Iapyx
In Greek and Roman mythology, Iapyx (from Greek Ἰάπυξ, gen.: Ἰάπυγος), Iapux or Iapis was a favorite of Apollo. The god wanted to confer upon him the gift of prophecy, the lyre, etc.; but Iapyx, wishing to prolong the life of his father, preferred the more tranquil art of healing to all the others.
Virgil's Aeneid (XII: 391–402) relates that Iapyx was Aeneas's healer during the Trojan War and then escaped to Italy after the war, founding Apulia.
Family
[edit]His descent is unclear. He was either:
- a son of Iasus,[1] or
- the son of Lycaon, which would make him the brother of Daunius and Peucetius (who went as leaders of a colony to Italy),[2] or
- a Cretan, from whom the Cretans who migrated to Italy derived the name of Iapyges, or
- a son of Daedalus either:
Other use
[edit]Iapyx is also the name of a minor Greek wind god, the north-west or west-north-west wind. Virgil relates this Iapyx to the wind that carried the fleeing Cleopatra home to Egypt after her loss at the battle of Actium.[5] Horace[6] prays that Iapyx may safely carry his friend Virgil's ship to Greece.
Notes
[edit]- ^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Schmitz, Leonhard (1870). "Iapis". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. p. 550.
- ^ Antoninus Liberalis, 31
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck, Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Servius ad Aeneidos iii. 332).
- ^ Strabo, 6.; Athenaeus, 12.; Herodotus, 7.170; Heyne, ad Virgil, Aeneid 11.247
- ^ Virgil, Aeneid 8.710
- ^ Odes 1.3.4
References
[edit]- Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Herodotus, The Histories with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.