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In Greek mythology, Ptous (/ˈtoʊəs/; Ancient Greek: Πτῶος) may refer to the following:

• Ptous, eponym of Mount Ptous in Boeotia on which the town Acraephnium was situated. He was believed to have been a son of either Athamas and Themisto, or of Acraepheus and Euxippe, or of Apollo and Zeuxippe, a daughter of Athamas.
• Ptous, also an epithet of Apollo, under which the god was honored in a temple near Acraephnium. The epithet was believed to be linked to the name of the above Ptous as well.

Notes

1. Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 2.1144; Apollodorus, 1.9.2; Pausanias, 9.23.6 citing Asius
2. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Akraiphia; Herodian 1.112 & 337
3. Thus scholia on Pausanias, 9.23.6, with reference to Pindar. The relevant passage in Stephanus in fact reads: "Acraephia... was founded either by Athamas or by Acraepheus, son of Apollo. The mountain is named after Ptous, son of the aforesaid individual (τοῦ αὐτοῦ) and Euxippe". The version given in scholia on Pausanias has prompted several scholars to emend "Euxippe" to "Zeuxippe", and to assume that "τοῦ αὐτοῦ" refers to Apollo rather than Acraepheus. Such an interpretation, however, has been contested on the strength of the facts that Stephanus must have closely followed Herodianus, where the parents' names are unambiguously Acraepheus and Euxippe, and that the passage in scholia on Pausanias allows for an alternate understanding that doesn't necessarily make Apollo and Zeuxippe parents of Ptous. See Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Band XXIII, Halbband 46, Psamathe-Pyramiden (1959), s. 1890.
4. Pausanias, 9.23.6 citing Asius

References

• Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.

• Set index articles on Greek mythology
• Family of Athamas
• Mythological Boeotians
• Epithets of Apollo