Inô - Leukothea | Ινω - Λευκοθεα

I Call Leucothea, of great Cadmus born,
And Bacchus' nurse, whom ivy leaves adorn.
Hear, pow'rful Goddess, in the mighty deep
Wide and profound, thy Ration doom'd to keep:
In waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; 5
For ships from thee alone deliv'rance find
Amidst the fury of th' unstable main,
When art no more avail, and strength is vain;
When rushing billows with tempestuous ire
O'erwhelm the mariner in ruin dire, 10
Thou hear'st, with pity touch'd, his suppliant pray'r,
Resolv'd his life to succour and to spare.
Be ever present, Goddess! in distress,
Waft ships along with prosperous success:
Thy mystics thro' the stormy sea defend, 15
And safe conduct them to their destin'd end.

Orphic Hymn, LXXIII: To Leucothea

In Greek mythology, Leucothea (Greek: Leukothea (Λευκοθέα), "white goddess") was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized, in this case as a transformed nymph.


In the more familiar variant, Ino, the daughter of Cadmus, sister of Semele, and queen of Athamas, became a goddess after Hera drove her insane as a punishment for caring for the newborn Dionysus. She leapt into the sea with her son Melicertes in her arms, and out of pity, the Hellenes asserted, the Olympian gods turned them both into sea-gods, transforming Melicertes into Palaemon, the patron of the Isthmian games, and Ino into Leucothea.


In the version sited at Rhodes, a much earlier mythic level is reflected in the genealogy: there, the woman who plunged into the sea and became Leucothea was Halia ("of the sea", a personification of the saltiness of the sea) whose parents were from the ancient generation, Thalassa and Pontus or Uranus. She was a local nymph and one of the aboriginal Telchines of the island. Halia became Poseidon's wife and bore him Rhodos/Rhode and six sons; the sons were maddened by Aphrodite in retaliation for an impious affront, assaulted their sister and were confined beneath the Earth by Poseidon. Thus the Rhodians traced their mythic descent from Rhode and the Sun god Helios.[1]


In the Odyssey (5.333 ff.) Leucothea makes a dramatic appearance as a gannet who tells the shipwrecked Odysseus to discard his cloak and raft and offers him a veil (κρήδεμνον, kredemnon) to wind round himself to save his life and reach land. Homer makes her the transfiguration of Ino. In Laconia, she has a sanctuary, where she answers people's questions about dreams. This is her form of the oracle.

From: Wiki

LEUKOTHEA (or Leucothea) was a sea goddess who aided sailors in distress. She was once a mortal princess named Ino, a daughter of King Kadmos (Cadmus) of Thebes. She and her husband Athamas incurred the wrath of Hera when they fostered the infant god Dionysos. As punishment Hera drove Athamas into a murderous rage and he slew his eldest child. Ino grapped the other, and in her flight leapt off a cliff into the sea. The pair were welcomed into the company of the marine gods and renamed Leukothea (the White Goddess) and Palaimon. Leukothea later came to the aid of Odysseus when his raft had been destroyed by Poseidon, and wrapped him in the safety of her buoyant shawl.


The Romans identified her with the goddess Mater Matuta.

(...)

LEUCOTHEA THE SEA GODDESS, MISCELLANY


Pindar, Pythian Ode 11. 1 ff (trans. Conway) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Daughter of Kadmos (Cadmus), Semele from your high place amidst the queens of heaven, and Ino Leukothea (Leucothea), you who dwell by the immortal sea-nymphai, Nereus' daughters, come with the noble mother of Herakles (Heracles) to the shrine of Melia, to the treasure-house of golden tripods, the temple that above all others Apollon held in honour, and he named it the Ismenion, the seat of prophecy that known no lie. Daughters of Harmonia, the god now summons to assemble here that band of heroine women who dwelt within this land, that you may sing in praise of holy Themis and Pytho, and the centre-stone of earth, whose word is justice--here as evening's shadows fall."


Alcman, Fragment 50 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) :
"Ino Thalassomedoisa (Queen of the Sea)."


