CLYMENE IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY

​Clymene was a common name amongst female figures in Greek mythology, given to both immortals mortals, one such mortal, was Clymene daughter of Catreus. 

Clymene Daughter of Catreus

​Clymene was a daughter of King Catreus of Crete by a woman unnamed. Catreus was father to a son, Althaemenes, and three daughters Apemosyne, Aerope and Clymene. 

Catreus would live for a while under the cloud of a prophecy, for it was foretold that the king of Crete was destined to die by the hand of one of his children. Catreus did not tell his children of the prophecy but eventually his son Althaemenes found out, and deciding that he did not wish to be the cause of his father’s death left Crete, taking Apemosyne with him. 

Aerope and Clymene were not given the freedom to make a decision about their own future though, for Catreus, upon the departure of his son, decided to take action to avoid the prophecy. Clymene and Aerope were thus given to the long-lived Argonaut Nauplius, with the presumption that the daughters of Catreus would be sold into slavery in some far away land. 

Clymene Wife of Nauplius

Nauplius took Clymene and Aerope, but he did not sell them into slavery, for Aerope was given to Atreus in Mycenae, and became the future king’s wife, and became mother to Menelaus and Agamemnon. 

Nauplius then decided to make Clymene his wife. 

Clymene then primarily become famous for her children, for she bore 3 or 4 sons for Nauplius; the most famous of the sons of Clymene being the wronged Achaean hero Palamedes, with other sons potentially being Nausimedon, Oeax and Proetus. 

Clymene was not involved in the death of Catreus, but the prophecy about Clymene’s father did become true, for Catreus was accidentally killed by Althaemenes 

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