According to Greek Mythology, Oiolyka (Οίολυκα) was a sea-nymph, the daughter of Briareos the hundred-handed giant. Oiolyke may have been a minor deity of storm-generated wave-surges. While it is not widely accepted, according to some, Herakles was sent to fetch her girdle rather than Hippolyta's as his one of his Twelve Labors." The fact that her name is a combination of two words oios which mean lone and lokos which means wolf perhaps describes the jaws of a large, breaking wave generated by her stormy parents--the storm-giant Briareos and wave-goddess Kymopoleia.
Parents[]
Classical Text[]
Ibycus, Fragment 299 (from Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius) (Greek Lyric III, C6th B.C.)
"There are many stories about the girdle some say it belonged to Hippolyta, others to Deilyka. Ibykos is alone in saying that it belonged to Oiolyka, daughter of Briareos."