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Perse (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Perse (Ancient Greek: Πέρση, romanized: Pérsē, lit. 'destroyer') is one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daughters of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys. Her name was also spelled as Persa, Perseide, Persea or Perseis (Περσηίς, Persēís). Perse married Helios, the god of the sun, and bore him several children, most notably the sorceress-goddess Circe.

Mythology

Perse was one of the wives of the sun god, Helios. According to Homer and Hesiod, with Helios she had Circe and Aeëtes, with later authors also mentioning their children Pasiphaë, Perses, Aloeus, and even Calypso, who is however more commonly the daughter of Atlas. It is not clear why Perse bore Helios, the source of all light, such dark and mysterious children.

When Aphrodite cursed Helios to fall in love with the mortal princess Leucothoe, he is said to have forgotten about Perse. She seems to have been linked to witchcraft and knowledge of herbs and potions, much like her daughters Circe and Pasiphaë. She might have also been associated with the witchcraft goddess Hecate, who was also called Perseis (as in "daughter of Perses") and who is said to be Circe's mother in one version.

Possible connections

Perseis' name has been linked to Περσίς (Persís), "female Persian", and πέρθω (pérthō), "destroy" or "slay" or "plunder".

Kerenyi also noted the connection between her and Hecate due to their names, denoting a chthonic aspect of the nymph, as well as that of Persephone, whose name "can be taken to be a longer, perhaps simply a more ceremonious, form of Perse", as did Fowler, who noted that the pairing made sense given Hecate's association with the Moon. It has been suggested that Hecate's "Perseis" epithet denotes lunar connections. However, as Mooney notes, there is no evidence that Perse was ever a moon goddess on her own right.

An inscription of Mycenaean Greek (written in Linear B) was found on a tablet from Pylos, dating back to 1400–1200 BC. John Chadwick reconstructed the name of a goddess, *Preswa who could be identified with Perse. Chadwick found speculative the further identification with the first element of Persephone.