Phoenix had been blinded. . . seduced her: in Homer’s account, Il. 9. 447 ff., he actually sleeps with her, at the instigation of his mother (who is jealous of the concubine); he has to go into exile, but is not blinded.
Patroclos had killed a boy: cf. Il. 23. 84 ff.
Achilles had become his lover: this is never stated by Homer; see also Plato Symp. 180a. Patroclos was older than Achilles ( Il. 11. 787).
the Erechtheid Sea: not a sea in the literal sense, but a sea-water well in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis, from which the sound of waves could be heard to rise when the south wind was blowing (see P. 1. 26. 6, with Hdt. 8. 55). This symbolic sea, and the mark of his trident in the rock (which can still be seen), were the evidence that Poseidon produced to support his claim (P. 1. 26. 6).
the Pandroseion: an enclosure near the Erechtheum. The olive tree survived until Roman times (after miraculously regrowing when the Persians set fire to Athens, P. 1. 27. 2, Hdt. 8. 55).
flooded the Thriasian plain: to the north-west of the city. Not a permanent flood (although he wanted it to be, until Zeus sent Hermes to forbid it, Hyg. 164).
Agraulos, the daughter of Actaios: her name appears in the form Aglauros elsewhere. Actaios was presumably invented to explain why Attica was previously called Acte (see above); Pausanias (1. 2. 6) records a tradition that he was the first king of Attica and that Cecrops succeeded to the throne by marrying his daughter.
was tried on the Areiopagos: the Areiopagos, the traditional Athenian high court which dealt especially with cases involving blood-guilt, met on the place of that name to the north-west of the Acropolis. The present story explains its name (the ‘Hill of Ares’) and its prime function. Because his victim was trying to rape a close relative, and was caught in the act, Ares’ defence would have been acceptable in classical Athens.
Herse . . . Phaethon: in Theog. 984 ff., Dawn bears Memnon and Emathion to Tithonos (as on p. 124), and Phaethon to Cephalos. On p. 44 this Cephalos was said to be a son of Deion; but it seems likely that Cephalos son of Deion, the hunter and husband of Procris, p. 134, was originally not the same figure as the son of Hermes associated with Dawn. In Theog. 986 ff. this Phaethon is abducted by Aphrodite and made guardian of one of her temples; he should not be identified with the more famous son of the Sun who borrowed his father’s chariot and was struck by Zeus with a thunderbolt when he was unable to control the horses and almost set the earth on fire, DS 5. 23, Ov. Met. 2. 19 ff.
slept with foreigners: presumably a reference to temple prostitution in connection with the cult of Aphrodite-Astarte. The cause of Aphrodite’s anger (perhaps neglect of her cult) is not recorded. Cinyras was associated with the cult of Paphian Aphrodite in Cyprus (Pind. Pyth. 2. 15 ff., Tacitus Hist. 2. 3).
a son of Theias: the following story of incest between father and daughter is most generally favoured to explain Adonis’ birth, whether the king in question is called Theias (cf. AL 34) or Cinyras (e.g. Hyg. 58, where Cinyras is described as the king of the Assyrians; cf. Ov. Met. 10. 298 ff.). As we see in Ovid, his daughter is sometimes called Myrrha (in Greek, Smyrnawas an alternative word for myrrh).
born to Hephaistos and Athene: it will be seen that this is a loose expression, as he is born from the earth as a son of Hephaistos. The following story allows him to be earthborn (in a peculiar way) and yet have a special connection with Athene although she is a virgin goddess.
with a piece of wool: this was introduced into the story for etymological reasons, to explain Erichthonios’ name by his birth from the ground, chthon, when the wool, erion, fell on it (as in Et. Magn.;others pointed to the struggle, eris, between Athene and Hephaistos, e.g. Hyg. 166).
a snake: placed there by Athene to guard him (cf. Eur. Ion. 21–3, where there are two snakes, and VM 2. 37); but the serpent is sometimes identified with the earthborn Erichthonios himself (Hyg. PA13; in Hyg. 166, he is half serpent like Cecrops).
her sanctuary: the Erechtheum on the Acropolis.
the wooden image of Athene: a primitive olive-wood statue (xoanon), comparable to the Palladion at Troy, p. 123 (and said by some to have fallen from the sky as the Palladion did, P. 1. 26. 7).
Panathenaia: the great summer festival celebrated in honour of Athene as patroness of the city. There was a procession to the Parthenon (as depicted in its frieze), bulls were sacrificed, and a new robe was offered to the enormous statue of Athene in the temple.
Demeter . . . at Eleusis: see p. 33. Eleusis was independent until the seventh century. Demeter introduced corn, Dionysos wine.
Labdacos: king of Thebes, see p. 103, in Boeotia, which lay on Attica’s northern border; this is the only mythical tale associated with his brief reign.
hid her away in the country: this is followed by a problematic phrase omitted in the translation, ‘and then, after marrying Philomela, he went to bed with her’. There is no suggestion in any surviving source that Tereus married Philomela, nor is it implied elsewhere in the present account. On the contrary, he sleeps with her secretly, and Procne remains his wife. It was said that Tereus had travelled to Athens to fetch Philomela because her sister wanted to see her, and he raped her on the journey back (e.g. VM 1. 8).
reached Daulis in Phocis: Phocis lay to the west of Boeotia and Attica. Tereus was commonly said to have been king of Daulis (Thuc. 2. 29, P. 1. 41. 8, etc.), but here he lives far to the north in Thrace (as in Hyg. 45) and pursues the sisters to Daulis. It was generally accepted that he was of Thracian descent.
Philomela a swallow: her lack of a tongue explains the swallow’s inarticulate cries; her identification with the nightingale in medieval and modern poetry is the result of a confusion in the Latin tradition (see Hyg. 45).
Poseidon Erechtheus: following Heyne’s emendation (from Erichthoniou);a cult of this name is well attested for Athens.
went to bed with Pteleon: in all other versions, Cephalos tests her virtue, causing her to flee when found wanting. He returns in disguise after travelling abroad for eight years, and offers her some finery to sleep with him (Pherecydes in sc. Od. 11. 321), or he tells a servant to offer her gold (AL 41), or Dawn changes his form to allow him to test her (Hyg. 189). It is possible that this Pteleon, who is otherwise unknown but is presumably the eponym of the Attic deme of Ptelea, may have been acting for Cephalos like the servant in AL. See also Ov. Met. 7. 690 ff.