Clymene (mother of Phaethon)

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Clymene
Member of the Oceanids
Personal information
ParentsOceanus and Tethys
SiblingsOceanids, Potamoi
ConsortHelios, Merops
ChildrenPhaethon, the Heliades, Astris
Greek deities
series
Nymphs
  • v
  • t

In Greek mythology, Clymene or Klymene (/ˈklɪmɪniː, ˈklaɪ-/;[1][2] Ancient Greek: Κλυμένη, Kluménē) was the name of an Oceanid nymph loved by the sun god Helios and the mother by him of Phaethon.[3][4][5][6] Although she shares name and parentage with Clymene, the wife of Iapetus, who is also a daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, she is distinguished from her.[7]

Mythology[]

Euripides' account[]

Euripides wrote a version of Phaethon's story that doesn't survive. In Euripides' version, Clymene was given as wife to Merops, the king of Aethiopia.

And Euripides in his Phaeton says that Clymene was given

“To Merops, sovereign of that land,
Which from his four-horsed chariot first
The rising sun strikes with his golden rays;
And which its swarthy neighbours call
The radiant stable of the Morn and Sun.”

Here the poet merely describes them as the common stables of the Morning and of the Sun; but further on he tells us they were near to the dwellings of Merops, and in fact the whole plot of the piece has reference to this.

— Strabo, Geographica 1.2.27[8]

According to the hypothesis, Clymene revealed to her son Phaethon that he was the child of Helios, rather than her husband Merops. It's been suggested that Clymene made this revelation to Phaethon in order to overcome his reluctance to get married; the greatest problem of the fragmentary plot is the identity of Phaethon's wife. H. Weil suggested it is one of Phaethon's half-sisters, the Heliades, and James Diggle noted that while this suggestion is unprovable, he is convinced that it is correct.[9]

After Phaethon's disastrous ride, near the end Clymene mourns her son, and orders slave girls to bring Phaethon's dead body in the palace and hide it from Merops, while lamenting Helios' role in his demise.[10]

Ovid's account[]

In Ovid's version of the story, Clymene is the wife of Merops, the king of Aethiopia, and is the mother of Phaethon and the Heliades by Helios. Phaethon is proud to be the son of the sun god, but his claim is mocked and questioned by Epaphus, the son of Zeus. Phaethon asks for confirmation of his parentage from his mother, who tells him to seek for Helios himself.

By that brightness marked out by glittering rays, that sees us and hears us, I swear to you, my son, that you are the child of the Sun; of that being you see; you are the child of he who governs the world; if I lie, may he himself decline to look on me again, and may this be the last light to reach our eyes! It is no great effort for you yourself to find your father’s house. The place he rises from is near our land. If you have it in mind to do so, go and ask the sun himself!

— Metamorphoses 1.768-775[11]

Phaethon follows his mother's advice and travels east to meet Helios. He asks as a favour to drive Helios' chariot for one day, and Helios, not being able to go back on his word, agrees. The results are catastrophic; the earth burns when Phaethon drives too close to it, and freezes when he drives too high. Zeus, wanting to save the world, strikes Phaethon with a thunderbolt, killing him. Clymene, in deep grief, searches out to find her son's body, or at the very least his bones, only to find out he's already been buried by the Eridanus, the river he fell into.[12] When her daughters begin to transform into poplar trees, they call out to her for help, and though Clymene tries to free them by breaking off the branches, she ultimately fails, and the transformation is completed.[13]

Nonnus' account[]

In Nonnus' version of the story, Helios and Clymene fell in love with and got married, with Clymene's father Oceanus' blessing. Their wedding as attended by the Horae, Naiad nymphs who danced around, the lights of the sky such as Helios' sister Selene and Eosphorus, the planet Venus, the Hesperides, and Clymene's family.[14] A son was born to the couple, whom Helios named Phaethon ("shining") after himself. When the boy grew up, he kept pestering his father to let him drive his chariot for one day; Clymene joined her son in that, until eventually Helios gave in and gave his chariot to Phaethon, with horrifying results.[15]

Other authors[]

Hyginus records another version of Phaethon's parentage, which he attributes to Hesiod; according to him, Phaethon was the son of an Oceanid named Merope and Clymenus (a reversal of the usual names Merops and Clymene), who is the son of Helios by an unnamed mother,[16] thus making Helios and Phaethon grandfather and grandson.

In his Dialogues of the Gods, the satirical writer Lucian mentions that Clymene along with Phaethon pressured Helios to lend his chariot to the boy,[17] and that sometimes Helios lingers with Clymene, forgetting to drive his chariot.[18]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Russell, William F. (1989). Classic myths to read aloud. New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 9780307774439.
  2. ^ Barchers, Suzanne I. (2001). From Atalanta to Zeus : readers theatre from Greek mythology. Englewood, Colo.: Teacher Ideas Press. p. 192. ISBN 9781563088155.
  3. ^ Euripides, Phaethon
  4. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.204
  5. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface
  6. ^ William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Clymene
  7. ^ Hard, pg. 44
  8. ^ translation by H.C. Hamilton, Esq., W. Falconer, M.A., Ed.
  9. ^ Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The Classical Review Vol. 21, No. 3 (Dec., 1971), pp. 341-345
  10. ^ Euripides, Phaethon fr 781 N²
  11. ^ translation by A. S. Kline.
  12. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.333
  13. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.344-366
  14. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.110-141
  15. ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 38.142-217
  16. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 154
  17. ^ Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Zeus and the Sun
  18. ^ Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods Aphrodite and Eros

References[]

External links[]

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