In Greek mythology, Aesacus or Aisakos (; ) was a son of King Priam of Troy. Aesacus sorrowed for the death of his wife or would-be lover, a daughter of the river Cebren, and was transformed into a seabird.
Mythology
Apollodorus' account
The
Bibliotheca makes Aesacus son of Priam's first wife Arisbe, daughter of Merops.
[Apollodorus, 3.12.5] Apollodorus and
Tzetzes also make Aesacus a seer who has learned the interpretation of dreams from his grandfather Merops.
[John Tzetzes on Lycophron, 224] For them Aesacus is the interpreter of
Hecuba's dream when Hecabe gives birth to Paris. In Apollodorus the deceased daughter of Cebren for whom Aesacus mourns is his wife named Asterope.
Ovid's account
In
Ovid's
Metamorphoses, Aesacus is an illegitimate son of King Priam secretly born to the nymph
Alexirrhoe, daughter of the
Granicus River. Aesacus avoids
Troy, preferring the countryside. One day he catches sight of the nymph Hesperia, daughter of the river
Cebren, falls in love, and pursues her. However, as Hesperia flees, a venomous snake strikes her and she dies. Aesacus, unable to bear living any longer, leaps from a tall cliff into the sea but as he plunges he is changed into a bird by Tethys. Aesacus still attempts to dive into the depth yet continues still to live in the form of a diving bird.
[Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.749-759] The exact identity of the bird, referred to as
mergus (later taken as the genus name for
Mergus ducks) is now unknown, though it has been interpreted as either referring to a
cormorant or to Scopoli’s shearwater.
See also
-
List of King Priam's children
Notes
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Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
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Ovid, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
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Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
