Upis (mythology)
In Greek and Roman mythology, Upis (Ancient Greek: Οὖπις, romanized: Oûpis) or Opis (Ancient Greek: Ὦπις, romanized: Ôpis) is a maiden from Hyperborea, a daughter of the wind-god Boreas. Upis along with her sisters descended from Hyperborea and went to the island of Delos, where they became handmaidens to the goddess Artemis.
Family
[edit]Upis was a daughter of Boreas, the god of the north wind, by an unnamed mother. She had several brothers and sisters.
Mythology
[edit]The virgin Upis along with her sisters (Arge, Hekaerge, and Loxo depending on the author) were the first to leave Hyperborea and arrive in Delos along with the Delian gods,[1][2] Artemis and Apollo, before Hyperoche and Laodice did, who carried the offering that had been promised to the childbirth-goddess Eileithyia for the birth of the twins.[3][4] Upis and the others introduced the worship of Apollo and Artemis, and thus received great honours from the Delians.[5] The women of Delos would sing hymns to their honour and lavish them with gifts until the end of their lives.[3]
Upis often accompanied Artemis in her various excursions admist the woods; she was present when the hunter Actaeon accidentally stumbled on Artemis and the other maidens bathing nude and was transformed into a deer for his grave transgression.[6] Some other time, the giant Orion joined Artemis as a hunting companion, and then he raped Upis,[4] so Artemis shot him dead with her arrows in punishment.[7][8]
In the Aeneid, Upis is ordered by Artemis to avenge the death of one of her favourites, the Amazon-like warrior Camilla, who was felled in battle by the Etruscan Arruns.[9] Upis witnessed and lamented the death of Camilla, and then proceeded to slay Arruns with an arrow as directed by Artemis.[10]
Upis was also said to be the name of a mythical being that reared the young Artemis, and might be identified with Boreas' daughter.[11][12] In connection to that, Cicero speaks of a male Upis who became the father of the "third" Artemis/Diana.[13][14]
Cult
[edit]Upis' tomb in Delos was worshiped in cult, where the ashes of the burnt thighbones were cast after the sacrifice.[3] Furthermore young girls would offer a lock from their hair as offering to her,[15] while the boys offered the hair growing on their cheeks.[5][14] The Delian cult, which seems to have included several deities connected to Artemis and childbirth (such as Eileithyia) likely went as far back as the Archaic period.[16] In Ephesus, 'Upis' was also an epithet under which Artemis was worshipped as a goddess of childbirth.[8][17]
Orion's sexual assault of Upis might be depicted on an ancient tomb relief frieze in Taranto, dating circa to 300 BC.[18]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ Smith 1873, s.v. Upis 3.
- ^ Pausanias 5.7.8
- ^ a b c Herodotus, Melpomene 4.35
- ^ a b Grimal 1987, pp. 209, 314.
- ^ a b Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 4.291–99
- ^ Nonnus 5.480–91, 48.330 ff
- ^ Apollodorus 1.4.5
- ^ a b Ambühl, Annemarie (October 1, 2006). "Opis, Upis". In Cancik, Hubert; Schneider, Helmuth (eds.). Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Christine F. Salazar. Groningen: Brill Reference Online. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e832190. ISSN 1574-9347. Retrieved January 24, 2025.
- ^ March 2014, p. 111.
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 11.533-867
- ^ Scholiast on Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis
- ^ Smith 1873, s.v. Upis 2.
- ^ Cicero, On the Nature of Gods 3.57
- ^ a b Bell 1991, s.v. Upis.
- ^ Pausanias 1.43.4
- ^ Robertson, N. (1974). "Greek Ritual Begging in Aid of Women's Fertility and Childbirth". Transactions of the American Philological Association. 113: 143–169. doi:10.2307/284008. JSTOR 284008.
- ^ Smith 1873, s.v. Upis 1.
- ^ Carter, Joseph Coleman (1975). "The Sculpture of Taras". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New Series. 65 (7). American Philosophical Society: 1–196. doi:10.2307/1006211. JSTOR 1006211.
Bibliography
[edit]- 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.
- Bell, Robert E. (1991). Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. ISBN 9780874365818.
- Callimachus, Hymns in Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921 . Online text available at the Internet Archive.
- 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.
- Grimal, Pierre (1987). The Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-13209-0.
- Herodotus, The Histories with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version available at Perseus Digital Library.
- March, Jennifer R. (May 31, 2014). Dictionary of Classical Mythology. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78297-635-6.
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, I Books I-XV. Loeb Classical Library No. 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca; translated by Rouse, W H D, III Books XXXVI-XLVIII. Loeb Classical Library No. 346, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1940. Internet Archive.
- 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. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Smith, William (1873). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London, UK: John Murray, printed by Spottiswoode and Co. Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.
- Virgil, the Aeneid, with an English translation by Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.