Cyrene (mythology) Cyrene (mythology) In Greek mythology, Cyrene () or Kyrene (, "Sovereign Queen"), was a Thessalian princess, and later, the queen and ruler of the North African city of Cyrene. According to the myth, the city was founded and named after her by Apollo. As recorded in Pindar's ninth Pythian ode, Cyrene was the daughter of Hypseus, king of the Lapiths, although some myths state that her father was actually the river-god Peneus and she was a nymph rather than a mortal. According to Apollonius Rhodius, she also had a sister called Larissa. By the god Apollo she bore Aristaeus and
Greek mythology and the Near East. Adonis seems to be the Greek counterpart—more clearly in cult than in myth—of a Near Eastern "dying god". Cybele is rooted in Anatolian culture while much of Aphrodite's iconography may spring from Semitic goddesses. There are also possible parallels between the earliest divine generations (Chaos and its children) and Tiamat in the "Enuma Elish". According to Meyer Reinhold, "near Eastern theogonic concepts, involving divine succession through violence and generational conflicts for power, found their way ... into Greek mythology". In addition to Indo-European and Near Eastern origins, some scholars have speculated on the debts of Greek