Combe (mythology)

[1] Combe was said to have been dubbed Chalcis because she made bronze weapons (χαλκόν chalcon being the Greek word for "bronze"); the mythological tradition also makes her the first woman to cohabit with a man, and mother of one hundred children.

[2] In Nonnus' Dionysiaca, Combe is the consort of the Euboean Socus and mother by him of the seven Corybantes.

The Corybantes return to Euboea after King Cecrops, their host in Athens, kills Socus, but Combe's individual further destiny is not dealt with.

[3] Hesychius of Alexandria indicates Combe as "mother of the Curetes",[4] these being barely distinct from the Corybantes.

Ovid briefly mentions a certain Combe of Pleuron, surnamed Ophias ("daughter or descendant of an Ophius"?

Ovid Metamorphoses – Combe changing to the bird , engraving, ca. 1700