Orithyia

Orithyia (/ɒrᵻˈθaɪ.ə/;Greek: Ὠρείθυια Ōreithuia; Latin: Ōrīthyia) was the daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens and his wife, Praxithea, in Greek mythology.

Legends

Orithyia's brothers were Cecrops, Pandorus, and Metion, and her sisters were Procris, Creusa, and Chthonia.

Boreas, the north wind, fell in love with her. At first he attempted to woo her, but after failing at that he decided to take her by force, as violence felt more natural to him. While she was playing by the Ilissos River she was carried off to Sarpedon’s Rock, near the Erginos River in Thrace. There she was wrapped in a cloud and raped.Aeschylus wrote a satyr play about the abduction called Orithyia which has been lost.

Plato writes somewhat mockingly that there may have been a rational explanation for her story. She may have been killed on the rocks of the river when a gust of northern wind came, and so she was said to have been 'taken by Boreas'. He also mentions in another account she was taken by Boreas not along the Ilissos, but from the Areopagus, a rock outcropping near the Acropolis where murderers were tried. However, many scholars regard this as a later gloss.

Orithyia (Amazon)

In Greek and Roman legendary history, Orithyia, "woman raging in the mountains", was the daughter of Marpesia. Upon the death of her mother, Orithyia became the new queen of the Amazons. She co-ruled with Antiope, who some authorities say was her sister. She was famous for her perpetual virginity. Her war techniques were outstanding and brought much honor to the Amazon empire.

According to Justinus's Epitome of Trogus Pompeius' History of the World, Orithyia was one of the key figures in the story of Hercules' quest for the girdle of the Amazon queen. Pompeius Trogus' version of this story was as follows. Eurystheus, king of Mycenae, thought it would be nearly impossible to capture Orithyia's royal girdle in war (according to most other versions, the girdle belonged to Hippolyte), so he passed this duty onto Hercules, his debtor, as his ninth labor. Hercules then gathered together nine warships and occupied the shores of the Amazons while Orithyia was away. Because of the confusion and the carelessness of the Amazons their numbers were greatly reduced. Hercules was easily able then to capture Melanippe and Hippolyte, Antiope's sisters. Hercules returned Melanippe after getting the queen's girdle, however Hippolyte was taken away by Theseus, king of Athens, as his share of the spoil. Orithyia then led the Attic War to free Hippolyte and take revenge for the defeat of Antiope. She asked Sagillus, the Scythian king, for assistance, and he sent his son Panasagoras with a body of cavalry to her aid. However, some disagreement occurred between the allies, and the Scythians left the battlefield. The Amazons were eventually defeated, but managed to escape to their allies' camp and, under their protection, returned home safely

Orithyia sinica

Orithyia sinica, sometimes called the tiger crab or tiger face crab, is a "singularly unusual" species of crab, whose characteristics warrant its separation into a separate genus, family and even superfamily, having previously been included in the Dorippoidea or Leucosioidea. Its larvae, for instance, are unlike those of any other crab.

Description

O. sinica is a distinctive species, with stripes on the legs, and prominent eyespots on the carapace; the females' abdomen is unusually narrow, leaving the vulvae exposed. The legs are flattened at the end, and this is an adaptation to digging, not swimming.

Distribution and fishery

O. sinica is found along the coast of mainland Asia from South Korea to Hong Kong, but is missing from the nearby islands, such as Taiwan, the Ryukyu Islands and Japan, even though the intervening waters are shallow and the crab's larvae are planktonic. Throughout its range, O. sinica is fished on a small scale, and commands high prices.

Etymology

The name Orithyia (also spelt Orithuja) commemorates Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens.