- Libya (mythology)
Libya is the name given to both a region of
North Africa (Ancient Libya ) and a daughter ofEpaphus , King of Egypt, in both Greek andRoman mythology .Greek mythology
In
Greek mythology , Libya, like Ethiopia orScythia was one of the mythic outlands that encircled the familiar Greek world of the Hellenes and their "foreign" neighbors.Personified as an individual, Libya was the daughter of
Epaphus — a son ofZeus and King of Egypt — and Memphis. Libya was ravished by the godPoseidon to whom she bore twin sons, Belus and Agenor. Some sources name a third son, namedLelex . Such genealogies, when applied to a personification of a land, were suggestive to Greek audiences, but need some explication for ordinary modern readers.Roman mythology
In
Roman mythology , Libya was the daughter of Epaphus, King of Egypt, and his wife Cassiopeia. She married Neptune, a foreigner of much power whose real name is unknown. Libya and Neptune had a son called Busiris, whom became a brutal tyrant ofUpper Egypt . [Virginia Brown's translation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s "Famous Women", pp. 24-25; Harvard University Press 2001; ISBN 0-674-01130-9]The territory that she ruled,
Ancient Libya , and the country of modern dayLibya are named after her. [Id., p. 25]Notes
References
*Isidore, "Etymologiae" xiv.4.1, 5.1
*Augustine, "De civitate dei" xviii.12
*Lactantius Placidus, "Commentarii in Sattii Thebaida" iv.737
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
