Lampetia
Daughter of Helios who guarded sacred cattle on Thrinacia.
Lampetia, also spelled Lampetie, was a daughter of the sun god Helios in Greek mythology. She and her sister Phaethusa were entrusted with guarding their father's prized herds of cattle and sheep on the island of Thrinacia, identified as Sicily. Lampetia is notable for wielding an orichalcum staff while herding the cattle.
Quick Facts
- Deity of
- Shepherdess of the Oxen of the Sun
- Abode
- Thrinacia (Sicily)
- Father
- Helios
- Mother
- Neaera or Clymene
- Siblings
- Phaethusa
- Merope
- Helie
- Aegle
- Phoebe
- Aetherie
- and Dioxippe
- Children
- Machaon
- Podaleirius
- Iaso
- Panacea
- and Aegle
Facts from the source article.
Family
Lampetia is most often described as a daughter of Helios and the minor goddess or nymph Neaera, with one younger sister named Phaethusa. She had many half-siblings through her father. In Hermippus' Trimeters, Lampetia bore five children by Asclepius: Machaon, Podaleirius, Iaso, Panacea, and Aegle.
Mythology
As children, Lampetia and Phaethusa were sent by Neaera to Thrinacia (identified as Sicily) to guard Helios' prized herd of cattle and sheep, which had white coats and golden horns and did not age or breed. In Homer's Odyssey, Odysseus and his men landed on Thrinacia; after a storm trapped them, the starving crew killed and ate some sacred cattle. Lampetia and Phaethusa reported this to Helios, who demanded punishment from Zeus, and Zeus later struck the men's ship with lightning, killing all but Odysseus. In versions where Lampetia is a Heliade and sister of Phaethon, she and Phaethusa were transformed into poplar or alder trees while mourning his death, their tears crystallizing into amber. However, in the Argonautica, set after Phaethon's death, Lampetia and Phaethusa are still alive and tending the herds.
More in Metamorphoses Into Trees in Greek Mythology
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