Epaphus (King of Egypt)

In Greek mythology, Epaphus (/ˈɛpəfəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἔπᾰφος), also called Apis[1] or Munantius[2], was a king of Egypt.

Family

Epaphus was the son of Zeus[3] and Io[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] and thus, Ceroessa's brother.[11] With his wife, Memphis[12] (or according to others, Cassiopeia[13]), he had one daughter, Libya[14][15] while some accounts added another one who bore the name Lysianassa.[16] These daughters later became mothers of Poseidon's sons, Belus, Agenor and possibly, Lelex to the former and Busiris to the latter. In other versions of the myth, Epaphus was also called father of Thebe,[17] mother of Aegyptus[18] and Heracles[19] by Zeus. Through these daughters, Epaphus was the ancestor of the "dark Libyans, and high-souled Aethiopians, and the Underground-folk and feeble Pygmies".[3]
Mythology

Birth

The name/word Epaphus means "Touch". This refers to the manner in which he was conceived, by the touch of Zeus' hand.[20][21] He was born in Euboea, in the cave Boösaule[22] or according to others, in Egypt, on the river Nile,[23] after the long wanderings of his mother. He was then concealed by the Curetes, by the request of Hera, but Io sought and afterward found him in Syria where he was nursed by the wife of the king of Byblus.[4]
Phaethon

Epaphus was also a contemporary and the rival of Phaethon, son of Helios and Clymene. He criticized his heraldry saying, "Poor, demented fellow, what will you not credit if your mother speaks, you are so puffed up with the fond conceit of your imagined sire, the Lord of Day."[24] This prompted Phaethon to undertake his fateful journey in his father's chariot of the sun.
Reign and death

Epaphus is regarded in the myths as the founder of Memphis, Egypt.[25] Hera being envious that her husband's bastard ruled such a great kingdom,[26] saw to it that Epaphus should be killed while hunting.[27][28]

David Rohl identifies Epaphus with the Hyksos pharaoh Apophis.[29]
Argive genealogy
Argive genealogy in Greek mythology

vte

Inachus

Melia

Zeus

Io

Phoroneus

Epaphus

Memphis

Libya

Poseidon

Belus

Achiroë

Agenor

Telephassa

Danaus

Elephantis

Aegyptus

Cadmus

Cilix

Europa

Phoenix

Mantineus

Hypermnestra

Lynceus

Harmonia

Zeus

Polydorus

Sparta

Lacedaemon

Ocalea

Abas

Agave

Sarpedon

Rhadamanthus

Autonoë

Eurydice

Acrisius

Ino

Minos

Zeus

Danaë

Semele

Zeus

Perseus

Dionysus

Notes

Herodotus, Histories 3.27
Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions 10.21-23
Hesiod, Ehoiai 40a as cited in Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358 fr. 2
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.3
Hyginus, Fabulae 155
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 48
Euripides, Phoenissae 678
Euripides, Oedipus 1.638–689
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.284–285
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.747–748
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 32.70
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.1.4
Hyginus, Fabulae 149
Hyginus, Fabulae 157
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.287
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2.5.11
Scholia on Homer, Iliad 9.383
Tzetzes on Lycophron, 1206
John Lydus, De mensibus 4.67
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 315
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 850–852
Strabo, Geographica 10.1.3
Hyginus, Fabulae 145
Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.749–743
Hyginus, Fabulae 149 & 275
Statius, Thebaid 7.186
Hyginus, Fabulae 150
Aeschylus, Suppliant Women 586-587

David Rohl: The Lords of Avaris. London, Arrow Books 2007

References

Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 2. Suppliant Women by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Aeschylus, translated in two volumes. 1. Prometheus Bound by Herbert Weir Smyth, Ph. D. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Euripides, The Complete Greek Drama, edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Phoenissae, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Herodotus, The Histories with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions from Ante-Nicene Library Volume 8, translated by Smith, Rev. Thomas. T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh. 1867. Online version at theio.com
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.
Publius Papinius Statius, The Thebaid translated by John Henry Mozley. Loeb Classical Library Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1928. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Publius Papinius Statius, The Thebaid. Vol I-II. John Henry Mozley. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1928. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Leonhard Schmitz (1870). Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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