© 1998 Bernard SUZANNE | Last updated December 6, 1998 |
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This page is part of the "tools" section of a site, Plato and his dialogues, dedicated to developing a new interpretation of Plato's dialogues. The "tools" section provides historical and geographical context (chronology, maps, entries on characters and locations) for Socrates, Plato and their time. By clicking on the minimap at the beginning of the entry, you can go to a full size map in which the city or location appears. For more information on the structure of entries and links available from them, read the notice at the beginning of the index of persons and locations.
Name of two Attic demes : one from the
tribe Hippothoontides in northwestern Attica, along
the border with Boeotia, and the other of the tribe
Æantides, in northeastern Attica, north of Marathon.
The name Oenoe comes from the Greek word oinos, meaning "wine". The village
bordering Boeotia was the cause of a border conflict in the time of king Thymoetes
of Athens and king Xanthus of Thebes.
As the war was dragging with no end in sight, the adversaries decided to settle
the matter by a single fight between their two kings. But Thymoetes was afraid
of Xanthus and so, he let it be known through all of Attica that he would leave
his throne to whomever would take his place and fight Xanthus. Melanthus, a
descendant of Neleus, king of Pylos in Messenia
(the father of Nestor), who had settled in Attica
after being ousted from Pylos by the Heraclidæ, volunteered. When the
fight was about to start, Dionysus appeared
behind Xanthus under the guise of an armed warrior. Not knowing what was happening,
Melanthus accused Xanthus of violating the rules of the fight by bringind an
assistant. Xanthus turned his head to see who was following him and Melanthus
took advantage of this to kill him with his spear. After that, Melanthus became
king of Athens (he was the father of Codrus)
and the Athenians built a temple to Dionysus on the location of the fight.