Picus
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In Roman mythology, Picus was the first king of Latium. He was known for his skill at augury and horsemanship. The witch Circe turned him into a woodpecker for scorning her love. Picus' wife was Canens, a nymph who killed herself after his transformation. They had one son, Faunus.
According to grammarian Servius, Picus's love for Pomona was itself scorned. He is featured in one of the Metamorphoses of Ovid. Virgil says that he was the son of Saturnus and the grandfather of Latinus, the king of the Laurentines whom Aeneas and his Trojans fought upon reaching Italy.
Italic people believed Picus was the son of the god of war Mars. After being turned into a woodpecker Italic tribes attributed to the bird divine qualities, connected with Picus's original skills at augury.
One of the function he performed was to lead the deduction of colonies (made up of younger generation folk) with his flight, which traditionally took place in spring and was performed according to a religiuos ritual known as Ver sacrum. The people of the Piceni derived their name from the memory of this ritual.
Sources
- Ovid Metamorphoses 14.320-434
- Virgil Aeneid 7.45-49, 170-191
- Servius on Aeneid 7.190
- Diodorus Siculus 6, frag. 5
