In Greek mythology, Eumolpus (; Ancient Greek: Εὔμολπος Eúmolpos, "good singer" or "sweet singing", derived from εὖ eu "good" and μολπή molpe "song", "singing") was a legendary king of Thrace. He was described as having come to Attica either as a bard, a warrior, or a priest of Demeter and Dionysus.
Family
Eumolpus was the son of
Poseidon (Neptune in Roman tradition) and Chione.
In the legend he is described as neither Greek, nor Thracian or Roman, but
and a native of
North Africa,
though his mother Chione is said to be a Thracian princess.
An alternative genealogy also stated that Eumolpus was born to the god Apollo and the
nymph Astycome.
[Photius, Lexicon s.v. Eumolpidai] He was the father of
Immaradus by the
Oceanids Daeira.
[Clement of Alexandria, Exhortations 45.1]
Mythology
Early years
According to the mythographer Apollodorus,
[Apollodorus, 3.15.4.][Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.38.2] Chione, daughter of Boreas and the heroine
Oreithyia, pregnant in secret with Eumolpus by Poseidon, was frightened of her father's reaction so she threw the baby into the ocean after giving birth to him. Poseidon however, looked after him and brought him to shore in Ethiopia, where
Benthesikyme, a daughter of Poseidon and
Amphitrite, raised the child as their own. When he grew up, Eumolpus married one of Benthesikyme's two daughters by her Ethiopian husband. Eumolpus however, loved a different daughter and made an attempt upon her chastity, and was banished because of this. He went to
Thrace with his son Ismarus (or Immaradus) who was married to the daughter of King
Tegyrios. Later on, Eumolpus was discovered in a plot to overthrow King Tegyrios and was obliged to take flight and fled to
Eleusis where he formed a friendship with the Eleusinians.
In Eleusis, Eumolpus became one of the first priests of Demeter and one of the founders of the Eleusinian Mysteries.[Apollodorus, 3.15.4.] During a war between Athens and Eleusis, Eumolpus sided with Eleusis and came with a numerous band of Thracians.
War with Athens
The traditions about this Eleusinian war, however, differ very much. According to some, the Eleusinians under Eumolpus attacked the Athenians under Erechtheus, but were defeated, and Eumolpus with his two sons,
Phorbas and
Immaradus, were slain.
[Thucydides. ii. 15; Plutarch. Menex. p. 239; Isocrates, Panathenaicus 193; Plutarch, Parallela minora 20; Scholia ad Euripides, Phoenissae 854.] Pausanias relates a tradition that in the battle between the Eleusinians and Athenians, Erechtheus and Immaradus fell, and that thereupon peace was concluded on condition that the Eleusinians should in other respects be subject to Athens, but that they alone should have the celebration of their mysteries, and that Eumolpus and the daughters of Celeus should perform the customary sacrifices.
[Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.38.3] His son,
Immaradus, was killed by King Erechtheus. In some sources, Erechtheus having killed Eumolpus, Poseidon asked
Zeus to avenge his son's death. Zeus killed Erechtheus with a lightning bolt or Poseidon made the earth open up and swallow Erechtheus. According to Hyginus,
[Hyginus, Fabulae 46; compare: Strabo, Geographica 7, p. 321] Eumolpus came to Attica with a colony of Thracians, to claim the country as the property of his father, Poseidon.
Eleusis lost the battle with Athens but the Eumolpides and Kerykes, two families of priests to Demeter, continued the Eleusinian mysteries. Eumolpus' youngest son, Herald-Keryx who succeeded him in the priestly office, founded the lines.
Other feats
Mythology regards Eumolpus as the founder of the Eleusinian mysteries, and as the first priest of Demeter and Dionysus; the goddess herself taught him,
Triptolemus, Diocles, and
Celeus, the sacred rites, and he is therefore sometimes described as having himself invented the cultivation of the vine and of fruit-trees in general.
[ Homeric Hymns to Demeter 476][Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 7.53][Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.93]
Eumolpus was an excellent musician and singer; he played the aulos and the lyre. He won a musical contest in the funereal games of Pelias. Eumolpus was regarded as an ancient priestly bard, poems and writings on the mysteries were fabricated and circulated at a later time under his name. One hexameter line of a Dionysiac hymn, ascribed to him, is preserved in Diodorus.[Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 1.11][Suda, Suda Encyclopedia s.v.] The legends connected him also with Heracles, whom he is said to have instructed in music, or initiated into the mysteries.[Hyginus, Fabulae 273][Theocritus, 24.108][Apollodorus, 2.5.12.]
According to Diogenes Laërtius Eumolpus was the father of Musaeus.[Smith, s.v. Musaeus (literary 1); Philochorus FHG fr. 200 (Müller) =.]
The tomb of Eumolpus was shown both at Eleusis and Athens.[Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.38.2] The difference in the traditions about Eumolpus led some of the ancients to suppose that two or three persons of that name ought to be distinguished.[Hesychius s.v. Eumolpidai][Scholia on Sophocles, Oedipus at Colonus 1051][Photius, Lex. s. v. Eumolpidai]
Legacy
Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann have identified a 5th-century bronze statue called
Riace bronzes as being a representation of Eumolpus.
The fingers of the well-preserved statue indicate that the figure was originally carrying a bow and arrow, typical of Thracian warriors.
Notes
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Anonymous, The Homeric Hymns and Homerica, with an English translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, Massachusetts.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
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Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
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Graves, Robert. The Greek Myths. Volume 1, Penguin Books, Revised Edition (1960), Reprinted 1986.
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Plutarch, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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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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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. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Ovid, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). 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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Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White. Homeric Hymns. Cambridge, MA.,Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Titus Flavius Clemens, Exhortation against the Pagans translated by Butterworth, G W. Loeb Classical Library Volume 92. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1919. Online version at theio.com
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William Smith. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. s.v. Eumolpus. London (1848)
