Alcimede: Encyclopedia - Alcimede

Alcimede

In Greek mythology, Alcimede ("mighty cunning") was one of the matrilineal Minyan daughters, the daughter of Clymene, Minyas' daughter. She was the mother of Jason by Aeson, whom she met in the caves below Iolcus in Thessaly, a chthonic lair where the rightful king Aeson had been imprisoned by his evil half-brother Pelias.

The old story of Alcimede's son Jason and the quest for the golden fleece is most familiar from a late version, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes.

A hint of matrilineal descent in archaic times among the Boeotian Minyans of Greece, is in Apollonius' aside concerning Jason's heritage:

A further hint of archaic matrilineal descent is that Clymene's consort is offered in two versions: she was usually cast as the wife of Phylacus (son of Deion, son of Aeolus) or in some versions, Aeson was fathered by Cephalus, otherwise the consort of Procris.

Along with Aeson, Alcimede was forced by the usurping Pelias to commit suicide. She hanged herself or else drank— along with her husband and the child Promachus— of bull's blood and so died.

Some other classical references: Valerius Flaccus (who also wrote an Argonaut epic) 1.818 etc; Argonautica 1.47, 1.228ff; Hyginus Fabulae.14; Pausanias 10.29.6

Category: Greek mythological people

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Alcimede", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki