Euphemus in Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

 was a son of Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

, an Argonaut

Argonaut

Argonaut may refer to:* Argonaut , a kind of octopus in the genus Argonauta* Jason and the Argonauts, sailors in Greek mythology* Argonauts of Saint Nicholas, a military order in Naples...

 connected with the legend of the foundation of Cyrene

Cyrene

Cyrene may refer to:* Cyrene , a Greek mythological figure* Cyrene, Libya, an ancient Greek colony in North Africa* USS Cyrene , a motor torpedo boat tender* 133 Cyrene, an asteroid...

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Euphemus is also a character mentioned in in Book II of the Iliad

Iliad

The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...

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Greek mythology

In Greek classical mythology, Euphemus is a son of Poseidon who joins the Argonauts. Pindar

Pindar

Pindar , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet. Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian described him as "by far the greatest of the nine lyric poets, in virtue of his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich...

, in the Pythian Odes (Medea's song, Pythian 4.20ff), writes that he is given a clod of earth with instructions to throw it into the sea at Taenarum by which his descendants would then rule over Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

. However, the clod is washed overboard to become Thera and Libya is colonized from that island by a later generation of descendants of Euphemus.

The Iliad

In the Iliad, Homer sings of Euphemus, a leader of the Cicones

Cicones

The Cicones, Ciconians or Kikonians, were a Homeric Thracian tribe, whose stronghold in the time of Odysseus was the town of Ismara , located at the foot of mount Ismara, on the south coast of Thrace . They are mentioned in book two of the Iliad as having joined the war on the side of the Trojans,...

, an European ally of the Trojans

Troy

Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...

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