Anius

Mythology

Anius was born either on Delos or on Euboea, after the box containing his mother Rhoeo was washed ashore. Rhoeo had been placed in the box by Staphylus upon discovering her pregnancy. She then placed the baby on Apollo's altar and asked the god to care for it if it was his. Rhoeo later married Zarex, who became Anius's legal father.

Apollo taught Anius divination and prophecy, and Anius became Apollo's priest and king of Delos. Anius had three daughters—Oeno, Spermo, and Elais, known as the Oenotropae—and three sons: Andros, Mykonos, and Thasos. Their mother was Dorippe, a Thracian woman ransomed by Anius from pirates for the price of a horse. Dionysus gave the daughters the power to change whatever they wanted into wine, wheat, and oil.

When the Greeks landed on Delos en route to Troy, Anius prophesied the war would not be won until the tenth year and urged them to stay nine years, with his daughters supplying food. Agamemnon tried to take the Oenotropae by force, but they prayed to Dionysus and were changed into doves. Andros and Mykonos became eponyms of the islands Andros and Mykonos. Thasos was devoured by dogs, after which dogs were prohibited on Delos.

Later, Anius, an old friend of Anchises, aided Aeneas and his retinue fleeing Troy. In a rare version, Aeneas married Anius's daughter Lavinia (or Launa), who had prophetic abilities and bore a son also named Anius.