Graecus

Eponym of the Graecians in Greek mythology

In Greek mythology, Graecus (/ˈɡriːkəs/; Ancient Greek: Γραικός, romanized: Graikos) was the son of Zeus and Pandora, daughter of Deucalion, and the eponym of the Graecians.

According to the Byzantine author John the Lydian (c. AD 490 – 565), Hesiod, in his Catalogue of Women, states that Graecus is the son of Zeus and Pandora, daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and says, in addition, that he has a brother, Latinus.[1] The Byzantine author Stephanus of Byzantium (fl. 6th century AD) states that Graecus was a son of Thessalus.[2]

Graecus was the eponym of the Graecians, a group of Hellenic people who lived westwards of the Hellenes mentioned by Homer. The Hellenic peoples collectively came to be known as Graeci in Latin, after the Graecians.[3]

## See also

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* Graea
* Names of the Greeks

## Notes

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1. ^ Gantz, p. 167; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 2 Most, pp. 42-5 [= fr. 5 Merkelbach-West, pp. 5-6 = John the Lydian, De Mensibus 1.13].
2. ^ Smith, s.v. Graecus; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Graikos (I pp. 434, 435).
3. ^ Hard, p. 405.

## References

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* Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
* Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0. Google Books.
* Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, in Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
* Merkelbach, R., and M. L. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1967. ISBN 978-0-19-814171-6.
* Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnica: Volumen I Alpha - Gamma, edited by Margarethe Billerbeck, in collaboration with Jan Felix Gaertner, Beatrice Wyss and Christian Zubler, De Gruyter, 2006. ISBN 978-3-110-17449-6. Online version at De Gruyter. Google Books.