Editing Alastor

{{Short description|Set of mythological Greek characters}}
{{About||the fictional character|Alastor the Radio Demon|other topics with the same name}}
{{Greek deities (personifications)}}

'''Alastor''' ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|l|æ|s|t|ər|,_|-|t|ɔː|r}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Ἀλάστωρ, [[English language|English translation]]: "avenger"<ref>{{Cite book|last=[[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]]|title=The Greek Myths - The Complete and Definitive Edition|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|year=2017|isbn=9780241983386|pages=413}}</ref>) refers to a number of people and concepts in [[Greek mythology]]:<ref name="DGRBM">{{Citation  | last = Schmitz  | first = Leonhard  | contribution = Alastor  | editor-last = Smith  | editor-first = William  | title = [[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]  | volume = 1  | pages = 89  | publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]  | place = Boston  | year = 1867  | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0098.html  | access-date = 2008-06-10  | archive-date = 2010-12-13  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101213142755/http://ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0098.html  | url-status = dead }}</ref>

*Alastor, an [[epithet]] of the [[Greek mythology|Greek God]] [[Zeus]], according to [[Hesychius of Alexandria]] and the ''[[Etymologicum Magnum]]'', which described him as the avenger of evil deeds, specifically familial bloodshed. As the personification of a curse, it was also a sidekick of the [[Erinyes]].<ref name="OCD">{{Citation  | last = Rose  | first = Herbert Jennings  | author-link = H. J. Rose  | contribution = Alastor  | editor-last = Hornblower  | editor-first = Simon  | title = [[Oxford Classical Dictionary]]  | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]  | place = Oxford  | year = 1996 }}</ref> The name is also used, especially by the tragic writers, to designate any deity or demon who avenges wrongs committed by men.<ref>[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Agamemnon (play)|Agamemnon]]'' 1479, 1508 & ''[[The Persians]]'' 343; [[Euripides]], ''[[Phoenician Women]]'' 1550; [[Sophocles]], ''[[The Trachiniae]]'' 1092; [[Plutarch]], ''De Defectu Oraculorum'' 13; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 8.24.8</ref> In [[Euripides]]' play ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'', [[Orestes]] questions an oracle who calls upon him to kill his mother, and wonders if the oracle was not from [[Apollo]], but some malicious ''alastor''.<ref>Euripides, ''[[Electra (Euripides)|Electra]]'' 979</ref>  There was an altar to Zeus Alastor just outside the city walls of [[Thasos]].<ref>{{Citation  | first = Susan Guettel  | last = Cole  | editor-last = Herman Hansen  | editor-first = Mogens  | contribution = Civic Cult and Civic Identity  | title = Sources for the Ancient Greek City-State: Symposium August, 24-27 1994 | year = 1994  | pages = 310  | place = Copenhagen  | publisher = [[Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters]]  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=y-c56ta4BKwC  | isbn = 978-87-7304-267-0 }}</ref>
**By the time of the 4th century BC, ''alastor'' in Greek had degraded to a generic type of insult, with the approximate meaning of "scoundrel".<ref name="OCD" />
*Alastor, a prince of [[Pylos]] and son of King [[Neleus]] and [[Chloris of Pylos|Chloris]], daughter of [[Amphion]].<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Odyssey]]'' 11.284</ref> He was the brother of [[Asterion|Asterius]], [[Deimachus (mythology)|Deimachus]], [[Epilaus]], [[Eurybius]], [[Eurymenes]], [[Evagoras (mythology)|Evagoras]], [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]], [[Periclymenus]], [[Phrasius]], [[Pylaon]], [[Taurus (mythology)|Taurus]] and [[Pero (princess)|Pero]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.9.9&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=9&highlight=Deimachus 1.9.9]</ref> When [[Heracles]] took [[Pylos]], he killed Alastor and his brothers, except for [[Nestor (mythology)|Nestor]].<ref>[[Scholiast]] on [[Apollonius of Rhodes]], 1.156; Apollodorus, 2.7.3</ref> According to [[Parthenius of Nicaea]], he was to be married to [[Harpalyce (daughter of Clymenus)|Harpalyce]], who, however, was taken from him by her father [[Clymenus]].<ref>[[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], [https://topostext.org/work/550#13 13] from the ''Thrax'' of [[Euphorion of Chalcis|Euphorion]] and from Dectadas</ref>
*Alastor, a [[Lycia]]n warrior who was a companion of [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]]. He fought in the [[Trojan War]] and was slain by the [[Achaeans (Homer)|Greek]] hero [[Odysseus]] during the battle.<ref>Homer, ''[[Iliad]]'' 5.677; [[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 13.257</ref>
**''Alastorides'' is a [[patronymic]] form given by [[Homer]] to [[Tros (mythology)|Tros]], who was probably a son of the Lycian Alastor mentioned above.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 10.463</ref>
*Alastor, a Pylian soldier who fought under their leader Nestor during the Trojan War.<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 4.295</ref> He remembered for having, together with [[Mecisteus (mythology)|Mecisteus]], carried the wounded [[Teucer]] off the battlefield as they later did also with [[Hypsenor]].<ref>Homer, ''Iliad'' 8.333 & 13.422</ref>
*Alastor, a black horse belonging to the Greek God [[Hades]]. He was one of the four horses drawing Hades's chariot when he rose from the Underworld to bring [[Persephone]] down with him. The other three were [[Orphnaeus]], [[Aethon]], and [[Nycteus (mythology)|Nycteus]].<ref>[[Claudian]], ''De Raptu Proserpinae'' 1.286</ref>
*Alastor, in [[Christianity|Christian]] [[demonology]], came to be considered a kind of [[Demonic possession|possessing entity]].<ref name="demon">{{Citation  | last = Sorenson  | first = Eric  | title = Possession and Exorcism in the New Testament and Early Christianity  | publisher = Mohr Siebeck  | year = 2002  | pages = 78  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zh4o4LijeQkC  | isbn = 3-16-147851-7}}</ref> He was likened to [[Nemesis (mythology)|Nemesis]]. The name Alastor was also used as a generic term for a class of [[evil spirits]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Ancient Greece|Myths|}}
* ''[[Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude]]'', a poem by [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|2|refs=}}

