Nyctimene (mythology)

Nyctimene
Nyctimene
	Minerva transforms Nyctimene into an owl, 1641 engraving by Johann Wilhelm Baur.
In-universe information
Alias	Nyctaea
Species	Human, then owl
Gender	Female
Title	Princess
Relatives	Epopeus (father)
Birthplace	Lesbos

Nyctimene (/nɪktɪmæni/, Ancient Greek: Νυκτιμένη, romanized: Nuktiménē, lit. 'she who stays up at night') was, according to Greek and Roman mythology, a princess and a rape victim, the daughter of Epopeus, a king of Lesbos. She was transformed into an owl by the goddess Athena, who took pity on her for her gruesome fate.^[1] The owl was one of Athena's most prominent and important symbols.

Etymology

Nyctimene's name is derived from the Greek words νύξ (genitive νυκτός) meaning "night"^[2] and μένω meaning "I stay",^[3] that is, she who stays up at night (the owl). Both compound words are of Proto-Indo-European origin; νύξ from the PIE root *nókʷts,^[4] and μένω from *men-.^[5]

In order for the name to translate to "moon of the night", as suggested by another proposed etymology,^[6] it would have to be spelled Νυκτιμήνη with two etas instead of Νυκτιμένη with one.

Mythology

According to Hyginus, her father Epopeus desired her and raped her. Out of shame or guilt, she fled to the forest and refused to show her face in daylight.^[7] Taking pity on her, the goddess Athena transformed her into the nocturnal owl which, in time, became a widespread symbol of the goddess.^[8]^[9] In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the transformation was a punishment for "desecrating her father's bed" (patrium temerasse cubile), which insinuates that she had sexual intercourse with her own father, but no further explanation is given of whether she was raped, seduced or herself the seducer.^[10] In the Metamorphoses, Nyctimene's story is narrated by Corone (the crow), who also complains that her place as Minerva's sacred bird is now being usurped by Nyctimene, who is so ashamed of herself that she will not be seen by daylight.^[10]

Servius says that Nyctimene was filled with shame after realizing she had slept with her father, implying some sort of trickery to have occurred.^[11] Another scholiast says that Nyctimene was raped not by Epopeus but rather a visiting guest named Corymbus.^[12] An anonymous Greek paradoxographer writes that she fled her father, who is here named Clymenus.^[13]

A variation of her story about Nyctaea is found in pseudo-Lactantius Placidus's commentary on the Thebaid.^[12]

Legacy

Her name has been given to a genus of bats and an asteroid.

Footnotes

^ The Latin distich says: "Nyctimene is Minerva's nightly (fowl) for being wanton. Thence the crow contests her." The German couplet says: "Nyctimene commits an atrocity with her father and becomes an owl."