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Shared narrative archive

Myth Library

Read each source-grounded narrative once, with every attested participant, exact witness, and materially different telling kept connected without blending traditions together.

187 complete public myths

Custody Death And Ritual Reception

Adonis Between Aphrodite and Persephone

Pseudo-Apollodorus preserves competing parentages, then follows Panyasis: Aphrodite's anger drives Smyrna toward her father Thias, a nurse conceals their incest for twelve nights, and Smyrna becomes the myrrh tree from which Adonis is born. Aphrodite hides the infant with Persephone, Zeus divides his year when Persephone refuses to return him, and Artemis's anger brings his boar death. Theocritus and Ovid reshape the later mourning in Alexandrian and Roman settings.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Divine Mortal Union

Aphrodite and Anchises

Zeus makes Aphrodite desire the Trojan herdsman Anchises, so she crosses from Paphos to Mount Ida in mortal disguise. After they have sex she reveals her divinity, foretells Aeneas, and warns Anchises that boasting of their union will bring punishment.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Foundation And Genealogy

Apollo and Cyrene

Pindar's ninth Pythian ode makes Apollo see the Thessalian huntress Cyrene wrestling a lion, consult Chiron, carry her to Libya, and enter a marriage welcomed by Aphrodite, leading toward Aristaeus's birth and the future city of Cyrene.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Pursuit And Transformation

Apollo and Daphne

Ovid's Augustan Latin poem tells how Cupid's opposed arrows inflame Apollo and repel Daphne, leading to Apollo's pursuit, Daphne's plea for escape, and her transformation into a laurel.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Death And Cult Memory

Apollo and Hyacinthus

Pausanias links Hyacinthus's tomb and pre-Apollonian offerings to the Amyclaean cult, while mythography and Ovid narrate the youth's death during a discus game and preserve different explanations and transformations.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Musical Contest And Punishment

Apollo and Marsyas

Pseudo-Apollodorus and Ovid tell of a musical contest between Apollo and Marsyas followed by Marsyas's flaying, but their instruments, contest details, and narrative focus differ.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Sanctuary Foundation

Apollo Founds His Oracle at Delphi

Greek witnesses give competing accounts of Apollo’s Delphic establishment: the Homeric Hymn’s search and coerced Cretan service, Python’s killing in mythography, Aeschylus’s peaceful succession, and Pausanias’s Eumolpia transfer through Themis with compensation to Poseidon.

Witnesses
5
Variants
5
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Purification And Trial

Apollo, Orestes, and the Trial at Athens

In Aeschylus's Eumenides, Apollo accepts Orestes at Delphi after matricide, confronts the pursuing Erinyes, and defends him before Athena's court at Athens; Pausanias later reports Orestes' trial on the Areopagus and his altar to Athena Areia after acquittal without mentioning Apollo.

Witnesses
5
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Epic Allusion

Apollo, Poseidon, and Laomedon

The Iliad recalls that Apollo herded cattle for Laomedon while Poseidon built Troy's wall, after which the king withheld their agreed wage and threatened them.

Witnesses
1
Variants
0
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Divine Conflict

Ares Imprisoned by the Aloadae

Otus and Ephialtes, sons of Poseidon and Iphimedeia in Pseudo-Apollodorus, imprison Ares in a bronze jar until Hermes releases him. Their wider revolt ends through Artemis ruse.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic Cycle

Ares in the Trojan War

Across the Iliad, Ares fights for Troy, is wounded through Athena and Diomedes, grieves for his fallen son Ascalaphus, and is cast down again when the gods enter battle.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Comic Divine Conflict

Ares, Hephaestus, and the Net

Helios sees Ares and Aphrodite having sex in Hephaestus' house and tells the wronged husband. Hephaestus traps the pair in invisible bonds, exposes them to the gods, and releases them only after Poseidon guarantees that Ares will pay.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Transformation And Death

Artemis and Actaeon

Actaeon is transformed into a stag and killed by his own hounds, while Pseudo-Apollodorus preserves two rival causes for the punishment and closes with the hounds grieving for the master they destroyed.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Coercion Transformation And Catasterism

