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Acontius

Mythology
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Young man from Ceos who fell in love with Cydippe and tricked her into marriage by having her unknowingly read aloud a sacred oath inscribed on an apple, binding her to him by divine law.

Detailed Definition
Acontius, from Ceos, fell in love with Cydippe and tricked her into swearing an oath to marry him by leaving an apple inscribed with a vow at her feet in a temple. The tale, told by Callimachus and referenced by Ovid, illustrates cunning love and divine sanction. Poets use Acontius to explore themes of fate, cleverness in love, and the binding power of oaths.
Example
Example in poetry:
Callimachus’s Aetia tells how Acontius used an inscribed apple to win Cydippe’s love; Ovid references Acontius in Heroides as a clever lover who manipulates fate through writing; In Greek epigrammatic tradition, Acontius exemplifies cunning courtship; Propertius alludes to Acontius’s apple as a poetic device for binding vows; Acontius appears in later Latin love elegy as a model of strategic seduction.
Additional Notes
Acontius is a clever lover from Ceos, featured in Callimachus’s Aetia and referenced by Ovid in Heroides (Letter 20), who wins the hand of Cydippe by rolling an apple inscribed with a vow to Artemis into her lap during a festival—binding her by divine oath. This story illustrates the Hellenistic fascination with cunning, writing, and fate. Poetry students should note how Acontius uses text as a tool of desire, making him a proto-literary figure. His tale also explores gender, agency, and religious obligation. Related concepts include epistolary poetry, votive inscriptions, and the motif of the “binding word.” Useful for discussions of love elegy and poetic persuasion.
Also Known As
Acontius of Ceos Lover Acontius Swift-footed Acontius Icyus’ Son
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