Aegina
nymphA river nymph abducted by Zeus and brought to the island that bears her name.
The Myth
Aegina was a daughter of the river god Asopus, renowned for her beauty among the nymphs of the Greek waterways. Zeus, struck by her grace, carried her off to a deserted island in the Saronic Gulf. Asopus searched desperately for his daughter, and when the informer Sisyphus revealed the truth, the river god pursued Zeus himself. Zeus drove him back with thunderbolts, and to this day the river Asopus is said to carry charred coals in its bed from that encounter.
On the island, Aegina bore Zeus a son named Aeacus, who grew to become one of the most just men in all of Greece. The island, previously called Oenone, was renamed Aegina in her honour. But Aeacus found himself ruler of an empty land. He prayed to his father for companions, and Zeus transformed the island's ants into people — the Myrmidons, who would later follow Achilles to Troy. Aegina's legacy thus stretches from a lonely island to the battlefields of the Trojan War, all through the chain of her abduction and her son's prayers.
Symbols
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth:
Explore Further
Metope
nymphA river nymph, daughter of the river Ladon, who married the river god Asopus and bore him twenty...
Aeacus
heroAeacus was the most pious mortal of his age, whose prayers could end drought and whose justice...
Myrmidons
conceptThe ant-born warrior people of Phthia led by Achilles to Troy, famed for their discipline and...
Sisyphus
heroThe cunning king of Corinth who cheated death twice, only to be condemned to an eternity of futile...
Asopus
godRiver god of the Asopus in Boeotia, father of many nymphs.
Oenone
nymphMountain nymph of Mount Ida who was Paris's first wife before Helen.
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Achilles (Wrath)
heroThe swift-footed son of Peleus and Thetis whose wrath drives the Iliad and whose choice between...
Sisyphus (King)
heroSisyphus was the craftiest mortal who ever lived — he cheated Death twice before Zeus condemned him...
Sisyphus (Punishment)
heroCleverest of mortals who cheated death twice and was condemned to push a boulder uphill in Tartarus...
Trojan Horse
conceptThe hollow wooden horse used by the Greeks to infiltrate and destroy Troy. Devised by Odysseus, it...
Trojan War
conceptThe Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek...