STAPHYLUS

a son of Dionysus and Ariadne, or of Theseus and Ariadne, was one of the Argonauts (Apollodorus i). By Chrysothemis he became the father of three daughters, Molpadia, Rhoeo, and Parthenos. Rhoeo was beloved by Apollo, and Staphylus, believing that she was with child by some one else, locked her up in a chest and threw her into the sea.

The chest was washed on the coast of Delos, where she gave birth to Anius. She placed the child on the altar of Apollo, praying that the god, if he were the father, should save the child. Apollo accordingly concealed the boy and taught him the art of prophecy. The sisters of Rhoeo were to guard the wine of Staphylus, but while they had fallen asleep the swine spilled and spoiled the wine.

The sisters, on discovering the mischief, took to flight and threw themselves down from a rock. But Apollo, who saved them, transferred Parthenos to Bubastus in the Chersonesus, where a sanctuary was dedicated to her and Molpadia, under the name of Hemithea, to Castabus in the Chersonesus.

There a temple was erected to her also, which no one was allowed to enter who had touched a swine, and where libations were offered to her, consisting of honey and water. Hemithea was worshipped especially as a divinity affording relief to women in childbirth. According to others Hemithea became by Lyrcus the mother of Basileus.