Lie there Lykaon

[Zeus has sex with Maia while hid]ing in a cave; from them is born Hermes Philetes (the Lover), because he lay with her lovingly; and so he comes to be the ageless and undying herald of the gods. Poseidon has sex with Kelaino; from them Lykos is born, whom his father settles in the Islands of the Blessed and makes immortal. Zeus has sex with Taygete; from them [Lakedaimon is born...].

There is apparently some sort of punning or confusion going on with Φιλήτης (Philetes: thief); e.g. the Hom. H. Herm. 292 (ἀρχὸς φιλητέων) or Eur. Rhesus 217 (φηλητῶν ἄναξ) where Hermes is the "Prince of Thieves."

On the specific reading of Φιλήτηs (i.e., capitalized and with a short iota, deriving therefore from φιλεῖν), I came across this commentary:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20191228?read-now=1&seq=2&googleloggedin=true

Δημήτηρ Μέλαινα🐍🌾🐴

Mount Elaios is some thirty stades away from Phigalia [in Arkadia] and has a cave sacred to Demeter surnamed Melaina (Black). The Phigalians accept the account of the people of Thelpousa about the mating of Poseidon and Demeter, but they assert that Demeter gave birth, not to a horse, but to Despoine (the Mistress), as the Arkadians call her. Afterward, they say, angry with Poseidon and grieved at the rape of Persephone. She put on black apparel and shut herself up in this cavern for a long time. But when all the fruits of the earth were perishing, and the human race dying yet more through famine, no god, it seemed, knew where Demeter was in hiding, until Pan, they say, visited Arkadia. Roaming from mountain to mountain as he hunted, he came at last to Mount Elaios and spied Demeter, the state she was in, and the clothes she wore. So Zeus learnt this from Pan, and sent the Moirai (Fates) to Demeter, who listened to the Moirai and laid aside her wrath, moderating her grief as well. For these reasons, the Phigalians say, they concluded that this cavern was sacred to Demeter and set up in it a wooden image. The image, they say, was made after this fashion. It was seated on a rock, like to a woman in all respects save the head. She had the head and hair of a horse, and there grew out of her head images of serpents and other beasts. Her tunic reached right to her feet; on one of her hands was a dolphin, on the other a dove. Now why they had the image made after this fashion is plain to any intelligent man who is learned in traditions. They say that they named her Melaina (Black) because the goddess had black apparel. They cannot relate either who made this wooden image or how it caught fire. But the old image was destroyed, and the Phigalians gave the goddess no fresh image, while they neglected, for the most part, her festivals and sacrifices until the barrenness fell on the land Then they went as suppliants to the Pythian priestess and received this response :

‘Azanian Arkadians, acorn-eaters, who dwell in Phigaleia, the cave that hid Deo, who bare a horse, you have come to learn a cure for grievous famine, who alone have twice been nomads, alone have twice lived on wild fruits. It was Deo who made you cease from pasturing, Deo who made you pasture again after being binders of corn and eaters of cakes, because she was deprived of privileges and ancient honors given by men of former times. And soon will she make you eat each other and feed on your children, unless you appease her anger with libations offered by all your people, and adorn with divine honors the nook of the cave.’

When the Phigalians heard the oracle that was brought back, they held Demeter in greater honor than before, and particularly they persuaded Onatas of Aigina, son of Mikon, to make them an image of Demeter at a price" - Pausanias, Description of Greece 8. 42. 1-13

My favourite part in this account recorded by Pausanias is the oracle's message to the Phigalians. To me, it's metal as hell.

...as of 02/06/2026

This is pride month, so might as well redo my other post, but now more organized, properly cited including new ones, and several new additions I can find that are marked green. I posted few examples previously that are extremely obscure, so I figured I moved them to a different post to not further clutter here.

Not gonna go full detail on these couples as I'm sure everyone knows them. Zeus/Ganymede, Poseidon/Pelops, Apollo/Hyacinth, Achilles/Patroclus, Achilles/Troilus, and Heracles/Hylas.

Important disclaimer that some of these are more ambiguous than others due to the nature of the text and language, thus they contain a question mark and a footnote.

============

Zeus:

Adonis [Scholi. ad. Theocritum vetera 63]

Aëtos [Serv. A. 1.394]

Chrysippus [Praxilla = Athenaeus 13.79; *Clement, Exhortations 2.28?]

