Tmolus
From Free net encyclopedia
In Greek mythology, Tmolus was a mountain god and husband to Omphale (but see below). He judged the musical contest between Pan and Apollo.
Mount Tmolus, of which Tmolus was the namesake, lies in Lydia, or Phrygia (modern-day Turkey), between Sardis and Hypaepae.
The geography of Tmolus and the contest between Pan and Apollo are mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses, XI.168.
There may actually be two different personages named Tmolus, both mythical kings of Lydia. The first, a son of Sipylus and Chthonia, was the husband of Plouto and stepfather of Tantalus. The second Tmolus, a son of Ares and Theogone, lived later and was the husband of Omphale. This Tmolus, son of Ares, was gored to death by a bull on the mountain that bears his name; his widow, Omphale, thereby became Queen of Lydia.
References
- Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 11, tr. Arthur Golding. http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/ovid11.htm