Butes

🗡 heroΒούτης

Beekeeping, Resistance, Sirens

Argonaut and Athenian hero who alone leaped toward the Sirens and was saved by Aphrodite.‍‍‍‍‍‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‍‌‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‌‍

The Legend of Butes

Butes was an Athenian hero, son of Teleon, and one of the Argonauts who sailed with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.‌‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‍‌‍‌‌‌ He is known primarily for a single dramatic act: when the Argonauts passed the island of the Sirens, Orpheus countered the creatures' song with his own music, keeping most of the crew at their oars. But Butes alone could not resist. He leaped from the ship and began swimming toward the Sirens. Aphrodite, for reasons the sources do not entirely explain, snatched him away and set him down at Lilybaeum in Sicily, where he became her lover and fathered the Sicilian hero Eryx. In the Athenian tradition, Butes was also a legendary priest of Poseidon and Athena on the Acropolis, an ancestor of the priestly clan Butadae, and associated with the origins of Athenian beekeeping. The two Butes figures — Argonaut and Athenian priest — may derive from the same root tradition.

Parents

Teleon (father)

Children

Eryx (by Aphrodite)

Symbols

beehiveoarsea

Fun Fact

Butes was the only Argonaut to actually leap toward the Sirens — his restraint snapped where everyone else's held, and only Aphrodite's intervention saved him.