Euphorion [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.24]

Priam [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.48]

Poseidon:

*Chrysippus [Clement, Exhortations 2.28?]

Nerites [Aelian, Characteristics of Animals 14.28]

Patroclus [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.6]

Caeneus [Hesiod, Catalogue of Women, fr. 165 Most (= fr. 87 MW); Ovid, Met., 12.168–209; Apollodorus, E.1.22; Scholia D on Homer, Iliad, 1.264]

Apollo:

Admetus [Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo 47; Ovid, Ars Amatoria 2.239; Tibullus, Elegies 2.3; Ps-Plutarch, Am. 17, Numa 4.5; Nonnus 10.321]

Adonis [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.42]

Amyclas [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Boreas [Valerius Flaccus, 4.465]

Branchus the Tymnæan [Callimachus, Iambi fr. 217 Pf; Conon, Narrations (Photius) 33; Lucian, Dialogues of the Gods 6, the Hall 26?; Longus, Daphnis and Chloe 4.17; Strabo 14.1.5; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15;]

Carnus [Praxilla = Conon, Narrations (Photius) 26]

Cinyras [Pindar, Pythian Odes 2.1 ; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Cyparissus [Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.16; Scholia ad. Statius Thebaid 4.460; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15; Servius Danielis, ad. Aeneadem 3.680]

Helenus [Photius (Ptolemy Chennus), Bibliotheca, 190.49]

Hylas [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Iapyx [Verg.Aen. 12.383]

Leucatas [Servius, Commens Aeneid 3,279.]

Hippolytus of Sicyon [Plutarch, Life of Numa 4.5]

Hymeneous [Antoninus Liberalis, Met. 23 (= Hesiod, Megalai Ehoiai fr. 16)]

Melampus [Scholia ad. Apollonius Argonautica A118]

***Orestes?

Orpheus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Paris [Eustathius, Comm. ad Hom. Odyssey, 11.538 1696, 50]

Parus the Potnian [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Phorbas [Plutarch, Numa 4.5; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Troilus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Zacyinthus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Hermes:

Amphion [Philostr. Im. 1. 10.3]

Antheus [Alexander of Aetolia frag. 3 Magnelli; Aristotle and Milesian Historians via Parthenius 14]

Chrysas [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Crocus [Galenus, Medicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 13, 269 Kuhn, De Compositione Medicamentorum Secundum Locos 9.4; Servius, Commens Virgil Georgics 4.182]

Daphnis [Aelian. VH. 10.18]

Orpheus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Perseus [Ps-Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.12?; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Polydectes [Photius (Ptolemy Chennus), Bibliotheca, 190.50]

Theseus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Hephæstus: Peleus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

**Ares: Alectryon? [Lucian, Gallus 3; Libanius, Progymnasmata 2.26; Scholiast on Aristophanes' Aves 835]

Dionysus:

Achilles [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Adonis [Plato Comicus Adonis fr. 3.4 (7.435 K-A?) = Athenaeus 10.83b; Phanocles fr. 3 CA = Ps-Plutarch Moralia 670e; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Ampelus [[Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15; Nonnus 11.185]

Chiron [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.33]

Hermaphrodites [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Hymenæus [Nonnus 13.83 2.9.39-44; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Prosymnus [Clement, Exhortations 2.31; Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem 212]

Staphylus [Aristophanes via Suidas s.v. Enekheis 1020]

Pan: Daphnis [Theocritus Inscription IV, Epigram AP 6.177; Glaucus AP 9.341 = 3 HE; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Priapus: Daphnis [Theocritius Epigram AP 9.338]

Zephyrus: Cyparissus [Nonnus 11.363–365; Serv. A. 3.680]

Hesperus: Hymenaeus [Serv. Ecl. 8.30]

Hymenaeus:

Apollo

Argynnus [Likymnios, Dithyrambs PMG 768 = Athen. 13.603d]

Dionysus

Hesperus

Hypnos: Endymion [Licymnius Dithyrambs PMG771 = Athen. 13. 564cd]

Minos:

Atymnius [Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.2]

Ganymede [Dosiadas, FGrHist 458 F5; Echemenes, FGrHist 259 F1 = Athenaeus 13.77; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Arpalia; Suda s.v. Minos mu, 1039; Eustathius on Homer, pp. 986, 1205.]