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 28 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Now she [Ino] is called Leukothea (Leucothea), and her son is Palaimon (Palaemon): these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms."


Orphic Hymn 74 to Leucothea (trans. Taylor) (Greek hymns C3rd B.C. to 2nd A.D.) :
"To Leukothea (Leucothea), Fumigation from Aromatics. I call, Leukothea, of great Kadmos (Cadmus) born, and Dionysos' nurse, who ivy leaves adorn. Hear, powerful Goddess, in the mighty deep vast-bosomed, destined thy domain to keep: in waves rejoicing, guardian of mankind; for ships from thee alone deliverance find, amidst the fury of the unstable main, when art no more avails, and strength is vain. When rushing billows with tempestuous ire overwhelm the mariner in ruin dire, thou hearest with pity touched his suppliant prayer, resolved his life to succour and to spare. Be ever present, Goddess! In distress, waft ships along with prosperous success: thy mystics through the stormy sea defend, and safe conduct them to their destined end."


Ovid, Heroides 19. 123 ff (trans. Showerman) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"With what great waves the shores [of the Hellespontos] are beaten, and what dark clouds envelop and hide the day! It may be the loving mother [Nephele the Cloud] of Helle has come to the sea, and is lamenting in downpouring tears the drowning of her child--or is the step-dame [Ino], turned to a goddess of the waters [Leukothea], vexing the sea that is called by her step-child's hated name?"


Virgil, Georgics 1. 432 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"If at her [the moon's] fourth rising she pass through the sky clear and with undimmed horns, then all that day, and the days born of it to the month's end, shall be free from rain and wind; and the sailors, safe in port, shall pay their vows on the shore to Glaucus, and to Panopea, and to Melicerta, Ino's son."


Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 2. 585 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"This realm [the Hellespont] the father of the deep [Poseidon] himself awarded me [Helle, stepdaughter of Ino, also transformed into a sea-goddess], willing justly, and our gulf envies not Ino's sea [the Gulf of Corinth]."


Propertius, Elegies 2. 26 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :
"How I feared lest the sea perchance should take you name and mariners sailing your waters should weep for you. What vows did I then make to Neptunus [Poseidon], to Castor and his brother [the Dioskouroi], and to you, Leucothoe, a goddess now!"


Propertius, Elegies 2. 28 :
"Ino also in early life wandered over the earth: now she is invoked as Leucothoe by sailors in distress."


Seneca, Oedipus 444 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) :
"Cadmean Ino, foster-mother of shining Bacchus [Dionysos], holds the realms of the deep, encircled by bands of Nereides dancing; over the waves of the mighty deep a boy holds sway, new come, the kinsman of Bacchus, no common god, Palaemon."


Statius, Thebaid 1. 120 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[The] Isthmus scarce withstood the waves on either side. With her own hand his mother [Leukothea] snatched Palaemon from the curved back of his straying dolphin steed and pressed him to her bosom."


Statius, Silvae 3. 2. 1 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"But above all others thou, Palaemon, with the goddess mother [Leukothea], be favourable [on this sea-voyage], if 'tis thy desire that I [the poet Statius] should tell of thine own Thebes, and sing of Amphion, bard of Phoebus, with no unworthy quill."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 9. 59 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"You [Ino] shall ever live with Melikertes (Melicertes) your immortal son as Leukothea, holding the key of calm waters, mistress of good voyage next to Aiolos (Aeolus) [god of the winds]. The merchant seaman trusting in you shall have a fineweather voyage over the brine; he shall set up one altar for the Earthshaker and Melikertes, and do sacrifice to both together."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 20. 350 ff :
"Lykourgos (Lycurgus) indignant [that Dionysos had escaped him by fleeing into the sea] shouted aloud to the water--‘I wish my father [Ares] had taught me not war alone, but how to deal with the sea! . . . But since I have not learnt the work of seafaring fishers, and know nothing of the tricks of hunting in the deep with a cunning mesh of nets, you may have Leukothea's house in the watery deep, until I can dislodge both you and Melikertes (Melicertes) as they call him, another of your kin . . .
‘Ho Fishermen! Searchers of the haunts of Nereus! Spread not your nets for the denizens of the deep, but haul out Dionysos in the meshes! Let Leukothea (Leucothea) be caught along with Lyaios, and let her come back to the land.’"


