Editing Aristaeus

{{short description|God of rural crafts in Greek mythology}}
{{other uses|Aristaeus (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox deity
| type             = Greek
| name             = Aristaeus
| image            = Aristaeus Bosio Louvre LL51.jpg
| caption          = Aristaeus by [[François Joseph Bosio]] (1768–1845), ([[Musée du Louvre]])
| deity_of         = 
| abode            = Libya
| symbol           =
| consort          = [[Autonoë]]
| parents          = [[Apollo]] and [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]]
| siblings         =
| children         = [[Actaeon]] and [[Macris]]
| mount            =
| Roman_equivalent = 
}}
'''Aristaeus''' ({{IPAc-en|ær|ɪ|ˈ|s|t|iː|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀρισταῖος}} ''Aristaios'') was the mythological [[culture hero]] credited with the discovery of many rural [[useful arts]] and [[handicraft]]s, including [[bee-keeping]];<ref>His inventions of apicultural apparatus, such as the linen gauze bee-keeper's mask and the technique of smoking the hive, were elaborated by [[Nonnus]] in his ''[[Dionysiaca]]''. V.214ff.</ref> He was the son of the huntress [[Cyrene (mythology)|Cyrene]] and [[Apollo]].

''Aristaeus'' ("the best") was a cult title in many places: [[Boeotia]], [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]], [[Kea (island)|Ceos]], [[Sicily]], [[Sardinia]], [[Thessaly]], and [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]]; consequently a set of "travels" was imposed, connecting his [[Epiphany (Ancient Greece)|epiphanies]] in order to account for these widespread manifestations.

If Aristaeus was a minor figure at Athens, he was more prominent in [[Boeotia]], where he was "the pastoral Apollo",<ref>An expression credited to [[Hesiod]] in [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]' commentary on Virgil's ''[[Georgics]]'', I.14; cf. William J. Slater, ''Lexicon to Pindar'' (Berlin: de Gruyter) 1969, ''s.v.'' ""Nomios". When "pastoral Apollo" appears in lines of [[Theocritus]] (''Idyll'' XXV) and [[Callimachus]] (''Ode to Apollo'', 47) the expression blurs the effective domaines of the two figures.</ref> and was linked to the [[founding myth]] of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]] by marriage with [[Autonoë]], daughter of [[Cadmus]], the founder.<ref>Hesiod, ''[[Theogony]]'' 977.</ref> Aristaeus may appear as a winged youth in painted Boeotian pottery,<ref>As on a Boeotian tripod-kothon at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]], illustrated and discussed in Brian F. Cook, "Aristaios" ''The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin'' New Series, '''21'''.1 (Summer 1962), pp. 31-36; there Aristaeus hastens with a mattock and a one-handled amphora, which Cook interprets as filled with seed-corn.</ref> similar to representations of the [[Boreads]], spirits of the North Wind. Besides [[Actaeon]] and [[Macris]], he also was said to have fathered [[Charmus]] and Callicarpus in [[Sardinia]].<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]]. ''[[Bibliotheca historica|Bibliotheca Historica]], Book 4.82.4''</ref>

==Pindar's account==
According to [[Pindar]]'s ninth Pythian Ode and Apollonius' ''[[Argonautica]]'' (II.522ff), Cyrene despised spinning and other womanly arts and instead spent her days hunting and [[shepherd]]ing, but, in a prophecy he put in the mouth of the wise [[centaur]] [[Chiron]], Apollo would spirit her to [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] and make her the foundress of a great city, [[Cyrene, Libya|Cyrene]], in a fertile coastal plain.<ref>Thus Pindar set into a mythological past a prophecy of the comparatively recent founding of Cyrene (630 BCE).</ref> When Aristaeus was born, according to what Pindar sang, [[Hermes]] took him to be raised on [[nectar]] and [[ambrosia]] and to be made immortal by [[Gaia (mythology)|Gaia]].

"Aristaios" ("the best") is an [[epithet]] rather than a name:<blockquote>For some men to call [[Zeus]] and holy [[Apollo]].<br>Agreus and Nomios,<ref>[[Agreus]] ("hunter") and [[Agreus|Nomios]] ("shepherd") are sometimes given distinct identities among the [[Pan (mythology)|Panes]], sons of Pan.</ref> and for others Aristaios ([[Pindar]])</blockquote>

==Patronage==
{{Unreferenced section|date=April 2024}}
Thanks to a vast [[family tree]] and connections, Aristaeus is a/the [[patron]] [[Tutelary deity|god and protector]] of a wide array of [[Pastoral|rustic]] and [[rural]] [[Rural crafts|arts, crafts, skills, practices and traditions]] ([[handicrafts]])—often associated with [[smallholding]]s—some of which is overlapped with his many relatives:
* From his father, Apollo, the wise Centaur, [[Chiron]] and from his aunts, the [[Muses]], Aristaeus learned the arts of prophecy, healing and [[herblore]] (similarly like his half-brother, [[Asclepius]]).{{cn|date=October 2024}}  
* From his aunt, [[Artemis]] and from his mother, Cyrene (who was also a companion of his aunt, Artemis, either as a nymph or as [[Apotheosis|a mortal princess-turned-nymph]]), Aristaeus learned how to track, hunt and trap animals, and how to [[Field dressing (hunting)|dress]] and prepare their meat ([[Butchering]]) and skins ([[Leather making]]), as well as the use of [[Net (device)|net]]s and [[trapping|traps]] in hunting.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From the [[Myrtaceae|Myrtle]]-[[nymph]]s (being, either [[Dryad]]s or [[Oread]]s)—or the [[Thriae]]—who raised him on Apollo's behalf, Aristaeus learned other useful arts and mysteries, such as [[dairying]]; how to prepare milk for [[cream]], [[butter]], [[oxygala]] (similar to [[Yogurt#History|yogurt]]) and [[cheese]]([[cheesemaking|making]]); how to keep [[chicken]]s for their [[Egg as food#History|eggs]]; how to tame the Goddess's [[Bee (mythology)|bee]]s and [[Bee-keeping|keep them in hives]] (the bees either belonging to the Myrtle nymphs themselves or the [[Thriae]]), to harness supplies of [[honey]] and [[beeswax]], etc.;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Internet Classics Archive {{!}} The Georgics by Virgil |url=https://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/georgics.4.iv.html |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=classics.mit.edu}}</ref> how to tame and cultivate the wild [[oleaster]] in order to make it bear [[olive]]s and how to process them into [[olive oil]] (like his aunt, [[Athena]]); as such, Aristaeus is a protector of olive trees, of olive [[orchard]]s/[[plantation]]s, olive [[Agriculture|cultivation]] and of olive oil presses (whereas Athena is the goddess of olives, of olive oil and of olive-oil-making).{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* Like his father, Apollo, his mother, Cyrene (a huntress and a shepherdess), his uncle, [[Hermes]], and his cousin(?), [[Pan (god)|Pan]], Aristaeus is also a patron god and a protector of [[shepherd]]s/[[herder]]s and of [[herding]], patron of the art of [[Sheep shearing]], as well as the patron god of [[pastoralism]]; of the [[cattle]] and their herds and flocks, and protector of [[pasture]]s.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his uncle, [[Dionysus]], Aristaeus learned the processes of how to produce [[alcoholic beverage]]s, such as [[wine]], [[ale]], [[beer]], [[kykeon]], [[mead]], [[kumis]], [[absinthe]], etc. (although an alternate account states that ''he'' was the one who taught Dionysus, having served as a surrogate father to him on the island of [[Euboia]], as opposed to Dionysus learning about winemaking from the wise old [[Satyr]], [[Silenus]]); as such, Aristaeus is worshipped as a protector of [[grapevine]]s, [[vineyard]]s, [[winepress]]es and of [[viticulture]], while Dionysus is the god of wine & wine-making, parties, feasts, banquets & festivals, and of the state of [[Substance intoxication|intoxication]]/[[religious ecstasy]] (not to be confused with [[Pasithea]]).{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his great-aunt, [[Demeter]], Aristaeus learned the skills of the various branches of [[agriculture]] ([[grain]]-growing), [[horticulture]], [[fungiculture]] and [[animal husbandry]]; as such, Aristaeus was also a protector of [[gardens]], [[farms]], fields and [[orchards]], etc.  Some versions also credit Demeter with teaching Aristaeus leather-making, instead of his mother, Cyrene, and his aunt, Artemis.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* Aristaeus--along with [[Horae#First triad|Carpo of the ''Horae'']] and [[Karpos]] (son of [[Zephyrus|Zephyrus/Favonius]] and [[Chloris (nymph)|Chloris]]/[[Flora (mythology)|Flora]])--is also a patron god of [[fruit]] trees ([[Fruticulture]]) & [[vegetable]] plants ([[Olericulture]]), [[herbs]] & [[spices]] (herbiculture), edible flowers (floriculture) and [[Edible mushroom|fungi]] ([[Fungiculture]]), and a patron god of the arts [[foraging]], [[hunting]] & [[fishing]], [[husbandry]] & agriculture, and of the arts of [[food preservation]] ([[Fermentation in food processing|fermenting]], [[pickling]], [[brining]], [[Curing (food preservation)|curing]], [[Smoking (cooking)|smoking]] and [[Food drying|drying]] of foodstuffs), and [[condiments]] (like [[Garum]]).{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his great-aunt, [[Hestia]], Aristaeus learned the [[List of cooking techniques|various skills]] of [[cooking]] and [[baking]], making Aristaeus a protector of [[Quern-stone]]s & [[Gristmill]]s, [[Watermill]]s, and of [[Oven#Cooking|Ovens]], such as [[Clay oven|clay-built]] [[bread]] ovens, etc.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his great-uncle, [[Poseidon]], Aristaeus learned the skills of [[fishing]] and [[spearfishing]], with [[fishing net]]s and [[fish hook]]s, etc.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his aunt, [[Athena]] (also), Aristaeus learned the skills to weave, [[carding|card]] and [[hand spinning|hand-spin]] [[fibres]] into [[wool]], [[Thread (yarn)|thread]], etc., making him the patron of [[ropemaking]], [[Net (device)|net-making]], [[basket weaving]] (see also, [[Wattle (construction)]] and [[Wattle and daub]]), and working clay and glass (also learned from Hephaestus).{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* From his uncle, [[Hephaestus]], Aristaeus learned the ways of working with metal ([[mining]], [[blacksmith]]ing and [[metalworking]], etc.), stone ([[quarrying]] and [[stonemasonry]], etc.), clay ([[pottery]], [[ceramics]] and other [[plastic arts]], also learned from Athena), [[Hellenistic glass|glass]] and wood ([[woodworking]], etc.), making Aristaeus a patron god and protector of clay [[Kiln]]s, [[Masonry oven]]s and [[Charcoal pile]]s, etc.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
* In [[Ceos]], Aristaeus is also a god of the [[Etesian]] winds (without being mistaken for [[Boreas (god)|Boreas]] or his [[Anemoi|brothers]]), which provided some respite from the intense heat of their scorching, [[drought]]-causing midsummers weather/climate.<ref name=":1" />