Miletus [Antoninus Liberalis, Met. 30; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.2]

Theseus [Zenis of Chios = Athenaeus 13.77]

Rhadamanthus:

Atymnius [Philostratus Letter 8.46]

Talos [Ibycus frag. 32 = Athenaeus 603d; Suida s.v. Theta 41]

Sarpedon:

Atymnius [Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.2]

Miletus [Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3.1.2]

Heracles:

Abderus [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.12; Philostratus of Lemnos, Eikones 2.25; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Admetus [Ps-Plutarch, Am. 17]

Adonis [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.11]

Argos [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.14]

Chonus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Corythus [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.14]

Diomus [Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1. 1207; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Diomeia 231.12]

Dryops [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Elacatas [Bernard Sergent (1986): According to Sosibius, there was in Sparta a sanctuary whose name, the Elacataeon, derived from that of a hero, Elacatas, in whose honor the Spartans staged the games known as the Elacatia.' Sosibius, who is a good historian of Sparta, also tells us that Elacatas was the erômenos of Heracles.]

Eurystheus [Diotimus = Athenaeus 603d; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Hæmon [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Iolaus [Ps-Plutarch, Am. 17]

Jocastus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Nestor [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.10]

Nireus of Syme [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.11]

Perithyas/Perithoas [Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 1. 1207]

Philoctetes [Martial, Epigrams 2.84; Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15; Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 1. 1207]

Phrix/Trinx [Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius 1. 1207]

Polyphemus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Polystratus/Sostratus [Pausanias, 7.17.8.]

Stichios [Ptolemy Chennus (Photius), Bibliotheca, 190.49]

Theseus:

Chrysippus [Ps-Hyginus, Fabulae 271]

***Pirithous?

Asclepius: Hippolytus [Ps-Clementine Homilies 5.15]

Orpheus:

Kalais [Phanocles fr. 1 Collectanea Alexandrina]

unknown Thracian lovers [Phanocles Erotes fr. 1.10 Powell; Ovid, Met. 10.78–219]

Laius: Chrysippus [Scholi. ad. Euripides Ph. 60]

Oedipus: Chrysippus [Scholi. ad. Euripides Ph. 60]

Marsyas: Olympus [Philostratus, Lives of the Sophists, 2.5.5, Imagines 1.20.1; Ps-Plutarch, On Music 7.]

Thamyris: Hyacinthus [Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1.3.3]

Tantalus: Ganymede [Mnaseas FGrHist 3.154 F30; Phanocles frag. 4; Augustine, City of God 8.15; Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem 355; Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Arpalia; Eustathius ad Iliadem 20.219]

Paris: Antheus [Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 134]

Deiphobus: Antheus [Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 134]

Achilles:

Antilochus [Philostratus, Imagines, 2.7.1]

Dionysus

Agamemnon: Argynnus [Ibycus? = Athenaeus; Athen. 13. 603d; Phanocles, Frag. 5 Bach. Cp = Clement 2.34; Propertius 3.7.61-6; Ps-Plutarch Moralia 17; Stephanus of Byzantium A114 8]

***Orestes:

Apollo?

Pylades? [Luc. Am. 47; Magical Papyrus = Supplementum Magicum 1.42]

Idomeneus: Meriones [Strato AP 12.2]

============

Notes

*In Clement text it stated, "For your gods did not abstain from boys. One loved Hylas, another Hyacinthus, another Chrysippus, another Ganymedes." Theoi put Poseidon in bracket as Chrysippus' lover. However, we have a variant of Zeus as the erastes to him. Though Clement didn't stated who, I'm inclined to believe it meant Zeus, but putting in Poseidon for posterity sake.

**Discussed before. I decided to give them a bone since I already added Orestes and Peirithous.

***Although Xenophon listed Theseus/Peirithous and Orestes/Pylades alongside Achilles/Patroclus as primary examples of friendship or sworn brothers, 'loving' nature of the two former pairs also led to possibility of being interpreted as lovers, such as in Pseudo-Lucian who believed Orestes/Pylades are anything but friends. For Orestes/Pylades and Apollo, see Rabinowitz 305-308.

§ th.41 Θάμυρις ἢ Θαμύρας: Thamyris or Thamyras: A Thracian, of the Edones, the city in Brinkoi; son of Philammon and Arsinoe, eighth epic poet before Homer; but according to others fifth; and some [say he came] from Odryse. This Thamyris was blinded because he insulted the Muses. A Theology in three thousand verses is attributed to him.

