What does alpheus mean?
Definitions for alpheus
alpheus
This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word alpheus.
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Wikidata
Alpheus
Alpheus, also known as Alpheios, was in Greek mythology a river and river-god. Like most river-gods, he is a son of Oceanus and Tethys. Telegone, daughter of Pharis, bore his son, the king Orsilochus. Through him, Alpheus was the grandfather of Diocles, and great-grandfather of a pair of soldiers, Crethon and Orsilochus, who were slain by Aeneas during the Trojan War. According to Pausanias, Alpheius was a passionate hunter and fell in love with the nymph Arethusa, but she fled from him to the island of Ortygia near Syracuse, and metamorphosed herself into a well, after which Alpheius became a river, which flowing from Peloponnesus under the sea to Ortygia, there united its waters with those of the well Arethusa. This story is related somewhat differently by the Roman writer Ovid: Arethusa, a beautiful nymph, once while bathing in the river Alfeios in Arcadia, was surprised and pursued by the river god; but the goddess Artemis took pity upon her and changed her into a well, which flowed under the earth to the island of Ortygia. According to yet other traditions, Artemis herself was the object of the love of Alpheius. Once, it is said, when pursued by him she fled to Letrini in Elis, and here she covered her face and those of her companions with mud, so that Alpheius could not discover or distinguish her, and was obliged to return. This occasioned the building of a temple of Artemis Alphaea at Letrini. According to another version, the goddess fled to Ortygia, where she had likewise a temple under the name of Alphaea. An allusion to Alpheius' love of Artemis is also contained in the fact that at Olympia the two divinities had one altar in common.
Mythology
Alpheus
(Alphe′us), a river god.
Numerology
Chaldean Numerology
The numerical value of alpheus in Chaldean Numerology is: 4
Pythagorean Numerology
The numerical value of alpheus in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1
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"alpheus." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 13 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/alpheus>.
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