Byssa

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Byssa ( Greek  Βύσσα ) is the daughter of Eumelos and sister of Agron and Meropis in Greek mythology .

Since she and her siblings had insulted the goddesses Athena and Artemis , she was changed as a punishment into the bird of Leukothea , which was also called Byssa . So it is at least in the Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis . The identity of the bird remains unclear, however, as the Leukothea bird is certainly a sea bird, a shearwater or a seagull.

It has been argued that transforming into a seabird would not suit Athena (whose bird is the owl ). In addition, Byssa has not been handed down as a name for a sea bird. Due to similar names, this might mean the eagle owl ( bubo ).

swell

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Celoria 1992, pp. 149f