Galaxy/The codex of Mopsus

In Greek mythology, Mopsus son of Ampycus (Ampyx) was an Argonaut seer, trained in augury and associated with Oechalia or Titaresia. He sailed with Jason, kept storm-watch with Acastus, and died of a serpent's bite in Libya. Distinct from Mopsus of Colophon (son of Manto), the seer who outprophesied Calchas — atlas id mopsus-colophon.

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

I.Argonaut seer

Apollonius names Mopsus son of Ampycus among the Argonauts: he reads bird-signs, shares night-watch with Acastus when a storm pins the ship, and later dies in Libya after a serpent bites him — a fate separate from Idmon's boar-death among the Mariandyni. Hyginus and Ovid likewise know an Argonaut Mopsus; Hyginus places him from Oechalia (or as a Titaresian).

This figure is a Lapith-linked augur of the voyage, not the Anatolian founder-seer of the Returns.

II.Homonyms

Wikipedia's main Mopsus article centers on the Colophonian seer (son of Manto by Apollo or Rhacius), rival of Calchas, and on Iron Age Cilician/Pamphylian "house of Mopsus" inscriptions. The atlas keeps that person as mopsus-colophon. A Thracian commander Mopsus and Virgil's pastoral singers of the same name are likewise separate. Id mopsus is only the Argonaut son of Ampycus.

AT A GLANCE

Greek nameMopsos (Μόψος)
Typehero
Domainsaugury · the Argonaut voyage · Oechalia
Cult centersOechalia (residence tradition) · Libya (death)
EtymologyAncient Greek Μόψος (Mópsos); related early forms (Mukšuš, Muksa) appear in Anatolian and Linear B contexts but attach chiefly to the Colophonian/historical namesake.
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