Editing Otrera

{{Short description|Queen of the Amazons in Greek mythology}}
{{distinguish|Otera|Othera}}
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Otrera''' {{IPAc-en|oʊ|ˈ|t|r|ɪər|ə}} ({{langx|grc|Ὀτρήρη}} ''Otrērē'') was the founder and first Queen of the [[Amazons]]; the consort of [[Ares]] and mother of [[Hippolyta]] and [[Penthesilea]]. She is credited with being the founder of the shrine of Artemis in Ephesus.

== Mythology ==
=== Queen of the Amazons ===
[[Apollonius of Rhodes]] writes that the three cities of the Amazons are located in the plain of Doias. He further mentions a temple of [[Ares]], Otrera and Antiope built in a desert island full of ravening birds.<ref>[[Apollonius of Rhodes]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' [https://archive.org/details/theargonauticaof00apoliala/page/64/mode/2up 2.370]</ref>

Otrera is sometimes considered the mythological founder of the [[Temple of Artemis]] in [[Ephesus]], which was closely connected with Amazons.<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#223 223] and [https://topostext.org/work/206#225 225]</ref> She is the queen and the founding mother of the Amazon nation.

Otrera was the consort<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#223 223]</ref> of Ares and mother by him of [[Hippolyta]]<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#30 30]</ref> and [[Penthesilea]];<ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Epitome]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DEpitome%3Abook%3DE%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D1 5.1]</ref><ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [https://topostext.org/work/206#112 112]</ref> both went on to become queens of the Amazons.

While usually said to be Ares' consort, in one version she's his daughter instead by an unknown mother.<ref>Scholiast on [[Apollonius Rhodius]], ''[[Argonautica]]'' 1.1022</ref>

=== Otrera and the Temple of Artemis ===
The war-like Amazons were credited with founding the [[Temple of Artemis]] at Ephesus. They established an image beneath an oak tree, with one of them, [[Hippolyta]], performing the ritual in honour of the goddess, and around the image they broke into a war dance, holding their spears and armor.<ref>[[Callimachus]], [https://www.theoi.com/Text/CallimachusHymns1.html#3''Hymn to Artemis''  240]</ref> No one was to refuse the yearly dance, as Hippolyta apparently did and was punished for that.<ref>[[Callimachus]], [https://www.theoi.com/Text/CallimachusHymns1.html#3 ''Hymn to Artemis''] 270</ref>

[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] writes that, [[Pindar]] also followed the tradition in which the cult of Artemis in Ephesus was established by Otrera and the Amazons. According to Pindar, the sanctuary was founded by the Amazons during their [[Amazonomachy|campaign]] against Athens and [[Theseus]], and that it was common for the women from [[Thermodon]] to sacrifice there on that occasion as well as other, such as when they fled from [[Heracles]] and earlier still from [[Dionysus]]. However, Pausanias notes that the cult of Artemis is much more ancient, and that it wasn't the Amazons, but a native named Coresus who founded the temple.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D7 7.2.7]</ref>

=== Possible adventures ===
While she's not confirmed by name in taking part in any of those events, it is recorded that once the Amazons took part in a campaign against [[Troy]],<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#3.185 3.185]</ref> and that the hero [[Bellerophon]] also led a war against them, in which he emerged victorious.<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' [https://topostext.org/work/2#6.160 6.161-186]</ref><ref>[[Pindar]], ''Olympian Odes'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D13 13.85]</ref><ref>Apollodorus, ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022%3Atext%3DLibrary%3Abook%3D2%3Achapter%3D3%3Asection%3D2 2.3.2]</ref>

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
=== Ancient sources ===
* [[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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0134 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* [[Pindar]], ''Odes'', Diane Arnson Svarlien. 1990. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0162%3Abook%3DO.%3Apoem%3D1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Apollonius of Rhodes]],  ''[[Argonautica]]''; with an English translation by R. C. Seaton. William Heinemann, 1912.
* [[Callimachus]], ''The Hymns'' Edited with Introduction, Translation and Commentary by Stephens, Susan A., Oxford: Oxford University Press (2015). {{ISBN|0199783047}}
* [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=C431BA809CA4DEA22A15DA9C666F3400?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.01.0022%3atext%3dLibrary Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''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. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus, Gaius Julius]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae1.html ''The Myths of Hyginus'']. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.

=== Modern sources ===
* Grimal, Pierre, [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC ''The Dictionary of Classical Mythology''], Wiley-Blackwell, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-631-20102-1}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=iOx6de8LUNAC&q=Hippolyta "Hippolyta" ]
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DO%3Aentry+group%3D8%3Aentry%3Dotrera-bio-1 "Otre'ra" ], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DH%3Aentry+group%3D15%3Aentry%3Dhippolyte-bio-1 "Hippo'lyte" ]

== External links ==
*[http://www.theoi.com/Heroine/AmazonOtrera.html The Theoi Project, "OTRERA" ]
*[http://www.sacred-texts.com/wmn/rca/rca04.htm Florence Mary Bennett, ''Religious Cults Associated with the Amazons:'' (1912)]: Chapter&nbsp;III: Ephesian Artemis (text)
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/658 Quintus Smyrnaeus, ''Posthomerica:''] (uncertain date, possibly 4th century AD) (text)

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{{s-ttl|title=[[Queen regnant|Queen]] of the [[Amazons]]|years=}}
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[[Category:Queens of the Amazons]]
[[Category:Women of Ares]]
[[Category:Women in Greek mythology]]