Inancient Greek religion andmythology,Melia (Ancient Greek: Μελία), a daughter of theTitanOceanus, was the consort ofApollo, and the mother, by Apollo, of theTheban hero and prophetTenerus. She was also the mother (or sister) ofIsmenus, god of the Theban river of the same name. Melia was an important cult figure atThebes. She was worshipped at the Ismenion, the Temple of Apollo at Thebes, and was associated with a nearby spring.

The late 6th–early 5th century BCTheban poetPindar tells us that Melia, a daughter of Oceanus, was, byApollo, the mother of the Theban hero and prophetTenerus.^[1] Elsewhere he refers to her as "Melia of the golden spindle".^[2] The 2nd century AD Greek geographerPausanias provides a more complete account.^[3] According to Pausanias, Melia was abducted, and Melia's father Oceanus ordered his sonCaanthus to find her. Caanthus found Melia atThebes being held by Apollo, but unable to get Melia away from Apollo, Caanthus set fire to Apollo's sanctuary, and Apollo shot and killed him. Pausanias says that, in addition to Tenerus, to whom Apollo gave the "art of divination", Melia had another son by Apollo,Ismenus, after whom the Theban river Ismenus was named.^[4]

The story of Melia and Caanthus, as recorded by Pausanias, is a close parallel to the more famous story ofEuropa andCadmus, the founder and first king of Thebes. Like Melia, Europa is abducted by an Olympian god (in this caseZeus), and her brother Cadmus is sent by their father to bring Europa back home, and like Caanthus, Cadmus is unsuccessful.^[5] As noted byFontenrose, there are other apparent congruences between the Theban Melia and Europa.^[6] Like Melia, Europa was also the name of an Oceanid,^[7] andAgenor, the usual father of Europa, had, according to the fifth-century BC mythographerPherecydes, a daughter named Melia who was a wife ofDanaus,^[8] while, according to the mythographer Apollodrus, one of Danaos' wife's was also named Europa.^[9]

There were apparently other versions of this Theban Melia's story.^[10] In some traditions perhaps, the Thebans Melia and Ismenus were siblings, rather than mother and son. A scholiast on Pindar says that Ismenus was Melia's brother.^[11] According to theOxyrhynchus Papyri, the first fratricide occurred at Thebes when Melia's brothers, Ismenus and Claaitus (a corruption or variant of Caanthus?) fought over her.^[12]

A version of Melia's story perhaps also involved the ThebanAmphion.^[13] Pherecydes says that Melia was the name of one of the daughters ofAmphion and his wifeNiobe,^[14] while later sources tell us that Ismenus was the name of one of their sons.^[15] Like Caanthus, Amphion was shot and killed by Apollo because of an attack on his temple.^[16]

The 3rd century BC poetCallimachus appears to make this Theban Melia, rather than a daughter of Oceanus, one of the "earth-born"Meliae, theash tree nymphs, who, according toHesiod, were born, along with theErinyes and theGiants, from Gaia (Earth) and the blood ofUranus (Sky), which dripped on Gaia when Uranus was castrated by his sonCronus.^[17]

According to the mythographerApollodorus, the mother ofPhoroneus, andAegialeus, by her brother, the river godInachus, was also a daughter ofOceanus namedMelia.^[18]

Melia was an important object of cult worship at the Ismenion, the major sanctuary of Apollo Ismenios at Thebes.^[19] In at least three separate poems, Pindar mentions Melia in connection with the Theban sanctuary. In one he refers to the Ismenion and "the splendid hall of Oceanus’ daughter . . . Melia".^[20] In another, Pindar summons the local heroines, the daughters of Cadmus,Semele andIno Leucothea, along with the mother ofHeracles, to "join Melia at the treasury of the golden tripods,"^[21] that is in theadyton, the inner inviolate sanctuary of the Ismenion where the votive tripods were dedicated.^[22]Also at the Ismenion, Pindar locates the "immortal couch [λέχει] of Melia",^[23] the child-bed, where Melia gave birth.^[24] A spring near the Ismenion was identified with Melia, perhaps the source of the Ismenus river, and perhaps the same spring as the one mentioned by Pausanias as the spring, above the Ismenion, by which her brother Caanthus was buried.^[25]

The Thebans traced their descent from the union of Apollo and Melia, through the heroes Tenerus and Ismenus. According to Larson, while their descent from Apollo—a panhellenic Olympian god—increased their prestige, and connected them to other Greeks, their descent from Melia—a nymph associated with the local landscape—helped to establish their connection with the land that they inhabited.^[26]

• Oceanids
• Women of Apollo
• Theban mythology
• Fraxinus
• Mythological fratricides
• Mythological kidnapped people

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