SAGGARIOS

SAGGARIOS (Sangarius) was a river-god of Phrygia and central Bithynia in Anatolia (modern Turkey).

The Sangarios was the largest and most important river of central Phrygia, rising in the Phrygian highlands it flowed north across the plateau to central Bithynia where it empited into the Black Sea. The most important neighbouring rivers were the Askanios (Ascanius) to the west, Phyllis to the north and Nymphaios to the east.

PARENTS

[1] OKEANOS & TETHYS (Hesiod Theogony 344)

OFFSPRING

[1] HEKABE (by Metope) (Apollodorus 3.148)
[2] NANA (Pausanias 7.17.8)
[3] OKYRHOE (Quintus Smyrnaeus 11.37)
[4] NIKAIA, ALKE (by Kybele) (Nonnus Dionysiaca 15.16)
[5] SAGARITIS (Ovid Fasti 4.222)
[6] Perhaps THE ASTAKIDES, MELIA

ENCYCLOPEDIA

SANGA′RIUS (Sangarios), a river-god, is described as the son of Oceanus and Tethys, and as the husband of Metope, by whom he became the father of Hecabe. (Hes. Theog. 344 ; Apollod. iii. 12. § 5.) The river Sangarius (in Phrygia) itself is said to have derived its name from one Sangas, who had offended Rhea, and was punished by her by being changed into water. (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 722.)

Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Hesiod, Theogony 337 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or 7th B.C.) :
"Tethys bore to Okeanos (Oceanus) the swirling Potamoi (Rivers) . . . Kaikos (Caicus) strongly flowing, and great Sangarios (Sangarius) [in a list of rivers]."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 148 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Hekabe (Hecabe) the daughter of Dymas, or, in other's opinions, of Kisseus (Cisseus), or of the river Sangarios (Sangarius) and Metope."

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 17. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"There grew up from it [the severed genitals of the Phrygian god Agdistis] an almond-tree with its fruit ripe, and [Nana] a daughter of the river Sangarios, they say, took the fruit and laid it in her bosom, when it at once disappeared, but she was with child [Attis]."

Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 11. 37 ff (trans. Way) (Greek epic C4th A.D.) :
"Hippomedon [a Trojan ally], Hippasos' bold son, whom Okyrhoe (Ocyrhoe) the Nymphe had borne beside Sangarios' river-flow."

Nonnus, Dionysiaca 12. 123 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"[Dionysos mourned the death of his beloved Ampelos :] Before the unsmiling countenance of Dionysos, full of love and piteous pining, the reedy Lydian Hermos (Hermus) held up his course, and his fastrolling waves which poured on with weatherbeaten throb--he cared no more to flow; Paktolos (Pactolus) yellow as saffron with the wealth deep under his flood, stayed his water in mourning, like the image of a sorrowful man; Sangarios (Sangarius) the Phrygian stream, in honour of the dead, checked back the course of his banked fountains."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Hesiod, Theogony - Greek Epic C8th - 7th B.C.
• Apollodorus, The Library - Greek Mythography C2nd A.D.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.
• Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy - Greek Epic C4th A.D.
• Nonnus, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.

ROMAN

• Ovid, Fasti - Latin Poetry C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.