DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0549
Apollon and Artemis 477
possibilities. In the first place, the Milky Way was that ' Road of
the Birds1,' along which the swans drew Apollon to the land of the
Hyperboreans2. This accounts for the intimate relations of Kyknos,
the ' Swan,' to Phaethon. The Hesiodic (?) version preserved by
Hyginus3 states that Kyknos, king of Liguria, bewailing the fate of
his kinsman Phaethon was changed into a swan and chanted his
dying song. Similarly Pausanias4 relates that Kyknos, a musician,
became king of the Ligurians inhabiting the Celtic country beyond
the Eridanos, and at his death was transformed into the bird by the
will of Apollon. Phanokles5, the Alexandrian elegiast, in his Erotes
retold the tale and, no doubt, gave it the romantic touch, which is
discernible in later allusions6. Claudian7 adds that Phaethon, raised
to the sky, became Auriga, and his sisters the Hyades, while
The Milky Circle sprinkles the spread wings
Of Cycnus, once his comrade.
Both Auriga, the 'Charioteer,' and O/or, the 'Swan,' are to be seen
nightly on the Milky Way8. Lucian in his little work On Amber or
Swans claims to have visited the Eridanos and lost his illusions.
He saw neither poplars nor amber, and the natives had never heard
of Phaethon !
' However,' he continues, 'there was one thing I still thought I really should
find there, and that was flocks of swans singing on the banks. We were still on
the way up, and I applied to the boatmen again : " About what time do the
swans take post for their famous musical entertainment?—Apollo's fellow crafts-
men, you know, who were changed here from men to birds, and still sing in
memory of their ancient art." But they only jeered at me : "Are you going to lie
all day about our country and our river, pray?"' Etc., etc.9
and compendious treatment of the subject), O. Gruppe ' Aethiopenmythen ' in Philologus
1889 xlvii. 328—343j s. Eitrem ' De Phaethonte ' ib. 1899 'v'''- —4^4> J- Hopken
Die Fahrt des Phaethon Emden 1899 p. 1 ff., C. W. Vollgraff De Ovidi mythopoeia
Berolini 1901 pp. 45—61 ('De fabula Phaethontis'), id. Nikander tend Ovid Groningen
1909 i. 105—109, Gruppe Myth. Lit. 1908 p. 594 f. See further the bibliography in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2175 f.
1 Supra p. 38. 2 Supra p. 460 ff.
3 Hyg. fab. 154, cp. schol. Strozziana in Caes. Germ. Aratea p. 174, 4ft Breysig.
4 Paus. 1. 30. 3. 5 Phanokles ap. Lact. Plac. narr.fab. 2. 4.
6 Verg. Aen. 10. 189 ff. with Serv. ad loc, Ov. met. 2. 367 ff. (cp. anon, miscell. 6 in
A. Westermann MT90rPA$0I Brunsvigae 1843 p. 347, 32 ff. = nAPAAOSOrPA<t>OI
Brunsvigae 1839 p. 222, 13 f.).
7 Claud, de vi cons. Honor. 173 ff. Opinion differed as to the author of these catasterisms.
Claud, loc. cit. refers them all to Helios (ib. 170 Titan). Nonn. Dion. 38. 424 ff. makes
Zeus set Phaethon in the sky as Auriga, the Eridanos as Flumen. Interp. Serv. in Verg.
Aen. 10. 189 says that Kyknos was placed among the stars by Apollon.
8 Hyg. poet. astr. 4. 7 notes that the Milky Way passes through the following con-
stellations : Olor, Perseus, Auriga, Gemini, Procyon, Argo, Centaurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Aquila.
9 Loukian. de electro 4 f. trans. H. W. Fowler.
possibilities. In the first place, the Milky Way was that ' Road of
the Birds1,' along which the swans drew Apollon to the land of the
Hyperboreans2. This accounts for the intimate relations of Kyknos,
the ' Swan,' to Phaethon. The Hesiodic (?) version preserved by
Hyginus3 states that Kyknos, king of Liguria, bewailing the fate of
his kinsman Phaethon was changed into a swan and chanted his
dying song. Similarly Pausanias4 relates that Kyknos, a musician,
became king of the Ligurians inhabiting the Celtic country beyond
the Eridanos, and at his death was transformed into the bird by the
will of Apollon. Phanokles5, the Alexandrian elegiast, in his Erotes
retold the tale and, no doubt, gave it the romantic touch, which is
discernible in later allusions6. Claudian7 adds that Phaethon, raised
to the sky, became Auriga, and his sisters the Hyades, while
The Milky Circle sprinkles the spread wings
Of Cycnus, once his comrade.
Both Auriga, the 'Charioteer,' and O/or, the 'Swan,' are to be seen
nightly on the Milky Way8. Lucian in his little work On Amber or
Swans claims to have visited the Eridanos and lost his illusions.
He saw neither poplars nor amber, and the natives had never heard
of Phaethon !
' However,' he continues, 'there was one thing I still thought I really should
find there, and that was flocks of swans singing on the banks. We were still on
the way up, and I applied to the boatmen again : " About what time do the
swans take post for their famous musical entertainment?—Apollo's fellow crafts-
men, you know, who were changed here from men to birds, and still sing in
memory of their ancient art." But they only jeered at me : "Are you going to lie
all day about our country and our river, pray?"' Etc., etc.9
and compendious treatment of the subject), O. Gruppe ' Aethiopenmythen ' in Philologus
1889 xlvii. 328—343j s. Eitrem ' De Phaethonte ' ib. 1899 'v'''- —4^4> J- Hopken
Die Fahrt des Phaethon Emden 1899 p. 1 ff., C. W. Vollgraff De Ovidi mythopoeia
Berolini 1901 pp. 45—61 ('De fabula Phaethontis'), id. Nikander tend Ovid Groningen
1909 i. 105—109, Gruppe Myth. Lit. 1908 p. 594 f. See further the bibliography in
Roscher Lex. Myth. iii. 2175 f.
1 Supra p. 38. 2 Supra p. 460 ff.
3 Hyg. fab. 154, cp. schol. Strozziana in Caes. Germ. Aratea p. 174, 4ft Breysig.
4 Paus. 1. 30. 3. 5 Phanokles ap. Lact. Plac. narr.fab. 2. 4.
6 Verg. Aen. 10. 189 ff. with Serv. ad loc, Ov. met. 2. 367 ff. (cp. anon, miscell. 6 in
A. Westermann MT90rPA$0I Brunsvigae 1843 p. 347, 32 ff. = nAPAAOSOrPA<t>OI
Brunsvigae 1839 p. 222, 13 f.).
7 Claud, de vi cons. Honor. 173 ff. Opinion differed as to the author of these catasterisms.
Claud, loc. cit. refers them all to Helios (ib. 170 Titan). Nonn. Dion. 38. 424 ff. makes
Zeus set Phaethon in the sky as Auriga, the Eridanos as Flumen. Interp. Serv. in Verg.
Aen. 10. 189 says that Kyknos was placed among the stars by Apollon.
8 Hyg. poet. astr. 4. 7 notes that the Milky Way passes through the following con-
stellations : Olor, Perseus, Auriga, Gemini, Procyon, Argo, Centaurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius,
Aquila.
9 Loukian. de electro 4 f. trans. H. W. Fowler.