In a story told byPseudo-Plutarch,[6] Maeander waged war against thePessinuntines and vowed to the Mother of the Gods that on obtaining victory, he would sacrifice "the first that came to congratulate him for his good success". As it happened, the first people who greeted him on his return were his mother, his son, and his sister. He fulfilled his vow, but was so grief-stricken that he cast himself into the river, and thus the river Maeander got its name. Parallels to this myth are found inIdomeneus andJephthah.[citation needed]
Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Stephanus of Byzantium,Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
