Tmolus
Tmolus is a legendary king of Lydia in ancient Greek legend and mythology. According to the story, Tmolus angered the goddess Artemis when he violated a follower of the goddess inside her temple, and she punished him with death. He might have also been the husband of Omphale, who inherited Lydia after his death.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 200 CE
- Attested period
- -800 – 200
- Historical notes
- Story survives in late-antiquity paradoxographical accounts.
Relationships
- enemy of
- Artemis (Diana), Arrhippe
- consort of
- Omphale
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Tmolus, while hunting upon the mountain Carmanorion, chanced upon a virginal and beautiful nymph by the name of Arrhippe. He instantly fell in love with her, but she was an attendant of the maiden-goddess Artemis, so she spurned him. Unable to persuade the nymph via fair means, Tmolus decided to gain her by force”
#42869 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Tmolus, a king of Lydia, son of Ares and Theogone, perhaps identical with Omphale's husband. While hunting on a mountain, Tmolus raped the virginal Arrhippe, a nymph companion of the goddess Artemis, inside the goddess' very temple, who then hung herself. Angry, Artemis caused Tmolus to be killed by a raging bull.”
#44901 · extracted by openai/gpt-oss-20b:free