Artemis and Callisto

Zeus approaches Callisto in divine disguise, after which Pseudo-Apollodorus preserves conflicting agents for her transformation and death before Arcas is rescued and Callisto is set among the stars.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Journey Conflict And Death

Artemis and the Death of Orion

After blindness, guidance toward the sunrise, restored sight, and Eos’ desire, Orion reaches Delos and dies by Artemis’ hand under two rival explanations.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Healing And Punishment

Asclepius Raises the Dead and Is Killed

Pindar, Euripides, and Pseudo-Apollodorus preserve different accounts of Asclepius restoring the dead and being killed by Zeus, with conflicting motives, patients, and moral emphasis.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Contest And Divine Aid

Atalanta and the Golden Apples

Hippomenes cannot outrun Atalanta, so he asks Aphrodite for help in a marriage race where defeated suitors die. The goddess gives him three golden apples, and he wins by throwing them aside one by one so Atalanta loses ground while gathering them.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Heroic

Athena and Perseus

Athena and Hermes guide Perseus against Medusa. When he severs her head, Pegasus and Chrysaor emerge as children of Poseidon, and Athena later receives the Gorgons head.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Cosmic Burden

Atlas Bears or Separates the Sky

Atlas occupies the boundary between earth and heaven, but archaic witnesses disagree about the mechanics: Hesiod gives a bodily burden, the Odyssey gives separating pillars, and later mythography places the sky on his shoulders.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Theogony

Birth and Golden House of Triton

Hesiod places Triton with Amphitrite and Poseidon in a golden house beneath the sea; Pseudo-Apollodorus keeps Triton but changes Amphitrite's genealogy and adds Rhode among the couple's children.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Theogonic

Births and Parentages of Aphrodite

Hesiod brings Aphrodite from sea foam around the severed genitals of Uranus, while the Iliad calls her the daughter of Zeus and Dione. Hymn and painted pottery carry the sea arrival into new settings without resolving the two incompatible genealogies.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Foundation

Cadmus and the Dragon of Ares

Cadmus kills the dragon of Ares at a Theban spring, serves the god in consequence, and marries Harmonia, bringing violence, penance, genealogy, and city foundation into one cycle.

Witnesses
3
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Prophecy

Cassandra and Apollo

Aeschylus and Pseudo-Apollodorus connect Cassandra's prophetic power to Apollo and her refusal of him, but differ in how disbelief and the failed exchange are narrated.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Divine Genealogy

Coronis and the Birth of Asclepius

Pindar, Pseudo-Apollodorus, and Pausanias preserve incompatible accounts of Coronis, Apollo, and Asclepius, including violent death and rescue from a funeral pyre in some tellings and a local Epidaurian birth tradition in another.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Tragic Family Recognition

Creusa, Apollo, and Ion

Euripides' Ion confronts Apollo's sexual violence against Creusa, the exposure of their child, and a Delphic recognition that establishes Ion's maternal identity while leaving the god offstage.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Theogony

Cronus Overthrows Ouranos

Gaia arms Cronus with a jagged sickle, and he ambushes Ouranos, severs the old sky ruler's power, and opens the Greek succession cycle whose violent consequences include Aphrodite's sea-birth.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Sacred Boundary

Demeter and Erysichthon

In Callimachus's hymn, Erysichthon cuts Demeter's sacred grove despite warnings. The goddess appears in disguise, confronts him, and punishes the desecration with hunger that no amount of food can satisfy, consuming his household's wealth and leaving his family to conceal his ruin.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic Genealogy

Demeter and Iasion

Homer and Hesiod preserve brief but distinct accounts of Demeter's union with Iasion in a thrice-ploughed field. The Odyssey says Zeus kills Iasion after learning of the union, while Hesiod locates the encounter in Crete and names Plutus as their son.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Regional Variant Cluster

Demeter and Poseidon in Arcadia

Pausanias preserves two Arcadian traditions in which Poseidon pursues Demeter. The Thelpusan account explains Demeter Erinys and the birth of the horse Arion, while the Phigalian account belongs to Black Demeter, her withdrawal into a cave, famine, the birth of the distinct goddess Despoina, and rites attached to a local image.

