Galaxy/The codex of Oeagrus

Oeagrus (Ancient Greek: Οἴαγρος, "of the wild sorb-apple") was a Thracian king and the usual mortal father of Orpheus (and often Linus) by the Muse Calliope — though some name Apollo as the true sire. Tradition places his realm in Edonia, Pieria, or by the Hebrus; Nonnus sends him on Dionysus's Indian campaign while Calliope raises the infant Orpheus.

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Oeagrus" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.Realm and ancestry

Accounts disagree on where Oeagrus ruled. One strand places him over the Edonian kingdom in Mygdonia as son of Charops, whom Dionysus set over the Edones after Lycurgus's death; another links him to Pieria as son of King Pierus and the nymph Methone, fifth generation from Atlas via Alcyone; a third ties him to the Hebrus. He is occasionally called a son of Ares, the god associated with Thrace.

II.Father of Orpheus

By Calliope — or, in variant notes, Clio or Polymnia — he fathers Orpheus and Linus; Apollodorus allows that Calliope bore them "to Oeagrus, or nominally to Apollo." Apollonius opens the Argonaut catalogue with Orpheus born near the Pimpleian height when Calliope wed Thracian Oeagrus. He is also sometimes named father of Marsyas. The Muses as sisters of Orpheus can be styled Oeagrides.

III.Dionysiaca

In Nonnus, Oeagrus leaves Pimpleia on the Bistonian plain to follow Dionysus against the Indians, entrusting newborn Orpheus to Calliope. There he is remembered as singer, harpist, and warrior.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameOiagros (Οἴαγρος)
Roman nameOeagrus
Typemortal
DomainsThracian king · father of Orpheus · husband of Calliope
Cult centersPieria / Pimpleia (Olympus) · Edonia (Mygdonia) · Hebrus valley (Thrace)
EtymologyAncient Greek Oíagros (Οἴαγρος), traditionally glossed "of the wild sorb-apple." The Hebrus region was sometimes called Oeagria in his honor.
READ MOREWikipedia