KYANEE
Greek Name
Κυανεη
Transliteration
Kyaneê
Latin Spelling
Cyanee, Cyanea
Translation
Azure-Blue (kyanos)
KYANEE (Cyanea) was the Naiad-nymph of a spring or fountain of the town of Miletos in Karia (Caria) (south-western Anatolia). She was a daughter of the River Maiandros (Meander) and the wife of the town's founding king, Miletos.
PARENTS
MAIANDROS (Ovid Metamorphoses 9.446, Nonnus Dionysiaca 11.449)
OFFSPRING
KAUNOS, BYBLIS (by Miletos) (Ovid Metamorphoses 9.446)
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
Ovid, Metamorphoses 9. 450 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"[Miletus] built the battlements that keep their founder's name; where, as she strolled beside Maeander's winding banks, her father's stream, that turns so often back upon its course, he joined in love a Nympha of beauty rare, Cyanee, who one day bore him there Byblis and Caunus, twins, a tragic pair."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 11. 449 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"[Kalamos (Calamus), son of the river Maiandros (Meander), cried out to his drowned love Karpos (Carpus) :] ‘If one Nymphe of the Naiades enamoured has carried you off, tell me, and I will make war on them all! If wedded love is your pleasure is your pleasure, and you want my sister [Kyanea (Cyanea)] for a wife, do but say so and I will build you a bridechamber in the stream.’"
SOURCES
GREEK
- Nonnus, Dionysiaca - Greek Epic C5th A.D.
ROMAN
- Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.