Melissa
- A nymph who is said to have invented the art of keeping bees, Col. 9, 2, 3.—
- II Daughter of the Cretan king Melissus, who, together with her sister Amalthea, fed Jupiter with goats’ milk, Lact. 1, 22, 19 sq
(Μέλισσα), that is, the soother or propitiator (from μελισσω or μειλίσσω), occurs:
1. As the name of a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey, and from whom bees were believed to have received their name, μέλισσαι (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. 4.104.) Bees seem to have been the symbol of nymphs, whence they themselves are sometimes called Melissae, and are sometimes said to have been metamorphosed into bees. (Schol. ad Pind. 1. c. ; Hesych. s. v. Ὀροδεμνίαδες; Columell. 9.2; Schol. (ad Theocrit. 3.13.) Hence also nymphs in the form of bees are said to have guided the colonists that went to Ephesus (Philostr. Icon. 2.8) ; and the nymphs who nursed the infant Zeus are called Melissae, or Meliae. (Ant. Lib. 19; Callim. Hymn. in Jov. 47; Apollod. 1.1.3.)
2. From the nymphs the name Melissae was transferred to priestesses in general, but more especially to those of Demeter (Schol. (ad Pind. l.c.; Callim. Hymn. in Apoll. 110; Hesych. s. v. Μελισσαι), Persephone (Schol. (ad Theocrit. 15.94), and to the priestess of the Delphian Apollo. (Pind. P. 4.106; Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 72.) According to the scholiasts of Pindar and Euripides, priestesses received the name Melissae from the purity of the bee. Comp. a story about the origin of bees in Serv. ad Aen. 1.434.
3. Melissa is also a surname of Artemis as the goddess of the moon, in which capacity she alleviates the suffering of women in childbed. (Porphyr. De Antr. Nymp,. p. 261.)
4. A daughter of Epidamnus, became by Poseidon the mother of Dyrrhachius, from whom the town of Dyrrhachium derived its name. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Δυῥῥάχιον.) [L.S]
(Μέλισσα), the wife of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. She was the daughter of Procles, tyrant of Epidaurus, and Eristheneia; and, according to Diogenes Laertius (1.94), was called Lysis before her marriage, and received the name Melissa from Periander. She bore two sons, Cypselus and Lycophron, and her husband was passionately attached to her; but in a fit of jealousy, produced by the slanderous tales of some courtesans, he killed her in a barbarous manner. [Periander.] From the story of the appearance of the shade of Melissa to the ambassadors sent by Periander to consult the oracle of the dead among the Thesprotians, and the mode in which Periander sought to appease her, we may gather that he sought to still his remorse by the rites of a dark and barbarous superstition: he took a horrible revenge on those who had instigated him to the murder of his wife. (Hdt. 3.50, 5.92; Athen. 13.589, f.; D. L. 1.94; Plut. Sept. Sap. Conv. p. 146.) Pausanias (2.28.8) mentions a monument in memory of Melissa, near Epidaurus. [C.P.M]
(Μέλισσα). (1) A nymph who was said to have discovered the use of honey, and from whom bees were believed to have received their name (μέλισσαι). There can be no doubt, however, that her name really came from μέλι, “honey,” and was hence given to nymphs. The name was commonly given to priestesses of Demeter, Persephoné, Apollo, and Artemis.
(2) The wife of Periander and daughter of Procles. She was slain by her husband.
(3) A village of Phrygia Magna containing the tomb of Alcibiades, of whom the emperor Hadrian caused a marble statue to be erected there.
- Hdt. 3.50, Hdt. 5.92
- her tomb: Paus. 2.28.8