Mopsus

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Mopsus

In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....
, Mopsus or Mopsos (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
) was the name of two famous seers.

opsus, a celebrated seer and diviner, was the son of Manto

Manto (Greek Mythology)

There are two figures in Greek mythology named Manto, one a daughter of Tiresias, the other a daughter of Heracles. The name Manto derives from Ancient Greek Mantis , "seer, prophet" ....
, daughter of the mythic seer Tiresias

Tiresias

In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes , famous for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated in fully seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself....
, and of Rhacius

Rhacius

In Greek mythology, Rhacius was the son of Lebes , and the leader of the first Greeks to settle in Caria, and became King of Caria. His court was located at Colophon in Ionia....
of Caria

Caria

Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionians and Dorians Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there....
or of Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
himself, the oracular god. Greeks of the Classical age accepted Mopsus as a historical figure, though the anecdotes concerning him bridge legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude ....
and myth.

Mopsus (and perhaps a tradition of his heirs, like the Melampodidae

Melampus

In Greek mythology, Melampus, or Melampous , was a legendary soothsayer and healer, originally of Pylos, who ruled at Argos. He was the introducer of the worship of Dionysus, according to Herodotus, who asserted that his powers as a seer were derived from the Ancient Egypt and that he could understand the language of animals....
, the Iamidae from Olympia

Olympia, Greece

Olympia , a sanctuary of ancient Greece in Elis, is known for having been the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, comparable in importance to the Pythian Games held in Delphi....
or the Eumolpidae

Eumolpidae

The Eumolpidae were one of the sacred Eleusis families of priests that ran the Eleusinian Mysteries during the Hellenistic Greece. They popularized the cult and allowed many more to be initiated into the great secrets of Demeter and Persephone....
at Eleusis) officiated at the altars of Apollo at Klaros

Clarus

Clarus in the territory of Colophon in the Ionian coast of Asia Minor was a much-revered, much-famed cult center described by Pausanias .Clarus was known throughout the Mediterranean for its oracle, who delivered her prophesies in a dark crypt-like adyton under the Temple of Apollo, honored here as Apollo Clarius ....
; and from his unerring wisdom and discernment gave rise to the proverb, "more certain than Mopsus".

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In Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek language

Son of Manto and Rhacius or Apollo

Mopsus, a celebrated seer and diviner, was the son of Manto

Manto (Greek Mythology)

Tiresias

Rhacius

In Greek mythology, Rhacius was the son of Lebes , and the leader of the first Greeks to settle in Caria, and became King of Caria. His court was located at Colophon in Ionia....
of Caria

Caria

Apollo

Legend

Melampus

Olympia, Greece

Eumolpidae

Clarus

Amphilochus

Amphilochus or Amph?lokhos may refer to:* In Greek mythology:** Amphilochus ** Amphilochus ** Husband of Alcinoe* Amphilochus, a genus in family Gammaridae...
at Colophon

Colophon

Colophon was a city in the region of Lydia in antiquity dating from about the turn of the first millennium-BC. It was likely one the oldest of the twelve Ionian League cities, between Lebedos and Ephesus and its ruins are in the eponymously named modern region of Ionia....
on the Ionia

Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest Izmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Hellenes settlements....
n coast of Asia Minor, adjacent to Caria.

The 12th century Byzantine

Byzantine

The word Byzantine may refer to:Topics directly related to the Byzantine Empire* A citizen of Byzantine Empire, or native Greeks during the Middle Ages ....
mythographer John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes , was a Byzantine Empire poet and grammarian, known to have lived at Constantinople during the 12th century.Tzetzes was Georgians on his mother's side ....
reports anecdotes of the prowess of Mopsus. Having been consulted, on one occasion, by Amphilochus, who wished to know what success would attend his arms in a war which he was going to undertake, he predicted the greatest calamities; but Calchas

Calchas

In Greek mythology, Calchas , son of Thestor, was a Argive seer, with a gift for interpreting the flight of birds that he received of Apollo: "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp"....
, who had been the soothsayer of the Greeks during the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
, promised the greatest successes. Amphilochus followed the opinion of Calchas, but the prediction of Mopsus was fully verified. This had such an effect upon Calchas that he died soon after. His death is attributed by sources used by John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes

