Cycnus (son of Poseidon)

Cycnus was the son of Poseidon by Calyce (daughter of Hecaton),Hyginus, Fabulae 157 Harpale,Scholia on Pindar, Olympian Ode 2.147 or by Scamandrodice.Tzetzes on Lycophron, Alexandra 232 According to John Tzetzes, his mother Scamandrodice abandoned him on the seashore, but he was rescued by fishermen who named him Cycnus "swan" because they saw a swan flying over him. In another account, he was said to have had womanly white skin and fair hair, which was why he received his name that meant "swan".Scholia on Theocritus, Idyll 16 & 49

Cycnus married first Procleia, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy or of Laomedon's son Clytius. Cycnus and Procleia had two children, named Tenes and Hemithea, although Tenes claimed the god Apollo as his father. On Procleia's death, Cycnus married Philonome, daughter of Tragasus (Cragasus), also known as PolyboeaScholia on Homer, Iliad 1.38 or Scamandria.Scholia on Ovid, Ibis 463

Dictys Cretensis mentions three more children of Cycnus: two sons, Cobis and Corianus, and a daughter Glauce.Dictys Cretensis, Trojan War Chronicle 2.13

Philonome fell in love with her handsome stepson, Tenes. Tenes rejected Philonome's advances, whereupon Philonome falsely accused Tenes before her husband of having ravished her. Cycnus ordered to place both his children in a chest and throw it into the sea. However, Cycnus discovered the truth and had Philonome buried alive. When he found that his children had survived and were reigning at Tenedos, he sailed there intending to reconcile with them, but Tenes cut the anchor rope of his ship.Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca Epitome of Book 4.3.23–24Conon, Narrations 28Tzetzes on Lycophron, 232-233Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 10.14.2–3Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 5.83.4

Cycnus later supported the Trojans in the Trojan War, and fought valiantly, killing one thousand opponents according to Ovid. According to some accounts he killed the Greek hero Protesilaus,Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica 4.529 but according to others, Cycnus attacked the Greek camp when the funeral of Protesilaus was underway.Dictys Cretensis, Trojan War Chronicle 2.12 It was said that Cycnus, being the son of Poseidon, was invulnerable to spear and sword attack. When Achilles confronted Cycnus he could not kill him via conventional weaponry so he crushed and suffocated him. After his death, Cycnus was changed into a swan.Ovid, Metamorphoses 12.64–145 Later, the Greek army invaded Cycnus's kingdom, but the people of Colonae implored them to spare the city. The Greek leaders agreed, on condition that Cobis, Corianus and Glauce be handed over to them, and made a truce with the citizens.

Virgil borrowed heavily from Cycnus when making the character Messapus for the Aeneid. Messapus is the son of Neptune, and like Cycnus was said to be invulnerable.{{cite journal | last=O'Hara | first=James J. | title=Messapus, Cycnus, and the Alphabetical Order of Vergil's Catalogue of Italian Heroes | journal=Phoenix | publisher=Classical Association of Canada | volume=43 | issue=1 | year=1989 | issn=0031-8299 | jstor=1088539 | page=37 | doi=10.2307/1088539 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1088539 }}

• Conon, Fifty Narrations, surviving as one-paragraph summaries in the Bibliotheca (Library) of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople translated from the Greek by Brady Kiesling. [https://web.archive.org/web/20190322161405/https://topostext.org/work/489 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
• Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. [https://topostext.org/work/152 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
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• Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. [https://topostext.org/work/206 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
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• Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
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{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

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Category:Children of Poseidon

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