Acraea

For the genus of butterflies, see Acraea (butterfly). For the ancient city, see Acraea (city).

Acraea (Ancient Greek: Ἀκραία means 'of the heights' from akraios) was a name that had several uses in Greek and Roman mythology.

• Acraea, the naiad daughter of the river-god Asterion near Mycenae, who together with her sisters Euboea and Prosymna acted as nurses to Hera. A hill Acraea opposite the temple of Hera near Mycenae derived its name from her.
• Acraea and Acraeus are also epithets given to various goddesses and gods whose temples were situated upon hills, such as Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and others.

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Bell, Robert E., Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. ABC-Clio. 1991. ISBN 9780874365818, 0874365813.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Acraea". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.