Clinis
Babylonian father whose family was turned into birds.
Clinis was a Babylonian man who, together with his wife Harpe and their children, became the subject of a metamorphosis myth involving birds. The story is notable for its multiple transformations and the involvement of several Olympian deities.
Quick Facts
- Mother
- Harpe
- Sons
- Harpasus
- Lycius
- Ortygius
- Daughter
- Artemiche
- Origin
- Babylon
Facts from the source article.
Mythology
Clinis was a devoted worshiper of Apollo and Artemis, and Apollo once took him to the land of the Hyperboreans. After seeing the Hyperboreans sacrifice donkeys to Apollo, Clinis decided to adopt the practice at home. Apollo warned him that such offerings were not acceptable from non-Hyperboreans, but a dispute arose among Clinis's children. Lycius and Harpasus insisted on proceeding, while Ortygius and Artemiche urged obedience to the god. Poseidon transformed Harpe and Harpasus into birds of the same names. At the pleas of Leto and Artemis, Apollo changed Clinis into a hypaietos, Lycius into a white raven (later turned black after the incident with Coronis), Artemiche into a lark, and Ortygius into a tit, because he had suggested sacrificing goats instead of donkeys.
More in Metamorphoses Into Birds in Greek Mythology
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