Editing Aesacus (section)

== Mythology ==
[[File:Krauss - Aesacus Hesperia.jpg|left|thumb| ''Aesacus and Hesperia,'' engraving by [[Johann Ulrich Kraus]]s for a 1690 edition of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' Book XI, 771–776.]]

=== Apollodorus' account ===
The ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Bibliotheca]]'' makes Aesacus son of Priam's first wife [[Arisbe (daughter of Merops)|Arisbe]], daughter of [[Merops (mythology)|Merops]].<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], 3.12.5</ref> Apollodorus and [[Tzetzes]] also make Aesacus a seer who has learned the interpretation of dreams from his grandfather Merops.<ref>[[John Tzetzes|Tzetzes]] ''on [[Lycophron]]'', 224</ref> For them Aesacus is the interpreter of [[Hecuba|Hecabe]]'s dream when Hecabe gives birth to [[Paris (mythology)|Paris]]. In Apollodorus the deceased daughter of Cebren for whom Aesacus mourns is his wife named Asterope.
[[File:Virgil Solis - Aesacus Hesperia.jpg|thumb|''Aesacus and Hesperia,'' engraving by [[Virgil Solis]] for Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'' Book XI, 749–795.]]

=== Ovid's account ===
In [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses]]'', Aesacus is an illegitimate son of King Priam secretly born to the nymph [[Alexirrhoe|Alexirhoe]], daughter of the [[Granicus River|river Granicus]]. Aesacus avoids [[Troy|Ilium]], preferring the countryside. One day he catches sight of the nymph Hesperia, daughter of the river [[Cebren]], falls in love, and pursues her. However, as Hesperia flees, a venomous snake strikes her and she dies. Aesacus, unable to bear living any longer, leaps from a tall cliff into the sea but as he plunges he is changed into a bird by [[Tethys (mythology)|Tethys]]. Aesacus still attempts to dive into the depth yet continues still to live in the form of a diving bird.<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 11.749-759</ref> The exact identity of the bird, referred to as ''mergus'' (later taken as the genus name for [[Mergus|merganser]] ducks) is now unknown, though it has been interpreted as either referring to a [[cormorant]] or to [[Scopoli's shearwater|Scopoli’s shearwater]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arnott |first=W. G. |date=1964 |title=Notes on Gavia and Mergvs in Latin Authors [Notes on Gavia and Mergus in Latin Authors] |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/637729 |journal=The Classical Quarterly |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=249–262 |doi=10.1017/S0009838800023806 |jstor=637729 |s2cid=170648873 |issn=0009-8388}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=White |first=Heather |date=2011 |title=Language and style in Ovid |url=https://ojs.ehu.eus/index.php/Veleia/article/view/6309 |journal=Veleia |language=es |issue=28 |doi=10.1387/veleia.6309 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |issn=2444-3565}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ornithological Approaches to Greek Mythology: The Case of the Shearwater |url=https://camws.org/sites/default/files/meeting2018/abstracts/029.OrnithologicalApproachestoGreekMythology.pdf |website=CAMWS}}</ref>