View source for Byblis

{{Short description|Character in Greek mythology}}
{{Other uses}}
[[File:Caunos and Byblis (2024-03-05) 03.jpg|thumb|''A Statue Of Byblis and Her Twin Brother, Caunos.'']]

In [[Greek mythology]], '''Byblis''' or '''Bublis''' [[Ancient Greece|(Ancient Greek]]: Βυβλίς) was a daughter of [[Miletus (mythology)|Miletus]]. Her mother was either [[Tragasia]], daughter of [[Celaenus (mythology)|Celaenus]];<ref name=":2">[[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], [https://topostext.org/work/550#11 11] from [[Aristocritus (writer)|Aristocritus]]' ''History of Miletus'' and the ''Foundation of Caunus'' by Apollonius of Rhodes</ref> [[Cyanee]], daughter of the river-god [[Meander (mythology)|Meander]];<ref name=":0" /> or [[Eidothea (Greek myth)|Eidothea]], daughter of King [[Eurytus]] of [[Caria]].<ref name=":1" /> She fell in love with [[Caunos (mythology)|Caunus]], her [[Incest between twins|twin brother]].

==Mythology==
[[File:1734 Delvaux Biblis und Caunus anagoria.JPG|thumb|left|upright|''Byblis and Caunus'' by [[Laurent Delvaux]], 1734, [[Bode Museum]]]]

===Ovid===
The most elaborate interpretation of her story is that of [[Ovid]], and runs as follows.<ref name=":0">[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 9.446-665</ref> Byblis acknowledged her love for Caunus, and despite her initial efforts to convince herself that her feelings were natural, she realized the inappropriateness of them. Unable to keep her love for Caunus a secret from him any longer, she sent him a long love letter through a servant giving examples of other incestuous relationships between the gods. Disgusted, he ran away. Believing that she could yet make him love her, she was determined to try to woo him once more. When she found out that he had fled, she tore her clothes and stripped naked in sorrow and was driven into madness. She followed him through much of Greece and [[Asia Minor]] until she finally died, worn out by her grief and the long journey. As she had been constantly crying, she was changed into a spring.

===Parthenius===
[[Parthenius of Nicaea]]<ref name=":2" /> cites two versions of Byblis' story, one of which is generally the same as that recounted by Ovid, but ends with Byblis hanging herself with her girdle. In the other version, it is Caunus who instigates the incest, but Byblis still seems to return his affection; Caunus then leaves home before he can lose control over his desires, and Byblis, after a long search for him, makes a noose of her garment and hangs herself. The same version is followed by [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]].<ref>[[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]], [https://topostext.org/work/489#2 2]</ref>

===Antoninus===
[[Antoninus Liberalis]] again portrays Byblis as overcome with unanswered love for her brother; after Caunus leaves, she rejects the proposals of numerous suitors and attempts to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, but is saved by [[hamadryads]], who cause her to fall asleep and transform her into a fellow nymph.<ref name=":1">[[Antoninus Liberalis]], [https://topostext.org/work/216#30 30]</ref>

===Nonnus===
Nonnus depicts Byblis, Caunos and Miletus as the children of [[Asterius (mythology)|Asterius]], son of [[Minos]] and Androgeneia. In this account, Caunus romantically pursues Byblis with a love song referencing the incestuous relationships between the gods.<ref>[[Nonnus]], ''[[Dionysiaca]]'' 13.546 ff.</ref>

All the authors make mention of a spring which was believed to have appeared from Byblis' incessant tears.

The city [[Byblos]] in [[Phoenicia]] was believed to have taken its name from Byblis.<ref>[[Stephanus of Byzantium]], s.v. ''[https://topostext.org/work/241#B188.12 Byblos (Βύβλος)]''</ref>

==''Caunus and Byblis'' in art==
Between 1706 and 1715, the sculptor [[Pierre Le Gros the Younger]], working in [[Rome]], was faced with the [[Antiques restoration|restoration]] of a fragmented antique group of ''[[Amor and Psyche]]'' for the Portuguese [[ambassador]]. Thriving on invention, he turned the love story on its head and depicted the theme of ''[[Caunus and Byblis]]'' in which Caunus vehemently defends himself against the sexual advances of his sister. While Le Gros' invention ended up in Germany and was purified back to ''Amor and Psyche'' before being destroyed in a fire in 1931, it triggered a rafter of drawings, reproductions and copies by for example [[Pompeo Batoni]], [[Francesco Carradori]], [[Martin Gottlieb Klauer]] and, best known of all, two marble versions by [[Laurent Delvaux]]. The most faithful impression of what Le Gros' invention looked like is a [[plaster cast]] in [[Tiefurt House]] near [[Weimar]].<ref>Gerhard Bissell, ''Haud dubiè Amoris & Psyches imagines fuerunt statuæ istæ'', in: Max Kunze, Axel Rügler (ed.), ''Wiedererstandene Antike. Ergänzungen antiker Kunstwerke seit der Renaissance'' (Cyriacus. Studien zur Rezeption der Antike, Band 1), München 2003, pp. 73-80.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Mythology}}
* [[Incest between twins]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]'', Fifty Narrations, surviving as one-paragraph summaries in the Bibliotheca (Library) of Photius, Patriarch of Constantinople'' translated from the Greek by Brady Kiesling. [https://topostext.org/work/489 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* [[Parthenius of Nicaea|Parthenius]], ''Love Romances'' translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882–1943), S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916.  [https://topostext.org/work/550 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]
* Parthenius, ''Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1''. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:2008.01.0643 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Ovid|Publius Ovidius Naso]], ''Metamorphoses'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0028 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.]
* Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0029 Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[Stephanus of Byzantium]], ''Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt,'' edited by August Meineike (1790–1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. [https://topostext.org/work/241 Online version at the Topos Text Project.]

==Further reading==
* Bell, Robert E. ''Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary'' Oxford University Press: 1991.

== External links ==
{{Commonscat|Byblis (mythology)}}
* Images of Byblis in the [http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=379 Warburg Institute Iconographic Database] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304025849/http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/vpc/VPC_search/subcats.php?cat_1=5&cat_2=379 |date=2016-03-04 }}
* [http://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheByblis.html Byblis at Theoi Project]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141001122137/http://www.mythindex.com/greek-mythology/B/Byblis.html Byblis at Greek Myth Index]

{{Metamorphoses in Greco-Roman mythology}}

[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses into bodies of water in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Women in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological people involved in incest]]
[[Category:Ionian mythology]]