Dion (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Dion (/ˈdaɪɒn, ən/; Greek: Δίων) was a King in Laconia and husband of Amphithea, the daughter of Pronax.[1]

Dion
King of Laconia
Consort	Amphithea
Issue	Orphe, Lyco, and Carya

God Apollo, who had been kindly received by Dion and Amphithea, rewarded them by conferring upon their three daughters, Orphe, Lyco, and Carya, the gift of prophecy, on condition, however, that they should not betray the gods nor search after forbidden things.[2]

Dion erected a temple to Dionysus, who also visited his house and fell in love with Carya. When Orphe and Lyco tried not to let their sister consort with the god (thus breaking the restrictions imposed by Apollo), Dionysus changed them into rocks and Carya into a walnut tree. The Lacedaemonians, on being informed of it by Artemis, dedicated a temple to Artemis Caryatis.[3][4][5][6]

Notes

1. Emendation of "Iphitea, daughter of Prognaus".
2. «ne proditrices numinum esse vellent, neve quaererent quod esset nefas scire»
3. Maurus Servius Honoratus, Commentaries on the Eclogues of Virgil. VIII. 30
4. Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith (1870) Archived 2012-10-12 at the Wayback Machine, v. 1, page 1027
5. Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie. Hrsg. von H.W. Roscher. Leipzig, Teubner, 1890-1897. Repr.: Hildesheim, Olms, 1965. Band I. A-H., S. 1028
6. Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band V, Halbbände 9-10, Demogenes-Ephoroi (1905), p. 834