Arne (/ˈɑːrniː/;Ancient Greek:Ἄρνη) is a mythologized princess of an ancient Greek island, who according to legend betrayed her motherland, after the legendary kingMinos had bribed her with gold into supportingCrete. After she had accepted the bribe that "her greed demanded", Minos' troops attacked the island. For this misdeed the gods punished her by turning her into a black-footed, black-wingedjackdaw, and she would be forever attracted to golden and shining objects.
The only source on Arne's story isOvid's mythological poemMetamorphoses from 8 BC,[1] where—depending on the manuscript—her name is given asArne Sithonis orArne Sithon ("the Sithonian Arne", meaning "the Thracian Arne";see below). Attempts have been made to identify the island asSiphnos due topaleographical similarities,[2] but no independent legend connects anArne to Siphnos[3] or any other island of theCyclades.[4]
LikeSithoniae (nurus),[5]Sithonios (agros)[6] andSithon,[7]Sithonis means "Thracian". Based on the original assumption of the legend's Cycladian origin (e.g. the island of Siphnos), the termSithonis was doubted,[8] because it was believed for a long time that theThracians had never been to the Cyclades.[9] Huxley (1984) however has shown thatSithonis in this case refers to the inhabitants ofNaxos.
This origin was first proposed by Franz Börner,[10] because Naxos (as the largest of the Cyclades) was missing in Ovid's extensive catalog of islands. In addition, Greek sources confirm that Thracians settled on Naxos for roughly two hundred years before they were replaced byKarian immigrants after a drought,[11] two generations before the time ofTheseus and Minos. Further evidence for Thracian settlements on Naxos are found in the lostNaxiaka of Andriskos, a local Naxian historian. They told the story about the two Thracian plunderers from Naxos, Skellis and Agassamenos, who raided thePeloponnese, the surrounding islands and eventually Thessaly. There they seizedIphimede, wife ofAloeus, and her daughter Pankrato.[12]
Therefore, Huxley further suggests thatἌρνη (Arne)—as a toponym of Thessalian "cities of origin"—could indicate thatArne Sithonis was a descendant of the women kidnapped by Skellis and Agassamenos and taken to Naxos. However, the word also denotes a Thracian place of origin.[13] In any case,Arne Sithonis was in all probability a survivor of the Thracian population of Naxos amongst the Karians. As a possible alternative, Ovid may have been following "a version of the myth in which Thracians—not Karians—were still ruling Naxos in the time of Minos".[14]
Huxley asserts that Ovid's mythographic or poetical source is unknown, but suggestsParthenius, because the Greek poet mentioned the Thracians of Naxos. The fact that "Thracian [of Naxos]" hides behind Ovid'sSithonis shows that the Cretan king Minos had also captured the island of Naxos, probably after visitingParos.
This article incorporates material from theCitizendium article "Arne Sithonis", which is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License but not under theGFDL.
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