Editing Mestra (section)

== Mythology ==
Mestra had the ability to change her shape at will, a gift of her rapist [[Poseidon]] according to [[Ovid]].<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 8.850–54</ref> Erysichthon exploited this gift in order to sate the insatiable hunger with which he had been cursed by [[Demeter]] for violating a grove sacred to the goddess.<ref>Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 8.741–842; cf. [[Callimachus]], ''Hymn to Demeter'' 24–69</ref> The father would repeatedly sell his daughter to suitors for the [[bride price#Ancient Greece|bride prices]] they would pay, only to have the girl return home to her father in the form of various animals.<ref>Hesiod, ''Ehoiai'' fr. 43a ([[:File:Berlin papyrus 7497 - Hesiod, Catalogue of Women - Fr. 43(a), 76–91 M.-W. (Mestra and Eurynome, Bellerophon).jpg|Berlin papyrus 7497]]); Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' 8.871–74; [[Tzetzes]] on [[Lycophron]], [https://topostext.org/work/860#1393 1393]</ref>{{AI-generated source|date=November 2024}} Mestra's great-granduncle [[Sisyphus]] also hoped to win her as a bride for his son [[Glaucus (son of Sisyphus)|Glaucus]] although that marriage did not take place.<ref>Hesiod, ''Ehoiai'' fr. 43a.2–83; cf. [[Catalogue of Women#CITEREFWest1985a|West (1985a]], p. 64)</ref><ref name=":02">{{Cite book|last=Hard|first=Robin|title=The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology|publisher=Taylor & Francis Group|year=2004|isbn=0-203-44633-X|location=New York|pages=433, 663}}</ref>

Ultimately, Poseidon carried away Mestra to the island of Cos.<ref>Hesiod, ''Ehoiai'' 43a.79(55)–82(58)</ref><blockquote>"And earth-shaking Poseidon overpowered her<br>far from her father, carrying her over the wine-dark sea<br>in sea-girt Cos, clever though she was;<br>there she bore Eurypylus, commander of many people."</blockquote>