Psophis (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Psophis (Ancient Greek: Ψώφιδα) was the name of three characters (one male and two female), all of whom were considered possible eponyms for the city of Psophis. They are enlisted in one passage of Pausanias' Description of Greece.

Male:

• Psophis, a descendant of Nyctimus. The lineage is as follows: Nyctimus - Periphetes - Parthaon - Aristas - Erymanthus - Arrhon - Psophis.[1]

Female:

• Psophis, daughter of Xanthus and granddaughter of Erymanthus (son of Arcas).[1]
• Psophis, daughter of Eryx, a Sicilian despot. She was made pregnant by Heracles, who then entrusted her to his friend Lycortas, a native of the city of Phegeia (older name for the city of Psophis). She gave birth to two sons, Echephron and Promachus, who were brought up in Phegeia and renamed it Psophis after their mother.[2]
• Psophis, daughter of Lycaon, is mentioned as the possible eponym of the city by Stephanus of Byzantium.[3]

Notes

1. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 8.24.1
2. Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 8.24.2
3. Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica s.v. Psōphis

References

• Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek 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. Online version at the Topos Text Project.