In Greek mythology, Coeus or Koios (Ancient Greek: Κοῖος lit. "query, questioning" or "intelligence") was the god of the North Pole, the Earth's axial tilt, intelligence, and heavenly oracles. He was a son of Ouranós and Gaia and was thus considered a Titan.
Etymology[]
The name Coeus has the poet Robert Graves give the meaning of "query, questioning" or "intelligence", though the ancient author Athenaeus said the name means "number" in Macedonian.[2]
The Roman poet Hyginus gave the name Polus to refer to Coeus. This name is a Latin transliteration of the Greek Polos which means pole, and it seems Hyginus is the only account of Coeus being called by this epithet.
Mythology[]
Not much is known about Coeus in Greek mythology. In fact, Coeus was an obscure figure,[3] and like most of the Titans he played no active part in Greek mythology—he appears only in lists of Titans[4]—but was primarily important for his descendants. However, he played an important role in the birth of Apollo and Artemis, being their grandparents.
With his sister-wife Phoebe, he had two daughters; Asteria[5] and Leto.[6][7] Through Leto and Zeus, his grandchildren were Artemis and Apollo, while Hecate was his granddaughter through Asteria and Perses.
The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that Coeus was the first inhabitant of the island of Kos, which claimed to be the birthplace of his daughter Leto.[8] Coeus' name was modified from Κοῖος (Koîos) to Κῶιος (Kōios), leading to his association with the island.
He participated in the overthrowing of his father and held down his father at the northern end of the Earth. He was cast into Tartaros after fighting alongside the Titans during the Titanomachy. Coeus himself said Zeus must be stopped during the reign of the Titans.
Coeus, later overcome with madness, broke free from his bonds and attempted to escape his imprisonment, but was repelled by Cerberus.[9]
Eventually Zeus freed the Titans, presumably including Coeus.[10]
The Roman mythographer Hyginus in the preface of his Fabulae, mentioned Coeus by name and stated that he was a son of Terra and Tartarus.[11] But later on Polus, a son of Terra and Ether[12] was stated to be a consort with Phoebe and gave birth to Latona and Asteria,[13][14] this account is clearly Hyginus putting the actions of Coeus to the figure of Polus, who is otherwise unknown to us as he is first mentioned in this work.
The Roman poet Virgil mentions Coeus in two of his works. In his Aeneid, when he talks about the goddess Fama, he said that when Terra was mad at the gods, she birthed Fama, the last child of hers and the sister of Coeus and Enceladus,[15] and in his Georgics, a pastoral poem about rural life and agriculture, in Book 1, he talks about Luna assigning various days for various grades of luck for work, and said that the days of labor are lucky but to shun the fifth, since Terra birthed Coeus, Iapetus, and Typhoeus, and the Aloadae.[16]
The Greek geographer Pausanias reports that on the road from Andania towards Cyparissiae is Polichne and the streams of Electra and Coeus in Messenia. Pausanias asserts that the names of the streams might be connected to Electra, the daughter of Atlas and Coeus, father of Leto, or perhaps two unrelated local heroes of the place.[17] Another unrelated Coeus, is mentioned in Stephanus of Byzantium's Ethnica, in which he states that the town of Kynna near Heraclea, was founded by Kynna, one of the Amazons or Kynnae, the brother of Coeus.[18]
In the Placita Philosopharum (Doctrines of the Philosophers), which is attributed (though falsely) to Plutarch, stated that Hyperion, Coeus, Iapetus, and Crius were inventions made by the poet Hesiod "willing to find out a father for those Gods that acknowledge an original", invented them.[19]
Coeus was almost never worshipped in cult, but there is one inscription suggesting that he received some sort of religious honors on the island of Imbros.[20]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/chamakoso/art/Coeus-210027157
- ↑ LSJ s.v. κοῖος
- ↑ Ovid in Metamorphoses (VI.185) alludes to Coeus' obscure nature: "Latona, that Titaness whom Coeus sired, whoever he may be." (nescio quoque audete satam Titanida Coeo)
- ↑ Such as Hesiod, Theogony 133; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.1.3; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.66.3; Clement of Alexandria, Recognitions 31.
- ↑ Hesiod, Theogony 404 ff; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.2.2
- ↑ Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, 61; in the Orphic Hymn to Leto 34, she is Leto Koiantis, "Leto, daughter of Koios".
- ↑ Homeric Hymn 3 to Apollo, line 47
- ↑ Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals, BOOK XII, chapter 61
- ↑ Valerius Flaccus, "Argonautica" 3.224
- ↑ Pindar, Pythian Odes 4.289-291; additionally, Aeschylus' lost play Prometheus Unbound features a chorus of freed Titans.
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 4
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 2
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface 9
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 140
- ↑ Virgil, Aeneid 4.174
- ↑ Virgil, Georgics 1.276
- ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 4.33.6
- ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v Kynna
- ↑ Pseudo-Plutarch, Placita Philosopharum 1.6
- ↑ Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) 12.8.74
[]
| Titans | |
|---|---|
| Parents | Ouranós • Gaîa |
| Elder Titans | Coeus • Crius • Cronus • Hyperion • Iapetus • Oceanus |
| Elder Titanesses | Phoebe • Mnemosyne • Rhea • Theia • Themis • Tethys |
| Coeonides | Asteria • Leto |
| Crionides | Astraeus • Pallas • Perses |
| Hyperionides | Eos • Hḗlios • Selene |
| Iapetonides | Atlas • Epimetheus • Menoetius • Prometheus |
| Oceanides | Oceanids (Clymene • Metis • Styx • Rhode) • Potamoi |
| Third Generation | Hecate • Astraea • Anemoi • Astra Planeta • Kratos • Nike • Bia • Zelus |
| Miscellaneous Titans | Dione • Anytos • Ophion • Eurynome (wife of Ophion) • Lelantos • Melisseus • Titan (brother of Helios) • Olymbros • Syceus • Titanic Muses |
| Topics | Overthrowing of Ouranós • Titanomachy |