Cycnus

In <a href="/facts/Greek_mythology/M7k4FvW8">Greek mythology</a>, several characters were known as Cycnus (<a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a>: Κύκνος) or Cygnus. The literal meaning of the name is "swan", and accordingly most of them ended up being transformed into <a href="/facts/Swan/gI6G1Ho5">swans</a>.

<ul><li><a href="/facts/Cycnus_(son_of_Ares)/10lkUhk5">Cycnus</a>, son of <a href="/facts/Ares/8KHUz1L5">Ares</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cycnus_of_Kolonai/waHtd9tc">Cycnus</a>, king of <a href="/facts/Kolonai/w7bF5Bug">Kolonai</a>. Son of <a href="/facts/Poseidon/kTYc88aD">Poseidon</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cycnus_of_Liguria/Y4VVdtly">Cycnus</a>, lover of <a href="/facts/Phaethon/X1CjymgT">Phaethon</a>.</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Cycnus_(son_of_Apollo)/dW0Gu3xN">Cycnus</a>, son of <a href="/facts/Apollo/eBJV1wsJ">Apollo</a>.</li>
<li>Cycnus, son of King Ederion (<a href="/facts/Ancient_Greek/LIK7NlUh">Ancient Greek</a>: Ἐδερίων) or Eredion of <a href="/facts/Achaea/YkAownsJ">Achaea</a>, who, in the 6th century CE account of <a href="/facts/John_Malalas/TLdXTllY">John Malalas</a>, seduced <a href="/facts/Leda_(mythology)/bnYIp4cA">Leda</a> and made her mother of triplets: the <a href="/facts/Dioscuri/SCBRfAr0">Dioscuri</a> and <a href="/facts/Helen_of_Troy/3zgevnGS">Helen</a>.[AI-generated source?] In all other sources, she had these children by Zeus who approached her in the shape of a swan (kyknos). For more information, see <a href="/facts/Leda_and_the_Swan/FPThSwG2">Leda and the Swan</a>.</li>
<li>Cycnus, one of the <a href="/facts/Suitors_of_Penelope/rrkRoUYz">Suitors</a> of <a href="/facts/Penelope/Us06xVc0">Penelope</a> who came from <a href="/facts/Dulichium/hQ1boLEP">Dulichium</a> along with other 56 wooers. He, with the other suitors, was shot dead by <a href="/facts/Odysseus/CWIIwKBz">Odysseus</a> with the assistance of <a href="/facts/Eumaeus/Fsb10KxF">Eumaeus</a>, <a href="/facts/Philoetius_(Odyssey)/QI6vGRVy">Philoetius</a>, and <a href="/facts/Telemachus/Pw7wEXIS">Telemachus</a>.</li>
<li>Cycnus, a blunder for <a href="/facts/Guneus/BKClQaSj">Guneus</a> in the manuscript of <a href="/facts/Gaius_Julius_Hyginus/HJRTmcfI">Hyginus</a> (list of the Achaean leaders against Troy).</li></ul>
According to Pseudo-<a href="/facts/Eratosthenes/ay7Pyfsa">Eratosthenes</a> and Hyginus' Poetical Astronomy, the <a href="/facts/Cygnus_(constellation)/L1fYe414">constellation Cygnus</a> was the stellar image of the swan Zeus had transformed into in order to seduce Leda or <a href="/facts/Nemesis_(mythology)/nQzUUl82">Nemesis</a>. <a href="/facts/Pausanias_(geographer)/3jMP2VVl">Pausanias</a> and <a href="/facts/Maurus_Servius_Honoratus/ATQNCfQq">Servius</a> state that Apollo turned Cycnus of Liguria into a swan after the death of his lover Phaeton, then later placed him among the stars as the constellation Cygnus.

Cycnus open-in-new

Cycnus