Acis

A Sicilian shepherd, the son of Pan and Symaethis. He fell in love with Galatea, who was also passionately loved by Polyphemus, a Cyclops. However, she had her heart set on Acis and the giant, in a fit of jealousy, crushed his rival beneath a rock. The shepherd's blood turned into the River Acis (or Acinius) at the foot of Mount Etna on Sicily.

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The story does not appear elsewhere and is perhaps no more than fiction suggested by the manner in which the little river springs from under a rock.

References

Sources

  • Ovid. Metamorphoses xiii, 750 ff.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.