Epopeus (king of Lesbos)
In Roman mythology, Epopeus (/ɪˈpoʊpiːəs/; Greek: Ἐπωπεύς 'all-seer', derived from epopao "to look out", "observe", from epi "over" and ops "eye"), was a king of Lesbos (the large island in the Aegean Sea opposite the coast of Asia Minor) who committed incest with his daughter Nyctimene.
Mythology[]
The name Nycteus signifies "of the night", as does Nyctimene in the following variant: according to accounts by the Roman Gaius Julius Hyginus and in Ovid's Metamorphoses (ii.590), an Epopeus was a king of Lesbos. He had sexual intercourse with his henceforth nocturnal daughter Nyctimene, whom Minerva in pity transformed into an owl, the bird that shuns the daylight.
Sources[]
- Hyginus, Fabulae, 204 & 253
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- People from ancient Lesbos