CYCNUS

Form: Kyknos or "Swan."

The son of Poseidon and Calyce. He was exposed by his mother on the sea-shore and found by some fishermen, who named him Cycnus because they saw a swan flying round him. He was invulnerable, and of gigantic strength and stature; his head (or, according to another account, his whole body) was as white as snow. He became king of Colonae in the Troad, and was twice married. A slanderous utterance of his second wife stung him to fury against the children of his first wife, whom he threw into the sea in a chest. They were cast up alive on the island of Tenedos, where Tenes was king. At a later time Cycnus repented of his deed, sought for his son, and marched with him to the aid of the Trojans against the Greeks. They prevented the Greeks from landing; but both were at last slain by Achilles, who strangled the invulnerable Cycnus with his own helmet strap. He was changed by Poseidon into a swan.