In Greek mythology, Praxithea (; Ancient Greek: Πραξιθέα) was a name attributed to five women.
- Praxithea, a Naiad nymph. She married Erichthonius of Athens and by him had a son named Pandion I. Praxithea's sister Zeuxippe married her nephew Pandion, and to them were born Erechtheus, Butes, Procne and Philomela.[1] She was also called Pasithea.
- Praxithea, an Athenian daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia, daughter of the river-god Cephissus. She became queen of Athens after marrying King Erechtheus by whom she Cecrops, Pandorus, Metion,[2] Protogeneia, Pandora, Procris, Creusa, Oreithyia and Chthonia.[3] Praxithea's other possible children were Orneus,[4] Thespius,[5] Eupalamus,[6] Sicyon[7] and Merope.[8]
- Praxithea, the woman that cried out when she saw Demeter holding Metanira's son Demophon in the fires, thus preventing him from becoming immortal.[9]
- Praxithea (or Phrasithea), daughter of Leos.[10] Along with her sisters, Theope and Eubule, she sacrificed herself in order to save Athens. In another version, their father was the one who offered them up to sacrifice. A precinct called the Leocorium was dedicated to the worship of these three maidens at Athens.[11]
- Praxithea, a Thespian princess as one of the 50 daughters of King Thespius and Megamede[12] or by one of his many wives.[13] When Heracles hunted and ultimately slayed the Cithaeronian lion,[14] Praxithea with her other sisters, except for one,[15] all laid with the hero in a night,[16] a week[17] or for 50 days[18] as what their father strongly desired it to be.[19] Praxithea bore Heracles a son, Nephus.[20]
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.14.8
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.1
- ^ Suda, s.v. Maidens, Virgins (Παρθένοι)
- ^ Pausanias, 2.25.6; Plutarch, Theseus 32.1; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Orneiai (Ὀρνειαί)
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.2
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.76.1
- ^ Pausanias, 2.6.5, citing Hesiod (Ehoiai fr. 224) for Erechtheus
- ^ Plutarch, Theseus 19.5
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.5.1
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.15.8, f.n. 3 as noted by Heyne; 12.28; Aelian, Varia Historia 12.28
- ^ Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3.50; Apollodorus, 3.15.8, f.n. 3 as noted by Heyne; Pausanias, 1.5.2; Aelian, Varia Historia 12.28; Photius' Lexicon; Suida, Suda Encyclopedia s.v. Leokorion; Etymologicum Magnum 560.34; Scholia on Thucidides, 1.20, on Demosthenes 54.7; Apostolius, Cent. 10.53; Aristides, Orations 13, vol. i, pp. 191 ff., ed. Dindorf
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.222
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.2
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.4.9
- ^ Pausanias, 9.27.6; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
- ^ Pausanias, 9.27.6–7; Gregorius Nazianzenus, Orat. IV, Contra Julianum I (Migne S. Gr. 35.661)
- ^ Athenaeus, 13.4 with Herodorus as the authority; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3, f.n. 51
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3; Tzetzes, Chiliades 2.224
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.4.10; Diodorus Siculus, 4.29.3
- ^ Apollodorus, 2.7.8