== References ==

* [[Aeschylus]], translated in two volumes. 2. ''Agamemnon'' by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph.D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0004 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0003 Greek text available from the same website].
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0022 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.] [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021 Greek text available from the same website].
*[[Claudian|Claudius Claudianus]], ''The Rape of Proserpine'' translated by Platnauer, Maurice. Loeb Classical Library Volumes 135 & 136. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1922. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Claudian/De_Raptu_Proserpinae/1*.html Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site]
* [[Euripides]], ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Electra, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0096 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 2''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0095 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Euripides]], ''The Complete Greek Drama'', edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill Jr. in two volumes. 2. Phoenissae, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0118 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Euripides, ''Euripidis Fabulae.'' ''vol. 3''. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0117 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], ''The Greek Myths'', Harmondsworth, London, England, Penguin Books, 1960. {{ISBN|978-0143106715}}
*Graves, Robert, ''The Greek Myths: The Complete and Definitive Edition.'' Penguin Books Limited. 2017. {{ISBN|978-0-241-98338-6|024198338X}}
*[[Homer]], [[Iliad|''The Iliad'']] with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. {{ISBN|978-0674995796|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
*Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. {{ISBN|978-0198145318|}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], ''Love Romances'' translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee, S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. [https://topostext.org/work/550 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Parthenius, ''Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1''. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0643 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|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. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
*Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' translated by Brookes More. Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Sophocles]], ''The Trachiniae of Sophocles e''dited with introduction and notes by Sir Richard Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1893. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0196 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Sophocles, ''Sophocles. Vol 2: Ajax. Electra. Trachiniae. Philoctetes'' with an English translation by F. Storr. The Loeb classical library, 21. Francis Storr. London; New York. William Heinemann Ltd.; The Macmillan Company. 1913. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0195 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

{{Greek mythology index}}

[[Category:Demons in Christianity]]
[[Category:Epithets of Zeus]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Neleides]]
[[Category:Personifications in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Achaeans (Homer)]]
[[Category:Mythological Pylians]]
[[Category:Mythology of Heracles]]
[[Category:Ancient Greek military personnel]]
[[Category:Christianity and Hellenistic religion]]