In Greek mythology, Macris (Ancient Greek: Μακρἰς meaning "far away" or "long", a reference to the elongated shape of Euboea) was a daughter of Aristaeus and Autonoe.
Mythology
Macris reared the young
Hera in
Euboea during the goddess' early childhood. One day Hera’s future husband
Zeus took her away, where Mount
Cithaeron, in the words of
Plutarch, "afforded them a shady recess, nature’s own bridal-chamber". When Macris came looking for her ward, the mountain-god Cithaeron drove her away from the couple, saying that Zeus was taking his pleasure there with the goddess
Leto. Hera “escaped discovery” from Macris, and was grateful to Leto for lending her name to the young lovers’ affair; implying that Hera had willingly escaped from Macris’ charge.
[Hard, 137; Plutarch fr. 157 Sandbach, pp. 286–9 =; Gifford 1903b, p. 92)].]
Sometime later, Macris gave newborn Dionysus honey to eat on Euboea after Hermes saved him. Macris was expelled from Euboea by Hera as punishment. Macris fled to a cave on a small island where she was helped by the goddess Demeter. Demeter taught the residents of the island how to grow cereal grain.[Conner, Nancy. "The Everything Book of Classical Mythology" 2ed] According to a scholiast commenting on verses in Argonautica, the island she fled to was subsequently named after her. Apollonius Rhodius, who composed Argonautica, only refers to the island as Drepane but he does mention its connection with Macris and Demeter. Modern Scholars have identified the island with modern Corfu, the historical Corcyra. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, the cave where Macris once lived was later the marriage chamber for Jason and Medea, and the marriage was consummated there on the Golden Fleece. Thereafter Macris's cave was called Medea's Cave.[W.H. Race, Apollonius Rhodius: Argonautica, pages 409-421]
Notes
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Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, edited and translated by William H. Race, Loeb Classical Library No. 1, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2009. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
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Conner, Nancy. "The Everything Book of Classical Mythology" 2ed.
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Gifford, E. H. (1903a), Eusebii Pamphyli Evangelicae Praeparationis, Volume I, Oxford, E. Typographeo Academico, 1903. Internet Archive.
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Gifford, E. H. (1903b), Eusebii Pamphyli Evangelicae Praeparationis, Volume III, Oxford, E. Typographeo Academico, 1903. Internet Archive.
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Plutarch, Moralia, Volume XV: Fragments, translated by F. H. Sandbach, Loeb Classical Library No. 429, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1969. . Online version at Harvard University Press.
