Ασπαλις
Meliteus, the son of Zeus and the Nymph Othreis, was miraculously fed by a swarm of bees in the woods where his mother had left him to die. He went to Thessaly to found a town called Melitaea and there he ruled like a tyrant, abducting young girls and taking possession of them. He was greatly attracted to one of them, Aspalis, the daughter of one Argaeus and ordered her to be brought to him. The girl hanged herself before the soldiers came to take her away. Her brother, Astygites, put on his sister's clothes, beneath which he hid a sword, and allowed himself to be taken away as if he was Aspalis and as soon as he came into the presence of the tyrant, he killed him. The inhabitants of the town threw the corpse into the river and set Astygites to rule over them. When a search was made for the body of Aspalis, it was found to have vanished. The gods had replaced her with a wooden statue and this became the object of worship.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Antoninus Liberalis, Met. 13