Alalcomeneis

Alalcomeneis (Gr. polytonic|Ἀλαλκομενῄς) was an epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, [Homer, "Iliad", iv. 8, v. 908] the origin of which was subject to several theories. Some derived it from the name of the hero Alalcomenes, or from the Boeotian village of Alalcomenae, [Strabo, 410 & 415] where in some traditions she was said to have been born.Citation | last = Schmitz | first = Leonhard | author-link = | contribution = Alalcomeneis | editor-last = Smith | editor-first = William | title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology | volume = 1 | pages = 88 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | place = Boston | year = 1867 | contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0097.html ] In or near that town there was a temple of Athena Alalcomeneis that was plundered by the Roman general Sulla in the early 1st century BC. After he removed the temple's main icon, an ivory statue of the goddess, the place fell into disuse and disrepair. [Pausanias, "Description of Greece" ix. 33] In the early 19th century, William Martin Leake claimed ruins of the temple could still be seen. [cite book | last = William Martin | first = Leake | authorlink = William Martin Leake | coauthors = | title = Travels in Northern Greece | publisher = J. Rodwell | date = 1835 | location = London | pages = 135 | url = http://books.google.com/books?id=sncKAAAAIAAJ | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

Others derive the name from the Greek verb "alalkein" (polytonic|ἀλαλκεῖν, "to protect") so that it would signify the "powerful defender". [Stephanus of Byzantium, "s. v." polytonic|Ἀλαλκομένιον] [Karl Otfried Müller, "Orchom." p. 213]

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