Althea

Infobox Given Name Revised
name = Althea


imagesize=
caption=
pronunciation=
gender = Female
meaning = healer, wholesome
region =
origin = Greek
related names =
footnotes =

Althea is an English female personal name , originally a variation of the Greek name "Althaea".

*Origin: Greek
*Meaning: healer, wholesome
*Pronunciation: stress on the first syllable (British) or second syllable (American) as a personal name

A Pokemon text-based RPG uses the name Althea as their region and, ultimately, website.

"According to The Oxford English Dictionary:"Bot. [L. althaea, a marsh mallow, f. [the Greek] to heal.] A genus of the plants of which the Marsh Mallow and Hollyhock are species; by florists often extended to the genus Hibiscus."

In Greek mythology, Althea was the mother of Meleager, one of the Argonauts. At her son's birth, Meleager's life was held in a burning log, which Althea rescued from the fireplace and preserved. Meleager became a hero of renown, seemingly invincible in battle. However, when Meleager slew Althea's brothers, in rage and revenge, she cast the piece of wood back into the fire, causing her son's death (See also Althaea).

"Althea" is also the title of a Grateful Dead song on the album Go to Heaven, written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.

A fictional pulsar from the science-fiction novel The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt is called Althea.

Richard Lovelace used the name in a poem ("To Althea, From Prison") that John Milton later mocked in Lycidas.

The Althea Bush is Korea's national flower. See Hibiscus syriacus.

There are people who are named Althea.

References

[http://www.mythome.org/bfcxviii.html Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable or Stories of Gods and Heroes. 1855. Chapter XVIII.]

[http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/wilson/staff/clauderd/plantofthemonthad.html Althea ("hibiscus syriacus")]

[http://www.althearpg.com "Althea RPG"]