Celaeneus is presented in the sources as one of the sons of King Electryon of Mycenae by Anaxo (daughter of Alcaeus) and thus a member of the Perseid dynasty deriving from Perseus. In the accounts preserved in mythographic summaries (cf. Apollodorus tradition as summarized in the Archive text) Electryon's sons, including Celaeneus, become embroiled in a dispute with the sons of the Taphian king Pterelaus — claimants who assert descent from Mestor, another son of Perseus. In the resulting conflict over cattle and ancestral claims, Celaeneus and his brothers are killed; those deaths contribute to subsequent political changes (Sthenelus' seizure of the throne, Amphitryon's exile and vengeance) and thereby help explain the narrative circumstances surrounding Alcmena and the birth of Heracles.
The supplied sources provide no physical description or iconographic attributes for Celaeneus. He is attested only by name within genealogical lists and narrative summaries of the Electryon–Pterelaus conflict; no details of height, clothing, marks, or distinguishing features are recorded in the cited materials.
The sources do not ascribe any supernatural powers, special skills, or notable individual deeds to Celaeneus. He appears solely as a member of Electryon's household in genealogical and narrative lists and as one of the princes slain in the feud with the sons of Pterelaus. There is no evidence in the provided texts for cult, hero-cultic veneration, magical agency, or unique behavior beyond his role as a named casualty that structures later events in the mythic cycle (cf. Apollodorus summary and standard genealogical catalogues).
Weaknesses
- conditionkilled in battle by the sons of Pterelaus (mortality)
Wards
None recorded.
Electryon
Electryon (Ancient Greek Ἠλεκτρύων) is a mythic king of the Perseid line in Greek tradition, ruler of Mycenae and Tiryns whose conflict over stolen cattle, the deaths of his sons, and his own death set the succession events that lead to Amphitryon, Alcmena, and the birth of Heracles. He is presented in classical sources as a mortal dynast rather than a supernatural being; versions differ on whether his death was accidental or the result of homicide.
Perseus
Perseus is a legendary hero of ancient Greek myth, a mortal son of Zeus and Danaë famed as a slayer of monsters and founder of the Perseid dynasty; his narrative emphasizes divine intervention (gifts from Hermes, Athena, and Hades), heroic cunning, and eventual placement among the stars as a constellation.
Amphitryon
Amphitryon is a mortal nobleman of Greek mythic-historical tradition: son of Alcaeus of Tiryns, husband of Alcmene, and the acknowledged stepfather of Heracles. He appears in heroic-age narratives as a warrior, dynastic actor, and the human whose identity is impersonated by Zeus in literary treatments that explore paternity and identity.
*Péh₂usōn (reconstructed)
Péh₂usōn is a hypothetical Proto‑Indo‑European pastoral guardian reconstructed by comparative scholars from parallels in Greek and Vedic traditions. Proposed as a Graeco‑Aryan ancestor‑figure, the reconstruction describes a protector of flocks, roads, and travellers rather than an attested historical cultic personality.
Aba (disambiguation / name-form)
Aba is a polyvalent name-form attested across many unrelated contexts (place names, personal names, animal names, and brief mythological listings). The provided sources do not support a single, coherent supernatural entity called "Aba" and offer no descriptive or ritual material for such a being.
Abarbarea
Abarbarea is a name attested in classical Greek and Roman sources for freshwater nymphs (naiads). The name appears for at least two individual mythic figures — a naiad wife of Bucolion and a naiad counted among ancestors of the Tyrians — and Hesychius records plural forms that may indicate the name was also used as a class-name (Abarbareai / Abarbalaiai).
Abas
Abas (Ancient Greek: Ἄβας, gen.: Ἄβαντος) is not a single mythic being but a recurring personal name borne by multiple mortals and minor mythic figures in Greek epic and genealogical traditions — kings, founders, seers, warriors, attendants, a centaur, and a youth transformed by a goddess. The name is glossed in the sources as 'guileless' or 'good-hearted' and appears across Argive, Theban, Trojan, Euboean, and other local cycles.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abomination of Desolation
An apocalyptic prophetic phrase originating in the Book of Daniel designating a profaning thing or act that renders the Jerusalem Temple cult desolate; later reused in the Synoptic Gospels as an eschatological sign prompting urgent flight. The term denotes ritual/cultic impurity (Hebrew shiqquts) and is variously interpreted as pagan offerings or altar, a foreign cult statue, or (in some New Testament readings) an acting agent.
Absyrtus
Absyrtus (Ancient Greek: Ἄψυρτος) is a Colchian prince in the Greek Argonautic cycle, son of King Aeëtes and brother or half-brother of Medea. He appears in variant traditions either as a companion taken by Medea during her flight with Jason and murdered/dismembered to delay pursuit, or as a pursuer sent by Aeëtes who is overtaken and slain by Jason; his death functions as a key narrative device in the escape from Colchis.
Acacallis
Acacallis (Ancient Greek: Ἀκακαλλίς; also Acalle) is a mythological princess of Crete in Greek tradition, daughter of King Minos and Pasiphae. She functions primarily as a dynastic and etiological figure: in varying accounts she is mother, by gods such as Hermes (Mercury) or Apollo, of eponymous or founder-figures like Cydon (founder of Cydonia), Miletus, or Lydon/ Lydus.
Acacus
Acacus (Ancient Greek: Ἄκακος) is, in Arcadian Greek tradition, a mortal eponymous founder-king of Acacesium and is remembered as the foster-father who reared the infant Hermes (Mercury) in that local tradition. He is presented in genealogies as a son of Lycaon and functions as a local ancestral/onomastic figure rather than a supernatural spirit.
Academus
Academus (Greek: Akádemos / Hekádemos) is an Attic hero-eponym tied to a sacred grove (Akademeia) on the Cephissus near Athens. In myth he revealed where Helen was hidden to the Dioskouroi, an act said to have saved the city, and the place bearing his name became a long-lived sacred precinct, later the site of Plato's Academy.
Acamas
Acamas (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάμας) is a personal name recurrent in ancient Greek narrative traditions applied to multiple human characters (warriors, princes, suitors), once to a Cyclops, and once as a hound's name. Rather than a single supernatural entity, bearers of the name appear episodically across the Trojan War, Theseid, and Theban cycles as mortal actors whose deeds intersect with gods and fate.
Acantha
Acantha (Ancient Greek: Ἀκάνθα, 'thorn') is a late or secondary mythological figure known from modern retellings as a nymph transformed into the acanthus plant. The tale that she scratched Apollo and was changed into a spiny-leaved plant is not attested in surviving classical corpora and appears to be a modern compilation or invention rather than a firmly documented ancient myth.
Community Record
- [1]Celaeneus — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, entry 'Celaeneus' (accessed via provided research notes)wiki
- [2]Celaineus — Wikidata. Wikidata entry Q17395807 (record for Celaineus)other
- [3]The Son of Amphitryon (summary of Apollodorus tradition) — Archive LP0003. Archive: 'The Son of Amphitryon' (summary drawing on Apollodorus/Library tradition), cited in research notesliterary
- [4]Celaeneus (UVic Mythology Page). University of Victoria Mythology pages — entry for Celaeneus (catalogue of genealogical attestations)other
- [5]Stratobates — Wikipedia. Wikipedia entry for Stratobates (used as corroboration for lists of Electryon's sons and their death in the clash with Pterelaus' sons)wiki
- [6]Electryon in Greek Mythology - Greek Legends and Myths. Secondary compendium on Electryon and his offspring (used in research notes to situate family and events)other