Daughter of Oebalus and wife of Aphareus, she bore him the heroes Lynceus, Idas, and Pisus, though many held that Idas was in truth a son of Poseidon.1
Apollodorus sets her in the Spartan-Messenian line: Aphareus and Arene, daughter of Oebalus, had as sons Lynceus, Idas, and Pisus. Lynceus was so keen of sight that he could see even things underground, while of Idas many said that his true father was Poseidon rather than Aphareus.2
When Aphareus and Leucippus inherited the Messenian kingdom and Aphareus held the greater authority, he founded a city and called it Arene after his wife, the daughter of Oebalus who was also his sister by the same mother; for Gorgophone, married to Oebalus, was the mother of them both.3
Pausanias keeps her in cult and landscape as well as genealogy: when Lycus, driven from Athens by his brother Aegeus, came to Arene, he revealed the rites of the Great Goddesses to Aphareus, his children, and his wife Arene; and near Lepreum a spring still bore the name Arene, said to derive from the wife of Aphareus.4
Apollonius keeps her name alive through her sons: the children of Aphareus, Lynceus and proud Idas, came from Arene to the Argo, both exulting in their great strength, and Lynceus excelling in keenest sight.5
⁂
the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story