Pentheus torn apart by Agave and Ino. Attic red-figure lekanis (cosmetics bowl) lid, ca. 450-425 BCE (Louvre)

In Greek mythology Ino was a mortal queen of Thebes, the second wife of Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle. She was one of the three sisters of Semele: Agave, Autonoe and Ino, who was a surrogate for the divine nurses of Dionysus: "Ino was a primordial Dionysian woman, nurse to the god and a divine maenad" (Kerenyi 1976:246). Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 390 pixelsFull resolution (3550 × 1730 pixel, file size: 3. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 390 pixelsFull resolution (3550 × 1730 pixel, file size: 3. ... The bust of Zeus found at Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican) Greek mythology is the telling of stories created by the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own cult and ritual practices. ... For the ancient capital of Upper Egypt, see Thebes, Egypt. ... The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology, Athamas (rich harvest) was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. ... In Greek mythology, Learches (alternatively Learchus) was a son of Athamus and Ino. ... Melicertes (later called Palaemon), in Greek mythology, the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus. ... Cadmus Sowing the Dragons teeth, by Maxfield Parrish, 1908 Caddmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was the son of the king of Phoenicia (Modern day Lebanon) and brother of Europa. ... In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the goddess of harmony and concord. ... In Greek mythology, Phrixus figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. ... In Greek mythology, Helle figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. ... In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mother of Dionysus (the god and his votaries were both identified as Bacchus) by Zeus. ... Species see text. ... In Greek mythology, Autonoë (Greek ) was a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. ... Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) Dionysus or Dionysos (from the Ancient Greek Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος, associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. ... Maenad carrying a hind, fragment of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. ...

Maenads were known to tear their own children limb from limb in their madness. In the back-story to the heroic tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Phrixus and Helle, twin children of Athamas and Nephele, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the crop seeds of Boeotia so they would not grow (Bibliotheke i.9.1).^[1] The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont (which was named after her, meaning Sea of Helle) and drowned, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where King Aeetes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, Chalciope, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom. In narratology, a back-story (also back story or backstory) is the history behind the situation extant at the start of the main story. ... The Argonautica (Greek: ) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica tells the myth of the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the mythical land of Colchis. ... In Greek mythology, Nephele (from Greek: nephos, cloud) was the goddess of Clouds who figured prominently in the story of Phrixus and Helle. ... Boeotia or Beotia (//, (Greek Βοιωτια; see also list of traditional Greek place names) was the central area of ancient Greece. ... The Bibliotheke was renowned as the chief work of Greek historian and scholar. ... The Helespont/Dardanelles, a long narrow strait dividing the Balkans (Europe) along the Gallipoli peninsula from Asia Anatolia (Asia Minor). ... In ancient geography, Colchis (sometimes spelled also as Kolchis) (Greek: Κολχίς, kŏl´kĬs; Georgian: კოლხეთი, Kolkheti) was a nearly triangular district in Caucasus. ... Aeetes (in Greek Αἰήτης) - King of Colchis (territory of modern West Georgia) in Greek mythology, Aeetes figured prominently in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. ... Chalciope was a princess in Greek mythology, daughter of King Aeetes of Colchis, sister of Medea and wife of Phrixus. ... Jason returns with the golden Fleece on an Apulian red-figure calyx krater, ca. ...

Later, Ino raised Dionysus, her nephew, son of her sister Semele, causing Hera's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad, slew one of his sons, Learchus, thinking he was a ram, and set out in frenzied pursuit of Ino. To escape him Ino threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea ("the white goddess"), Melicertes as Palaemon. Alternatively, Ino was also stricken with insanity and killed Melicertes by boiling him in a cauldron, then took the cauldron and jumped into the sea with it. A sympathetic Zeus didn't want Ino to die, and transfigured her and Melicertes as Leucothea and Palaemon. Dionysus with a leopard, satyr and grapes on a vine, in the Palazzo Altemps (Rome, Italy) Dionysus or Dionysos (from the Ancient Greek Διώνυσος or Διόνυσος, associated with the Italic Liber), the Thracian god of wine, represents not only the intoxicating power of wine, but also its social and beneficial influences. ... In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mother of Dionysus (the god and his votaries were both identified as Bacchus) by Zeus. ... In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (IPA pronunciation: ; Greek or ) was the wife and older sister of Zeus. ... In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (IPA pronunciation: ; Greek or ) was the wife and older sister of Zeus. ... The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology, Athamas (rich harvest) was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. ... In Greek mythology, Learches (alternatively Learchus) was a son of Athamus and Ino. ... Melicertes (later called Palaemon), in Greek mythology, the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus. ... In Greek mythology, Leucothea (Greek Leukothea, the White Goddess) was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized. ... Palaemon 1 This was the birth name given to the Greek hero Herakles and the name he used until the Pythoness at Delphi first addressed him as Herakles when he sought a cure for his madness. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is... In Greek mythology, Leucothea (Greek Leukothea, the White Goddess) was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized. ... Palaemon 1 This was the birth name given to the Greek hero Herakles and the name he used until the Pythoness at Delphi first addressed him as Herakles when he sought a cure for his madness. ...

