![Hesperia Delaunay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Hesperia_Delaunay.jpg)
In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, Aesacus or Aisakos (; grc, Αἴσακος) was a son of King
Priam
In Greek mythology, Priam (; grc-gre, Πρίαμος, ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.
Etymology
Mo ...
of
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
. Aesacus sorrowed for the death of his wife or would-be lover, a daughter of the river
Cebren
Cebren was a Greek river-god,Aaron J. Atsma, "Cebren: River god of Troad in Anatolia", Theoi Project , http://www.theoi.com/Potamos/PotamosKebren.html whose river was located near Troy. He was the son of Oceanus and Tethys and he was the father ...
, and was transformed into a seabird.
Mythology
Apollodorus' account
The ''
Bibliotheca'' makes Aesacus son of Priam's first wife
Arisbe, daughter of
Merops
MEROPS is an online database for peptidases (also known as proteases, proteinases and proteolytic enzymes) and their inhibitors. The classification scheme for peptidases was published by Rawlings & Barrett in 1993, and that for protein inhibitor ...
. Apollodorus and
Tzetzes
John Tzetzes ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, Iōánnēs Tzétzēs; c. 1110, Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who is known to have lived at Constantinople in the 12th century.
He was able to p ...
also make Aesacus a seer who has learned the interpretation of dreams from his grandfather Merops. For them Aesacus is the interpreter of
Hecabe's dream when Hecabe gives birth to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. In Apollodorus the deceased daughter of Cebren for whom Aesacus mourns is his wife named Asterope.
Ovid's account
In
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
's ''
Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'', Aesacus is an illegitimate son of King Priam secretly born to the nymph
Alexirhoe, daughter of the
river Granicus. Aesacus avoids
Ilium, preferring the countryside. One day he catches sight of the nymph Hesperia, daughter of the river
Cebren
Cebren was a Greek river-god,Aaron J. Atsma, "Cebren: River god of Troad in Anatolia", Theoi Project , http://www.theoi.com/Potamos/PotamosKebren.html whose river was located near Troy. He was the son of Oceanus and Tethys and he was the father ...
, falls in love, and pursues her. However, as Hesperia flees, a venomous snake strikes her and she dies. Aesacus, unable to bear living any longer, leaps from a tall cliff into the sea but as he plunges he is changed into a bird by
Tethys. Aesacus still attempts to dive into the depth yet continues still to live in the form of a diving bird. The exact identity of the bird, referred to as ''mergus'' (later taken as the genus name for
merganser
''Mergus'' is the genus of the typical mergansers , fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird.
The common merganser (''Merg ...
ducks) is now unknown, though it has been interpreted as either referring to a
cormorant
Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the IOC adopted a consensus taxonomy of seven ge ...
or to
Scopoli’s shearwater.
See also
*
List of King Priam's children
In Greek mythology, Priam, the mythical king of Troy during the Trojan War, supposedly had 18 daughters and 68 sons. Priam had several wives, the primary one Hecuba, daughter of Dymas or Cisseus, and several concubines, who bore his children. The ...
Notes
References
*
Apollodorus
Apollodorus (Ancient Greek, Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to: ...
, ''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
* Publius Ovidius Naso
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...
, ''Metamorphoses
The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...
'' 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
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Trojans
Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology
Mythological Greek seers
Children of Priam
Princes in Greek mythology
Metamorphoses characters