HYMEN

also called Hymenaeus, in Greek mythology, the god of marriage, whose name derives from the refrain of an ancient marriage song. He was usually held to be a son of Apollo by a Muse, perhaps Calliope; other accounts made him the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, and as such he would have been a god of fruitfulness. In Attic legend he was a beautiful youth who rescued a group of women, including the girl he loved, from a band of pirates. As a reward he obtained the girl in marriage, and their happy life caused him ever afterward to be invoked in marriage songs.