Editing Lityerses (section)

== Mythology ==
Lityerses was a talented swordsman, and was bloodthirsty and aggressive. He challenged people to harvesting contests and beheaded those he beat, putting the rest of their bodies in the sheaves. [[Heracles]] won the contest and killed him, then threw his body into the river [[Maeander]].<ref>[[Scholia]] on [[Theocritus]], ''[[Idyll]]s'' 10.41</ref><ref name="Suda">[[Suda|Suida]], ''Suda Encyclopedia'' s.v. ''Lityersēs''</ref><ref>[[Hesychius of Alexandria]] s.v. ''Lityersas''</ref> He was also known as the "Reaper of Men." One source describes him as a glutton who could eat "three asses' [[pannier]]s" of food and drink "a ten-[[amphora]] cask" of wine at a time.<ref>[[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' 10.415b, quoting [[Sositheus]]</ref>

The [[Phrygians|Phrygian]] reapers used to celebrate his memory in a harvest-song which bore the name of Lityerses.<ref name="Suda" /> The Phrygians' song for Lityerses was, according to one tradition, a comic version of the [[Mariandyni]]'s lament sung for [[Bormus]].<ref>The ritual lament in Greek tradition By Margaret Alexiou, Dimitrios Yatromanolakis, Panagiotis Roilos  Page 58 {{ISBN|0-7425-0757-2}}</ref>

[[Theocritus]] in his tenth [[Idyll]] gives a specimen of a Greek harvest-song addressed to Demeter, called 'the Song of the Divine Lityerses'. In this song, there is no mention of the legend; it is merely an ordinary reaping-song.{{cn|date=February 2023}}