John Tzetzes , was a Byzantine Empire poet and grammarian, known to have lived at Constantinople during the 12th century.Tzetzes was Georgians on his mother's side ....
to another mortification of the same nature: in this case, the two soothsayers, jealous of each other's fame, came to a different trial of their skill in divination. Calchas first asked his antagonist how many figs a neighboring tree bore; ten thousand and one, replied Mopsus. The figs were gathered, and his answer was found to be true. Mopsus now, to try his adversary, asked him how many young ones a certain pregnant sow would bring forth, and at what time. Calchas confessed his inability to answer, whereupon Mopsus declared that she would be delivered on the morrow, and would bring forth ten young ones, of which only one would be a male. The morrow proved the veracity of his prediction, and Calchas died through the grief which his defeat produced. Amphilochus subsequently having occasion to visit Argos

Argos

Argos is a city in Greece in the Peloponnese near Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, named for Nauplius ....
, entrusted the sovereign power to Mopsus, to keep it for him during the space of a year. On his return, however, Mopsus refused to restore to him the kingdom, whereupon, having quarreled, they engaged and slew each other. According to another legend reported by Tzetzes, he was slain by Hercules.

Mopsus was venerated as founder in several cities, among them Mopsuestia

Mopsuestia

Mopsuestia or Mopsus or Mamistra is an ancient city of Cilicia Campestris on the Pyramus river located approximately 20 km east of present-day Adana in Adana Province, Turkey....
in Cilicia, the oracle at Klaros and at Mallos.

Argonaut

Mopsus, son of Ampyx

Ampyx

Ampyx has several meanings; in hair care, an ampyx is a headband, often made of metal. In Greek mythology, there were a number of figures with the name Ampyx, Amycus or Ampycus ....
and a nymph

Nymph

In Greek mythology, a nymph is any member of a large class of mythological entities in human form. They were typically associated with a particular location or landform....
(sometimes named as Chloris

Chloris

There are many stories in Greek mythology about figures named Chloris . Some clearly refer to different characters; other stories may refer to the same Chloris, but disagree on details....
), born at Titaressa in Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is one of the 13 Peripheries of Greece of Greece, and is further sub-divided into 4 Prefectures of Greece. The capital of the periphery and traditional Regions of Greece is Larissa....
, was also a seer and augur

Augur

The augur was a priest and official in the classical world, especially ancient Rome and Etruscans. His main role was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of the birds , known as "taking the auspices." The ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society--public or private--includi...
. According to Pindar

Pindar

Pindar , was an Ancient Greek Lyric poetry poet.Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, Pindar is the one whose work is by far the best preserved, and critics in antiquity tended to regard him as the greatest....
, Mopsus was the king of Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
during an invasion of Amazons

Amazons

The Amazons , ) are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology, who were possibly historical. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatians....
, and killed their queen, Myrine

Myrine

Myrine was an Amazons Queen of the North African Libyan Amazons. The Libyan Amazons predate the Themiscyra. The city of Myrina on the west coast of Asia Minor may be named after her....
, in single combat, defeating the invaders with the help of Sipylus the Scythian.

This Mopsus was one of two seers among the Argonauts

Argonauts

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece....
, and was said to have understood the language of birds, having learned augury from Apollo

Apollo

In Greek mythology and Roman mythology, Apollo , is one of the most important and many-sided of the Twelve Olympians. The ideal of the kouros , Apollo has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry, and the arts; and more....
. While fleeing across the Libyan desert from angry sisters of the slain Gorgon

Gorgon

In Greek mythology, the Gorgon was a vicious monster with sharp fangs. She was a protective deity from early religious concepts. Her power was so strong that one attempting to look upon her, would be turned to stone, therefore, such images were put upon items from temples to wine kraters for protection....
Medusa

Medusa

In Greek mythology, Medusa was a gorgon, a chthonic female monster; gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who thereafter used her head as a weapon until giving it to the goddess Athena to place on her Aegis....
, Mopsus died from the bite of a viper

Viperidae

The Viperidae are a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except in Australia and Madagascar. All have relatively long hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom....
that had grown from a drop of Medusa's blood. Medea

Medea

Medea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of Aeetes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children: Mermeros and Pheres....
was unable to save him, even by magical means. The argonauts buried him with a monument by the sea, and a temple was later erected on the site.

Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
places him also at the hunt of the Calydonian Boar

Calydonian Boar

The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male heroes took part, but also a powerful wom...
, although the hunt occurred after the Argonauts' return.