Witnesses
1
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Hymnic Cycle

Demeter, Persephone, and the Eleusinian Settlement

Persephone gathers flowers with Tyche and other divine companions before she is seized by Hades with Zeus's consent, and Demeter's search brings her to Eleusis. After an interrupted attempt to make Demophon deathless, Demeter reveals herself, demands a temple, and withholds the seed until famine forces divine negotiation. Hades obeys the release order but secretly puts pomegranate seed in Persephone’s mouth; Zeus then assigns her a divided residence, and Hecate becomes her companion before Demeter teaches the Eleusinian rites.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Cosmic

Destruction of Mankind and the Heavenly Cow

Aged Ra responds to humanity's rebellion by sending his daughter Hathor as the punitive solar Eye. When the destruction becomes excessive, red-colored beer is spread before her; drinking it ends the slaughter, after which the cosmos is reorganized and Ra withdraws to the sky borne by the heavenly cow.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Flood Survival And Human Renewal

Deucalion and Pyrrha Survive the Flood

Warned by Prometheus, Deucalion builds a chest and survives Zeus’s flood with Pyrrha; after sacrifice and a request for renewed humanity, Zeus orders the survivors to throw stones that become people.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Marriage And Conflicting Fates

Dionysus and Ariadne

Hesiod makes Ariadne the immortal wife of Dionysus, while the Odyssey preserves a fatal outcome in which Artemis kills her on Dia at Dionysus' testimony.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Resistance Madness And Punishment

Dionysus and Lycurgus

Lycurgus attacks the nurses of Dionysus and drives the frightened god into the sea. Epic and mythography agree on resistance and punishment but differ sharply in the violence that follows.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Recognition And Punishment

Dionysus and Pentheus

Dionysus returns to Thebes in disguise, draws the resisting king Pentheus into spying on the Bacchants, and delivers him to dismemberment by his mother Agave and the women of the city.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epiphany And Transformation

Dionysus and the Tyrrhenian Pirates

Pirates seize Dionysus for ransom, but bonds fall away, wine runs, vines cover the ship, and animal epiphany drives the crew into the sea as dolphins while the helmsman is spared.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Cosmic Allotment

Division of the Cosmos

In the Iliad, Poseidon recalls how the three sons of Cronus cast lots: Zeus received the sky, Poseidon the sea, and Hades the misty darkness, while earth and Olympus remained common to all.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Abduction Genealogy And Transformation

Eos and Cephalus

Hesiod makes Eos and Cephalus parents of Phaethon, while Pausanias describes Day carrying the beautiful Cephalus on monuments at Athens and Amyclae.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Abduction Immortality And Aging

Eos and Tithonus

Eos wins immortality for Tithonus but forgets undying youth, leaving the mortal man to weaken through endless age.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Retribution And Human Condition

Epimetheus and Pandora

Zeus answers Prometheus’s challenge by fashioning a dangerous gift. Epimetheus accepts her despite warning, and the Hesiodic witnesses diverge over her name, the jar, and the human consequences before later mythography makes Pandora his wife and Pyrrha their daughter.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Philosophical Anthropogony

Epimetheus Distributes Mortal Powers

In the mythic speech of Plato’s Protagoras, Epimetheus distributes protections among mortal species, exhausts the available powers before reaching humankind, and leaves Prometheus to steal fire and technical skill before Zeus gives civic bonds.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Intervention And Compelled Desire

Eros Wounds Medea

Aphrodite bribes Eros to strike Medea with desire for Jason, turning a hidden arrow into the hinge of the Argonauts' success and Medea's ruinous future.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Mythographic Synthesis

