μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Mother kills son thinking him a wild beast.

Chance and fate. · Unlucky accidents. · Person unwittingly killed. · view the constellation · filed as N325.3

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“And having shown the Thebans that he was a god, Dionysus came to Argos, and there again, because they did not honour him, he .drove the women mad, and they on the mountains devoured the flesh of the infants whom they carried at their breasts.‘ And wishing to be ferried across from Icaria to Naxos he hired a pirate ship of Tyrrhenians. But when they had put him on board, they sailed past Naxos and made for Asia, intending to sell him.”

The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK III, ch. V · served from our shelf uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
Scholars’ trail — 1reference

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

Within the index

Filed under Unwitting murder because of insane illusion.

Filed beside it
Man kills son thinking that he is cutting a branchWomen, driven mad, devour their infants' flesh
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Sphinx. Has face of woman, body and tail of lion, wings of birdTabu: killing sacred dragon. (Cf. B11.)Transformation to animal for breaking tabuTransformation: man to dolphinTransformation: oars and masts to serpentsTransformation as punishmentJourney to upper world. Most references for F0 discuss this motifMan kills son thinking that he is cutting a branchWomen, driven mad, devour their infants' fleshPunishment: drawing asunder by horses. (Cf. Q469.12.)Cowherd rescues abandoned childChild's ankles pierced before exposing him

wander