Babys ( grc, Βάβυς, Bábus) is a figure 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 ...
. He is the brother of the Phrygian satyr
Marsyas
In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (; grc-gre, Μαρσύας) is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (''aulos'') that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged ...
who challenged
Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
to a flute-playing contest, and lost to him. Unlike his brother, who owned a
double flute
The ''double flute'' is an ancient category of wind instrument, a set of flutes that falls under more than one modern category in the Hornbostel Sachs system of musical instrument classification. The flutes may be double because they have paralle ...
, Babys's flute had only one pipe. Perceiving him to be a simpleton who lacked any apparent skill, the goddess
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...
persuaded Apollo to spare Babys his anger when the god won the competition, as Babys's playing had been that bad.
[Plutarch, ''De Proverbiis Alexandrinorum'' 2]
See also
*
Aulos
An ''aulos'' ( grc, αὐλός, plural , ''auloi'') or ''tibia'' (Latin) was an ancient Greek wind instrument, depicted often in art and also attested by archaeology.
Though ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or "double flute", it was usu ...
*
Midas
Midas (; grc-gre, Μίδας) was the name of a king in Phrygia with whom several myths became associated, as well as two later members of the Phrygian royal house.
The most famous King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ...
References
Bibliography
* {{cite book , title = A Concise Dictionary of Classical Mythology , last = Grimal , first = Pierre , date = 1986 , publisher = Basil Blackwell, Ltd , translator = A. R. Maxwell-Hyslop , location = Oxford , url = https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar00grim/ , isbn = 0-631-16696-3
Characters in Greek mythology
Musicians in Greek mythology
Phrygian characters in Greek mythology
Satyrs
Deeds of Athena
Deeds of Apollo