Clymene

Literary Character
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

An Oceanid nymph in Greek myth, mother of Phaethon by the sun god Helios, symbolizing doomed ambition.

Detailed Definition
Clymene appears in Ovid and other sources as the mother who reveals Phaethon’s divine parentage, leading to his fatal chariot ride. In poetry, she symbolizes maternal truth with tragic consequences, the intersection of mortal and divine realms, and the peril of identity-seeking, often invoked in poems about hubris and filial longing.
Example
Example in poetry:
Clymene in Hesiod’s "Theogony" is an Oceanid mother of Phaethon, a passive mythic figure; In Euripides’ lost "Phaethon," Clymene’s lament may have given her emotional voice; Ovid’s "Metamorphoses" portrays her as a grieving mother, influencing later poetic treatments of maternal sorrow; Modern poets reference Clymene to explore themes of parental guilt and cosmic hubris.
Additional Notes
Clymene, an Oceanid in Greek myth and mother of Phaethon, appears in Ovid and other poets as a figure of maternal grief and divine lineage; her literary character illustrates how mythic genealogy and emotional response are interwoven in Hellenistic and Roman narrative poetry.
Also Known As
Klymene
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