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About the daughters of The Daughters of Pandareus Homer tells us [OD. XX 66-78] that their parents met an untimely death. He said that Aphrodite took pity upon them and became their guardian. Because of Aphrodite's generous act Hera gave them beauty and wisdom, Artemis gave the lofty stature, And Athena gave them skill in handiwork. But while Aphrodite was with Zeus trying to get them well- married they were carried off by the Harpies who delived them to the Erinyes to become their servants. Homer also implies that they lost their mortality in the process.
What are we to make of this strange story? One suggestion is that the daughters were punished for the errors of their father. Pandareus, whose name means "thief" became involved with Tantalos. Pandareus stole the dog that had guarded the goat Amaltheia and carried it off to Mount Sipylos. Hephaestus had made the golden dog for Rhea and after it was finished guarding the goat Amaltheia it was placed in the temple of Zeus in Crete. After Pandareus stole it he gave it to Tantalus, son of Zeus and Plouto, to guard. After a time Pandareus went to Mount Sipylos and asked for the Dog. Tantalos swore he had never received it. Pandareus fled to Athens, and thence to Sicily. Zeus punished Pandareus by turning both Pandareus and his wife, Harmothea, into a rock in Sicily. Tantalus, for going back on his oath, he struck down with a thunderbolt and set Mount Sipylos on top of his head." There seems little doubt that Pandereus did an evil deed but why should his daughters suffer? Even the death of his wife seems unreasonable.
The connection to Tantalus continues the strangeness of the story. The geographer Strabo, quoting earlier sources, states that the wealth of Tantalus was derived from the mines of Phrygia and Mount Sipylus. It was this wealth that allowed Tantalus to entertain the Gods. But why then would he be involved with the theft of a golden dog? Through Tantalus we find that Sipylus is a mountain in Lydia and Tantalus may be a Lydian king. At any rate near Mount Sipylus, archaeological features associated with Tantalus and his house since antiquity are, in fact, Hittite. We know that at the time of the Trojan war the Hittite realm was on the point of collapse. Further we know that the Greek information from that area at that time is very poor. For example, judging from the Greek myths the realm of the Amazons must have abutted that of Tantalus. Pausanius seems to have taken a number of artifacts as of Tantalus when in fact they are Hittite. On Mount Yamanlar some two km east of Akpnar are two monuments mentioned by Pausanias: the tholos tomb of Tantalus and the "throne of Pelops," in fact a rocky altar. A more famous rock-cut carving mentioned by Pausanias is the Great Mother of the Gods (Cybele to the Greeks), said to have been carved by Broteas, but in fact Hittite.
Antoninus Liberalis calls Pandareus an Ephesian. Pausanius insists he is a Miletian. But his relation to Tantalus suggests he is a Lydian or Phrygian. In this case the myth could relate the fact that the daughters of Pandereos were princesses of Lydia who were carried off by Amazons. This theory would, at least, make more sense than what Homer tells.
The myth of the judgement of Paris can be interpreted as Paris choosing among the gifts of the various goddesses since they are all perfectly beautiful. The important thing in that myth is that there are three goddesses. They can easily be interpreted as a Mycenaean triple. In the Pandareus myth the goddesses are also giving gifts. But now there are four goddesses. Does this mean that the Pandareus myth is later than the Paris myth? And what could possible happen to maidens that are so well gifted? Herodotus discusses the possibilities as follows in the first part of his History:
"1. Those of the Persians who have knowledge of history declare that the Phenicians first began the quarrel. These, they say, came from that which is called the Erythraian Sea to this of ours; and having settled in the land where they continue even now to dwell, set themselves forthwith to make long voyages by sea. And conveying merchandise of Egypt and of Assyria they arrived at other places and also at Argos; now Argos was at that time in all points the first of the States within that land which is now called Hellas;--the Phenicians arrived then at this land of Argos, and began to dispose of their ship's cargo: and on the fifth or sixth day after they had arrived, when their goods had been almost all sold, there came down to the sea a great company of women, and among them the daughter of the king; and her name, as the Hellenes also agree, was Io the daughter of Inachos. These standing near to the stern of the ship were buying of the wares such as pleased them most, when of a sudden the Phenicians, passing the word from one to another, made a rush upon them; and the greater part of the women escaped by flight, but Io and certain others were carried off. So they put them on board their ship, and forthwith departed, sailing away to Egypt.
2. In this manner the Persians report that Io came to Egypt, not agreeing therein with the Hellenes,[3] and this they say was the first beginning of wrongs. Then after this, they say, certain Hellenes (but the name of the people they are not able to report) put in to the city of Tyre in Phenicia and carried off the king's daughter Europa;--these would doubtless be Cretans;--and so they were quits for the former injury. After this however the Hellenes, they say, were the authors of the second wrong; for they sailed in to Aia of Colchis and to the river Phasis with a ship of war, and from thence, after they had done the other business for which they came, they carried off the king's daughter Medea: and the king of Colchis sent a herald to the land of Hellas and demanded satisfaction for the rape[4] and to have his daughter back; but they answered that, as the Barbarians had given them no satisfaction for the rape of Io the Argive, so neither would they give satisfaction to the Barbarians for this.
