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<p>[QUOTE="Sulla80, post: 26537243, member: 99456"][ATTACH=full]1691311[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>The Siren Parthenope</b> putting out the fire of Vesuvius with the water from her breasts. A fountain in Naples: <i>Fontana della Spinacorona</i> restored in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Pencil sketch (AI generated by the author).</p><p><br /></p><p>Although ancient authors do not associate a "foundation story" with Parthenope, they do place her consistently at the city’s origins as a protector of the city who was honored with special rituals or festivals.</p><p><br /></p><p>The earliest literary link is Lycophron (Alexandra 720–726), whose dense allusion associates Parthenope with the Bay of Naples.</p><blockquote><blockquote><p>“She (the Siren) who dwelt around Parthenope,</p><p>by the southern wet rocks washed by the wild waves-</p><p>there she lies by the shores</p><p>of the Italian land,</p><p>dead, her body licked by the laments</p><p>and the silver-bearing ferryman of the waters.”</p></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>The clearest ancient testimony comes from <b>Strabo</b>: Neapolis was a Chalcidian/Cumaean foundation, and in his day the city still showed a monument (tomb) of Parthenope and celebrated, by oracle, a festival in her honor - a civic rite that functioned like a foundation cult (<a href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/5d*.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/5d*.html" rel="nofollow">Geography 5.4.7</a>).</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Virgil </b>uses Parthenope as a poetic name for Naples "me Parthenope dulcis alebat"</p><p><br /></p><blockquote><blockquote><p>"Thus I sang of the tending of fields and flocks and trees, while great Caesar hurled wars lightnings by high Euphrates and gave statutes among the nations in welcome supremacy, and scaled the path to heaven. Even in that season I, Virgil, nurtured in sweet Parthenope, went in the flowery ways of lowly Quiet : I who once played with shepherd's songs, and in youths hardihood sang thee, O Tityrus, under the covert of spreading beech."</p><p>-<a href="https://archive.org/details/georgicsofvirgil00virgrich/page/110/mode/2up" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://archive.org/details/georgicsofvirgil00virgrich/page/110/mode/2up" rel="nofollow">Virgil Georgics as translated by J W Mackail</a></p></blockquote></blockquote><p><b>Silis Italicus </b>tells of Hannibals attack on Naples. </p><blockquote><blockquote><p>"Parthenope, daughter of Acheloüs, gave the city its famous name. She was one of the Sirens, and her singing long ruled the waves, when her boding voice sang melodious destruction across the water to hapless sailors. The front of the city was defended by the sea, and therefore Hannibal attacked it on the landward side; but all his efforts failed to break open an entrance: he was baffled in the attempt and vainly belaboured the barred gates with the blows of his battering-rams."</p><p>-Silius Italicus, <a href="https://www.loebclassics.com/view/silius_italicus-punica/1934/pb_LCL278.151.xml" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.loebclassics.com/view/silius_italicus-punica/1934/pb_LCL278.151.xml" rel="nofollow">Punica XII</a></p></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><b>Livy</b> recalls an earlier "old city" near the later Neapolis (Palaepolis), emphasizing the area’s multi‑phase settlement rather than a single act of founding.</p><blockquote><blockquote><p>"Palaepolis was situated not far from where Neapolis now stands; the same population inhabited the two towns. They were originally from Cumae, and the Cumaeans trace their origin to Chalcis in Euboea. With the fleet in which they had sailed from their homeland, they became powerful along the coast they occupied, first landing on the islands Aenaria and Pithecusa, and then daring to move their settlement to the mainland. This community, relying both on its own strength and on the unreliable alliance of the Samnites against the Romans - or perhaps trusting in the plague that was reported to have struck Rome - committed many hostile acts against the Romans who had settled in the Campanian and Falernian districts."</p><p>-<a href="https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/livy/liv.8.shtml" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/livy/liv.8.shtml" rel="nofollow">Livy 8.22-23</a> (author's translation)</p></blockquote></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><b>Within this framework, Parthenope operates as a mythic foundress: </b>not a human<i> oikistēs</i> recorded by name, but a heroized patron whose tomb and festival legitimized the city’s Hellenic pedigree and continuity. Neapolitan coinage reinforces that self‑presentation: the frequent nymph head is widely (though not explicitly in ancient texts) read as Parthenope, while other types (e.g., man‑faced bull) evoke local waters; together they articulate a civic myth of origin in image as Strabo does in words.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Modern or at least post-classical Legends</b></p><p>The founding of Neapolis in historical terms belongs to Cumaean/Chalcidian colonization, and its mythic charter is carried by Parthenope’s tomb and festival, making the Siren the city’s enduring emblem and narrative of beginnings.