Galaxy/The codex of Mopsus

In Greek mythology, Mopsus of Colophon was the famous seer, son of Manto (by Apollo or by Rhacius), who outprophesied Calchas after the Trojan War and was linked to the colonization of Pamphylia and Cilicia. Early poets (Callinus, Hesiod's Melampodia) already know him; Iron Age Luwian–Phoenician inscriptions of the "house of Muksa/Mopsos" have fueled debate about a historical namesake. Distinct from Mopsus son of Ampycus, the Argonaut (atlas id mopsus).

Adapted from Wikipedia, "Mopsus" · CC BY-SA 4.0

I.Calchas and the sow

Apollodorus: when Calchas and companions come inland from Troy, they lodge with Mopsus son of Apollo and Manto. At a wild fig he counts the figs; at a pregnant sow he correctly names nine male piglets against Calchas' eight — and Calchas dies of grief. Pausanias instead has Manto marry Rhacius in Asia and bear Mopsus, who drives out the Carians. Some say Amphilochus later fights Mopsus for the kingdom until both fall.

Greek tradition also makes him a leader of settlers along the southern Anatolian coast; Eusebius even enters a Cilician "reign" of Mopsus in his chronicle.

II.Homonyms and history

The Argonaut seer Mopsus son of Ampycus (atlas id mopsus) is a separate figure who dies in Libya. Virgil's pastoral singers named Mopsus are literary, not this Colophonian. Karatepe and related bilingual inscriptions of a "house of Mopsos/Muksa" among the Hiyawa/d-n-n-y-m keep open a historical echo behind the myth — without collapsing the Argonaut into the Anatolian founder.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameMopsos (Μόψος)
Typehero
Domainsaugury · Colophon · the defeat of Calchas
ParentageApollo · Manto · Rhaciustellings differ →
Cult centersColophon / Claros region · Pamphylia and Cilicia (foundation traditions) · Mopsuestia / Mopsucrene (name-cult)
EtymologyAncient Greek Μόψος (Mópsos); Anatolian and Phoenician forms Muksa / M-p-š appear in Early Iron Age Cilician inscriptions.
READ MOREWikipedia