Echetus

Grc: Ἔχετος

"Of late, and not far away, Echetus in wanton cruelty thrust spikes of bronze in his daughter's eyes; and by a grievous fate is she wasting away, grinding grains of bronze in a dungeon's gloom."

— Apollonus of Rhodes, Argonautica IV:1093

A King of Eprius, a mountainous region in the northwest of Hellas, home to tribes of the Chaonians, Molossians, and Thesprotians, and to the sanctuary of Dodona, the most ancient oracle whose prestigious is second only to the Pythia of Delphi.
Echetus is a strict parent, renowned for his cruelty toward his wayward daughter and for punishments metered out to criminals in his jurisdiction.

Echetus in the Argonautica

Echetus is name-checked by Medea as a prototypical example of a vengeful father. After finding his unmarried daughter with a paramour, Echetus was said to have mutilated the lover and blinded the daughter with bronze needles. He then incarcerated her in a tower, promising that she would regain her sight when she had ground a collection of bronze pellets into flour. His cruelty is said to be recent, and the daughter still allve in the days of the Argonauts, perhaps suitable for a rescue attempt or other encounter.

Echetus in the Nostos of Odysseus

Echetus is mentioned three times in Homer's Odyssey as a cultural bogeyman. Wrongdoers and wayward children in Ithaka are threatened with his punishment, which includes the cutting off body parts and watching them being eaten by his dogs. By the time of Odysseus, in Homer's telling, Echetus has become a legend.

Social

Family Ties

son of Euchenor and Phlogea (Φλόγεα), and a king of Epirus. His unfortunate daughter is named Metope by Apollonius and Amphissa in Eustathius's scholia on the passage in Homer. Eustathius also names the daughter's lover as Aichmodikus [Aechmodicus].

Speculation

Perhaps Echetus had two daughters, and the cruelty shown them both was conflated. Or perhaps one was the name of his long-suffering wife.