In Greek mythology, Delphus (; Ancient Greek: Δέλφος, Delphos) was the person from whom the town of Delphi was believed to have derived its name.
Biography
Delphus was said to be the son of
Poseidon and
Melantho (
Melanthea), daughter of
Deucalion.
[Tzetzes ad Lycophron, 208 ; compare Ovid, Metamorphoses 4.120] In other accounts, he was the son of
Apollo by
Celaeno, the daughter of
Hyamus and granddaughter of
Lycorus, and, according to others, by Thyia, the daughter of the autochthon Castalius, or by
Melaina, the daughter of Cephissus. He is further said to have had a son, Pythis, who ruled over the country about
Mount Parnassus, and from whom the oracle received the name of
Delphi.
[Pausanias, 10.6.3-5]
In yet another version, his mother is Melanis, a daughter of Hyamus and Melantheia, and father is not mentioned; Delphus is said to have inherited his grandfather's kingdom in the neighborhood of Mount Parnassus, to have married Castalia, and to have had two children, a son Castalius and a daughter Phemonoe, the first person to write . His grandson through Castalius was Laphrius, and his great-grandson through Laphrius was Noutius.[Scholia on Euripides, Orestes, 1094]
Notes
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Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
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Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
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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.
