Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Deity

Aristaeus

Greek Deities

Aristaeus is a Greek culture hero and minor god credited with introducing many rural arts and crafts to humanity, especially beekeeping, along with dairying, olive cultivation, viticulture, shepherding, hunting, and crafts such as weaving, metalworking and fishing. He was the son of the huntress Cyrene and the god Apollo, and tradition placed his home in Libya. He married Autonoe, daughter of Cadmus of Thebes, and their children included Actaeon; some accounts also name him father of the goddess Hecate. Aristaeus was worshipped as a cult figure in Boeotia, Arcadia, Ceos, Sicily, Sardinia, Thessaly and Macedonia, and in Boeotia he was honored as a pastoral form of Apollo, with a role in the founding legends of Thebes through his marriage into the city ruling family. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Attestation
Era of Attestation
from 700 BCE 2
Veneration Today
Historically attested; no continuous cult 2
Historicity
Not a historical person: a divine or other-than-human being 1
Identity
Gender
Male 2
Belief
Theology
Polytheistic: many gods 1
Function
Domain / Function
Agriculture and harvest 1
Sources
1. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend
Anthony S. Mercatante, revised and expanded by James R. Dow, Facts on File
2. The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th edition
Simon Hornblower, Antony Spawforth and Esther Eidinow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2012Aristaeus, HesiodView the Source
Aristaeus (Wikipedia)
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.