Historical person

Since the discovery of a bilingual Luwian

Hieroglyphic Luwian

Hieroglyphic Luwian is a variant of the Luwian language, recorded in official and royal Seal and a small number of monumental inscriptions. It is written in a hieroglyphic script known as Anatolian hieroglyphs...
-Phoenician inscription in Karatepe

Karatepe

Karatepe, is a Late Hittite fortress and open air museum in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey. It is sited in the Taurus Mountains, on the right bank of the Ceyhan River....
(in Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia now known as ?ukurova, was a commonly used name of the south coastal region of the Anatolian peninsula, and a political entity in Roman times....
) in 1946-7, it is assumed that Mopsos was an historical person. The inscription is dated to c. 700 BC, and the person speaking in it, ’-z-t-w-d (Phoenician) / Azatiwataš (Luwian), professes to be king of the d-n-n-y-m / Hiyawa and describes his dynasty as the "the house of M-p-š / Mukšuš". Apparently, he is a descendent of Mopsus. The Phoenician name of the people recalls one of the Homer

Homer

Homer is traditionally held to be the author of the ancient Greek language epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, as well as of the Homeric Hymns....
ic names of the Greeks, Danaoi, whereas the Luwian name Hiyawa probably goes back to Hittite Ahhiya(wa), which is, according to most interpretations, the "Achaean

Achaeans

The Achaeans is one of the collective names used for the Greeks in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. The other names are the Danaans and Argives ....
", or Mycenaean Greek

Mycenaean Greece

Mycenaean Greece is a cultural period of ancient Greece taking its name from the archaeological site of Mycenae in northeastern Argolis, in the Peloponnese of southern Greece....
, settlement in Asia Minor. Ancient Greek authors ascribe a central role to Mopsus in the colonization of Pamphylia.

The existence of a 13th-century date of the historical Mopsos is confirmed by a Hittite

Hittite language

Hittite or Nesili is the extinct language once spoken by the Hittites, a people who created an empire centered on ancient Hattusas in north-central Anatolia ....
tablet from Bogazkale

Bogazkale

Bogazkale is a district of ?orum Province in the Black Sea Region, Turkey region of Turkey. It is located at 87 km from the city of ?orum. Population of the town is about 2,000....
which mentions a person called Mukšuš in connection with Madduwattaš of Arzawa

Arzawa

Arzawa was the name of a region or kingdom in Western Anatolia, which later to be known as Lydia in the post-Hittite era. It was the western neighbour and sometimes vassal of the Hittites, and probably bordered on the Assuwa league to the north....
and Attaršiyaš of Ahhiya. This text is dated to the reign of Arnuwandaš III

Arnuwanda III

Arnuwanda III was the penultimate king of the Hittite empire and a son of Tudhaliya IV....
. Therefore, some scholars associate Mopsus' activities along the coast of Asia Minor and the Levant with the famous Sea Peoples

Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the Twentieth dy...
attacking Egypt in the beginning of the 12th century BC, one of those peoples being the Denyen

Denyen

The Denyen are one of the groups associated with the Sea Peoples, raiders associated with the Eastern Mediterranean Greek Dark Ages who attacked Egypt during the reign of Rameses III....
, cf. the d-n-n-y-m of the Karetepe inscription. The validity of the Sea People theory is, however, questioned by other scholars.

The name of the king erecting the Karatepe inscription, Azatiwad, is probably related to the toponym Aspendos, the name of a city in Pamphylia

Pamphylia

In ancient geography, Pamphylia was the region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Taurus ....
founded by the Argives according to Strabo

Strabo

Strabo was a Ancient Greeks history, geography and philosophy....
(14.4.2). The name of the city is written (Estwediius) on coins of the 5th century BC. Presumably, it was an earlier Azatiwad, the ancestor of our king, that gave his name to the city. The name does not appear to be Greek of origin (= Luwian "Lover of the Sun God [Wa(n)da]"?). The ethnicity of Mopsus hilmself is not clear: The fragmentary Lydian historiographer Xanthus

Xanthus (historian)

Xanthus of Lydia was a native Lydian historian and logographer who, during the mid-fifth century BC, wrote texts on the history of Lydia known as Lydiaka....
has made him a Lydian campaigning in Phoenicia. If we may believe the transmission of Nicolaus of Damascus

Nicolaus of Damascus

Nicolaus of Damascus was a Syrian people historian and philosopher who lived during the Augustus age of the Roman Empire. His name is derived from that of his birthplace, Damascus....
who quotes him, Xanthus wrote the name with -ks- like in the Hittite and Luwian texts; given that Lydian

Lydian language

Lydian was an Indo-European languages language spoken in the region of Lydia in western Anatolia . It belongs to the Anatolian languages group of the Indo-European language family....
also belongs to the Anatolian language family

Anatolian languages

The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages languages, which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language....
, it is possible that Xanthus relies on a local non-Greek tradition according to which Mukšuš was a Luwian.