</p><p><br /></p><p>In the Renaissance & early modern Naples (15th - 17th century), Neapolitan humanists (e.g. Giovanni Pontano, later Giulio Cesare Capaccio) turn Parthenope into a symbolic ancestress of the city, emphasizing that Naples is built "on the tomb of the Siren" and "city on Parthenope’s grave".</p><p><br /></p><p>At least three modern (post-classical) legends are told about Parthenope (<a href="https://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/piazza-sannazaro/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/piazza-sannazaro/" rel="nofollow">ref1</a> & <a href="https://ogcma.byu.edu/Parthenope1.0000_Reid.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://ogcma.byu.edu/Parthenope1.0000_Reid.htm" rel="nofollow">ref2</a> & <a href="https://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/EN/D/D.e8e790c4d9b74391f2d9/P/BLOB%3AID%3D5646/E/pdf?mode=inline" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/EN/D/D.e8e790c4d9b74391f2d9/P/BLOB%3AID%3D5646/E/pdf?mode=inline" rel="nofollow">ref3</a> & <a href="https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/tales-of-naples/myth-of-parthenope-3-stories-of-the-foundation-of-naples" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/tales-of-naples/myth-of-parthenope-3-stories-of-the-foundation-of-naples" rel="nofollow">ref4</a>):</p><ul> <li>A centaur named Vesuvius was in love with Parthenope, daughter of the river god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore, but Zeus was jealous and turned Vesuvius into a volcano and Parthenope into the city of Napoli. This of course accounts for Mount Vesuvius erupting frequently in frustration at being separated from Parthenope.</li> <li>Parthenope was originally a chaste Phrygian girl who infuriated Aphrodite and was turned by the vengeful goddess into a Siren. One of the Sirens, Parthenope leapt into the sea in despair after she and her sisters failed to lure Odysseus and his men to their death. She drowned, and her body was washed ashore in the Bay of Naples. A tomb and monument were dedicated to her there and her name was given to a Greek settlement on the site of the present-day city of Naples and hence the worship of her in this area.</li> <li>Sebeto, the river god, and the beautiful siren Parthenope had a relationship and they gave birth to Sebetide, who along with Telone, generated Ebalo, the future King of Palepolis. When Parthenope died, her body was placed in a tomb at the <a href="https://www.trentaremi.it/en/30/the-naples-of-the-sebeto-river" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.trentaremi.it/en/30/the-naples-of-the-sebeto-river" rel="nofollow">mouth of the Sebeto</a>, at Paleopolis, which then assumed the name of the beautiful siren. (for more on the Sebeto: <a href="http://www.naplesldm.com/sebeto.php" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.naplesldm.com/sebeto.php" rel="nofollow">see here</a>)</li> </ul><p>Oh, I almost forgot, there is a coin that goes with this story - a beautiful didrachm from Neapolis. Sepeithos (the river in Naples which was later called Sebeto is possibly the river god on the reverse, alternatively this is Archeleaus father of Parthenope)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1691313[/ATTACH]</p><p>My latest SullaCoins.com post shares more on the subject:</p><p><a href="https://www.sullacoins.com/post/parthenope-siren-foundress-of-neapolis" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.sullacoins.com/post/parthenope-siren-foundress-of-neapolis" rel="nofollow">https://www.sullacoins.com/post/parthenope-siren-foundress-of-neapolis</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b><font size="5">Post your coins of Neapolis - fountains from Naples - other stories about Parthenope - or anything else the you find interesting or entertaining.</font></b>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Sulla80, post: 26537243, member: 99456"][ATTACH=full]1691311[/ATTACH] [B]The Siren Parthenope[/B] putting out the fire of Vesuvius with the water from her breasts. A fountain in Naples: [I]Fontana della Spinacorona[/I] restored in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Pencil sketch (AI generated by the author). Although ancient authors do not associate a "foundation story" with Parthenope, they do place her consistently at the city’s origins as a protector of the city who was honored with special rituals or festivals. The earliest literary link is Lycophron (Alexandra 720–726), whose dense allusion associates Parthenope with the Bay of Naples. [INDENT][INDENT]“She (the Siren) who dwelt around Parthenope, by the southern wet rocks washed by the wild waves- there she lies by the shores of the Italian land, dead, her body licked by the laments and the silver-bearing ferryman of the waters.”[/INDENT][/INDENT] The clearest ancient testimony comes from [B]Strabo[/B]: Neapolis was a Chalcidian/Cumaean foundation, and in his day the city still showed a monument (tomb) of Parthenope and celebrated, by oracle, a festival in her honor - a civic rite that functioned like a foundation cult ([URL='https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/5d*.html']Geography 5.4.7[/URL]). [B]Virgil [/B]uses Parthenope as a poetic name for Naples "me Parthenope dulcis alebat" [INDENT][INDENT]"Thus I sang of the tending of fields and flocks and trees, while great Caesar hurled wars lightnings by high Euphrates and gave statutes among the nations in welcome supremacy, and scaled the path to heaven. Even in that season I, Virgil, nurtured in sweet Parthenope, went in the flowery ways of lowly Quiet : I who once played with shepherd's songs, and in youths hardihood sang thee, O