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 ...

, Clinis or Cleinis was a native of

Babylon ''Bābili(m)'' * sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠 * arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel'' * syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel'' * grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn'' * he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel'' * peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru'' * elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...

and father, by

Harpe The ''harpē'' () was a type of sword or sickle; a sword with a sickle protrusion along one edge near the tip of the blade. The harpe is mentioned in Greek and Roman sources, and almost always in mythological contexts. Harpe in mythology Th ...

, of three sons,

Harpasus In Greek mythology, Harpasus ( grc, Ἄρπασος, Harpasos, snatcher) is the son of Clinis by his wife Harpe, the brother of Lycius, Ortygius and Artemiche. His family venerated Apollo greatly, until they angered him gravely. Mythology One ...

, Lycius, and

Ortygius In Greek mythology, Ortygius ( grc, Ὀρτύγιος, Ortugios, quail) is the son of Clinis by his wife Harpe, the brother of Lycius, Harpasus and Artemiche. He was transformed into a bird by Apollo, whom his family venerated greatly. Mythol ...

, and of a daughter

Artemiche In Greek mythology, Artemiche ( grc, Ἀρτεμίχη, Artemikhe) is a minor figure, the daughter of a rich Babylonian man named Clinis by his wife Harpe, and thus the only sister of Lycius, Harpasus and Ortygius. She was transformed into a b ...

Mythology

Clinis venerated

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= ...

and

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

diligently and was in return favored by the two gods so much that Apollo once took him to the land of the Hyperboreans, where he visited the shrine of the Hyperborean Apollo. Upon return home, Clinis decided that from now on, he should honor Apollo by sacrificing donkeys to him, just like the Hyperboreans did. But when everything was ready for the sacrifice, Apollo warned Clinis against doing so because donkeys offered by non-Hyperboreans were not the right kind of sacrifice for the god. Then a heated argument arose between the children of Clinis whether to continue with the sacrificial rite or not: Lycius and Harpasus insisted on sacrificing the donkeys nevertheless, while Ortygius and Artemiche maintained that the god's word should be obeyed. Finally, Lycius and Harpasus drove the donkeys to the altar; at the moment, Apollo struck the animals with madness, which caused them to attack and devour Clinis and his family.

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ch ...

took pity of Harpe and Harpasus and transformed them into birds of the same names;

Leto In ancient Greek mythology and Ancient Greek religion, religion, Leto (; grc-gre, Λητώ , ''Lētṓ'', or , ''Lātṓ'' in Ancient Greek dialects#Provenance, Doric Greek) is a goddess and the mother of Apollo, the god of music, and Artemis ...

and Artemis implored Apollo to save Clinis, Ortygius and Artemiche, who were not guilty of the impious act, which the god did, changing the rest of the family into birds as well: Clinis into a ''hypaietos'' ("under-eagle"), Lycius into a white raven (which became black after the incident with Coronis), Artemiche into a lark, and Ortygius into a tit (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''aigithos''), because he had suggested that his father sacrificed goats (Greek ''aiges'') instead of donkeys. The story is solely known from

Antoninus Liberalis Antoninus Liberalis ( el, Ἀντωνῖνος Λιβεράλις) was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300. His only surviving work is the ''Metamorphoses'' (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, ''Me ...

' ''Metamorphoses''; as his own sources, the author cites Boeus and Symmias.

, 20

Note

References

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
* Grimal, Pierre. A Concise Dictionary of Classical mythology. Basil Blackwell Ltd, 1990. - p. 101
Willam Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, v. 1, page 782
Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Characters in Greek mythology Deeds of Apollo Deeds of Artemis Leto {{Authority control