A city in Boiotia.
Within Boeotia to the left of the Euripus River is Mount Messapios, at the foot of which on the coast is the Boeotian city of Anthedon. Some say that the city received its name from a Nymph called Anthedon, while others say that one Anthas was despot here, a son of Poseidon by Alkyone (Alcyone), the daughter of Atlas. Just about the center of Anthedon is a sanctuary of the Kabeiri1 (Cabeiri), with a grove around it, near which is a temple of Demeter and her daughter (Persephone), with images of white marble.
There are a sanctuary and an image of Dionysos in front of Anthedon on the side towards the mainland. Here are the graves of the children of Iphimedeia and Aloeus.2 They met their end at the hands of Apollon according to both Homer and Pindar, the latter adding that their doom overtook them in Naxos, which lies off Paros. Their tombs then are in Anthedon, and by the sea is what is called the Leap of Glaukos (Glaucus).
Leaving Anthedon, we come to Mount Messapios from which they say the Sphinx,3 chanting a riddle, sallied to bring death upon those she caught. Others say that roving with a force of ships on a piratical expedition the Sphinx put in at Anthedon, seized the mountain, and used it for plundering raids until Oidipous (Oedipus) overwhelmed her by the superior numbers of the army he had with him on his arrival from Korinth (Corinth).
During the Trojan War, Peneleos and Leitos commanded the Akhaian soldiers from Anthedon and 28 other cities in Boiotia.
1. Kabeiri—Obscure deities recognized throughout the Aigean Islands and Anatolia.
2. The giants—Ephialtes and Otos (Otus)
3. Sphinx—A half-bird/half-human creature generally but not always characterized as female.
| References: Pausanias, Description of Greece book 9, 22.5–6 Homer, Odyssey book 11, line 305 Pindar, Pythian Ode 4.88 Homer, Iliad book 2, line 508 |