Tityrus, under the covert of spreading beech." -[URL='https://archive.org/details/georgicsofvirgil00virgrich/page/110/mode/2up']Virgil Georgics as translated by J W Mackail[/URL][/INDENT][/INDENT] [B]Silis Italicus [/B]tells of Hannibals attack on Naples. [INDENT][INDENT]"Parthenope, daughter of Acheloüs, gave the city its famous name. She was one of the Sirens, and her singing long ruled the waves, when her boding voice sang melodious destruction across the water to hapless sailors. The front of the city was defended by the sea, and therefore Hannibal attacked it on the landward side; but all his efforts failed to break open an entrance: he was baffled in the attempt and vainly belaboured the barred gates with the blows of his battering-rams." -Silius Italicus, [URL='https://www.loebclassics.com/view/silius_italicus-punica/1934/pb_LCL278.151.xml']Punica XII[/URL][/INDENT][/INDENT] [B]Livy[/B] recalls an earlier "old city" near the later Neapolis (Palaepolis), emphasizing the area’s multi‑phase settlement rather than a single act of founding. [INDENT][INDENT]"Palaepolis was situated not far from where Neapolis now stands; the same population inhabited the two towns. They were originally from Cumae, and the Cumaeans trace their origin to Chalcis in Euboea. With the fleet in which they had sailed from their homeland, they became powerful along the coast they occupied, first landing on the islands Aenaria and Pithecusa, and then daring to move their settlement to the mainland. This community, relying both on its own strength and on the unreliable alliance of the Samnites against the Romans - or perhaps trusting in the plague that was reported to have struck Rome - committed many hostile acts against the Romans who had settled in the Campanian and Falernian districts." -[URL='https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/livy/liv.8.shtml']Livy 8.22-23[/URL] (author's translation)[/INDENT][/INDENT] [B]Within this framework, Parthenope operates as a mythic foundress: [/B]not a human[I] oikistēs[/I] recorded by name, but a heroized patron whose tomb and festival legitimized the city’s Hellenic pedigree and continuity. Neapolitan coinage reinforces that self‑presentation: the frequent nymph head is widely (though not explicitly in ancient texts) read as Parthenope, while other types (e.g., man‑faced bull) evoke local waters; together they articulate a civic myth of origin in image as Strabo does in words. [B]Modern or at least post-classical Legends[/B] The founding of Neapolis in historical terms belongs to Cumaean/Chalcidian colonization, and its mythic charter is carried by Parthenope’s tomb and festival, making the Siren the city’s enduring emblem and narrative of beginnings. In the Renaissance & early modern Naples (15th - 17th century), Neapolitan humanists (e.g. Giovanni Pontano, later Giulio Cesare Capaccio) turn Parthenope into a symbolic ancestress of the city, emphasizing that Naples is built "on the tomb of the Siren" and "city on Parthenope’s grave". At least three modern (post-classical) legends are told about Parthenope ([URL='https://mermaidsofearth.com/mermaid-statues-mermaid-sculptures/public/piazza-sannazaro/']ref1[/URL] & [URL='https://ogcma.byu.edu/Parthenope1.0000_Reid.htm']ref2[/URL] & [URL='https://www.comune.napoli.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/EN/D/D.e8e790c4d9b74391f2d9/P/BLOB%3AID%3D5646/E/pdf?mode=inline']ref3[/URL] & [URL='https://www.visitnaples.eu/en/neapolitanity/tales-of-naples/myth-of-parthenope-3-stories-of-the-foundation-of-naples']ref4[/URL]): [LIST] [*]A centaur named Vesuvius was in love with Parthenope, daughter of the river god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore, but Zeus was jealous and turned Vesuvius into a volcano and Parthenope into the city of Napoli. This of course accounts for Mount Vesuvius erupting frequently in frustration at being separated from Parthenope. [*]Parthenope was originally a chaste Phrygian girl who infuriated Aphrodite and was turned by the vengeful goddess into a Siren. One of the Sirens, Parthenope leapt into the sea in despair after she and her sisters failed to lure Odysseus and his men to their death. She drowned, and her body was washed ashore in the Bay of Naples. A tomb and monument were dedicated to her there and her name was given to a Greek settlement on the site of the present-day city of Naples and hence the worship of her in this area. [*]Sebeto, the river god, and the beautiful siren Parthenope had a relationship and they gave birth to Sebetide, who along with Telone, generated Ebalo, the future King of Palepolis. When Parthenope died, her body was placed in a tomb at the [URL='https://www.trentaremi.it/en/30/the-naples-of-the-sebeto-river']mouth of the Sebeto[/URL], at Paleopolis, which then assumed the name of the beautiful siren. (for more on the Sebeto: [URL='http://www.naplesldm.com/sebeto.php']see here[/URL]) [/LIST] Oh, I almost forgot, there is a coin that goes with this story - a beautiful didrachm from Neapolis. Sepeithos (the river in Naples which was later called Sebeto is possibly the river god on the reverse, alternatively this is Archeleaus father of Parthenope) [ATTACH=full]1691313[/ATTACH] My latest SullaCoins.com post shares more on the subject: [URL]https://www.sullacoins.com/post/parthenope-siren-foundress-of-neapolis[/URL] [B][SIZE=5]Post your coins of Neapolis - fountains from Naples - other stories about Parthenope - or anything else the you find interesting or entertaining.[/SIZE][/B][/QUOTE]
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