Melus (mythology)

Melus (Ancient Greek: Μήλος, romanized: Mḗlos, lit. 'apple, sheep') in Greek mythology is a minor figure, a childhood friend of Adonis, Aphrodite's beloved, who is connected to apples via his metamorphosis into one.

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Mythology

Melus was born on Delos, but moved to Cyprus. When the ruler of Cyprus, Cinyras, saw that Melus was of sound character, he made Melus a companion to his son Adonis. Melus eventually married a woman named Pelia, who was kin to Cinyras and Adonis, and had a son by her, also named Melus. The child was raised inside the sanctuary of Aphrodite. When Adonis was slain by a boar during hunting, Melus was so distraught over his loss that he ended his life by hanging himself from an apple tree, which took his name thereafter. Pelia, not standing the loss of her kin and her husband, took her life in the same way. After Aphrodite's own period of mourning was over, she turned Melus into an apple fruit, and Pelia into a dove. Their son, Melus, was sent back to Delos, where he founded the city Melon. The sheep there also took his name, for he first taught the Delians to shear them and make clothing out of their wool; the Greek μῆλον means 'apple' and 'sheep' both.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] The apple was seen as the most important fruit symbol of Aphrodite, as the emblem of her victory in the beauty contest; in the ancient Greek society, the apple fruit became "the love token par excellence".^[5]

References

^ Servius, Commentary on Virgil's Eclogues 8.37
^ Smith, s.v. Melus 2
^ Forbes Irving 1990, p. 279.
^ Grimal 1987, pp. 282-283.
^ Cyrino 2010, p. 64.

Bibliography

Cyrino, Monica S (2010). Aphrodite. Gods and Heroes of the Ancient World. New York and London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77523-6.
Forbes Irving, Paul M. C. (1990). Metamorphosis in Greek Myths. Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-814730-9.
Grimal, Pierre (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Translated by A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop. New York, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Smith, William, A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London. John Murray: printed by Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street, 1873.