Gaia and the Gigantes

Pseudo-Apollodorus makes Gaia bear the Gigantes in anger over the Titans and seek a protective drug before their war with the gods; the Pergamon Altar adds Phoibe’s long-torch combat beside Asteria.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Monster Birth And Divine Combat

Gaia Bears Typhoeus

Gaia and Tartarus produce Typhoeus after the Titans’ defeat, and Zeus answers his challenge with thunder and fire.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Household

Hebe Serves on Olympus

Hebe pours nectar as the gods watch Troy, then readies Hera’s chariot when divine argument becomes battlefield intervention.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Hymnic Divine Course

Helios Crosses the Sky

Helios rises in radiance, drives his stallions to heaven’s height, sees gods and mortals below, and descends again toward Ocean.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Island Foundation

Helios Receives Rhodes

Helios misses the first division of the earth, sees Rhodes rising from the sea, and receives the island as his divine allotment.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Punishment And Mythographic Variant

Hephaestus Binds Prometheus

Hephaestus reluctantly binds Prometheus under violent command in tragedy, while Pseudo-Apollodorus gives a shorter Caucasus version.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Theogonic Punishment And Creation

Hephaestus Makes Pandora

Under Zeus' command, Hephaestus shapes the woman later named Pandora, while two Hesiodic poems preserve materially different versions.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Local Land Dispute

Hera and Poseidon Contest Argos

Pausanias says the river gods Inachus, Cephisus, and Asterion judge Argos to belong to Hera. Poseidon punishes the judgment by taking away their water, while another local passage remembers his flood at Argos.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic

Hera Beguiles Zeus on Ida

Hera borrows Aphrodite’s embroidered zone, bargains with Sleep, and draws Zeus into love and sleep on Mount Ida so Poseidon can aid the Achaeans.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic Descent

Heracles and Cerberus

For his final labor, Heracles descends through Taenarum, encounters the captives Theseus and Pirithous, spares Menoetes at Persephone’s request, and brings Cerberus above only after Hades imposes weaponless mastery as the condition.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Sanctuary Conflict

Heracles and the Delphic Tripod

After the Delphic oracle refuses him an answer, Heracles seizes the tripod and struggles with Apollo until Zeus separates them; Pausanias later identifies a Delphic dedication showing the contest.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Heroic Conflict

Heracles and the Sons Named Cycnus

The Shield of Heracles and later mythography preserve related but nonidentical conflicts in which Heracles kills a son of Ares named Cycnus; the Shield continues with Ares' failed intervention and wound.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic Release

Heracles Frees Prometheus

Heracles kills the eagle tormenting Prometheus and releases him, with Hesiod stressing Zeus's consent and Pseudo-Apollodorus adding Chiron and the olive bond.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic Quest And Divine Encounter

Heracles Seizes and Binds Nereus

Nymphs beside the Eridanus reveal sleeping Nereus to Heracles, who seizes and binds the changing god until he learns where the apples and Hesperides are.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Marriage

Heracles Weds Hebe on Olympus

After his mortal labors, Heracles enters immortal life with Hebe, while different witnesses emphasize agelessness, a divided underworld presence, praise, or reconciliation with Hera.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Compressed Epic Allusion

Heracles Wounds Hades at Pylos

Dione recalls how Heracles struck Hades with an arrow at Pylos. The wounded god went to Olympus, where Paean eased the divine injury with healing substances.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Materially Attested Visual Narrative

Heracles Wrestles Triton in Attic Art

Attic black-figure vessels show Heracles locked around Triton’s human upper body as the sea god’s scaled body runs into a single tail; no surviving ancient text narrates the contest.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Tragic Divine Retribution

Hippolytus and Phaedra

Aphrodite punishes Hippolytus for rejecting her honors by making his stepmother Phaedra desire him. Secrecy, the nurse's disclosure, Phaedra's suicide and accusation, Theseus' curse, and a fatal chariot wreck complete the destruction Aphrodite announces at the play's opening.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Ritual Aetiology

