Αρειων
The name of Adrastus' horse in the first expedition against Thebes. The horse saved the life of Adrastus, when all the other heroes who had taken part in the war were killed. After the defeat of the Argive army Areion carried his master quickly away from the battlefield and left him in safety near Colonus in Attica. The speed of Areion had already been displayed in the funerary games founded in honour of Archemorus (see Amphiaraus).
The following story was told about Areion's breeding. When Demeter was searching for her daughter, who had been abducted by her uncle, Hades (see Persephone), Poseidon, who was in love with Demeter, followed her everywhere she went. To rid herself of him, Demeter had the idea of changing herself into a mare and hiding among the horses of King Oncus, at Thelpusa in Arcadia. But Poseidon was not taken in. He himself assumed the likeness of a horse and in this guise mated with her. From this union was born a daughter whose name could not be uttered (she was known as the Lady of the Mistress) and a horse, Areion. This horse belonged first to Oncus, and then to Heracles, who used it in the expedition against Elis and the struggle against Cycnus.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Paus. 8, 42, 1ff.; 8, 25, 7ff.
- Tzetzes on Lyc. Alex. 153; 766
- Hom. Il. 23, 356ff. with schol.
- Apollod. Bibl. 3, 6, 8