Menippa, one of the Amazons who assisted Ætes, &c.
Menippides, a son of Hercules. Apollodorus.
Menippus, a cynic philosopher of Phœnicia. He was originally a slave, and obtained his liberty with a sum of money, and became one of the greatest usurers at Thebes. He grew so desperate from the continual reproaches and insults to which he was daily exposed on account of his meanness, that he destroyed himself. He wrote 13 books of satires, which have been lost. Marcus Varro composed satires in imitation of his style, and called them Menippean.——A native of Stratonice, who was preceptor to Cicero for some time. Cicero, Brutus, ch. 91.
Menius, a plebeian consul at Rome. He was the first who made the rostrum at Rome with the beaks (rostra) of the enemy’s ships.——A son of Lycaon, killed by the same thunderbolt which destroyed his father. Ovid, Ibis, li. 472.
Mennis, a town of Assyria abounding in bitumen. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 1.
Menodŏtus, a physician.——A Samian historian.
Menœceus, a Theban, father of Hipponome, Jocasta, and Creon.——A young Theban, son of Creon. He offered himself to death when Tiresias, to ensure victory on the side of Thebes against the Argive forces, ordered the Thebans to sacrifice one of the descendants of those who sprang from the dragon’s teeth, and he killed himself near the cave where the dragon of Mars had formerly resided. The gods required this sacrifice because the dragon had been killed by Cadmus, and no sooner was Creon dead than his countrymen obtained the victory. Statius, Thebiad, bk. 10, li. 614.—Euripides, Phœnician Women.—Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 6.—Cicero, Tusculanæ Disputationes, bk. 1, ch. 98.—Sophocles, Antigone.
Menœtes, the pilot of the ship Gyas, at the naval games exhibited by Æneas at the anniversary of his father’s death. He was thrown into the sea by Gyas for his inattention, and saved himself by swimming to a rock. Virgil, Æneid, bk. 5, li. 161, &c.——An Arcadian, killed by Turnus in the wars of Æneas. Æneid, bk. 12, li. 517.
Menœtiades. See: [Menœtius].
Menœtius, a son of Actor and Ægina after her amour with Jupiter. He left his mother and went to Opus, where he had, by Sthenele, or, according to others, by Philomela or Polymela, Patroclus, often called from him Menœtiades. Menœtius was one of the Argonauts. Apollodorus, bk. 4, ch. 24.—Homer, Iliad, bk. 1, li. 307.—Hyginus, fable 97.