Hyperborean Offerings and the Delian Maidens

Herodotus reports a Delian tradition that a Hyperborean tribute for Eileithyia passed through a chain of peoples to Delos, where Hyperoche and Laodice were honored near Artemis's sanctuary and Delian youths dedicated their hair.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Transformation

Io, Argus, and the Gadfly

Pseudo-Apollodorus tells how Io becomes a cow, Hera sets Argus to guard her, Hermes kills the watchman, and Hera’s gadfly drives Io across distant lands.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Sacrifice Rescue And Translation

Iphigenia at Aulis and in the Taurian Land

The windbound Achaean fleet is told to sacrifice Iphigenia to Artemis, but the goddess removes the girl at the altar, leaves a deer in her place, and establishes her as a priestess in the Taurian land.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic

Iris Stops the Boreads

Iris stops Zetes and Calais from killing the Harpies, swears by Styx that her sisters will not return to Phineus, and ends the pursuit.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Courtship Conflict

Marpessa Chooses Idas over Apollo

The Iliad recalls Idas facing Apollo with his bow and Marpessa mourning after Apollo carried her away; Pseudo-Apollodorus gives Zeus's arbitration, Marpessa's choice of Idas, and her fear of divine abandonment in old age, while Pausanias preserves local genealogy and a distinct visual scene.

Witnesses
4
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Genealogy Petition And Combat

Memnon and Achilles

Hesiod names Memnon as Eos' son, while an Olympia monument set Day and Thetis before Zeus as Achilles and Memnon faced each other in combat.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic

Minos' Ring and Theseus' Sea Descent

Minos throws a ring into the sea to test Theseus' claim to Poseidon as father; Bacchylides returns the hero in Amphitrite's cloak and rose wreath, while Pseudo-Apollodorus returns him with the ring and her crown.

Witnesses
3
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Local Etiological Transformation

Minthe and Kore

Strabo locates a mountain named for Minthe near Triphylian Pylos and records that the nymph became Hades’ concubine, was trampled by Kore, and became garden mint.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Pursuit Birth And Material Variant

Nemesis and the Birth of Helen

The lost Cypria, Pseudo-Apollodorus, and the Rhamnous statue base preserve three different accounts of Nemesis as Helen's mother, each with its own pursuit, transformation, fosterage, or presentation scene.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Genealogy And Cosmic Dwelling

Night Bears Sleep, Death, and Dreams

Night emerges from Chaos, becomes mother to bright Day and a severe brood of personified powers, and crosses the bronze threshold where Sleep and Death reveal sharply different natures.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Theogonic And Philosophical

Origins and Natures of Eros

Hesiod's parentless primordial Eros, Aristophanes' golden-winged child of Night's egg, and Plato's contradictory philosophical Erotes preserve irreconcilable origins.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Descent And Failed Return

Orpheus and Eurydice in the Underworld

Orpheus descends among the dead and gains a conditional release for Eurydice, but loses her when the condition is broken. Pseudo-Apollodorus gives a compressed Greek account, while Virgil and Ovid develop materially different Latin versions of the death, appeal, command, backward look, and aftermath.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Pursuit Transformation And Instrument Origin

Pan and Syrinx

In Ovid’s Roman poem, Syrinx flees Pan, becomes marsh reeds, and gives her name to the unequal pipe he binds from the transformed stalks.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic Cycle

Penthesilea at Troy

Penthesilea, Amazon daughter of Ares, comes to aid Troy after Hector's death and is killed by Achilles, carrying Ares' lineage into the final phase of the Trojan cycle.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Underworld Encounter And Divine Sovereignty

Persephone Governs the Shades

During Odysseus’s encounter with the dead, Persephone grants Tiresias understanding, sends heroic women forward, and remains the feared authority behind his retreat.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic

Poseidon and Odysseus

Polyphemus calls upon his father after Odysseus blinds him, and Poseidon carries that grievance through storm, delayed homecoming, and punishment of the Phaeacian ship.

