Lycius ( grc, Λύκιος, Lúkios, meaning 'Lycian' or 'wolf-like') is a minor Babylonian 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 ...

, who features in two minor myths concerning the god

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= ...

. He was originally a man born to a wealthy family who disobeyed the orders of Apollo, thus becoming a white raven. Later the god made him his watchman.

Family

Lycius was one of the four children of a rich Babylonian man named

Clinis In Greek mythology, Clinis or Cleinis was a native of Babylon and father, by Harpe, of three sons, Harpasus, Lycius, and Ortygius, and of a daughter Artemiche. Mythology Clinis venerated Apollo and Artemis diligently and was in return favor ...

by his wife

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 ...

. He had two brothers,

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 ...

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 a sister named

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

Donkey sacrifice

When his father Clinis saw the

Hyperborea In Greek mythology, the Hyperboreans ( grc, Ὑπερβόρε(ι)οι, ; la, Hyperborei) were a mythical people who lived in the far northern part of the known world. Their name appears to derive from the Greek , "beyond Boreas" (the God of ...

ns sacrifice donkeys to Apollo, he meant to do the same, only to be prohibited under pain of death by the god himself. Lycius and Harpasus both urged their father to sacrifice the donkeys nevertheless, but Clinis called off the sacrifice, convinced by Ortygius and Artemiche, who advised him to obey Apollo. Lycius and Harpasus undid the halters of the donkeys anyway, and set to drive them towards the altar, thereupon Apollo drove the animals insane, who then attacked and began to devour the entire family. The family begged the gods to help them, and they were all transformed into various birds. Lycius was changed into a white raven by Apollo, the only member of the family to be saved directly by him.

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 ...

, ''Collection of Transformations'
20
/ref>

Coronis

Sometime later, Lycius, now a raven, was tasked by Apollo to watch over Apollo's pregnant lover Coronis while he was gone. Coronis then proceeded to cheat on Apollo with a man named

Ischys In Greek mythology, Ischys (Ancient Greek: Ἰσχύς means 'strength') was the son of Elatus and Hippea. Mythology Ischys had an affair with the Thessalian princess Coronis, one of Apollo's lovers, who was at that time pregnant with the god' ...

or Alcyoneus. Lycius immediately flew to Apollo and informed him of Coronis's infidelity. Enraged, Apollo took out his anger on Lycius, who instead had expected some sort of reward for his good job, and changed him into a black raven. An unspecified time later, he recounted his woes during a conversation with the crow,

Corone Corone ( grc, Κορώνη, Korṓnē, crow) may refer to: * Koroni, also spelled Corone, a town in Greece * Corone (crow) In Greek and Roman mythology, Corone ( grc, Κορώνη, Korṓnē, crow ) is a young woman who attracted the attenti ...

, who had a grievance of her own. According to Istrus, a Greek historian, Lycius was eventually turned into the constellation of

Corvus ''Corvus'' is a widely distributed genus of medium-sized to large birds in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens and Rook (bird), rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the carrion crow, the hoo ...

Hyginus Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...

, ''De Astronomica'
2.40
/ref>

References

Bibliography

, ''The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis'' translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992)
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*

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: ...

, ''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
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
* * Hyginus, Gaius Julius, ''

De Astronomica ''De Astronomica'', or the ''Astronomy'', also known as ''Poeticon Astronomicon'', is a book of stories whose text is attributed to "Hyginus", though the true authorship is disputed. During the Renaissance, the work was attributed to the Roman ...

'', in ''The Myths of Hyginus'', edited and translated by Mary A. Grant, Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960
Online version at ToposText
*

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 ...

, ''

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 ...

'', Volume I: Books 1-8. Translated by Frank Justus Miller. Revised by G. P. Goold.

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works of ancient Greek and L ...

42. Cambridge, MA:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...

, 1916.

External link

* {{Authority control Metamorphoses into birds in Greek mythology Deeds of Apollo Characters in Greek mythology Asia in Greek mythology Metamorphoses characters