Ascalabus

Ascalabus(Ancient Greek:Ἀσκάλαβος), inGreek mythology,was a son ofMisme.

Mythology[edit]

WhenDemeter,on her wanderings in search of her daughterPersephonewho had been abducted byHades,came to Misme inAttica,the goddess was received kindly, and being exhausted and thirsty, Misme gave her something to drink (akykeon). As the goddess emptied the vessel at one draught, Ascalabus laughed at her, and ordered a whole cask to be brought. Demeter, indignant at the boy's conduct, sprinkled the few remaining drops from her vessel upon him and thereby changed him into agecko.^[1]The tale is preserved inAntoninus Liberalis'Metamorphoses,which citesNicander'slostHeteroeumena.The tale is also told in Ovid'sMetamorphoses,^[2]though Ascalabus and his mother go unnamed: "presumably... to avoid confusion withAscalaphus".^[3]

InRomanversions of the story, where Demeter is calledCeres,Ascalabus is often namedStellio.

Notes[edit]

^Antoninus Liberalis,24
^Ovid,Metamorphoses5.446 - 461
^Ovid; Melville, A.D.; Kenney, E.J. (1986).Metamorphoses.Oxford University Press. p.406.ISBN 9780192816917.

References[edit]

Antoninus Liberalis,The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalistranslated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992).Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Welcker, Das Kunst-Museum zu Bonn, p. 74, &c.
Grant, Michael and Hazel, John,Who's Who In Classical Mythology

This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Smith, William,ed. (1870). "Ascalabus".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.