Epaphus

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In Greek mythology, Epaphus (/ˈɛpəfəs/; Template:Langx), also called Apis[1] or Munantius[2] was a son of Zeus[3] and king of Egypt.

Family

Epaphus mother was Io[4] and thus, Ceroessa's brother.[5] With his wife, Memphis[6] (or according to others, Cassiopeia[7]), he had one daughter, Libya[8] while some accounts added another one who bore the name Lysianassa.[9] 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".[3]

In one account, Epaphus had a son, Dorus, who fathered Pygmaeus, ancestor of the Pygmies.[10] Otherwise, this tribe of diminutive men was instead born from Epaphus and Gaea (Earth).[11]

Mythology

Birth

The name/word Epaphus means "Touch". This refers to the manner in which he was conceived, by the touch of Zeus' hand.[12] He was born in Euboea, in the cave Boösaule according to Strabo[13] or according to others, in Egypt, on the river Nile,[14] after the long wanderings of his mother. He was then concealed by the Curetes, by the request of Hera, but Io sought and afterward found him in Syria where he was nursed by the wife of the king of Byblus.[15]

Phaethon

Epaphus was also a contemporary and the rival of Phaethon, son of Helios and Clymene. He criticized his heraldry 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."[16] This prompted Phaethon to undertake his fateful journey in his father's chariot of the sun.

Reign and death

Epaphus is regarded in the myths as the founder of Memphis, Egypt.[17] Hera being envious that her husband's bastard ruled such a great kingdom,[18] saw to it that Epaphus should be killed while hunting.[19]

David Rohl identifies Epaphus with the Hyksos pharaoh Apophis[20] though his chronology has been rejected by most Egyptologists.

Argive genealogy

Template:Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

Notes

  1. Herodotus, 3.27.
  2. Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10, p. 123, l. 45
  3. 3.0 3.1 Hesiod, Ehoiai 40a as cited in Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2
  4. Euripides, Phoenissae 678; Oedipus 1.638–689; Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 48; Apollodorus, 2.1.3; Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.747–748; Hyginus, Fabulae 155; Nonnus, 3.284–285; Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10, p. 123, ll. 41-42
  5. Nonnus, 32.70
  6. Apollodorus, 2.1.4
  7. Hyginus, Fabulae 149
  8. Pausanias, 1.44.3; Nonnus, 3.287; Hyginus, Fabulae 157; Solinus, Polyhistor 24.1; Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 649; Scholia ad Euripides, Phoenissae 5; Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10, p. 123, l. 45
  9. Apollodorus, 2.5.11
  10. Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Pygmaioi (Πυγμαῖοι)
  11. Hesiod, Catalogue of Women fr. 40A
  12. Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 315; Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 850–852
  13. Strabo, 10.1.3
  14. Hyginus, Fabulae 145
  15. Apollodorus, 2.1.3
  16. Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.749–743
  17. Hyginus, Fabulae 149 & 275
  18. Statius, Thebaid 7.186
  19. Hyginus, Fabulae 150
  20. David Rohl: The Lords of Avaris. London, Arrow Books 2007.

References

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