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 21. 170 ff :
"In the Erythraian (Red) Sea, the daughters of Nereus [Nereides] cherished Dionysos [driven to refuge in the sea by Lykourgos] at their table, in their halls deep down under the waves. Mermaid Ino threw off her jealousy of [her sister] Semele's bed divine, and struck up a brave hymn for winepouring Lyaios [Dionysos]. Ino the nurse of Dionysos made music; and Melikertes his foster-brother ladled out nectar from the bowl, and poured the sweet cups for his agemate. So he remained in the hall deep down in the waves under the waters, and he lay sprawled among the seaweed in Thetis' bosom; he embraced never satisfied Kadmos' (Cadmus') daughter, Ino his nurse, mother of a noble son, sister of his own mother, and often he held in the loving prison of his arms Palaimon (Palaemon) his yearsmate, his foster-brother."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 43. 253 ff :
"[When Poseidon led the sea-gods into battle against Dionysos and his allies in the Indian War:] The tribes of Nereides sounded for their sire the cry of battle-triumph: unshod, half hidden in the brine, the company rushed raging to combat over the sea. Restless Ino [Leukothea] speeding unarmed into strife with the Satyroi, fell again into her old madness spitting white foam from her maddened lips."

(...)

CULT & CULT IMAGES OF LEUCOTHEA


Alcman, Fragment 4a (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric II) (Greek lyric C7th B.C.) :
"I came to the lovely sanctuary of Leukothea (Leucothea)."


Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 15 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"In Greece they worship a number of deified human beings . . . Leucothea, formerly Ino, and her son Palaemon [worshipped] throughout the whole of Greece."


Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 :
"Ino is to be deemed divine, under the title Leucothea in Greece and Matuta at Rome, she is the daughter of Cadmus."


I) CULT IN MEGARIS (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 44. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"There are legends about these rocks [the Molourian Rocks on the coast of Megara] . . . it is said that from it Ino flung herself into the sea with Melikertes (Melicertes) . . . The Molourian Rock they though sacred to Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon (Palaemon)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 42. 7 :
"On the road to the town-hall [of Megara] is the shrine of the heroine Ino, about which is a fencing of stones, and beside it grows olives. The Megarians are the only Greeks who say that the corpse of Ino was cast up on their coast, that Kleos (Cleos) and Tauropolis, the daughters of Kleson (Cleson), son of Lelex, found and buried it, and they say that among them first was she nnamed Leukothea (Leucothea), and that every year they offer her sacrifice."


II) CULT IN KORINTHOS (CORINTH) (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 2. 1 :
"Within the enclosure [of Poseidon at Korinthos] is on the left a temple of Palaimon (Palaemon), with images in it of Poseidon, Leukothea (Leucothea) and Palaimon himself."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 3. 4 :
"After the image of Hermes [on the road from Korinthos (Corinth) to its port of Lekhaion] come Poseidon, Leukothea, and Palaimon on a dolphin."


Statius, Silvae 2. 2. 34 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"The lofty height of Bacchic Ephyre [Corinth], is the covered way that leads from Lechaeum, of Ino's fame."
[N.B. Lechaeum was the Corinthian port connected with teh cult of Ino and Palaimon.]


