Myscellus, or Myscelus

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 ...

'' 15.19, 26. ( grc, Μύσκελλος and Μύσκελος), son of Alemon, was a native of the Achaean polis

Rhypes Rhypes ( grc, Ῥύπες), or Rhypae or Rhypai (Ῥύπαι) was a polis (city-state) of ancient Achaea, 30 stadia west of Aegium, and was one of the original twelve Achaean cities. It had ceased to be a member of the Achaean League in the time o ...

and the legendary founder of

Crotona Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and '' comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages u ...

in 710 BC. According

, the god

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

appeared to Myscelus in a dream and commanded him to leave his native Achaea and seek out the "stone-filled waters of Aesar." Myscelus prepared to leave despite the laws that prohibited citizens from leaving their native land. When his plan was discovered by his fellow townspeople and he was brought to trial, he prayed to Hercules to come to his aid. The god responded by changing the color of the pebbles with which the townspeople had voted to convict Myscelus. He set sail and soon reached the river Aesar in southeastern Italy, where he discovered the raised burial mound of Croton. Myscelus founded a city which he named Croton in honor of Croton. Years earlier, this same Croton had welcomed Hercules as the hero was passing through the area. Upon leaving, Hercules thanked his host by promising that in two generations there would be a city in the spot where Croton lived. Myscelus thus fulfilled the earlier promise of Hercules. Ovid's claim that he is reporting a well-established tradition appears to be borne out by the versions recorded by Strabo and Dionysius of Halicarnassus as well as other no longer extant sources. Nevertheless, these variants do provide details not in Ovid. Among these was the legend that Myscelus was assisted in founding a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the ''metropole, metropolit ...

at Crotona by Archias, the future founder of the Greek colony at

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. The colony was led forth under the sanction of the

Delphic oracle Pythia (; grc, Πυθία ) was the name of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. She specifically served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was also historically glossed in English as the Pythoness ...

, and Myscelus, having previously been to survey the locality, was so much better pleased with the site of

Sybaris Sybaris ( grc, Σύβαρις; it, Sibari) was an important city of Magna Graecia. It was situated in modern Calabria, in southern Italy, between two rivers, the Crathis (Crati) and the Sybaris (Coscile). The city was founded in 720 BC ...

that on his return he tried in vain to persuade the Delphic god to allow the colonists to select Sybaris as their place of settlement. Müller, ''Dorians'', i. 6. § 12

References

{{SmithDGRBM 8th-century BC Greek people Ancient Achaeans Heracleidae