- Ianthe
Ianthe (English translation: "purple or violet flower") was a name attributed to three figures in
Greek mythology .*Ianthe was a Cretan girl who was betrothed to
Iphis . Iphis was a woman raised as a man; she also fell in love with Ianthe and prayed to the gods to allow the two women to marry. She was changed byIsis into a man, and became Ianthe's husband. [Ovid . "Metamorphoses", Book IX, 666-797]*Ianthe, one of the 3,000 sons and daughters of the Titan
Oceanus and Tethys, theOceanids mentioned in homeric hymn toDemeter , who was one of the nymphs with the Goddess of Spring,Persephone when she was captured byHades , the God of the Underworld.*Ianthe, a young girl, so beautiful that when she died the Gods made purple flowers grow around her grave.
Other references
*"Ianthe" was the nickname the poet
Lord Byron gave to his patron Lady Charlotte Mary, to whomChilde Harold's Pilgrimage is dedicated.*
Mary Saunderson was sometimes referred to as "Ianthe" throughout her life, due to her excellent performance of the character inThe Siege of Rhodes *In
Percy Shelley 's poem, "Queen Mab ," the fairy queen visits a character named "Ianthe". The fairy then takes the deadsoul of Ianthe and leads it across existence and uses the soul to highlight the good and pure in mankind. Shelley uses this to illustrate the evil in man's nature. Shelley also named his eldest daughter with Harriet Westbrook, Eliza Ianthe (bornJune 23 ,1813 ).*"Ianthe" was the love interest of the main character in
John Polidori 'sThe Vampyre .*"Ianthe" is the name of the main belt asteroid
98 Ianthe .References
Ianthe is also the name of a major city in the nation of Ophir (see also Hyborean Age, Conan the Barbarian, Robert Howard)
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