Byblis

In

Caunus, her twin brother

.

Mythology

Ovid

The most elaborate interpretation of her story is that of

Asia Minor

until she finally died, worn out by her grief and the long journey. As she had been constantly crying, she was changed into a spring.

Parthenius

Parthenius of Nicaea^[1] cites two versions of Byblis' story, one of which is generally the same as that recounted by Ovid, but ends with Byblis hanging herself with her girdle. In the other version, it is Caunus who instigates the incest, but Byblis still seems to return his affection; Caunus then leaves home before he can lose control over his desires, and Byblis, after a long search for him, makes a noose of her garment and hangs herself. The same version is followed by Conon.^[4]

Antoninus

hamadryads, who cause her to fall asleep and transform her into a fellow nymph.^[3]

Nonnus

Nonnus depicts Byblis, Caunos and Miletus as the children of Asterius, son of Minos and Androgeneia. In this account, Caunus romantically pursues Byblis with a love song referencing the incestuous relationships between the gods.^[5]

All the authors make mention of a spring which was believed to have appeared from Byblis' incessant tears.

The city Byblos in Phoenicia was believed to have taken its name from Byblis.^[6]

Caunus and Byblis in art

Between 1706 and 1715, the sculptor

Caunus and Byblis in which Caunus vehemently defends himself against the sexual advances of his sister. While Le Gros' invention ended up in Germany and was purified back to Amor and Psyche before being destroyed in a fire in 1931, it triggered a rafter of drawings, reproductions and copies by for example Pompeo Batoni, Francesco Carradori, Martin Gottlieb Klauer and, best known of all, two marble versions by Laurent Delvaux. The most faithful impression of what Le Gros' invention looked like is a plaster cast in Tiefurt House near Weimar.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b Parthenius, Erotica Pathemata 11
^ ^a ^b Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.446-665
^ ^a ^b Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 30
^ Conon, Narrations 2
^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 13.546 ff.
^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Byblos
^ Gerhard Bissell, Haud dubiè Amoris & Psyches imagines fuerunt statuæ istæ, in: Max Kunze, Axel Rügler (ed.), Wiedererstandene Antike. Ergänzungen antiker Kunstwerke seit der Renaissance (Cyriacus. Studien zur Rezeption der Antike, Band 1), München 2003, pp. 73-80.

Bibliography

Conon, Fifty Narrations, surviving as one-paragraph summaries in the Bibliotheca (Library) of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople translated from the Greek by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882-1943), S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.

External links

Images of Byblis in the Warburg Institute Iconographic Database Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
Byblis at Theoi Project
Byblis at Greek Myth Index

[:2-1] Parthenius, Erotica Pathemata 11

[:0-2] Ovid, Metamorphoses 9.446-665

[:1-3] Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 30

[4] Conon, Narrations 2

[5] Nonnus, Dionysiaca 13.546 ff.

[6] Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Byblos

[7] Gerhard Bissell, Haud dubiè Amoris & Psyches imagines fuerunt statuæ istæ, in: Max Kunze, Axel Rügler (ed.), Wiedererstandene Antike. Ergänzungen antiker Kunstwerke seit der Renaissance (Cyriacus. Studien zur Rezeption der Antike, Band 1), München 2003, pp. 73-80.

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