==Issue==
When he was grown, he sailed from Libya to [[Boeotia]], where he was inducted into further mysteries in the cave of [[Chiron]] the centaur. In Boeotia, he was married to [[Autonoë]] and became the father of the ill-fated [[Actaeon]], who inherited the family passion for hunting, to his ruin,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias' Description of Greece, Vol. II., by Pausanias—A Project Gutenberg eBook |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/68680/68680-h/68680-h.htm#CHAPTER_9_2 |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref> and of [[Macris]], who nursed the child [[Dionysus]].

According to Pherecydes, Aristaeus fathered [[Hecate]], goddess of witchcraft, crossroads, and the night.<ref>[[Scholia]]st on ''[[Apollonius of Rhodes|Apollonius Rhodius]], [[Argonautica]]'' 3.467</ref> [[Hesiod]]'s ''[[Theogony]]'' suggests her parents were Perses and Asteria.

==Aristaeus in Ceos==
Aristaeus' presence in Ceos, attested in the fourth and third centuries BC,<ref>[[Theophrastus]], ''Of the winds'' 14, and other testimony noted in [[Walter Burkert]], ''Homo Necans'' (1972), translated by Peter Bing ((University of California Press) 1983), p. 109 note 1; Burkert notes that Aristaeus is already mentioned in a [[Hesiod]]ic fragment.</ref> was attributed to a Delphic prophecy that counselled Aristaeus to sail to [[Ceos]], where he would be greatly honored. He found the islanders suffering from sickness under the stifling and baneful effects of the Dog-Star [[Sirius]] at its first appearance before the sun's rising, in early July. In the foundation legend of a specifically Cean weather-magic ritual, Aristaeus was credited with the double sacrifice that countered the deadly effects of the Dog-Star, a sacrifice at dawn to Zeus Ikmaios, "Rain-making Zeus" at a mountaintop altar,<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 2.521ff.</ref> following a pre-dawn [[chthonic]] sacrifice to Sirius, the Dog-Star, at its first annual appearance,<ref name=":1">Burkert 1983:109ff; Burkert notes an analogy to the polarity of sacrifices to Pelops and Zeus at Olympia.</ref> which brought the annual relief of the cooling [[Etesian|Etesian winds]].

