In Greek mythology, Epaphus (Ancient Greek: Ἔπᾰφος), also called Apis[1] was the son of Zeus and Io. He was the king of Aethiopia and king of Egypt when his stepfather, Telegonus or Psammetichus, was succeeded by Epaphus.
His name may possibly be a corrupted Hellenized form of the Pharaoh Apophis[2]
Mythology[]
Birth[]
The name "Epaphus" literally means "touch". This refers to the manner in which he was conceived, by the touch of Zeus' hand.[3] There is a contradiction as to where he was born; Strabo claims he was born in the cave Boösaule in Euboea,[4] whilst according to Hyginus it was in Egypt on the river Nile.[5] He was then concealed by the Curetes, upon the request of Hera, but Io sought and found him in Syria where he was nursed by the wife of the king of Byblus. Io and Epaphus then went to Egypt where she married Telegonus and set up an image of Demeter. Both Demeter and Io were called Isis by the Egyptians.[6]
According to St. Jerome in his Chronicon, Io went to Egypt and married Telegonus and he fathered Epaphus with her.[7]
Phaethon[]
In Book 1 of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Epaphus was a contemporary and the rival of Phaethon, son of Sol (Helios) and Clymene. Epaphus criticized Phaethon’s parentage saying, "Poor, demented fellow, what will you not credit if your mother speaks, you are so puffed up with the fond conceit of your imagined sire, the Lord of Day."[8] This prompted Phaethon to undertake his fateful journey in his father's chariot of the sun.
Reign and death[]
Epaphus was the founder of Memphis, Egypt.[9] With his wife, also called Memphis, they had one daughter, Libya who, with Poseidon, was the progenitor of the House of Perseus. He was succeeded in Aethiopia by his brother-in-law and in Egypt by his step-brother.
Juno being envious that her husband's bastard ruled such a great kingdom,[10] saw to it that Epaphus should be killed while hunting. After this Juno incited the Titans to revolt against Jupiter and his kingdom and restore Saturn to rulership. This is Hyginus' version of the Titanomachy[11]
Family[]
Epaphus was the son of Zeus[12] and Io[13][14] and thus, Ceroessa's brother.[15] With his wife, Memphis[16] (or according to Hyginus, Cassiopeia[17]), he had one daughter, Libya[18] while some accounts added another one who bore the name Lysianassa.[19] These daughters later became mothers of Poseidon's sons, Belus, Agenor and possibly, Lelex with the former while Busiris was born to the latter.
Through these daughters, Epaphus was the ancestor of the "dark Libyans, and high-souled Aethiopians, and the Underground-folk and feeble Pygmies".[12]
In one account, Epaphus had a son, Dorus, who fathered Pygmaeus, ancestor of the Pygmies.[20] Otherwise, this tribe of diminutive men was instead born from Epaphus and Gaea (Earth).[21]
In Hyginus' Fabulae, he mentioned an Epaphus that was born from Nox and Erebus.[22] This figures does not relate to the Epaphus that was born from Zeus and Io.
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| Preceded by: Merops |
King of Aethiopia Mythic |
Succeeded by Emathion |
| Preceded by: Psammetichus or Telegonus |
King of Egypt Mythic |
Succeeded by Anysus |
References[]
- ↑ Herodotus, Histories 3.27
- ↑ David Rohl: The Lords of Avaris. London, Arrow Books 2007. (David Rohl is a controversial Egyptologist with his proposition of a New Chronology of Egypt)
- ↑ Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 315; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 850–852
- ↑ Strabo, Geographica 10.1.3
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 145
- ↑ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.3
- ↑ St. Jerome, Chronicon B1511
- ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses Book 1 line 749–743
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 149 & 275
- ↑ Statius, Thebaid 7.186
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 150
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Hesiod, Ehoiai 40a as cited in Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2
- ↑ Euripides, Phoenissae 678; Oedipus 1.638–689; Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 48; Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.747–748; Hyginus, Fabulae 155; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.284–285
- ↑ Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21
- ↑ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 32.70
- ↑ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.4
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae 149
- ↑ Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.44.3; Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.287; Hyginus, Fabulae 157; Solinus, Polyhistor 24.1; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 649; Scholia ad Euripides, Phoenissae 5
- ↑ Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.5.11
- ↑ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Pygmaioi (Πυγμαῖοι)
- ↑ Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 40A
- ↑ Hyginus, Fabulae Preface