Aganippe

Aganippe (Ancient Greek: Ἀγανίππη) was a name or epithet of several figures in Greek mythology.

• Aganippe was the name of both a spring and the Naiad (a Crinaea) associated with it. The spring is in Boeotia, near Thespiae, at the base of Mount Helicon, and was associated with the Muses who were sometimes called Aganippides. Drinking from it was considered to be a source of poetic inspiration. The nymph is called a daughter of the river-god Permessus (called Termessus by Pausanias).^[1] Ovid associates Aganippe with Hippocrene.^[2]
• Another Aganippe was the wife of Acrisius, and according to some accounts the mother of Danaë, although the latter is more commonly called a daughter of Eurydice.^[3][4][5]
• Aganippe "the Mare who destroys mercifully" was an aspect of Demeter. In this form she was a black winged horse worshiped by certain cults. In this aspect her idols (such as one found in Mavrospelya, the Black Cave, in Phigalia) she was portrayed as mare-headed with a mane entwined with Gorgon Snakes. This aspect was also associated with Anion (or Arion) whom Heracles rode, who later inspired tales of Pegasus.^[6]
• Aganippis is a name used by Ovid as an epithet of Hippocrene;^[7] its meaning however is not quite clear. It is derived from Aganippe, the well or nymph, and as "Aganippides" is used to designate the Muses, Aganippis Hippocrene may mean nothing than "Hippocrene, sacred to the Muses."^[8]

Notes

1. Smith, "Aganippe" 1.; Pausanias, 9.29.5; Virgil, Eclogues 10.12.
2. Ovid, Fasti 5.7.
3. Smith, "Aganippe" 2.
4. Hyginus. Fabulae, 63.
5. Scholiast, ad Apollon. Rhod. iv. 1091.
6. Walker, B. G. The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pg 219
7. Ovid, Fasti v. 7
8. Smith, "Aganippis".

References

• Ovid, Fasti, translated by Frazer, James George. Loeb Classical Library Volume. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1931.
• Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Aganippe" 1., "Aganippe" 2., "Aganippis"
• Virgil, Eclogues. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1895. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library

Sources

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.