View source for Mycene (mythology)

{{Short description|Greek mythical character}}
{{Redirect|Mycene|the ancient Greek city|Mycenae}}
{{Greek myth (nymph)}}In [[Greek mythology]], '''Mycene''' or '''Mykene''' ([[Ancient Greek]]: Μυκήνη), was a daughter of [[Inachus]], king of [[Ancient Argos|Argos]] and wife of [[Arestor]].<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Mycene 2.16.4]</ref> She was probably the sister of [[Phoroneus]]. Mycene was said to be the eponym of [[Mycenae]].<ref>Fowler, pp. 236, 259; Tripp, s.v. Mycene, p. 387; Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DM%3Aentry+group%3D32%3Aentry%3Dmycene-bio-1 s.v. Mycene].</ref>

== Mythology ==
[[Homer]]'s ''[[Odyssey]]'', calling her "Mycene of the fair crown" mentions her in passing, along with [[Tyro]] and [[Alcmene]], as "women of old ... fair-tressed Achaean women".<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hom.+Od.+2.84&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136:boo=0:chapter=0&highlight=Mycene 2.120]</ref> [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], citing the ''[[Megalai Ehoiai]]'', says that Mycene was the daughter of Inachus and the wife of Arestor, without naming the mother.<ref>Fowler, p. 236; Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Mycene 2.16.4] = Hesiod fr. 185 Most, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/hesiod-other_fragments/2007/pb_LCL503.263.xml pp. 262, 263].</ref> However, a scholiast on Homer's ''Odyssey'' says that Mycene was the daughter of Inachus and the [[Oceanid]] nymph [[Melia (consort of Inachus)|Melia]], and that, according to the [[Epic Cycle]], Mycene and Arestor were the parents of [[Argus Panoptes]].<ref>Fowler, p. 236; ''[[Nostoi]]'' fr. 8* (West, [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/greek_epic_fragments_trojan_cycle_returns/2003/pb_LCL497.161.xml?rskey=6DHtvi&result=1&mainRsKey=fYbTYW pp. 160, 161]) = Scholia ad Homer, ''Odyssey'' 2.120</ref> As the daughter of Inachus, she would have been therefore the sister of Phoroneus, who, according to Argive tradition, was the first man, or first inhabitant of Argos, who lived during the time of the [[Flood myth|Great Flood]], associated with [[Deucalion]].<ref>Hard, [https://books.google.com/books?id=_V-FAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 p. 227]; Gantz, p. 198</ref>

According to Pausanias&mdash;among several accounts of how the city [[Mycenae]] got its name&mdash;one was that Mycene gave "her name to the city".<ref>Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Mycene 2.16.4]. According to Pausanias, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Perseus 2.16.3], Perseus was also said to have named the city after ''myces'', the Greek word for mushroom, which also referred to the cap on the end of a scabbard (see Fowler p. 259); this was because, on the spot where he founded the city, either "the cap (myces) fell from his scabbard, and he regarded this as a sign to found a city" or upon pulling a "mushroom (myces) from the ground" a wonderous spring gushed forth from which he "drank with joy". Pausainas, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.16.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160:book=0:chapter=0&highlight=Myceneus 2.16.4], also mentions (but discounts) the story that the eponym of the city was Myceneus the son of Sparton, son of Phoroneus. For other stories explaining the name of the city, see Fowler, p. 259.</ref>

== Citations ==
<references />

== General and cited references ==
* Fowler, R. L. (2013), ''Early Greek Mythography: Volume 2: Commentary'', Oxford University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0198147411}}.
* [[Timothy Gantz|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}}.
* [[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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0136%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Glenn W. Most|Most, G.W.]], ''Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments'', [[Loeb Classical Library]], No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, [[Harvard University Press]], 2007, 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-674-99721-9}}. [https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL503/2018/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* Tripp, Edward, ''Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology'', Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). {{ISBN|069022608X}}.
* [[Martin Litchfield West|West, M. L.]], ''Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC''. Edited and translated by Martin L. West. [[Loeb Classical Library]] No. 497. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003. [http://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL497/2003/volume.xml Online version at Harvard University Press].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1867). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]

[[Category:Mythological Argives]]
[[Category:Children of Inachus]]
[[Category:Mythology of Argolis]]
[[Category:Naiads]]
[[Category:Nymphs]]
[[Category:Princesses in Greek mythology]]