Acaste (Oceanid)

In Greek mythology, Acaste (/əˈkæstiː/; Ancient Greek: Ακαστη Akastê "unstable" or "irregular "; feminine form of Acastus) was one of the Oceanids, sea nymph daughters of the sea deities, Oceanus and Tethys.[1]

Family

Hesiod mentioned Acaste as one of the Oceanids:

Cerceis lovely of form, and soft eyed Pluto, Perseis, Ianeira, Acaste, Xanthe, Petraea the fair, Menestho, and Europa, Metis, and Eurynome, and Telesto saffron-clad, Chryseis and Asia and charming Calypso, Eudora, and Tyche, Amphirho, and Ocyrrhoe, and Styx who is the chiefest of them all. These are the eldest daughters that sprang from Ocean and Tethys; but there are many besides.

Mythology

Acaste only appeared in one myth, along with her sisters, she was one of the companions of Persephone when the maiden she was abducted by Hades, the god of the Underworld. Persephone recounted her kidnapping to her mother Demeter in the following passage:

All we were (i.e. Persephone and her companions) playing in a lovely meadow, Leucippe and Phaeno and Electra and Ianthe, Melita also and Iache with Rhodea and Callirhoe and Melobosis and Tyche and Ocyrhoe, fair as a flower, Chryseis, Ianeira, Acaste and Admete and Rhodope and Pluto and charming Calypso; Styx too was there and Urania and lovely Galaxaura with Pallas who rouses battles and Artemis delighting in arrows: we were playing and gathering sweet flowers in our hands, soft crocuses mingled with irises and hyacinths, and rose-blooms and lilies, marvellous to see, and the narcissus which the wide earth caused to grow yellow as a crocus.[2]

References

Hesiod. Theogony, 346 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Homeric Hymns. To Demeter, 405 Archived 2018-04-14 at the Wayback Machine This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

Sources

Hesiod. Theogony. Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914.
Homeric Hymns. To Demeter. Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Massachusetts., Harvard University Press; London, William.

Greek Mythology

See also : Greek Mythology. Paintings, Drawings