Alpheus

Greek mythology

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association with Arethusa

  • Silver tetradrachm from Syracuse, Italy, signed by the engraver Cimon above the headband of the nymph Arethusa, c. 410 bc. In the British Museum. Diameter 28 mm.
    In Arethusa

    The river god Alpheus fell in love with Arethusa, who was in the retinue of Artemis. Arethusa fled to Ortygia, where she was changed into a spring. Alpheus, however, made his way beneath the sea and united his waters with those of the spring. According to Ovid’s Metamorphoses,…

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namesake of Alpheus River

  • In Alpheus River

    …river god of the Peloponnese, Alpheus, whose waters were said to pass beneath the Ionian Sea and rise again in the fountain of Arethusa near Syracuse, Sicily. The legend may have been inspired by the fact that the river disappears several times into the limestone Arcadian mountains and reemerges after…

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