Coronis
Role: goddess · First appears: Book 2 · Chapter 11
At Titane, Coronis’s statue was carried into Athene’s temple. Later, on Epidaurian soil, she gave birth to Æsculapius and exposed him on the mountain called Titthion. While pregnant, she had lain with Ischys, and Artemis killed her for betraying Apollo; as the funeral pyre was lit, Hermes rescued Æsculapius from the flames.
Relationship record
Life events
- Coronis’s statue is carried into Athene’s temple.(Book 2 · Chapter 12 · 📍 Titane)
- “And at Titane there is also a temple of Athene, into which they carry the statue of Coronis.”
- Coronis gave birth to Æsculapius on Epidaurian soil and exposed him on the mountain.(Book 2 · Chapter 26 · 📍 Epidaurus)
- With: Apollo Æsculapius
- “And when she bore her child on Epidaurian soil, she exposed it on the mountain called in our day Titthion”
- Artemis killed Coronis for betraying Apollo, while Hermes rescued Æsculapius from the flames.(Book 2 · Chapter 26)
- With: Ischys Artemis Hermes Apollo Æsculapius
- “she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness to Apollo, and when the funeral pyre was already lighted Hermes is said to have plucked the child from the flame”
Book 2 · Chapter 11
- with Athene (Coronis is taken to Athene's temple and honoured there.) “but when bull or lamb or pig are sacrificed to the goddess, then they take Coronis to the temple of Athene and honour her there.”
Book 2 · Chapter 12
- with Athene (Coronis's statue is carried into Athene's temple.) “And at Titane there is also a temple of Athene, into which they carry the statue of Coronis.”
Book 2 · Chapter 26
- child: Æsculapius (This is a disputed tradition; another passage identifies Coronis as Æsculapius's mother.) “which makes Æsculapius the son of Arsinoe, the daughter of Leucippus. For when Apollophanes the Arcadian went to Delphi and enquired of the god, whether Æsculapius was the son of Arsinoe”
- with Ischys (Ischys and Coronis had an affair.) “Coronis, when pregnant with Æsculapius, lay with Ischys the son of Elatus”
- with Apollo (Coronis is described as unfaithful to Apollo.) “and that she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness to Apollo”
- with Artemis (Artemis killed Coronis.) “she was put to death by Artemis who thus punished her unfaithfulness to Apollo”
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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.