Poseidon Arethusa's story is mostly known from a fragment of the Michigan papyrus (Papyrus Michigan, inv. no. 1447). The fragmentary Hellenistic text attributes the story to
Hesiod, though it has been identified as part of the pseudo-Hesiodic
Catalogue of Women, an epic poem written around the seventh or sixth century BC. The fragment, as restored by
Reinhold Merkelbach and
Martin Litchfield West, reads: Ἀρέθουσα θυγάτηρ μὲν Ὑπέρ[ο]υ, Π[οσ]ει[δῶνι δὲ συν]ελθοῦσα κατὰ τὸν Βοϊκὸν Εὔρειπον [εἰς κρήνην] ἠλλάγη ἐν Χ[αλκίδι] ὑπὸ [τῆς] Ἥρας, ὡς Ἡσίοδος ἱστορε[ῖ According to the damaged text, Arethusa was the daughter of
Hyperes, though it does not clarify whether this is Hyperes of Troezen or Hyperes of Boeotia. It further says that this Arethusa slept by the shore of the
Euripus Strait (which separates the island of
Euboea from mainland
Greece) with a man whose name is not preserved, but which starts with 'P' and contains the diphthong 'ei'; it is generally accepted that this is meant to read '
Poseidon' (as Merkelbach and West restored). The theory is supported by the works of
Hyginus and
Stephanus of Byzantium, who wrote that Poseidon and Arethusa became the parents of the hero
Abas, as well as
Hesychius of Alexandria, who wrote that one of Poseidon's epithets was
Euripios. Euboea was often called
Abantis after Abas.
Hera Following her tryst with Poseidon, Arethusa was then transformed by the goddess
Hera at a place starting with chi (
Chalcis, the principal city of Euboea). Due to the fragment's poor condition however it is ambiguous what Hera transformed Arethusa into, or why. The presence of a large spring called Arethusa in Chalcis (the principal spring of the city) leads to the deduction that Arethusa was changed into this spring, like other women in Greek mythology bearing the same name were. Hera's motivations are harder to decipher. There are two possibilities behind her motive; either Hera did so in order to punish Arethusa over an unknown offence, or perhaps it was an act of mercy. Given that Arethusa's lover was Poseidon, and not Hera's husband
Zeus, marital infidelity can be ruled out as the reason. It is possible that Arethusa made a hubristic remark against Hera or dared to compare herself to the queen of the gods. Alternatively, if Hera's motivation was sympathy and mercy, perhaps she did so to save Arethusa from some hardship or threat she was facing, like
Athena did with
Corone. Arethusa's son Abas named his daughter Arethusa after his mother. == Culture ==