[10] Aloeus,[11] and even Calypso,[11] who is however more commonly the daughter of Atlas. It is not clear why would Perse bear Helios, the source of all light, such dark and mysterious children.[12]

When Aphrodite cursed Helios to fall in love with the mortal princess Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten even about Perse.[13] She seems to have been linked to witchcraft and knowledge of herbs and potions, much like her daughters Circe and Pasiphaë.[14] She might have also been associated with the witchcraft goddess Hecate, who was also called Perseis (as in "daughter of Perses")[15][16] and who is said to be Circe's mother in one version.[17][18]

## Possible connections

Perseis' name has been linked to Περσίς (Persís), "female Persian", and πέρθω (pérthō), "destroy" or "slay" or "plunder".[citation needed]

Kerenyi also noted the connection between her and Hecate due to their names, denoting a chthonic aspect of the nymph, as well as that of Persephone, whose name "can be taken to be a longer, perhaps simply a more ceremonious, form of Perse",[19] as did Fowler, who noted that the pairing made sense given Hecate's association with the Moon.[20] It has been suggested that Hecate's "Perseis" epithet denotes lunar connections.[21] However, as Mooney notes, there is no evidence that Perse was ever a moon goddess on her own right.[22]

An inscription of Mycenaean Greek (written in Linear B) was found on a tablet from Pylos, dating back to 1400–1200 BC. John Chadwick reconstructed[n 1] the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse. Chadwick found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone.[24][25]

## Genealogy

Perse's family tree

| | | | | | | | | | Gaia| | | | |

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| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | | | | Uranus| | | | | | | | |
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| Hyperion| | Theia| | Oceanus| | Tethys
| | |
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| | | | | |
| | | | | Helios| | PERSE| | | |

| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Circe| | Aeëtes| | Pasiphaë| | Perses| | Aloeus|

## See also

* Medea
* Perimede
* Neaera
* List of Oceanids
* List of Mycenaean deities

## Footnotes

1. ↑ The actual word in Linear B is 𐀟𐀩𐁚, pe-re-*82 or pe-re-swa; it is found on the PY Tn 316 tablet.[23]

## Notes

1. ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 356
2. ↑ Kerényi, Carl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. pp. 40.
3. ↑ Bane, Theresa (2013). Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-7864-7111-9.
4. ↑ Virgil, Ciris 66
5. ↑ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 798
6. ↑ Hecataeus of Miletus, fr. 35A Fowler
7. ↑ Hard, p. 44
8. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 10.135; Hesiod, Theogony 956
9. ↑ Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.591; Apollodorus, 1.9.1; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 48.4
10. ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 174
12. ↑ Bell, s. v. Perse
13. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.205Lua error: not enough memory.
14. ↑ Ovid, The Cure for Love Part IV
15. ↑ Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 3.478
16. ↑ Johannsen, Nina (2006). "Perse(is)". Brill's New Pauly. Kiel: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e914920. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/perseis-e914920. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
17. ↑ Diodorus Siculus, 4.45.1
18. ↑ The Classical Review vol. 9, p. 391
19. ↑ Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951, pp 192-193
20. ↑ Fowler, p. 16, vol. II
21. ↑ The Classical Review vol. 9, pp 391–392
22. ↑ Mooney, p. 58
23. ↑ Raymoure, K.A.. "pe-re-*82". Minoan Linear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean. http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/pe/pe-re-82/. "PY 316 Tn (44)". University of Oslo. https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/4985.
24. ↑ Chadwick, John (1976). The Mycenaean World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 95. ISBN 0-521-29037-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=RMj7M_tGaNMC&pg=PA95. At Google Books.
25. ↑ Comments about the goddess pe-re-*82 of Pylos tablet Tn 316, tentatively reconstructed as *Preswa

"It is tempting to see ... the classical Perse ... daughter of Oceanus ...; whether it may be further identified with the first element of Persephone is only speculative." John Chadwick. Documents in Mycenean Greek. Second Edition

## References

* Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
* Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853-1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary, ABC-CLIO 1991, ISBN 0-87436-581-3. Internet Archive.
* Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
* Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. ISBN 978-0674995611. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
* Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
* Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888-1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
* Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
* Kerényi, Karl (1951). The Gods of the Greeks. London: Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27048-1. https://archive.org/details/godsofgreeks00kerrich.
* Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812-1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Mooney, Carol M., Hekate: Her Role and Character in Greek Literature from before the Fifth Century B.C., a thesis submitted to the faculty of graduate studies, McMaster University, 1971.
* Ovid. Metamorphoses, Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977, first published 1916. ISBN 978-0-674-99046-3. Online version at Harvard University Press.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Publius Ovidius Naso, Remedia Amoris in The Love Poems: The Amores, Ars Amatoria and Remedia Amoris, with an English translation by A. S. Kline. 2001. Full text available at poetryintranslation.com.
* The Classical Review, volume IX, 1985, Library of Illinois.

## External links

* PERSE on the Theoi Project

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