Αριων
A musician from Lesbos who had been given leave by his master, the tyrant of Corinth, Periander, to travel all over Magna Graecia and Sicily, earning money from his singing. After some time he wanted to go back to Corinth, but the slaves and the crew of the ship in which he was travelling conspired to kill him and appropriate his money. Instantly Apollo appeared to Arion in a dream in the guise of a lyre-player and told him to look out for his enemies, promising his help. When Arion was attacked by the conspirators he asked them for the favour of allowing him to sing once more. They granted this request and when the dolphins, Apollo's fovourites, heard his voice, they gathered round and Arion, putting his trust in the god, leaped into the sea. A dolphin picked him up and carried him on its back to Cape Tenaros. Once he was safely on shore, the musician dedicated an ex voto to Apollo and made his way to Corinth where he told his story to the tyrant.
The ship containing the would-be assassins soon arrived at Corinth whereupon Periander asked the sailors where Arion was and they replied that he had died on the voyage. Arion then appeared in person and the conspirators were crucified or, according to some accounts, impaled. To commemorate the story, Apollo changed Arion's lyre and the dolphins which had taken pity on him into constellations.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources:
- Serv. on Virgil, Ecl. 8, 55
- Ovid, Fast. 2, 79ff.
- Hyg. Astron. 2, 17; Fab. 194
- schol. on Aratus Phaen. p. 165 Br.
- Hdt. 1, 24