Aesacus

A son of Priam and Arisbe, the daughter of Merops, from whom Aesacus learned the art of interpreting dreams. When Hecabe during her pregnancy with Paris dreamt that she was giving birth to a burning piece of wood which spread conflagration through the whole city, Aesacus explained this to mean, that she would give birth to a son who would be the ruin of the city, and accordingly recommended the exposure of the child after its birth.

Aesacus himself was married to Asterope (commonly known as Hesperia), the daughter of the river god Cebren, who died early, and while he was lamenting her death he was changed into a bird.1

Ovid2 relates his story differently. According to him, Aesacus was the son of Alexirhoe, the daughter of the river Granicus. He lived far from his father's court in the solitude of mountain forests. Hesperia, however, the daughter of Cebren, kindled love in his heart, and on one occasion while he was pursuing her, she was stung by a viper and died. Aesacus in his grief threw himself into the sea and was changed by Thetis into an aquatic bird.

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Aisakos is the Greek name for the diver bird.

References

Notes

  1. Pseudo-Apollodorus. The Library iii, 12.5.
  2. Metamorphoses xi, 750 ff.

Source

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

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.