Busiris (king of Egypt)

In Greek mythology, Busiris (Ancient Greek: Βούσιρις) was an Egyptian king of the central Delta who was killed by Heracles.

Biography Isocrates, in his declamation Busiris, recounts "the false tale of Heracles and Busiris" (11.30–11.40), which was a comic subject represented almost entirely in the repertory of early 5th century BC Athenian vase-painters:And in Magna Graecia, according to Livingstone, who notes that there are no vase-paintings of this subject in mainland Greece aside from Athens; for another comic episode, compare the mytheme of Heracles and the Cercopes. the theme has a narrow narrative range, according to Niall Livingstone: Heracles being led to sacrifice; his escape; the killing of Busiris; the rout of his entourage.Livingstone 2001:87.

In Isocrates's rhetorical use of a theme that he considers unworthy of serious treatment,Niall Livingstone surveys the sketchy previous literary references. the villainous king of Egypt named Busiris, a son of Poseidon and LibyaAccording to a fragment of Pherecydes; In Isocates, Busiris 10, a genealogy that adds Libye for mother may be invented, Niall Livingstone suggests (2001:86), as part of Isocrates's mock encomium. or Lysianassa,Apollodorus, 2.5.11 was the ancient founder of Egyptian civilization, with an imagined "model constitution" that Isocrates sets up as a parodic contrast to the Republic by Plato. Otherwise, Busiris's mother was Anippe, daughter of the river-god Nilus.Plutarch, Parallela minora 38 with Agatho the Samian as the authority The monstrous Busiris sacrificed all visitors to his gods. Heracles defied Busiris, broke out of his shackles at the last minute, and killed him. Another person who doubted the story of Busiris was Eratosthenes, who said that there was no such king as Busiris, and says that it simply smears Egyptians for being protective of their borders, even though the Carthaginians did the same, and that the whole story was made up to insult the city which bears the name Busiris.

In Diodorus Siculus, Busiris appears as the founder of the line of kings at Thebes, which historically would have been the 11th Dynasty.

According to Hyginus, Busiris was the father of Melite, who became the mother of Metus by her grandfather Poseidon.

This part of the mythology concerning Herakles appears to have origins in a corruption of an Egyptian myth concerning Osiris's sacrifice by Set, and subsequent resurrection (see Legend of Osiris and Isis).

In literature The mythical king Busiris appears as the leader of a revolt in Lucian's True History (2.23), written in the 2nd century CE.

In Paradise Lost, John Milton uses "Busiris" as the name of the Pharaoh of the Exodus, which suggests a comparison between Heracles's escape and the Israelites' escape from slavery.John Milton, Paradise Lost, I.306-307, in The Complete Poetry of John Milton, ed. John T. Shawcross, rev. ed. (New York: Doubleday, 1971), 259: "whose waves orethrew / Busiris and his Memphian Chivalry."

In Don Quixote (Part II, Chapter LX) the bandit Roque Guinart refers to himself as "not some cruel Osiris," meaning "Busiris."

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References Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website. Diodorus Siculus, The Library of History translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Twelve volumes. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989. Vol. 3. Books 4.59–8. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica. Vol 1-2. Immanel Bekker. Ludwig Dindorf. Friedrich Vogel. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1888–1890. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus, Moralia with an English Translation by Frank Cole Babbitt. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. London. William Heinemann Ltd. 1936. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.

Busiris (king of Egypt)

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