Alastor (; Ancient Greek: Ἀλάστωρ, English language: "avenger"
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Alastor, an epithet of the Greek mythology Zeus, according to Hesychius of Alexandria and the Etymologicum Magnum, which described him as the avenger of evil deeds, specifically familial bloodshed. As the personification of a curse, it was also a sidekick of the Erinyes.
[Aeschylus, Agamemnon 1479, 1508 & The Persians 343; Euripides, Phoenician Women 1550; Sophocles, The Trachiniae 1092; Plutarch, De Defectu Oraculorum 13; Pausanias, 8.24.8] In Euripides' play Electra, Orestes questions an oracle who calls upon him to kill his mother, and wonders if the oracle was not from Apollo, but some malicious alastor.[Euripides, Electra 979] There was an altar to Zeus Alastor just outside the city walls of Thasos.
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By the time of the 4th century BC, alastor in Greek had degraded to a generic type of insult, with the approximate meaning of "scoundrel".
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Alastor, a prince of Pylos and son of King Neleus and Chloris, daughter of Amphion.
[Homer, Odyssey 11.284] He was the brother of Asterion, Deimachus, Epilaus, Eurybius, Eurymenes, Evagoras, Nestor, Periclymenus, Phrasius, Pylaon, Taurus and Pero.[Apollodorus, 1.9.9] When Heracles took Pylos, he killed Alastor and his brothers, except for Nestor.[Scholiast on Apollonius of Rhodes, 1.156; Apollodorus, 2.7.3] According to Parthenius of Nicaea, he was to be married to Harpalyce, who, however, was taken from him by her father Clymenus.[Parthenius, 13 from the Thrax of Euphorion and from Dectadas]
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Alastor, a warrior who was a companion of Sarpedon. He fought in the Trojan War and was slain by the Greek hero Odysseus during the battle.
[Homer, Iliad 5.677; Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.257]
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Alastorides is a patronymic form given by Homer to Tros, who was probably a son of the Lycian Alastor mentioned above.
[Homer, Iliad 10.463]
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Alastor, a Pylian soldier who fought under their leader Nestor during the Trojan War.
[Homer, Iliad 4.295] He remembered for having, together with Mecisteus, carried the wounded Teucer off the battlefield as they later did also with Hypsenor.[Homer, Iliad 8.333 & 13.422]
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Alastor, a black horse belonging to the Greek God Hades. He was one of the four horses drawing Hades's chariot when he rose from the Underworld to bring Persephone down with him. The other three were Orphnaeus, Aethon, and Nycteus.
[Claudian, De Raptu Proserpinae 1.286]
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Alastor, a vengeful Daimon that relentlessly pursues the guilty, punishing their children for the sins of their fathers.
[ Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Alastor]
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Alastor, in Christianity demonology, came to be considered a kind of possessing entity.
See also
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Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude, a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Notes
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Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. Agamemnon by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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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.
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Claudian, The Rape of Proserpine translated by Platnauer, Maurice. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 135 & 136. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1922. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
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Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Electra, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 2. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Phoenissae, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960.
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Graves, Robert, The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition. Penguin Books Limited. 2017.
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Homer, Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee, S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
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Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Ovid, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More. Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Sophocles, The Trachiniae of Sophocles edited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Sophocles, Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
