In Greek mythology and folklore, Chelone () is an insolent nymph who lived by a running river. Chelone is notable for her transformation myth into a tortoise, an animal that lives in the shell it constantly carries, after refusing to leave her house to attend Zeus' wedding. The myth is known through the works of several authors, including Aesop, and probably originated from one of his fables.
Etymology The noun is the ancient Greek word for both the land tortoise and the sea turtle. Traditionally the word is considered to derive from an Indo-European root *gʰel(H)-ewH- denoting turtles and tortoises, however it has also been suggested that it must be a loanword from a non-Indo-European language, a theory that Beekes supports.
Mythology According to Servius, the myth goes that when all the gods, men, and animals were invited by the divine messenger Hermes to attend the wedding of the king and queen of the gods, Zeus and Hera, the river-dwelling nymph Chelone alone remained at home, to show her disregard of the solemnity. But Hermes then descended from Mount Olympus, threw Chelone's house, which stood on the bank of a river, together with the nymph, into the water and transformed her into a lazy tortoise, who had henceforth to carry her house on her back.Servius ad Virgil, Aeneid 1.505 The Vatican Mythographers recorded the same version.
Aesop's fable Zeus and the Tortoise follows the same premise, where the king of the gods invited all the animals to his wedding but the tortoise never arrived. When asked why, her excuse was that she preferred her own home, so Zeus made her carry her house about forever after in punishment.Aesop, Fables 508
According to the traveller Pausanias, the mountain near Mount Cyllene in which Hermes fashioned a harp out of a tortoise's shell was called Chelydorea, meaning "flayed tortoise".Pausanias 8.17.5
Interpretation Servius' account was probably developed from the Aesopic fable and was likely intended for children.
See also
Myrina Myrmex Arsinoe Rhodopis and Euthynicus
Notes
References
Online version at Perseus.tufts project. Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Online version at the Perseus.tufts library.
External links
CHELONE from the Theoi Project