Chryse
A small sacred island near Lemnos associated with Philoctetes, who was bitten by a serpent at its altar.
The Story of Chryse
On the tiny island of Chryse — "the golden" — stood an ancient altar sacred to the goddess Chryse. When the Greek fleet stopped there on the way to Troy, Philoctetes approached the altar and was bitten by a guardian serpent. The wound would not heal and produced an unbearable stench; the Greeks, unable to tolerate his cries of pain and the smell, abandoned him on Lemnos. He remained there alone for ten years until the Greeks received a prophecy that Troy could not be taken without the bow of Heracles, which Philoctetes possessed.
Parents
{Chryse (goddess),Philoctetes (bitten here)}
Children
{}
Symbols
Fun Fact
The island of Chryse was said to have later sunk beneath the sea — ancient writers noted that by their time it had entirely disappeared, which they took as divine retribution.
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