distinct poem: the curious title will be explained presently.
The "Catalogues" proper were a series of genealogies which traced
the Hellenic race (or its more important peoples and families)
from a common ancestor. The reason why women are so prominent is
obvious: since most families and tribes claimed to be descended
from a god, the only safe clue to their origin was through a
mortal woman beloved by that god; and it has also been pointed
out that `mutterrecht' still left its traces in northern Greece
in historical times.

The following analysis (after Marckscheffel) (8) will show the
principle of its composition. From Prometheus and Pronoia sprang
Deucalion and Pyrrha, the only survivors of the deluge, who had a
son Hellen (frag. 1), the reputed ancestor of the whole Hellenic
race. From the daughters of Deucalion sprang Magnes and Macedon,
ancestors of the Magnesians and Macedonians, who are thus
represented as cousins to the true Hellenic stock. Hellen had
three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus, parents of the Dorian,
Ionic and Aeolian races, and the offspring of these was then
detailed. In one instance a considerable and characteristic
section can be traced from extant fragments and notices:
Salmoneus, son of Aeolus, had a daughter Tyro who bore to
Poseidon two sons, Pelias and Neleus; the latter of these, king
of Pylos, refused Heracles purification for the murder of
Iphitus, whereupon Heracles attacked and sacked Pylos, killing
amongst the other sons of Neleus Periclymenus, who had the power
of changing himself into all manner of shapes. From this
slaughter Neleus alone escaped (frags. 13, and 10-12). This
summary shows the general principle of arrangement of the
"Catalogues": each line seems to have been dealt with in turn,