3. In the next generation after this, they say, Alexander the son of Priam, having heard of these things, desired to get a wife for himself by violence[4] from Hellas, being fully assured that he would not be compelled to give any satisfaction for this wrong, inasmuch as the Hellenes gave none for theirs. So he carried off Helen, and the Hellenes resolved to send messengers first and to demand her back with satisfaction for the rape; and when they put forth this demand, the others alleged to them the rape of Medea, saying that the Hellenes were now desiring satisfaction to be given to them by others, though they had given none themselves nor had surrendered the person when demand was made.
4. Up to this point, they say, nothing more happened than the carrying away of women on both sides; but after this the Hellenes were very greatly to blame; for they set the first example of war, making an expedition into Asia before the Barbarians made any into Europe. Now they say that in their judgment, though it is an act of wrong to carry away women by force, it is a folly to set one's heart on taking vengeance for their rape, and the wise course is to pay no regard when they have been carried away; for it is evident that they would never be carried away if they were not themselves willing to go. And the Persians say that they, namely the people of Asia, when their women were carried away by force, had made it a matter of no account, but the Hellenes on account of a woman of Lacedemon gathered together a great armament, and then came to Asia and destroyed the dominion of Priam; and that from this time forward they had always considered the Hellenic race to be their enemy: for Asia and the Barbarian races which dwell there the Persians claim as belonging to them; but Europe and the Hellenic race they consider to be parted off from them.
5. The Persians for their part say that things happened thus; and they conclude that the beginning of their quarrel with the Hellenes was on account of the taking of Ilion: but as regards Io the Phenicians do not agree with the Persians in telling the tale thus; for they deny that they carried her off to Egypt by violent means, and they say on the other hand that when they were in Argos she was intimate with the master of their ship, and perceiving that she was with child, she was ashamed to confess it to her parents, and therefore sailed away with the Phenicians of her own will, for fear of being found out. These are the tales told by the Persians and the Phenicians severally: and concerning these things I am not going to say that they happened thus or thus,[4a] but when I have pointed to the man who first within my own knowledge began to commit wrong against the Hellenes, I shall go forward further with the story, giving an account of the cities of men, small as well as great: for those which in old times were great have for the most part become small, while those that were in my own time great used in former times to be small: so then, since I know that human prosperity never continues steadfast, I shall make mention of both indifferently."
So why should not the daughters of Pandareus have been any different. We know that the Hellenes attacked Troy because of Helen. We also know that after their victory their ships and army were decimated by a storm. Is it not likely that the peoples of Asia would not have retaliated? We also know that the Sea Peoples the the Egyptians mentioned include countries on the southwest cost of Asia Minor including the countries involved in this Myth. So the myths of Pandereus may involve further events in the wars that followed the Trojan war.
Since Tantalus had a divine father (Zeus) and a mortal mother he was destined to be a hero. Yet Tantalus was involved with cannibalism, human sacrifice and parricide. Interestingly enough he might have been located in Phrygia (Strabo , xii.8.21). Pandereus was also involved the Tantalus in similar barbaric behavior. Also interesting is that the Amazons and their barbaric behavior were also associated with Phrygia. One has to wonder if the myth of the daughters has something to do with the rule of law over barbarism. Since the daughters finally end up with the Eumenides this seems to fit.
There is a Sumerian myth that has meanings along these lines. "In ancient Sumeria the priests of Enki wore garments in the form of a fish. The fish may refer to a Babylonian legend about Ea, the god's Akkadian title meaning‘ lord of the house of water,’ which was the sweet water beneath the ground named Abzu by the Sumerians. In remote times, according to this myth, when men lived in a lawless manner like beasts, Ea appeared from the sea. Part man and part fish, the double-headed god instructed men in handicrafts, farming, letters, laws, architecture, and magic. He softened the primitive rudeness. Thus the goddesses may have softened the rudeness of the daughters.
There is also the myth of Aura. An early comment by Nonnus describes Aura as the daughter of the Phrygian goddess Kybele. This and the placement of the myth in Phrygia, strongly suggest that the story was derived from a Phrygian myth surrounding a local huntress-goddess which the Greeks identified with Artemis. As such, the main characters of the story may have been Kybele (in place of Artemis), the daugher of Kybele (for Aura), and Sabazios (for Dionysos and/or the child Iakkhos).
Aura was a virgin-huntress who was excessively proud of her maidenhood. In her hubris she dared to compare her body with that of the goddess Artemis, claiming that the goddess was too womanly in form to be a true virgin. Artemis sought out Nemesis (Retribution) to avenge her dignity, and as punishment, Aura suffered rape at the hands of Dionysos. This crime drove her to madness and in her fury she became a ruthless, slayer of men (like Amazons). When her twin sons were born, Aura swallowed one whole, whilst the second was snatched to safety by Artemis. Zeus then transformed her into a stream (or perhaps her namesake breeze).
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