The story of Ino, Athamas and Melicertes is relevant also in the context of two larger themes. Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, had an end just as tragic as her siblings: Semele died while pregnant with Zeus' child, killed by her own pride and lack of trust in her lover; Agave killed her own son, King Pentheus while struck with Dionysian madness, and Actaeon, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs. Also, the insanity of Ino and Athamas, who hunted his own son Learchos as a stag and slew him, can be explained as a result of their contact with Dionysus, whose presence can cause insanity. None can escape the powers of Dionysus, the god of wine. Euripides took up the tale in The Bacchae, explaining their madness in Dionysiac terms, as having initially resisted belief in the god's divinity. The king of Orchomenus in Greek mythology, Athamas (rich harvest) was married first to the goddess Nephele with whom he had the twins Phrixus and Helle. ... Melicertes (later called Palaemon), in Greek mythology, the son of the Boeotian prince Athamas and Ino, daughter of Cadmus. ... Cadmus Sowing the Dragons teeth, by Maxfield Parrish, 1908 Caddmus, or Kadmos (Greek: Κάδμος), in Greek mythology, was the son of the king of Phoenicia (Modern day Lebanon) and brother of Europa. ... In Greek mythology, Harmonia is the goddess of harmony and concord. ... In Greek mythology, Semele, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, was the mother of Dionysus (the god and his votaries were both identified as Bacchus) by Zeus. ... The Statue of Zeus at Olympia Phidias created the 12-m (40-ft) tall statue of Zeus at Olympia about 435 BC. The statue was perhaps the most famous sculpture in Ancient Greece, imagined here in a 16th century engraving Zeus (in Greek: nominative: Zeús, genitive: Diós), is... Agave (illustrious) was the queen of Thebes in Greek mythology, mother of Pentheus and daughter of Harmonia and Cadmus. ... In Greek mythology, Pentheus was a king of Thebes. ... Actaeon and his dogs In Greek mythology, Actaeon (or Aktaion), son of Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero, trained by the centaur Cheiron but suffered the fatal wrath of Artemis (or her Roman counterpart Diana). ... In Greek mythology, Autonoë (Greek ) was a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. ... In Greek mythology, Learches (alternatively Learchus) was a son of Athamus and Ino. ... A statue of Euripides Euripides (Greek: Ευριπίδης) (c. ... The Bacchae (also known as The Bacchantes) is a tragedy by the ancient Greek playwright Euripides. ...

When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto (his third wife) sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black and directing the murder of the children in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto knowing and she killed her own children. In Greek mythology, Themisto was the third and last wife of Athamas. ...

Transformed into an immortal goddess, Ino also represents one of the many sources of divine aid to Odysseus in Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey. Providing him with a veil, she instructs him how he can succeed in his plight to reach land and eventually Ithaca. Homer's epithet associated with this goddess is "Ino of the slim ankles". Head of Odysseus from a Greek 2nd century BC marble group representing Odysseus blinding Polyphemus, found at the villa of Tiberius at Sperlonga Odysseus or Ulysses (Greek Odysseys; Latin: Ulixes or, less commonly, Ulysses), pronounced /oʊˈdɪs. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre For other uses, see Odyssey (disambiguation). ... An epithet (Greek - επιθετον and Latin - epitheton; literally meaning imposed) is a descriptive word or phrase. ...

In historical times, a sisterhood of maenads of Thebes in the service of Dionysus traced their descent in the female line from Ino; we know this because an inscription at Magnesia on the Maeander summoned three maenads from Thebes, from the house of Ino, to direct the new mysteries of Dionysus at Magnesia (Burkert 1992:44). Maenad carrying a hind, fragment of an Attic red-figure cup, ca. ... Magnesia on the Maeander is an ancient Greek city in Anatolia, located on the Maeander river upstream from Ephesus. ...

Notes

1. ^ "It is possible, however", Kerenyi suggests (The Gods of the Greeks p 264) "that originally she did not cause the seed-corn to be roasted, but introduced the practice of roasting corn in general."

References

• Dalby, Andrew (2005), The Story of Bacchus, London: British Museum Press, ISBN 0714122556 (US ISBN 0-89236-742-3) pp. 36-42, 151
• Burkert, Walter, 1992. The Orientalizing Revolution: Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge:Harvard University Press).
• Kerenyi, Karl, 1976. Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life (Princeton: Bollingen).
• Kerenyi, Karl, 1951. The Gods of the Greeks (Thames and Hudson).

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