In Greek mythology, several characters were known as Cycnus (Ancient Greek: Κύκνος) or Cygnus. The literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them ended up being transformed into swans.
- Cycnus, son of Ares.[1]
- Cycnus, king of Kolonai.[2] Son of Poseidon.
- Cycnus, lover of Phaethon.[3]
- Cycnus, son of Apollo.[4]
- Cycnus, son of King Ederion (Ancient Greek: Ἐδερίων) or Eredion of Achaea, who, in the 6th century CE account of John Malalas, seduced Leda and made her mother of triplets: the Dioscuri and Helen.[5] In all other sources, she had these children by Zeus who approached her in the shape of a swan (kyknos). For more information, see Leda and the Swan.
- Cycnus, one of the Suitors of Penelope who came from Dulichium along with other 56 wooers.[6] He, with the other suitors, was shot dead by Odysseus with the assistance of Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Telemachus.[7]
- Cycnus, a blunder for Guneus in the manuscript of Hyginus[8] (list of the Achaean leaders against Troy).
According to Pseudo-Eratosthenes and Hyginus' Poetical Astronomy, the constellation Cygnus was the stellar image of the swan Zeus had transformed into in order to seduce Leda[9] or Nemesis.[10] Pausanias and Servius state that Apollo turned Cycnus of Liguria into a swan after the death of his lover Phaeton, then later placed him among the stars as the constellation Cygnus.[11][12][13]
Notes
edit- ^ Pausanias, 1.27.6
- ^ Strabo, 13.1.19
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.367 sqq.
- ^ Antoninus Liberalis, 12
- ^ Malalas, 82.17; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 88–89
- ^ Apollodorus, E.7.26–27
- ^ Apollodorus, E.7.33
- ^ Fabulae 97
- ^ Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi 25
- ^ Hyginus, De astronomia 2.8.1
- ^ Pausanias. Description of Greece. 1.30.3.
- ^ Maurus Servius Honoratus. On Aeneid. 10.189.
- ^ Grimal, Pierre; Kershaw, Stephen (1990). A concise dictionary of classical mythology. Internet Archive (Reprint. 1994 ed.). Oxford, England ; Cambridge, Mass., USA : Blackwell. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-631-16696-2. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
References
edit- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
External links
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Media related to Cycnus at Wikimedia Commons
This article includes a list of Greek mythological figures with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific Greek mythology article referred you to this page, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended Greek mythology article, if one exists.