Happy Mother’s Day! Here’s a series of epigrams that dedicated to a historical queen who was honored by her sons with a catalogue of mothers receiving love in classical mythology and poetry presented in Greek Anthology 3.

1. On Dionysus conducting his mother Semele up to heaven, with Hermes in the lead and Satyrs and Sileni escorting them with torches

This is the fair-haired daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, slain in childbirth by the lightning of Zeus, being led up from Acheron by her thyrsus-loving son; thus he responds to the godless insolence of Pentheus.

2. The second pillar has Telephus recognized by his mother.

Leaving the paths of Arcadia’s deep valleys for the sake of my mother Auge, I, Telephus, myself the dear son of Heracles, set foot on this Teuthranian land, to bring her back to Arcadia.

3. The third has Phoenix being blinded by his father Amyntor, and Alcimede restraining her husband.

Alcimede pulls her husband Amyntor away from their son, wishing to halt the wrath of Phoenix’s father. He was angry with his father for his virtuous mother’s sake, because he was drawn to the bed of a slave concubine. His father, listening to insidious whispers, was also angry with the young man, and turned a lethal torch against his eyes.

4. The fourth has Polymedes and Clytius, the sons of Phineus of Thrace, who murdered their father’s Phrygian wife, because he had taken her in place of their mother Cleopatra.

Clytius and Polymedes, renowned for intelligence, are killing their Phrygian stepmother for their own mother’s sake. Cleopatra is delighted with this; she had earlier seen Phineus’ wife righteously defeated.

5. The fifth has Cresphontes killing Polyphontes, his father’s murderer; Merope is there too, holding a staff and cooperating with her son in her husband’s demise.

You, Polyphontes, once killed Cresphontes’ father, wishing to defile the bed of his wedded wife, but later came his son came to avenge his father by your murder; now he kills you for the sake of his mother Merope. For this reason he planted a spear in your back, and she is helping, pounding your forehead with her heavy staff.

6. The sixth has Python being killed by Apollo and Artemis, because it appeared and prevented Leto from traveling to Delphi to take possession of its oracle.

Leto in utter loathing turns her head from earthborn Python, a creeping congeries of coils. It wishes to annoy the wise goddess, but Phoebus, shooting from the height, lays the beast low in its own blood. He will make the Delphic tripod inspired, and that most cruel of dragons will breathe out a plaintive hiss.

7. The seventh, on the northern side, has a scene of Amphion and Zethus. They are tying Dirce to a bull, because she, transported by jealous anger, punished their mother Antiope with excessive harshness; because of her affair, her father Nycteus had handed her over to her (Dirce’s) husband Lycus.

Amphion and Zethus, whelps of Zeus, kill this woman Dirce, who intended to slay your mother Antiope, whom formerly she kept in prison because of her jealous spite. But now she is the suppliant and begs piteously. Tie her to a bull with a double rope, so that it will drag her body through this thicket.

8. On the eighth is the necromancy of Odysseus. He questioned his own mother Anticlea concerning affairs at home.

Anticlea, mother of wise Odysseus, you did not live to welcome your son home to Ithaca; but now that you have come to the banks of Acheron, he wonders that his eye lights upon his sweet mother.

9. On the ninth are carved Pelias and Neleus, the sons of Poseidon, delivering their mother from bondage. Her father Salmoneus had recently imprisoned her because she had an affair, and her stepmother Sidero applied to her the instruments of torture.

Let your coils, Sidero, no longer torment Tyro, nor let her be subject to her father here, Salmoneus. For he will no longer keep her a slave in a cage, when he sees Neleus and Pelias sitting here nearby.

10. On the western side on the first part of the tenth tablet are carved Eunous and Thoas, the children of Hypsipyle, being recognized by their mother. They are showing her the golden vine that was the token of their birth and saving her from her punishment at the hands of Eurydice for the death of Archemorus.

Thoas, show her this, Bacchus’ plant, for you will save from death your mother, the slave Hypsipyle. She had endured the wrath of Eurydice since the earth-born snake slew feeble Archemorus.2 And you go too, Eunous, and leave the fields of Asopis, to take your mother to most holy Lemnos.

