Menippe and Metioche

In Greek mythology, Menippe and Metioche were daughters of Orion. After Orion was killed they were brought up by their mother, and Athena taught them the art of weaving and Aphrodite gave them beauty. Once their homeland Aonia at the base of Mt. Helicon was struck by a plague, and the oracle of Apollo Gortynius, when consulted, ordered the inhabitants to propitiate the two Erinnyes by the sacrifice of two maidens, who were to offer themselves to death of their own accord. Menippe and Metioche offered themselves; they thrice invoked the infernal gods, and killed themselves with their shuttles. Persephone and Hades metamorphosed them into comets. The Aonians erected them a sanctuary near Orchomenus, where a propitiatory sacrifice was offered to them every year by youths and maidens. The Aeolians called these maidens Koronides.[1][2] In Ovid's recount of the tale, the daughters of Orion remain unnamed and sacrifice themselves for no distinctly given reason (although a withered tree and gaunt goats on a barren field are mentioned and indicate the presence of a plague): From their ashes, two youths arise and lead the funeral train for their "mothers" and instead of Menippe and Metioche, the youths are referred to as "Coroni".[3]

References

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 25
Scholia on Homer, Iliad, 18. 486

Ovid, Metamorphoses, 13. 685-704

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Menippe". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 2. p. 1041.

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