Amalthea (mythology)

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In Greek mythology, Amalthea or Amaltheia (Ancient Greek: Ἀμάλθεια) is the figure most commonly identified as the nurse of Zeus during his infancy. She is described either as a nymph who raises the child on the milk of a goat or, in some accounts from the Hellenistic period (c. 323–30 BC) onwards, as the goat itself. From as early as the 6th century BC, there survive references to the "horn of Amalthea" (known in Latin as the cornucopia), a magical horn said to be capable of producing endless amounts of any food or drink desired. In a narrative attributed to the mythical poet Musaeus and dating to around the 4th century BC, Amalthea, a nymph, nurses the infant Zeus and owns a goat which is terrifying in appearance. After Zeus reaches adulthood, he uses the goat's skin as a weapon in his battle against the Titans (the earlier generation of gods). The first known author to describe Amalthea as a goat is the 3rd-century BC poet Callimachus, who presents a rationalised version of the myth in...

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