11. On the eleventh is Polydectes, king of Seriphus, being turned to stone by Perseus with the Gorgon’s head; because he wanted to marry his (Perseus’) mother, he had sent him for the Gorgon’s head, and the death that he intended for another he suffered himself, in accordance with the providence of Justice.

You, Polydectes, dared to defile the bed of Danaë, putting the blame on Zeus for your ill-rumored liaisons. In response Perseus here uncovered the eyes of the Gorgon and made your limbs stone, as a favor to his mother.

12. On the twelfth is Ixion killing Phorbas and Polymelus because of the murder of his own mother, Megara. They murdered her out of anger when she preferred not to marry either of them.

Here is Ixion striking Phorbas and Polymelus to the earth, in revenge for their punishment of his own mother.

13. The thirteenth has Heracles leading his mother Alcmene to the Elysian plains, giving her in marriage to Rhadamanthys, and then himself being admitted to the number of the gods.

The bold son of Alceus gave this woman, his mother Alcmene, in holy wedlock to Rhadamanthys.

14. In the fourteenth is Tityus being shot by Apollo and Artemis, for daring to assault their mother Leto.

Lustful and drunk with foolishness, why did you turn with violence to the bed of Zeus’ consort? He deservedly fouled you with your own blood, and now has righteously left you on the ground, food for beasts and birds.

16. By the temple doors as you go in are Aeolus and Boeotus, sons of Poseidon, delivering their mother Melanippe from the fetters in which she was placed by her father because of her affair.

Aeolus and Boeotus, you performed a clever and pious task in saving your mother from death. Therefore you were proven mighty men, one from Aeolia and one from Boeotia.

18. On the eighteenth are Cleobis and Biton; they enabled their mother Cydippe, who was priestess of Hera in Argos, to perform her sacrifices by putting their own necks under the yoke when the ox team was delayed. They say that she was so pleased that she prayed to the goddess that her sons should meet with whatever was best for men; thus she prayed, and they died that very night.

This story is no lie; the pious sacrifice of Cydippe’s sons is surpassingly true. Their timely journey set a pleasing target for men’s aim; they undertook a glorious labor out of pious devotion to their mother. So rejoice in sacrifices, men renowned for your piety, and may you alone have age-long story.

19. On the nineteenth are Remus and Romulus, delivering their mother (Servilia by name) from the tortures of Amulius. Ares had seduced her and fathered children from her; they were exposed and suckled by a wolf. When they grew to be men, they freed their mother from bondage, founded Rome, and restored Numitor to the throne.

[But Ste]simbrotos [say]s that Zeus, having received rulership from his mother [Rhea], was t[hen] deprived of that rule by her, as she gave sovereignty to Artemis a[nd] Athena.

[Στη]σίμβροτος δ[ὲ λέγ]ει τὸν Δία πα[ρ]ὰ [Ῥέας] τῆς μετρὸς [τὴν] ἀρχὴν λαβόντα [τὴ]ν ἀρ⟦χ⟧χὴν πάλι[ν ὑ]π’ αὐτῆς ἀφαιρεθῆ[ν]αι τῆι Ἀρτέμιδί τ[ε] καὶ Ἀθηναῖ τὴ[ν] βασιλείαν δούση[ς]

"According to the interesting, but not supported by the text, suggestion of W. Luppe (Artemis und Athene bei Stesimbrotos FGrHist 107 F 17, ZPE 61 (1985), 22), the passage should be restored as Ἀρτέμιδι τ[ῆ]ι καὶ Ἀθηνᾶι in the sense that ‘Artemis’ and ‘Athena’ were two names for the same deity." — Dmitriev, Sviatoslav. 2012. "Stesimbrotos of Thasos (107)" In Jacoby Online. Brill's New Jacoby, Part II, edited by Ian Worthington. Brill: Leiden.

If the text of Philodemus' On Piety is reliably restored, he iscited for three bizarre details from succession-myths: (i) that Earth bore Artemis and abandoned her;(ii) that the gods fought each other; (iii) that, after Zeus received power over the universe from hismother Rhea, she took it back from him and gave it to the goddess Artemis, who was the same as Athena...

FGH 107 F 19-20. He also claimed that Artemis and Athene were servants of Cybele...

(The Physicist as Hierophant: Aristophanes, Socrates and the Authorship of the Derveni Papyrus by Richard Janko)

I will always love those who dare to challenge the "traditional pantheon".

In light of that here are all of Stesimbrotos' (FGrHist/BNJ 107) surviving mythological fragments!!

F12a. Etymologicum Magnum 465.27

Idaioi: "Idaian Daktyls of Crete, whom once the nymph Anchiale brought forth [or caused to sprout] in the Diktaian cave, grasping the earth of Oaxos with both hands" (Ap. Argonautica 1. 1129-31) .They are ten in number. Hence, they were called Daktyls (Fingers) after our own fingers, or because they were thrown from among the fingers. They are called "Idaian" because they were born on Mount Ida in Crete, or because the dust that was thrown was from Mount Ida. Stesimbrotos in his On Initiations calls them children of Zeus and the nymph Ida, and says that Zeus ordered his nurses to take dust and throw it behind them, and that the Idaian Daktyls were born from that dust.

F12b. Scholia on Apollonios Rhodios Argonautica 1. 1126 (101 Wendel)

He took from Stesimbrotos the idea that a certain nymph "grasping the earth of Oaxos" produced those called the Idaian Daktyls. <lacuna> And that they were called “Daktyls” because they flowed through her hand.

F13. Etymologicum Magnum 277.35

Dionysos: Some call him Dionyxos, because, having been born with horns, he pierced (enyxe) Zeus’s (Dios) thigh, as Stesimbrotos says.

F14. Philodemos, On piety 50.1.22.1-10 Gomperz

… Ammon … to be … Apollo (as says?) Stesimbrotos. Aischylos in The Heliades (F 70 Radt) says that Zeus is the sky and the earth and the universe and everything and beyond everything.

F15. Philodemos, On piety 90.27.41.27-29 Gomperz

and Stesim[brotos says that] [G]aia gave birth to Arte[mis]... [and cast her out into the wilderness (vel sim.)]

F16. Philodemos, On piety 91.21.42.21-29 Gomperz

[Accord]ing to the author of Danais (F 3 Davies), the [Kou]retes serve the Mother of the G[ods]. Stes[imbro]tos made Artem[is] and Athen[a he]r attendants …

F17. Philodemos, On piety 94.14.45.14-23 Gomperz

[But Ste]simbrotos [say]s that Zeus, having received rulership from his mother [Rhea], was t[hen] deprived of that rule by her, as she gave sovereignty to Artemis a[nd] Athena.

F18. Suda τ 1216, s.v. τυφλότερος ἀσπάλακος = Leutsch and Schneidewin 2 (1851), 695

As for the reason that this animal [the mole] has no eyes, Stesimbrotos says that it was blinded by Gaia for destroying the crops. For it has the most dreadful teeth, a snout like a weasel and feet like a bear.

F19. Scholia on Apollonios Rhodios Argonautika 1.1304 (118 Wendel)

Apollonios says that Herakles destroyed the Boreads because they had prevented the ship from turning back to Mysia, and Semos says that this happened because the Boreads overtook Herakles in a foot-race. But Stesimbrotos says that they quarreled with Herakles over the gifts that Jason had given to the leaders.

F20. Strabo, Geography 10.3.19-20.472 (Radt 3, 236)

Eustath. 1056. 53: The daidaleē chest, and generally all things called daidaleia or daidalea or daidala, [derive their name] not only from Daidalos the Cretan, but also, as is shown elsewhere, from the mythical Daidale, the mother of Metis, by whom, they say, Athena was reared.

Etym. M. 250. 56: Daidalos: The proper name of the hero; from [the verb] daiō (meaning "to know/be skilled"), [hence] daialos, the skilled one, which by the doubling of the [letter] d [becomes] daidalos. Or from daiō, [meaning] "to learn"; and daidala, [meaning] intricate works, which come from learning and experience; or from daēnai, things born from instruction. Or from Daidalos, one who decorates his works. Or from Daidale, Athena's grandmother or nurse. And everything created by the virgin [Athena] is attributed to her.

I find this last sentence particularly lovely: anything Athena makes (i.e. anything made beautifully or cleverly) is ultimately credited to the person who raised her, her grandma.

