LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Academy · Biography & Mythology

Meliteus

Μελιτεύς

(Μελιτεύς), a son of Zeus by an Othreian nymph. He was exposed by his mother in a wood, lest Hera should discover the affair. But Zeus took care that he was reared by bees, and the boy grew up. At length he was found by his step-brother Phagous, who took him with him, and gave him the name of Meliteus, from his having been reared by bees. The town of Melite in Phthia was said to have been built by him. (Ant. Lib. 13.)

From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.