Mĕlĭcert a

, Mel i certes , or Melicertus , a son of Athamas and Ino. He was saved by his mother from the fury of his father, who prepared to dash him against the wall as he had done his brother Learchus. The mother was so terrified that she threw herself into the sea, with Melicerta in her arms. Neptune had compa ion on the misfortunes of Ino and her son, and changed them both into sea deities. Ino was called Leucothoe or Matuta, and Melicerta was known among the Greeks by the name of Palæmon, and among the Latins by that of Portumnus. Some suppose that the Isthmian games were in honour of Melicerta. See: Isthmi a . Apollo dor us , bk. 1 , ch. 9 ; bk. 3 , ch. 4 .— Pausanias , bk. 1 , ch. 44 .— Hyginus , fables 1 & 2.— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 4 , li. 529 , . — Plutarch de Convivium Septem Sapientium .