III) CULT IN LAKEDAIMONIA (SOUTHERN GREECE)


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 23. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"About two stades to the right [of Epidauros Limera in Lakedaimon] is the water of Ino, as it is called, in extent like a small lake, but going deeper into the earth. Into this water they throw cakes of barley meal at the festival of Ino. If good luck is portended to the thrower, the water keeps them under. But if it brings them to the surface, it is judged a bad sign."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 26. 1 :
"On [the road from Oitylos to Thalamai in Lakonia] is a sanctuary of Ino and an oracle. They consult the oracle in sleep, and the goddess reveals whatever they wish to learn, in dreams. Bronze statues of Pasiphae and of Helios (the Sun) stand in the unroofed part of the sanctuary [of Ino at Thalamai]. It was not possible to see the one within the temple clearly, owing to the garlands, but they say this too is of bronze. Water, sweet to drink, flows from a sacred spring. Pasiphae is a title of Selene, and is not a local goddess of the people of Thalamai (Thalamae)."


Pausanias, Description of Greece 3. 19. 3 - 5 :
"On the altar [of Apollon at Amyklai in Lakonia] are wrought in relief . . . Zeus and Hermes are conversing; near stand Dionysos and Semele, with Ino by her side."


Lycophron, Alexandra 105 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"On the beach she [Helene in Sparta] burns the firstling of the flocks to the Thysad Nympha and the goddess Byne [Leukothea]."


IV) CULT IN KOLKHIS (BLACK SEA)


Strabo, Geography 11. 2. 17 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Above the aforesaid rivers [the Phasis] in the Moskhian country [Kolkhis (Colchis), at the Eastern end of the Black Sea] lies the temple of Leukothea, founded by Phrixos [her step-son], and the oracle of Phrixos, where a ram is never sacrificed; it was once rich, but it was robbed in our time by Pharnakes, and a little later by Mithridates of Pergamon."


V) CULT IN TYRRHENIA (CENTRAL ITALY)


Aelian, Historical Miscellany 1. 20 (trans. Wilson) (Greek rhetorician C2nd to 3rd A.D.) :
"Dionysios [Sicilian tyrant, ca. 430-367 B.C.] stole objects from all the temples of Syrakousa (Syracuse) . . . He [also] sailed to Tyrrhenia [Etruria] and stole all the property of Apollon and Leukothea (Leucothea)."

For more see her THEOI page

Ino is the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. She was the sister of Agave, Semele, and Autonoe. This is important because all of Cadmus and Haromonia's children have some kind of tragedy to happen to them. Semele, Dionysus' mother, was killed when a thunderbolt from Zeus burned her to ashes; Agave killed her son Pentheus when she was afflicted with Dionysic madness; and Acteon, Autonoe's son, was killed by his own hunting dogs when he accidentally saw Artemis naked. Therefor, it would be a safe bet that Ino will also have a tragic ending.


Ino married King Athamas of Orchomenus on the western shore of Lake Copais, capital of Boetia. Athamas married Ino after tiring of his first wife Nephele. Upon hearing that Athamas was taking another wife, Nephele complained bitterly to Hera about Athamas' infidelity.


One year the crops went bad and the famine hit Orchomenus hard, so Athamas sent messengers to the Delphi Oracle to see what could be done to stop the famine. Ino secretly bribed the messenger to come back with the message that Athamas must sacrifice his son by Nephele, Phrixes. Ino did this out of her selfish desire to see one of her two sons with Athamas, Learchus or Melicertes, receive the kingdom at Athamas' death. Athamas had Phrixes on the altar and was about to sacrifice him when a golden ram appeared by the altar. Phrixes and his sister Helle climbed on the ram's back and they flew towards the east. As the ram was going over the straits between the northern Aegean and the Propontis, Helle fell off of the rams back into the straits below and that is why that spot is still called Hellespont. The ram kept flying until it reached Colchis in the land of Aea at the eastern end of the Black Sea. Here, Phrixes sacrificed the ram to Zeus to show his appreciation for being delivered from Ino's vengeance. Phrixes gave the skin to Aeetes, the king of Aea. This is one story of the origins of the Golden Fleece that Jason is sent to retrieve for Pelias.


As revenge for Nephele and for Ino raising Dionysus, Hera struck Athamas. Athamas, thinking that Learchus was a ram, shot an arrow through Learchus then tore his body to pieces. Ino, like any frightened mother, took her other son, Melicertes and fled the castle. With Athamas in hot pursuit, Ino ran to the Molurian Rock where she desperately jumped into the river below, drowning herself as well as Melicertes. Zeus, not wanting Ino's ghost to go to Tartus for she did raise his son Dionysus, turned Ino into the sea deity, Leucotha (white goddess) and Melicertes into Palaemon.


