Μαιρα
- The mother of LOCRUS I.
- A heroine of Arcadia who was thought to be the daughter of Atlas and the wife of Tegeates, one of Lycaon's sons who gave his name to the town of Tegea. Her tomb, as well as that of her husband, was in the town's main square. Maera, the wife of Tegeates, was the mother of LEIMON and Scephrus, as well as Cydon, Archedius and Gortys.
- A dog owned by the hero ICARIUS, who brought the vine into Attica, and was torn apart by drunken peasants. Maera's barking led ERIGONE to her father's grave. After Erigone's suicide, the dog stayed on the grave and died of despair or perhaps committed suicide by throwing itself into the Onigrus spring. Dionysus turned this faithful dog into a constellation - 'the Dog'. In some accounts Maera was one of ORION's dogs.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
(1)
- See LOCRUS.
(2)
- Paus. 8,48,6; 8,53,2ff.
(3)
- Apollod. Bibl. 3,14,7;
- Hyg. Fab. 130;
- Astron. 2,4;
- Ovid, Fasti 4,939ff.