InGreek mythology, theOenotropae (Ancient Greek:Οἰνοτρόπαι, "the women who change (into) wine") orOenotrophae (Ancient Greek:Οἰνοτρόφαι, the "Winegrowers") were the three daughters ofAnius andDryope.[1][2]
The Oenotropae included:Spermo (Ancient Greek:Σπερμώ, "seed"), who produced grain;Oeno orOino (Ancient Greek:Οἰνώ, "wine"), who produced wine; andElais (Ancient Greek:Ἐλαΐς, "olive tree"), who produced olive oil.[1][3]
According to theBibliotheca, their great-grandfather wasDionysus, and he gave them the power to change water into wine, grass into wheat, and berries into olives. For this reason no one around them ever had to starve.[4] According to other sources, however, the daughters were devotees of Dionysus, and the god rewarded them with the extraordinary ability to produce oil, grain, and wine from the ground or merely by touch.[1]
When the Greek fleet set out to makewar in Troy, it was the Oenotropae who stocked their ships, andAgamemnon was so impressed with this that he abducted them in order to feed the Greek army. The daughters escaped, but their brother betrayed them again to the Greeks.[1] As they were about to be bound, however, Dionysus saved them by turning them into whitedoves.[1][5][6]
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