Another version of the story has Hera afflicting both Ino and Athamas with madness. Ino boils Melicertes in a cauldron, than picks up the cauldron and flees. Then she jumps over the cliff with the cauldron still in her arms.


The madness caused within Ino's house can be attributed to her association with Dionysus. It seems that no one can escape the effects of being around Dionysus. People who resist him are turned mad in fits of Bacchae madness, and people who follow him are also afflicted with the madness.

From: Here

"The White Goddess", the name of Ino as a marine deity, which she became when she threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. However, Dionysus would not let her die, and she was transformed into Leucothea.

From: Here

DIONYSOS FAVOUR: INO & MELIKERTES
LOCALE: Thebes & Mt Nysa, Boiotia (Central Greece)


I) INO ESCAPES THE WRATH OF HER HUSBAND


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 4 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Athamas, King in Thessaly, thought that his wife Ino . . . had perished, and so he married Themisto . . . Later he discovered that Ino was on Parnassus, where she had gone for Bacchic revels. He sent someone to bring her home."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 2 :
"He [Phrixos] was led to the altar, wearing fillets of sacrifice, but he servant, out of pity for the youth revealed Ino's plans [an elaborate deception contrived to do away with her stepchildren] to Athamas. The king, informed of the crime, gave over his wife Ino and her son Melicertes to be put to death, but Father Liber [Dionysos] cast mist around her, and saved Ino his nurse."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 3 :
"While Phrixus and Helle [the stepchildren of his nurse Ino] under madness sent by Liber [Dionysos] were wandering in a forest, Nebula [Nephele] their mother is said to have come there bringing a gilded ram . . . She bade her children mount it, and journey to Colchis."


Ovid, Metamorphoses 4. 416 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Bacchus' [Dionysos'] divinity was hymned through all Thebae, and Ino everywhere told of the god’s (her nephew’s) mighty power. Of all the sisters she alone was spared sorrow except her sorrow for her sake. Her pride was high, pride in her children, pride in Athamas, her husband and the god, her foster-child."


II) THE APOTHEOSIS OF INO & MELIKERTES


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 26-29 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"At the proper time Zeus loosened the stitches and gave birth to Dionysos, whom he entrusted to Hermes. Hermes took him to Ino and Athamas, and persuaded them to bring him up as a girl. Incensed, Hera inflicted madness on them, that Athamas stalked and slew his elder son Learkhos on the conviction that he was a dear, while Ino threw Melikertes into a basin of boiling water, and then, carrying both the basin and the corpse of the boy, she jumped to the bottom of the sea. Now she is called Leukothea, and her son is Palaimon: these names they receive from those who sail, for they help sailors beset by storms. Also, the Isthmian games were established by Sisyphos in honor of Melikertes."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 2 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Later, Athamas, driven mad by Jove [an error, should read Juno, Hera], slew his son Learchus. But Ino, with Melicertes her son, threw herself into the sea. Liber [Dionysos] would have her called Leucothea, and Melicertes, her son the god Palaemon, but we call her Mater Matuta, and him Portunus. In his honour every fifth year gymnastic contests are held, which are called Isthmian."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 224 :
"Mortals who were made immortal . . . Ino, daughter of Cadmus, into Leucothea, whom we call Mater Matuta; Melicertes, son of Athamas, into the god Palaemon."

From: Theoi, Dionysos Favor page

In Greek mythology Ino (/ˈaɪnoʊ/ Greek: Ἰνώ [iː'nɔː][1]) was a mortal queen of Thebes, who after her death and transfiguration was worshiped as a goddess under her epithet Leucothea, the "white goddess." Alcman called her "Queen of the Sea" (θαλασσομέδουσα),[2] which, if not hyperbole, would make her a doublet of Amphitrite.


