Picus was a figure in Roman mythology, the first king of Latium. He was the son of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, also known as Stercutus. He was the founder of the first Latin tribe and settlement,

Laurentum Laurentum was an ancient Roman city of Latium situated between Ostia and Lavinium, on the west coast of the Italian Peninsula southwest of Rome. Roman writers regarded it as the original capital of Italy, before Lavinium assumed that role afte ...

, located a few miles to the Southeast of the site of the later city of Rome. He was known for his skill at

augur An augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. His main role was the practice of augury, the interpretation of the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. Determinations were based upon whether they were flying i ...

y and horsemanship. According to Festus he got his name as a consequence of the fact that he used to rely on a woodpecker for the purpose of divination. Picus was also described to be quite handsome, sought after by nymphs and

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who ...

s. The witch Circe attempted to seduce him with her charms and herbs while he was on a hunting trip, but he savagely rejected her. She turned him into a woodpecker for scorning her love. When his comrades accused Circe of her crime and demanded Picus' release, she turned them too into a variety of beasts. Picus' wife (to whom he was wholly devoted) was Canens, a nymph. After Picus' transformation she wandered madly through the forest for 6 days until finally she lay down on the bank of the Tiber and died. They had one son, Faunus. According to grammarian Servius, Picus's love for

Pomona Pomona may refer to: Places Argentina * Pomona, Río Negro Australia * Pomona, Queensland, Australia, a town in the Shire of Noosa * Pomona, New South Wales, Australia Belize * Pomona, Belize, a municipality in Stann Creek District Mexico ...

was itself scorned. But in another place he states she consented to marriage, but Circe transformed Picus into a woodpecker and her into a ''pica'', a kind of bird, probably a magpie or an owl.Servius Ad Aen. 7, 190: "Fabula autem talis est. Picus amavit Pomona, pomorum dea, et eius volentis est sortita coniugium. Postea Circe, cum eum amaret et sperneretur, irata eum in avem, picum Martium, convertit: nam altera est pica...". He is featured in one of the '' Metamorphoses'' of Ovid. Virgil says that he was the son of Saturnus and the grandfather of

Latinus Latinus ( la, Latinus; Ancient Greek: Λατῖνος, ''Latînos'', or Λατεῖνος, ''Lateînos'') was a figure in both Greek and Roman mythology. He is often associated with the heroes of the Trojan War, namely Odysseus and Aeneas. Alth ...

, the king of the Laurentines whom Aeneas and his Trojans fought upon reaching Italy. Italic people believed Picus was the son of the god of war Mars and attributed his avine transformation to his skills at interpreting bird omens. One of the functions he performed was to lead the deduction of colonies (made up of younger generation folk) with his flight, which traditionally took place in spring and was performed according to a religious ritual known as ver sacrum. The people of the Piceni derived their name from the memory of this ritual.

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* Ovid '' Metamorphoses'' 14.320-620 * Virgil '' Aeneid'' 7.45-49, 170-191 * Servius on ''Aeneid'' 7.190 *

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

6, frag. 5

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