Butes

• Son of Amycus, king of the Bebrycians, slain by Dares at the tomb of Hector, Verg. A. 5, 372.—
• II An Argonaut, son of Teleon and Zeuxippe, Hyg. Fab. 14.—
• III Son of the Athenian Pallas, sent with Cephalus to Aeacus, Ov. M. 7, 500.—
• IV An armor-bearer of Anchises, Verg. A. 9, 647 sqq.—
• V A Trojan, Verg. A. 11, 690 sqq.

(Βούτης).

1. A son of Boreas, a Thracian, was hostile towards his step-brother Lycurgus, and therefore compelled by his father to emigrate. He accordingly went with a band of colonists to the island of Strongyle, afterwards called Naxos. But as he and his companions had no women, they made predatory excursions, and also came to Thessaly, where they carried off the women who were just celebrating a festival of Dionysus. Butes himself took Coronis; but she invoked Dionysus, who struck Butes with madness, so that he threw himself into a well. (Diod. 5.50.)

2. A son of Teleon and Zeuxippe. Others call his father Pandion or Amycus. He is renowned as an Athenian shepherd, ploughman, warrior, and an Argonaut. (Apollod. 1.9. §§ 16, 25, 3.14.8, 15.1.) After the death of Pandion, he obtained the office of priest of Athena and the Erechtheian Poseidon. The Attic family of the Butadae or Etcobutadae derived their origin from him, and in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis there was an altar dedicated to Butes, and the walls were decorated with paintings representing scenes from the history of the family of the Butadae. (Paus. 1.26.6; Harpocrat., Etym. M., Hesych. sub voce Orph. Arg. 138; V. Fl. 1.394; Hyg. Fab. 14.) The Argonaut Butes is also called a son of Poseidon (Eustath. ad Hom. 13.43); and it is said, that when the Argonauts passed by the Sirens, Orpheus commenced a song to counteract the influence of the Sirens, but that Butes alone leaped into the sea. Aphrodite, however, saved him, and carried him to Lilybaeum, where she became by him the mother of Eryx. (Apollod. 1.9.25; Serv. ad Aen. 1.574, 5.24.) Diodorus (4.83), on the other hand, regards this Butes as one of the native kings of Sicily.

There are at least four more mythical persons of this name, respecting whom nothing of interest can be said. (Ov. Met. 7.500; Diod. 5.59; Verg. A. 11.690, &c., 9.646. &c.) [L.S]

(Βούτης). (1) A Thracian, the son of Boreas. His brother Lycurgus, whose life he had attempted, banished him, and he settled on the island of Strongylé or Naxos. Finding here no wives for himself and his companions, he carried off some women from Thessaly, while they were celebrating a sacrifice to Dionysus. One of these, Coronis, whom he had forced to be his wife, prayed to Dionysus for vengeance. The god drove him mad, and he threw himself into a well.

(2) An Athenian hero, son of the Athenian Pandion and Zeuxippé. A tiller of the soil, and a neat-herd, he was a priest of Athené, the goddess of the stronghold, and of Poseidon Erechthens, and thus ancestor of the priestly caste of the Butadae and Eteobutadae. He shared an altar in the Erechtheum with Poseidon and Hephaestus. The later story represented him as the son of Teleon and Zeuxippé, and as taking part in the expedition of the Argonauts.

(3) A descendant of Amycus, king of the Bebryces. He was one of the Argonants, and on passing the island of the Sirens leaped overboard in order to swim to it, but was caught up by Aphrodité, who conveyed him to Lilybaeum in Sicily. Here she became by him the mother of Eryx (q.v.). He was renowned as a boxer.

(4) An armourbearer of Anchises, and afterwards of Ascanius. Apollo assumed his form when he descended from heaven to encourage Ascanius in battle. Butes was killed by Turnus. See Verg. Aen. ix. 647 foll.