Witnesses
3
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Contest And Divine Aid

Poseidon Gives Pelops the Winged Chariot

Pindar rejects the banquet in which the gods consume Pelops. Poseidon carries the youth to Zeus, later hears his prayer, and gives him a golden chariot with winged horses for the deadly race against Oenomaus.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Bondage And Prophecy

Prometheus Bound and the Secret of Zeus

Prometheus Bound stages the divine culture hero chained at a remote crag, defending his gifts to mortals, prophesying Io's road, and withholding the secret of a marriage that could threaten Zeus.

Witnesses
1
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Transformation

Return of the Distant Solar Eye

Egyptian temple and Demotic traditions recount the departure, appeasement, and return of the solar Eye as a dangerous goddess. The principal Demotic Leiden narrative names Tefnut, while Ptolemaic Dendera ritual texts place Hathor in the returning Eye function; these are related source-scoped realizations, not interchangeable names in one flattened story.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Divine Mortal Love

Selene and Endymion

Selene loves the beautiful mortal Endymion, but Greek witnesses disagree about his sleep, location, and descendants.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Capture Of Death And Mortal Escape

Sisyphus Binds Thanatos

Sisyphus binds Thanatos and halts human death until the captive power is freed, with Hades and Ares preserved as conflicting release agents.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Escape From Death

Sisyphus Persuades Persephone

Theognis says that Sisyphus’s persuasive cunning moves Persephone and returns him from Hades, an escape the poem declares without equal among the dead.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Genealogy And Succession

Styx Brings Her Children to Zeus

Styx brings Nike and her siblings to Zeus at the beginning of his struggle for rule, and their first allegiance wins them a permanent place beside him.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Tragic Substitution And Rescue

Thanatos Comes for Alcestis

Thanatos comes to claim Alcestis, but Heracles ambushes and physically overpowers Death at her tomb, compelling Alcestis’s release.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic

The Argonauts at Colchis

Medea prepares Jason for Aeetes’ impossible trial, instructs him in a dangerous night invocation of Hecate, and her aid lets him face the fire-breathing bulls and earthborn warriors.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Birth And Genealogy

The Birth and Naming of the Muses

Mnemosyne bears nine Muses to Zeus in Hesiod, while later Greek witnesses preserve an ordered genealogy and materially different Heliconian traditions of three Muses, nine names, and elder or younger generations.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Birth

The Birth of Apollo at Delos

Leto finds refuge on Delos and gives birth to Apollo after the island receives a sworn promise of honor; Callimachus later reshapes the birth through Delos's wanderings, Hera's resistance, and the island's fixing in place.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Theogony

The Birth of Athena

Athena erupts armed from Zeus; Hesiod preserves Metis as her mother, while Attic vessels place one or two Eileithyiai around the divine birth.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Birth And Genealogy

The Birth of Dionysus

Semele dies after asking Zeus to reveal his divine splendor. Zeus rescues the unborn Dionysus and completes the pregnancy in his own thigh before Hermes carries the infant into concealment.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Birth And Welcome

The Birth of Pan

Homeric Hymn 19 makes Hermes the father of Pan and the bearer who presents the goat-footed infant to the delighted Olympians.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Genealogy

The Birth of the First Titans

Gaia and Uranus bring forth twelve named Titans, whose shared birth establishes a generation without assigning every sibling the same deed or cosmic office.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic

The Calydonian Boar Hunt

When Oeneus omits Artemis from the first-fruit offerings, she sends a devastating boar; the hunt ends with Atalanta winning the first wound, Meleager killing the beast, and a quarrel over the hide turning victory into family bloodshed.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Epic

The Contendings of Horus and Seth

Horus and Seth pursue rival claims to Osiris's kingship through prolonged hearings, ordeals, deception, violence, and divine intervention. Hathor intervenes twice in the preserved narrative: she restores the withdrawn solar judge to participation, and later finds the blinded Horus and heals his eyes with gazelle milk.