In her mortal self, Ino, the second wife of the Minyan king Athamas, the mother of Learches and Melicertes, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia[3] and stepmother of Phrixus and Helle, was one of the three sisters of Semele, the mortal woman of the house of Cadmus who gave birth to Dionysus. The three sisters were Agave, Autonoë and Ino, who was a surrogate for the divine nurses of Dionysus: "Ino was a primordial Dionysian woman, nurse to the god and a divine maenad" (Kerenyi 1976:246).


Maenads were reputed to tear their own children limb from limb in their madness. In the back-story to the heroic tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece, Phrixus and Helle, twin children of Athamas and Nephele, were hated by their stepmother, Ino. Ino hatched a devious plot to get rid of the twins, roasting all the crop seeds of Boeotia so they would not grow.[4] The local farmers, frightened of famine, asked a nearby oracle for assistance. Ino bribed the men sent to the oracle to lie and tell the others that the oracle required the sacrifice of Phrixus. Athamas reluctantly agreed. Before he was killed though, Phrixus and Helle were rescued by a flying golden ram sent by Nephele, their natural mother. Helle fell off the ram into the Hellespont (which was named after her, meaning Sea of Helle) and drowned, but Phrixus survived all the way to Colchis, where King Aeetes took him in and treated him kindly, giving Phrixus his daughter, Chalciope, in marriage. In gratitude, Phrixus gave the king the golden fleece of the ram, which Aeetes hung in a tree in his kingdom.


Later, Ino raised Dionysus, her nephew, son of her sister Semele,[5] causing Hera's intense jealousy. In vengeance, Hera struck Athamas with insanity. Athamas went mad, slew one of his sons, Learchus, thinking he was a ram, and set out in frenzied pursuit of Ino. To escape him Ino threw herself into the sea with her son Melicertes. Both were afterwards worshipped as marine divinities, Ino as Leucothea ("the white goddess"), Melicertes as Palaemon. Alternatively, Ino was also stricken with insanity and killed Melicertes by boiling him in a cauldron, then took the cauldron and jumped into the sea with it. A sympathetic Zeus didn't want Ino to die, and transfigured her and Melicertes as Leucothea and Palaemon.


The story of Ino, Athamas and Melicertes is relevant also in the context of two larger themes. Ino, daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, had an end just as tragic as her siblings: Semele died while pregnant with Zeus' child, killed by her own pride and lack of trust in her lover; Agave killed her own son, King Pentheus, while struck with Dionysian madness, and Actaeon, son of Autonoe, the third sibling, was torn apart by his own hunting dogs. Also, the insanity of Ino and Athamas, who hunted his own son Learchos as a stag and slew him, can be explained as a result of their contact with Dionysus, whose presence can cause insanity. None can escape the powers of Dionysus, the god of wine. Euripides took up the tale in The Bacchae, explaining their madness in Dionysiac terms, as a result of their having initially resisted belief in the god's divinity.


When Athamas returned to his second wife, Ino, Themisto (his third wife) sought revenge by dressing her children in white clothing and Ino's in black and directing the murder of the children in black. Ino switched their clothes without Themisto knowing and she killed her own children.


Transformed into the goddess Leucothea, Ino also represents one of the many sources of divine aid to Odysseus in the Odyssey (5:333ff), her earliest appearance in literature. Homer calls her "Ino-Leocothea of the beautiful ankles [καλλίσφυρος], daughter of Cadmus, who was once a mortal speaking with the tongue of men, but now in the salt sea-waters has received honor at the hands of the gods". Providing Odysseus with a veil and telling him to discard his cloak and raft, she instructs him how he can entrust himself to the waves and succeed in reaching land and eventually Ithaca.


In historical times, a sisterhood of maenads of Thebes in the service of Dionysus traced their descent in the female line from Ino; we know this because an inscription at Magnesia on the Maeander summoned three maenads from Thebes, from the house of Ino, to direct the new mysteries of Dionysus at Magnesia (Burkert 1992:44).

From: Wiki

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