InGreek mythology,Rhoeo (/ˈriːoʊ/;Ancient Greek:Ῥοιώ,romanized: Rhoiṓ) was a lover ofApollo and mother ofAnius, king ofDelos and priest of Apollo.
Rhoeo was the daughter ofStaphylus, son ofDionysus andAriadne, andChrysothemis, daughter ofCarmanor. Her sisters wereParthenos andMolpadia (later namedHemithea).
In one account, Rhoeo was named as one of the possible mothers of the heroJason byAeson.[1]
Parthenius relates that she once experienced a great jealousy of her sister Hemithea when Staphylus arranged for the latter to spend a night withLyrcus, his guest, whom both Hemithea and Rhoeo fell in love with.[2]
She became the lover ofApollo and by him the mother ofAnius. When her father discovered her pregnancy, he believed she was impregnated by a man rather than a god. He placed her in a chest and cast her out to sea (parallel toDanae andPerseus). She landed on the island ofDelos, which was sacred to Apollo. She gave birth to a son on the island and named him Anius (as if fromἀνιάομαι "to suffer"); she then put him on the altar of Apollo and prayed to the god that the baby be saved if it was his. Apollo concealed the child for a while, then raised him and taught him the art of divination and granted him certain honors.[3][AI-generated source?]
Rhoeo eventually marriedZarex, son ofCarystus or Carycus, who accepted Anius as his son. She had two more children with him.[4][AI-generated source?] Later, becoming a priest of Apollo and the king of Delos, Anius gave aid toAeneas and his retinue when they were travelling fromTroy to the future site ofRome.