Graecus

In Greek mythology, Graecus (/ˈɡriːkəs/; Ancient Greek: Γραικός, romanized: Graikos, lit. 'Greek' or 'pertaining to the Greek people') was the son of Zeus and Pandora, daughter of Deucalion, and the eponym of the Graecians.

According to the Byzantine author John the Lydian (c. AD 490 – 565), Hesiod, in his Catalogue of Women, states that Graecus is the son of Zeus and Pandora, daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha, and says, in addition, that he has a brother, Latinus. The Byzantine author Stephanus of Byzantium (fl. 6th century AD) states that Graecus was a son of Thessalus.

Graecus was the eponym of the Graecians, a group of Hellenic people who lived westwards of the Hellenes mentioned by Homer. The Hellenic peoples collectively came to be known as Graeci in Latin, after the Graecians.

Deucalion

Pyrrha

~ Zeus

(stones)

Hellen
(hellenes)

Thyia ~ Zeus

Pandora ~ Zeus

Protogeneia ~ Zeus

Graecus
(Graecians)

Ion
(ionians)

Dymas
(dymanes)

Pamphylus
(pamphyli)

Aetolus
(aetolians)

The genealogy of Graecus according to Hesiod's Catalogue of Women

Notes

↑ Although Zeus copulated with all of Pyrrha's daughters, he was presumably only the father of Hellen; cf. West (1985, p. 56).

Footnotes

↑ The name likely derives from graia (γραῖα), meaning "old woman" or "old," tied to graea, an ancient city in Boeotia, or early Greek peoples near Dodona.
↑ Gantz, p. 167; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 2 Most, pp. 42–5 [= fr. 5 Merkelbach-West, pp. 5–6 = John the Lydian, De Mensibus 1.13].
↑ Smith, s.v. Graecus; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Graikos (I pp. 434, 435).
↑ Hard, p. 405.
↑ West 1985, pp. 50–60, 173

References

Gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996, Two volumes: ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9 (Vol. 1), ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3 (Vol. 2).
Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-415-18636-0. Google Books.
Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, in Hesiod: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments, edited and translated by Glenn W. Most, Loeb Classical Library No. 503, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2007, 2018. ISBN 978-0-674-99721-9. Online version at Harvard University Press.
Merkelbach, R., and M. L. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea, Clarendon Press Oxford, 1967. ISBN 978-0-19-814171-6.
Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnica: Volumen I Alpha - Gamma, edited by Margarethe Billerbeck, in collaboration with Jan Felix Gaertner, Beatrice Wyss and Christian Zubler, De Gruyter, 2006. ISBN 978-3-110-17449-6. Online version at De Gruyter. Google Books.
West, M. L. (1985). The Hesiodic Catalogue Of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins. Clarendon Press.

[5] Although Zeus copulated with all of Pyrrha's daughters, he was presumably only the father of Hellen; cf. West (1985, p. 56).

[1] The name likely derives from graia (γραῖα), meaning "old woman" or "old," tied to graea, an ancient city in Boeotia, or early Greek peoples near Dodona.

[2] Gantz, p. 167; Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 2 Most, pp. 42–5 [= fr. 5 Merkelbach-West, pp. 5–6 = John the Lydian, De Mensibus 1.13].

[3] Smith, s.v. Graecus; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Graikos (I pp. 434, 435).

[4] Hard, p. 405.

[6] West 1985, pp. 50–60, 173

Graecus

See also

Notes

Footnotes

References