Pausanias mentions how Athena was raised by Alalcomenes:

Alalcomenae is a small village, and it lies at the very foot of a mountain of no great height. Its name, some say, is derived from Alalcomeneus, an aboriginal, by whom Athena was brought up; others declare that Alalcomenia was one of the daughters of Ogygus. At some distance from the village on the level ground has been made a temple of Athena with an ancient image of ivory.

He also describes the Daedala festival, you can find it here.

Here’s what Plutarch describes of it, in his On the Festival of Images At Plataea, though (it’s harder to find so I wanted to share this one):

It is that when Hera fell out with Zeus and would no longer consort with him but hid herself, he wandered around at his wits’ end; in this state he fell in with Alalcomeneus the aboriginal, who instructed him that he must trick Hera by a pretence of marrying someone else. Alalcomeneus assisted him in secretly felling a lovely straight-grained oak-tree, which they shaped and dressed like a bride, giving it the name of Daidalê. Then, these preparations made, the wedding-song rang out, and the Nymphs of the river Tritonb brought the water for the bridal bath, and Boeotia provided pipes and revelry. As all this went forward, Hera could stand it no longer, but came down from Cithaeron, with a retinue of women from Plataea, and ran in anger and jealousy to confront Zeus. The counterfeit being exposed, she was reconciled to him and herself led the bridal procession with joy and laughter; she gave honour to the wooden image, by naming the festival Daidala, but for all that she burnt it up, lifeless though it was, in her jealousy.

Grammatically, Δαιδάλη (Daidálē) is just a feminine proper noun derived from the same linguistic root that produced the verb δαιδάλλω (to craft, to make with cunning, to decorate) or the adjective δαίδαλος (cunningly wrought, skilfully made, intricate), which can also mean "crafty" or "cunning" when applied to people (e.g. of Selene in PGM IV. 2266: ἐνεύχομαί σοι, δαιδάλη "I implore you, O cunning one"), and as a substantive simply refers to a crafted object (a carved doll in the case of the Plataian festival):

Because of this reconciliation, they celebrate the Daidala festival, since men of old used to call xoana (wooden statues) daidala." (Paus. 9.3.2)

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of a prehistoric Boiotian goddess called Daidale that was at some point supplanted by Hera.

The personified concept Daidale (Δαιδάλη – Craftiness, Skill, Cunning) is created by shifting to the feminine (-η) ending, and her role as the mother of Metis (Μῆτις – also meaning Skill, Cunning, Craftiness, Wisdom, Counsel, etc.) is basically just a further embellishment of the already allegorical "Athena was the daughter of Wisdom," by adding something along the lines of "and Craftiness was Wisdom's mother and Athena's nurse". Kind of like the allegory found in Plato's Symposium 203b where Resourcefulness (Poros) is the son of Cunning (Metis) and the father of Eros (Love) by Penia (Poverty). It's not really mythologically relevant (whatever that sentence means).

Not because it's straightforward and/or simple, but given how mired the community is in various ships (divine and mortal, plus divine with mortal) it would probably be helpful.

Since the basic rule is all (absolutely all, no exceptions) desire/love/attraction/what have you, originate from and is sparked in others by Aphrodite and Eros. There is not a single couple (consensual or not) where the spark doesn't come because of/from/by Aphrodite and/or Eros. This is how it is in myth, and this is how it was viewed to be in real life. And as we know, Aphrodite (and Eros) and her power are irresistible.

On the other hand, that "irresistible" has caveats. Not just in the form of Artemis, Hestia and Athena, as the fifth Homeric Hymn tells us, but in the form of that while the desire in itself might be impossible to avoid feeling once struck with it, you can choose to fight it. To (try to) not act upon it. The version of Euripides' Hippolytus that has survived down to us has Phaedra fight the desire Aphrodite has struck her with; as the play starts she's already been resisting for quite a while. (She goes to her death without once giving in.)

Both mortals and gods are thus responsible for their own actions under desire, even if/regardless of as that desire might "veil their wits" and they act in ways they wouldn't if they weren't desiring. (But isn't that how love always works?) Zeus in the fifth Homeric Hymn turns Aphrodite's power on herself, because she's "made him" lie with mortal women. Being that Aphrodite('s power) is "irresistible", do we suddenly decide Zeus isn't responsible for any of his escapades? Yes? No? Why not? Any given mortal punished by Aphrodite striking them with desire is no different from Zeus - by how the Ancient Greek mythical cosmos works, they're all equally helpless, equally responsible.