Sybaris (mythology)

Sybaris or Lamia of

overhanging rock and killed by the hero Eurybatus. Though precise physical description is given in the primary source, it has been hypothesized by modern commentators that she must have been a dragon or an anguiped

.

Mythology

According to the

Mount Cirphis and terrorized the countryside of Krisa, ancient name of Delphi

, devouring livestock and people.

The people of the region asked the

Alkyoneus, son of Diomos and Meganeira, was selected to be the victim, but the hero Eurybatus (Eurybarus), son of Euphemos and a descendant of the river god Axios

, was overcome with love for Alkyoneus and became determined to save him. He took his place as the victim and hurled the dragon from the mountainside, striking it against the rocks where a fountain sprung up.

This spring was later named "Sybaris" by the locals, and was the namesake of the city of Sybaris (in what is now Italy).^[2]

Interpretations

Although the primary text only refers to the Lamia-Sybaris as a giant beast,^[1] and gives no particulars on her physical description regarding any serpentine features,^[3] modern commentators have given circumstantial evidence suggesting she was a dragoness, due to paralleling stories of the male dragon, such as the Python that also despoiled the Delphi region.^[1]^[4]

Antoninus Liberalis gave "Lamia" as an alternate name for the creature, perhaps

Lamia.^{[citation needed}

]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Fontenrose (1959), pp. 44–45.
^ Antoninus Liberalis, 8 as cited in Boeus' Ornithogonia, quoted by Ogden (2013), p. 105
^ Ogden (2013), p. 105.
^ Ogden (2013), p. 105 gives the parallel with the dragon at Thespiae.

References

Antoninus Liberalis, The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992). Online version at the Topos Text Project.