In a development that offered more immediate causality for the myth, Aristaeus discerned that the Ceans' troubles arose from murderers hiding in their midst, the killers of [[Icarius]] in fact. When the miscreants were found out and executed, and a shrine erected to Zeus Ikmaios, the great god was propitiated and decreed that henceforth, the [[Etesian|Etesian wind]] should blow and cool all the Aegean for forty days from the baleful rising of Sirius, but the Ceans continued to propitiate the Dog-Star, just before its rising, just to be sure.<ref>Hyginus, ''Poetic Astronomy''</ref> Aristaeus appears on Cean coins.<ref>Charikleia Papageorgiadou-Banis, ''The Coinage of Kea'' (Paris) 1997.</ref>

Then Aristaeus, on his civilizing mission, visited Arcadia, where the winged male figure who appears on ivory tablets in the sanctuary of [[Ortheia]] as the consort of the goddess, has been identified as Aristaeus by L. Marangou.<ref>Marangou, Aristaios" ''AM'' '''87'''72), pp77-83, noted by Jane Burr Carter, "The Masks of Ortheia" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''91'''.3 (July 1987:355-383) p. 382f.</ref>

Aristaeus settled for a time in the [[Vale of Tempe]]. By the time of [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Georgics]]'', the myth has Aristaeus chasing [[Eurydice]] when she was bitten by a [[Serpent (symbolism)|serpent]] and died.<ref name=":0" />

==Aristaeus and the bees==
Soon after Aristaeus' inadvertent hand in the death of [[Eurydice]]—whose husband, Orpheus, in one version, is Aristaeus' own half-brother, via Apollo (another version says that her husband, Orpheus, was fathered by [[Oeagrus]])—his bees became sickened and began to die.  Seeking counsel, first from his mother, Cyrene, and then from [[Proteus]], Aristaeus learns that the bees' death was a punishment for causing the death of Eurydice, from her [[nymph]] sisters. To [[Propitiation|make amends]], Aristaeus needed to sacrifice 12 animals (or four bulls and four cows) to the gods, and in memory of Eurydice, leave the carcasses in the place of sacrifice, and to return 3-days later. He followed these instructions, establishing sacrificial altars before a fountain, as advised, sacrificed the aforementioned cattle, and left their carcasses.  Upon returning 3-days later, Aristaeus found within one of the carcasses new swarms of bees, which he took back to his [[apiary]]. The bees were never again troubled by disease.<ref name=":0" />

A variation of this tale was told in the 2002 novel by [[Sue Monk Kidd]], ''[[The Secret Life of Bees (novel)|The Secret Life of Bees]]''.<ref>''The Secret Life of Bees'', Kidd, p. 206</ref>

=="Aristaeus" as a name==
In later times, ''Aristaios'' was a familiar Greek name, borne by several [[archon]]s of Athens and attested in inscriptions.<ref>Eugene Vanderpool, "Two Inscriptions Near Athens", ''Hesperia'' '''14'''.2, The American Excavations in the Athenian Agora: Twenty-Sixth Report (April 1945), pp. 147-149; Susan I. Rotroff, "An Athenian Archon List of the Late Second Century after Christ" ''Hesperia'' '''44'''.4 (October 1975), pp. 402-408; Sterling Dow, "Archons of the Period after Sulla", ''Hesperia Supplements'' '''8''' Commemorative Studies in Honor of Theodore Leslie Shear (1949), pp. 116–125, 451, etc.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ancient Greek cuisine]]
* The [[Thriae]], Ancient Greek goddesses of bees
* [[Bee (mythology)]]; Bees in mythology
* [[USS Aristaeus|USS ''Aristaeus'' (ARB-1)]]
* [[Aegipan]]
* [[Pan (god)]]
* [[Mellona]], Ancient Roman bee goddess
* [[Fu Xi]], an important culture hero from the [[Chinese mythology]] who bears some strong resemblances to Aristaios as a teacher of mortals

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [https://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Aristaios.html Aristaeus, on Theoi Project]

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
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[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Agricultural gods]]
[[Category:Food deities]]
[[Category:Food gods]]
[[Category:Beekeeping]]
[[Category:Animal gods]]
[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Religion in ancient Boeotia]]
[[Category:Children of Apollo]]
[[Category:Kea (island)]]
[[Category:Hunting gods]]
[[Category:Deeds of Gaia]]
[[Category:Bees in religion]]