In Greek mythology, Perse () or Perseis (, ) is one of the 3,000 Oceanids, fresh water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Perse married Helios, the god of the Sun, and bore him several children, most notably Circe, the sorceress-goddess of Aeaea.

Family In the Theogony, an ancient Greek epic poem about the genealogy of the gods, Hesiod included Perse in his list of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymphs and daughters of two Titans, Oceanus and Tethys.Hesiod, Theogony 356 Homer also made Perse a child of Oceanus.Homer, Odyssey 10.135

Mythology Perse was one of the wives of the sun god, Helios.Hecataeus of Miletus, fr. 35A FowlerHard, p. 44 According to Homer and Hesiod, with Helios she had Circe and Aeëtes,Homer, Odyssey 10.135; Hesiod, Theogony 956 with later authors also mentioning their children Pasiphaë,Apollonius of Rhodes, 4.591; Apollodorus, 1.9.1; Cicero, De Natura Deorum 48.4 Perses,Hyginus, Fabulae Preface Aloeus,Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 174. and even Calypso, who is however more commonly the daughter of Atlas. It is not clear why Perse bore Helios, the source of all light, such dark and mysterious children.Bell, s. v. Perse

When Aphrodite cursed Helios to fall in love with the mortal princess Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten about Perse and all his other past lovers.Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.205 She seems to have been linked to witchcraft and knowledge of herbs and potions, much like her daughter Circe.Ovid, The Cure for Love Part IV She might have also been associated with the witchcraft goddess Hecate, who was also called Perseis (as in "daughter of Perses")Apollonius of Rhodes, 3.478 as a mortal priestess of Artemis by the name Hecate is listed as Circe's mother in Diodorus Siculus' account.Diodorus Siculus, 4.45.1The Classical Review vol. 9, p. 391

Possible connections Perseis' name has been linked to Περσίς (Persís), "female Persian", and πέρθω (pérthō), "destroy" or "slay" or "plunder".

Kerenyi also noted the connection between her and Hecate due to their names, denoting a chthonic aspect of the nymph, as well as that of Persephone, whose name "can be taken to be a longer, perhaps simply a more ceremonious, form of Perse",Karl Kerenyi, The Gods of the Greeks, 1951, pp 192-193 as did Fowler, who noted that the pairing made sense given Hecate's association with the Moon.Fowler, p. 16, vol. II It has been suggested that Hecate's "Perseis" epithet denotes lunar connections.The Classical Review vol. 9, pp 391–392 However, as Mooney notes, there is no evidence that Perse was ever a moon goddess on her own right.Mooney, p. 58

An inscription of Mycenaean Greek (written in Linear B) was found on a tablet from Pylos, dating back to 1400–1200 BC. John Chadwick reconstructed the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse. Chadwick found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone. At Google Books.Comments about the goddess pe-re-*82 of Pylos tablet Tn 316, tentatively reconstructed as *Preswa "It is tempting to see ... the classical Perse ... daughter of Oceanus ...; whether it may be further identified with the first element of Persephone is only speculative." John Chadwick. Documents in Mycenean Greek. Second Edition

Genealogy

See also

Other nymphs and magic-related figures in Greek mythology:

Medea Perimede Neaera List of Oceanids List of Mycenaean deities

Footnotes

Notes

References

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. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary, ABC-CLIO 1991, . Internet Archive. Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Hyginus, Gaius Julius, The Myths of Hyginus. Edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960. Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, . Google Books.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, Nature of the Gods from the Treatises of M.T. Cicero translated by Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), Bohn edition of 1878. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Natura Deorum. O. Plasberg. Leipzig. Teubner. 1917. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Mooney, Carol M., Hekate: Her Role and Character in Greek Literature from before the Fifth Century B.C., a thesis submitted to the faculty of graduate studies, McMaster University, 1971. Ovid. Metamorphoses, Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold. Loeb Classical Library No. 42. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1977, first published 1916. . Online version at Harvard University Press. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Publius Ovidius Naso, Remedia Amoris in The Love Poems: The Amores, Ars Amatoria and Remedia Amoris, with an English translation by A. S. Kline. 2001. Full text available at poetryintranslation.com. The Classical Review, volume IX, 1985, Library of Illinois. Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Tzetzes, John, Lycophronis Alexandra. Vol. II: Scholia Continens, edited by Eduard Scheer, Berlin, Weidmann, 1881. Internet Archive.

External links

PERSE on the Theoi Project