Cleodora (nymph)
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In Greek mythology, Kleodora or Cleodora (/kliːəˈdɔːrə/; Ancient Greek: Κλεοδώρα, romanized: Kleodôra, lit. 'means ‘glorious gift’') was one of the prophetic Thriae, nymphs who divined the future by throwing stones or pebbles and were associated with the Oracle of Delphi. Her name comes from kleos ‘famous’ and dôron ‘gift’, in reference to her gift of prophecy.
Mythology
[edit]Cleodora and her sisters Melaina and Daphnis lived on Mount Parnassus, where Delphi is located. With Poseidon (or Kleopompos), she was the mother of Parnassos,[1] who created a method of telling the future using birds and founded the main city on Mt. Parnassus. Kleodora's father was Cephissus, a river god of northern Boeotia.
As a member of the Thriae, Kleodora is often conflated with the bee maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, from whom Apollo directs Hermes to learn prophecy.[2]
Modern interpretation
[edit]According to one source, the following relates to the historical account of Cleodora:
“ The ancestors of the ancient Greeks lived for a long time in the upper reaches of the Cephisus River, which flows from west to east on the north side of Mount Parnassus.[3] In 1845 BC, Cleodora was born in the upper reaches of the sacred river. She married Cleopompus and, in 1825 BC, she bore to the latter a son, Parnassus.[4] Cleodora and her husband were the earliest known Greeks shortly before the Great Flood of the Cephisus River in 1750 BC.[3]”
Notes
[edit]- ^ Pausanias, 10.6.13
- ^ Larson, Jennifer (1996). "The Corycian Nymphs and the Bee Maidens of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes". Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies: 341–357.
- ^ a b Miyano, Kengo. "Chapter 1 - The Flood of Ogygus Era (1750 BC)". Bronze Age History of Greece.
- ^ Miyano, Kengo. "Cleodora, mother of Parnassus". Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Greeks.
References
[edit]- 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. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library