Metabus

This article deals with the King of the People. For further meanings see Metabos .

Metabus and Camilla (illustration for De mulieribus claris by Boccaccio , 15th / 16th century)

Metabus ( Greek  Μέταβος ) is in Roman mythology a king of the Volscian city Privernum and with Casmilla the father of Camilla .

When he is expelled because of his irascible character, he and his young daughter Camilla flee from his enemies. At the river Amisenus, which is in high water, he doesn't know how to get to the other bank with his daughter. In his need, he ties the baby to his ash spear and promises Diana that he will dedicate Camilla to her service if she reaches the other bank unharmed. Then he throws the weapon to the other bank and swims across the raging river. Camilla survives safely, is suckled by a mare and grows up to be a defensive huntress.

The myth of Camilla, which was passed down only by Virgil , corresponds in several points to the history of the harpalyk . According to this, Harpalykos , the father of the harpalyke, would be the model for Metabus.

swell

• Virgil , Aeneid 11,532-867

literature

• Heinrich Wilhelm Stoll : Metabos 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.2, Leipzig 1897, column 2846 ( digitized version ).