BAPHYRAS

BAPHYRAS was a river-god of Pieria in Makedonia, northern Greece.

The River Baphyras had its headwaters on Mount Olympos in Pieria where it flowed east for a short distance under the name Helikon (Helicon) before disappearing into a cleft in the earth. It re-emerged later as the stream Baphyras which emptied into the Aegean Sea near the town of Dion (Dium). The most important neighbouring rivers were the Haliakmon (Haliacmon) to the north, and Peneios (Peneus) to the south.

PARENTS

Presumably OKEANOS & TETHYS

OFFSPRING

Perhaps THE NAIADES PIERIAI

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 30. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"There is also a river called Helikon (Helicon) [in Pieria]. After a course of seventy-five stades the stream hereupon disappears under the earth. After a gap of about twenty-two stades the water rises again, and under the name of Baphyras instead of Helikon flows into the sea as a navigable river. The people of Dion (Dium) say that at first this River flowed on land throughout its course. But, they go on to say, the women who killed Orpheus wished to wash off in it the blood-stains, and thereat the River sank underground, so as not to lend its waters to cleanse manslaughter."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 11. 47 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"All wept and mourned for [the bard] Orpheus; forest trees cast down their leaves, tonsured in grief, and Flumina (Rivers) too, men say, were swollen with their tears, and Naides (Naiads) wore, and Dryades (Dryads) too, their mourning robes of black and hair dishevelled."

SOURCES

GREEK

• Pausanias, Description of Greece - Greek Travelogue C2nd A.D.

ROMAN

• Ovid, Metamorphoses - Latin Epic C1st B.C. - C1st A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.