RHENE
Greek Name
Ρηνη
Transliteration
Rhênê
Latin Spelling
Rhene
Translation
Sheep, Lamb (rhên)
RHENE was an Epimelid-nymph of Mount Saon on the north Aegean island of Samothrake. She was loved by the god Hermes and bore him a son named Saon, first king of Samothrake and eponym of Mount Saon--site of the island's celebrated Mysteries. According to some Saon was instead a son of Zeus by an unnamed island nymph.
Rhene's name means "Sheep" or "Lamb" from the Greek word rhên. She was perhaps identified with the Pleiad Elektra and her son Saon with Elektra's son Iasion.
PARENTS
Perhaps the daughter of a mainland RIVER-GOD
OFFSPRING
[1.1] SAON (Rhene by Hermes) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.1)
[1.2] SAON (unnamed Nymphe by Zeus) (Diodorus Siculus 5.48.1)
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 5. 48. 1 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) :
"One of the inhabitants of the island [of Samothrake], a certain Saon, who was a son, as some say, of Zeus and a Nymphe, but, according to others, of Hermes and Rhene, gathered into one body the peoples who were dwelling in scattered habitations and established laws for them."
SOURCES
GREEK
- Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History - Greek History C1st B.C.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.