Agave

Family: Danaid · Role: princess · First appears: Apollodorus, Library 1.2

🌐 Also appears in: The Metamorphoses of Ovid (as Agave) · Greek Tragedy — The Same Myth, Three Voices (as Agave)

Agave is a Danaid princess. In Apollodorus, Library 1.2, she is named among the Nereids born to Nereus and Doris. In Library 2.1, she was assigned in marriage to Lycus; in Library 3.4, she is listed as a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, alongside her siblings Autonoe, Ino, Semele, and Polydorus. She was married to Echion.

In Library 3.4, Cadmus and Harmonia’s children include Agave and Pentheus’s future mother. In Library 3.5, Pentheus, whom Agave bore to Echion, succeeded Cadmus in the kingdom and tried to stop the Bacchanals. At Cithaeron, while spying on them, Agave, maddened by Dionysus, tore Pentheus limb from limb, believing him to be a wild beast.

Relationship record

Life events

• Cadmus and Harmonia had four daughters and a son, Polydorus.(Apollodorus, Library 3.4)
  • With: Cadmus Autonoe Ino Semele Polydorus
  • “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• Agave, maddened by Dionysus, tore Pentheus limb from limb.(Apollodorus, Library 3.5 · 📍 Cithaeron)
  • With: Dionysus Pentheus
  • “And coming to Cithaeron to spy on the Bacchanals, he was torn limb from limb by his mother Agave in a fit of madness”

Apollodorus, Library 1.2

• parent: Nereus “To Nereus and Doris were born the Nereids, whose names are Cymothoe, Spio, Glauconome, Nausithoe, Halie, Erato, Sao, Amphitrite, Eunice, Thetis, Eulimene, Agave”
• parent: Doris “To Nereus and Doris were born the Nereids, whose names are Cymothoe, Spio, Glauconome, Nausithoe, Halie, Erato, Sao, Amphitrite, Eunice, Thetis, Eulimene, Agave”

Apollodorus, Library 2.1

• married with Lycus “Busiris, Enceladus, Lycus, and Daiphron obtained by lot the daughters that had been borne to Danaus by Europe , to wit, Automate, Amymone, Agave, and Scaea.”

Apollodorus, Library 3.4

• parent: Cadmus “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• siblings with Autonoe “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• siblings with Ino “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• siblings with Semele “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• siblings with Polydorus “And to Cadmus were born daughters, Autonoe, Ino, Semele, Agave, and a son Polydorus.”
• married with Echion “Ino was married to Athamas, Autonoe to Aristaeus, and Agave to Echion.”

Apollodorus, Library 3.5

• child: Pentheus (Agave is Pentheus's mother.) “But Pentheus, whom Agave bore to Echion, had succeeded Cadmus in the kingdom, and he attempted to put a stop to these proceedings.”
• enemies with Pentheus “And coming to Cithaeron to spy on the Bacchanals, he was torn limb from limb by his mother Agave in a fit of madness; for she thought he was a wild beast.”

Hesiod, Theogony 869-975

• parent: Harmonia “bare to Cadmus Ino and Semele and fair-cheeked Agave”

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Extracted from the original text of Greek Mythology. Made with Rho MD.