Tmolus

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For the butterfly genus, see Tmolus (butterfly).

In Greek mythology, Tmolus was a mountain god and husband to Omphale (but see below). He judged the musical contest between Pan and Apollo.

Mount Tmolus, of which Tmolus was the eponymous namesake, lies in Lydia, or Phrygia (modern-day Turkey), with Sardis at its foot and Hypaepa on its southern slope.

The geography of Tmolus and the contest between Pan and Apollo are mentioned in Ovid's Metamorphoses, XI.168.

There may actually be two different personages named Tmolus, both mythical kings of Lydia.

• The first, a son of Sipylus and Chthonia, was the husband of Plouto and stepfather of Tantalus.
• The second Tmolus, a son of Ares and Theogone, lived later and was the husband of Omphale. When this Tmolus was gored to death by a bull on the mountain that bears his name, his widow, Omphale, became Queen-regnant of Lydia.

Sources and references

• Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book 11, tr. Arthur Golding. http://www.elizabethanauthors.com/ovid11.htm
• Catholic Encyclopaedia (passim)

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Last updated on Monday October 08, 2007 at 08:22:15 PDT (GMT -0700)
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