Hydaspes (mythology)
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In Greek mythology, Hydaspes (Ancient Greek: Ὑδάσπης, romanized: Hydaspēs), was a river god of Pentapotamia with an extraordinary swift stream that flows into the Saronitic Syrtis. It is the modern day Jhelum River ("Vitasta" in Sanskrit).[1]
Hydaspes was a Titan-descended god, the son of the sea-god Thaumas and the cloud-goddess Elektra, an Oceanid. He was the brother of Iris, the messenger goddess of the rainbow.[2] By default, Hydaspes’ possible siblings were Arke[3] and the Harpies.
"He [i.e. Hydaspes] had the genuine Titan blood; for from the bed of primeval Thaumas his rosyarm consort Electra brought forth two children — from that bed came a river and a messenger of the heavenly ones, Iris quick as the wind and swiftly flowing Hydaspes, Iris travelling on foot and Hydaspes by water. Both had an equal speed on two contrasted paths: Iris among the immortals and Hydaspes among the rivers."[2]
By the Heliad Astris, the daughter of Helios and the Oceanid Ceto, Hydaspes fathered Deriades the king of Pentapotamia (Punjab).[4]
"The whole army was led to battle by the emperor of the Deriades, son of Hydaspes the watery lover in union with Astris daughter of Helios, happy in her offspring — men say that her mother was Ceto, a Naiad daughter of Oceanos — and Hydaspes crept into her bower till he flooded it, and wooed her to his embrace with conjugal waves."[2]
According to Plutarch, Hydaspes was the father of Chrysippe, who fell in love with her own father.[5]
Mythology
Nonnus' account
The poet Nonnus in his Dionysiaca mentioned Hydaspes supported the natives in their war against the invading armies of the god Dionysos.[6]
The whole army was led to battle by the emperor Deriades, son of Hydaspes the watery lover in union with Astris daughter of Helios, happy in her offspring—men say that her mother was Ceto, a Naiad daughter of Oceanos—and Hydaspes crept into her bower till he flooded it, and wooed her to his embrace with conjugal waves. He had the genuine Titan blood; for from the bed of primeval Thaumas his rosy arm consort Electra brought forth two children—from that bed came a river and a messenger of the heavenly ones, Iris quick as the wind and swiftly flowing Hydaspes, Iris travelling on foot and Hydaspes by water. Both had an equal speed on two contrasted paths: Iris among the immortals and Hydaspes among the rivers.
Plutarch's account
In another myth, the goddess Aphrodite was offended by Chrysippe and consequently made the princess fall in love with her own father. The girl was unable to curb her preternatural desires and, with the help of her nurse, went in the dead of the night to the king's bed and lay with him. When Hydaspes realized what had happened, he ordered the nurse buried alive for her betrayal and his daughter crucified. Soon after, overcome with grief for the loss of Chrysippe, he threw himself into the river Indus (evidently not the modern day Pakistani river of the same name), which was said to have been renamed Hydaspes after him.[5]
