Epaphus

• the son of Jupiter Ammon and Io, and builder of Memphis in Egypt, Ov. M. 1, 748; Hyg. Fab. 140.

(Ἔπαφος), a son of Zeus and Io, who was born on the river Nile, after the long wanderings of his mother. He was then concealed by the Curetes, by the request of Hera, but Io sought and afterwards found him in Syria. Epaphus, who subsequently became king of Egypt, married Memphis, the daughter of Nilus, or according to others, Cassiopeia, and built the city of Memphis. He had one daughter Libya, from whom Libya (Africa) received its name, and another bore the name of Lysianassa. (Apollod. 2.1. §§ 3, 4, 5.11; Hyg. Fab. 145, 149, 275; comp. Hdt. 3.27, 28.) Another mythical being of this name is mentioned by Hyginus. (Fab. init.) [L.S]

is called a vir peritissimus, and seems to have written a work on Delphi, of which the seventeenth book is quoted. Servius (Serv. ad Aen. 3.89) and Macrobius (Macr. 3.6) both quote the same statement from his work. [L.S]

(Ἔπαφος). A son of Zeus and Io. This mythological personage is the instrument by which Grecian myth derived the rulers of more ancient countries from its own gods and princes. Epaphus, according to the legend, was born in Egypt, and married Memphis, the daughter of the Nile, by whom he had a daughter named Libya. The same fable made him the founder of the city of Memphis ( Prom. Vinct. 850 foll.; Herod.ii. 153). Libya bore to Poseidon Agenor, the father of Cadmus and Europa, and also Belus, who had by another daughter of the Nile, named Anchinoë, two sons, Danaüs and Aegyptus (Apollod.ii.1.4) See Io.

• Greek name for the Egyptian Apis (See Apis)
• son of Io: Apollod. 2.1.3
• put out of the way by the Curetes: Apollod. 2.1.3
• discovered in Byblus by Io: Apollod. 2.1.3
• reigns over Egypt: Apollod. 2.1.3
• founds Memphis: Apollod. 2.1.3
• father of Lysianassa: Apollod. 2.5.11