Witnesses
2
Variants
0
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Death Pyre And Divinization

The Death and Apotheosis of Heracles

Sophocles stages Deianeira's fatal gift and Heracles' command for the Oeta pyre but ends before death or ascent. Pseudo-Apollodorus continues through the lit pyre, cloud-borne apotheosis, reconciliation with Hera, and marriage to Hebe; Hesiod and the Odyssey preserve other endings.

Witnesses
4
Variants
4
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Dynastic Murder And Transformation

The Death of Hyperion in Diodorus

Diodorus reports an Atlantic Libyan tradition in which Basileia marries Hyperion, her brothers murder him and the young Helios, Selene dies in grief, and the children become Sun and Moon.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Divine Fable

The Farmer and Tyche

A farmer discovers gold while digging, honors Earth for the gift, and hears Tyche warn that he will blame her if the treasure is lost.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Philosophical Literary

The Golden Race Under Cronus

Works and Days remembers the Golden Race in the reign of Cronus, living close to the gods without harsh labor or bitter age while the earth gives abundance.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Contest And War Prelude

The Judgment of Paris

Eris sets Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite against one another with an apple for the fairest, and Paris gives it to Aphrodite after she promises him Helen. The Iliad takes up the cost of that choice when Aphrodite rescues Paris from Menelaus and threatens Helen into returning to him.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Divine Punishment And Mass Violence

The Lemnian Women and Aphrodite

When the women of Lemnos neglect Aphrodite's rites, the goddess gives them a foul odor and their husbands take Thracian captives into their beds. The women kill their husbands and male kin, while Queen Hypsipyle secretly saves her father Thoas before the Argonauts reach the island.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Tragic

The Madness and Service of Heracles

Pseudo-Apollodorus places the madness before purification and service, while Euripides places it after the last labor and gives Iris, Lyssa, Athena, Amphitryon, and Theseus decisive roles. The incompatible chronologies remain separate.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Theogonic Succession

The Titans Overthrow Uranus

Hesiod makes Cronus the sole child who answers Gaia, while Pseudo-Apollodorus makes every Titan except Oceanus join the violent attack and thereby gives Theia only a collective role.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Heroic Labor Cycle

The Twelve Labors of Heracles

Pseudo-Apollodorus orders ten commands into twelve credited labors after Eurystheus rejects the Hydra and Augean tasks. The cycle depends on companions, divine conditions, bargaining, travel, strategy, and violence as much as bodily strength.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Didactic Personification

The Two Strifes

Hesiod distinguishes a cruel Strife of war from an elder Strife who drives people to work through rivalry.

Witnesses
2
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Oracle And Human Renewal

Themis Gives the Post-Flood Oracle

In Ovid’s Roman Metamorphoses, Deucalion and Pyrrha grieve after the flood, pray at the temple of Themis, and renew humankind by deciphering her command to cast the bones of their mother behind them.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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Assault And Punishment

Tityos Attacks Leto

The Odyssey sees Tityos punished eternally for assaulting Leto, while Pseudo-Apollodorus makes Apollo and Artemis kill him in their mother's defense and Pausanias describes a Spartan throne image of the combat.

Witnesses
3
Variants
3
Reviewed
2026-08-29
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Local Cult Aetiology With Rival Deaths

Triton of Tanagra

Tanagra preserves two deaths for Triton: Dionysus kills him after an attack on women, or local people intoxicate and behead him after raids.

Witnesses
1
Variants
2
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Divine Human Encounter

Zeus and Europa

Zeus takes bull form, carries Europa from Phoenicia to Crete, and fathers Minos, Sarpedon, and Rhadamanthys.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Divine Human Encounter

Zeus Takes Ganymede

Zeus takes the beautiful mortal Ganymede to live among the immortals as cupbearer, while Hermes gives Tros divine horses as compensation.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-31
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Cult Aetiology

Zeus, Hera, and the Daedala

A Plataean sacred story tells how Hera separates from Zeus, returns after discovering his wooden bride is a ruse, and becomes the center of the Daedala festival of reconciliation and sacrifice.

Witnesses
1
Variants
1
Reviewed
2026-08-30
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