Philomela (mother of Patroclus)

For other uses, see Philomela.

In Greek mythology, Philomela (Ancient Greek: Φιλομήλα) is identified by Gaius Julius Hyginus as the wife of Menoetius and mother of Patroclus.^[1][2] The former was one of the Argonauts and the latter a participant of the Trojan War. However, the Bibliotheca listed three other wives of Menoetius and possible mothers of Patroclus:^[3]

1. Periopis,^[4] daughter of Pheres, founder of Pherae
2. Polymele, daughter of Peleus, King of Phthia and an older half-sister to Achilles and
3. Sthenele,^[5][6] daughter of Acastus and Astydameia.

In some accounts, Damocrateia, daughter of Aegina and Zeus was also called the wife of Menoetius and mother of Patroclus.^[7]

Notes

1. Eustathius on Homer, p. 1498; Scholia on Homer, Odyssey 4.343 and 17.134; Hyginus, Fabulae 97
2. Tzetzes, John (2015). Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 33, Prologue 430, pp. 41, Prologue 525. ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4.
3. Apollodorus, 3.13.8
4. Hyginus, Fabulae 97
5. Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.46
6. Scholia on Homer, Iliad 16.14
7. Pythaenetos, quoting the scholiast on Pindar, Olympian Odes 9.107

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Tzetzes, John, Allegories of the Iliad translated by Goldwyn, Adam J. and Kokkini, Dimitra. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Harvard University Press, 2015. ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4