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Iapyx

Favorite of Apollo in Greek mythology From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Greek and Roman mythology, Iapyx (from Greek Ἰάπυξ, gen.: Ἰάπυγος), Iapux or Iapis was a favorite of Apollo. The god offered to confer upon him the gift of prophecy, the lyre, etc.; but Iapyx, wishing to prolong the life of his father, preferred the more tranquil art of healing to all the others.[1]

Iapyx removing an arrowhead from the leg of Aeneas, with Aeneas's son, Ascanius (or Iulus), crying beside him.

Virgil's Aeneid (XII: 391–402) relates that Iapyx was Aeneas's healer during the Trojan War and then escaped to Italy after the war, founding Apulia.

Family

His descent is unclear. He was either:

  • a son of Iasus,[2] or
  • the son of Lycaon, which would make him the brother of Daunius and Peucetius (who went as leaders of a colony to Italy),[3] or
  • a Cretan, from whom the Cretans who migrated to Italy derived the name of Iapyges, or
  • a son of Daedalus either:
    • by his wife, thus making him a full-brother of Icarus;[4]
    • by another Cretan woman.[5]

Other use

Iapyx is also the name of a minor Greek wind god, the north-west or west-north-west wind. Virgil relates this Iapyx to the wind that carried the fleeing Cleopatra home to Egypt after her loss at the battle of Actium.[6] Horace[7] prays that Iapyx may safely carry his friend Virgil's ship to Greece.

According to Strabo, the Iapygians were named after Iapyx.[8]

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