Picus
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n. pl. Pici .
[L., a woodpecker.]
(Zoöl.) A genus of woodpeckers, including some of the common American and European species.
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In Roman mythology, a woodpecker sacred to Mars. A minor agricultural deity associated with the fertilization of the soil, Picus was widely worshiped in ancient Italy. Later versions of the myth made him an early king of Italy, whose bride, Circe, changed him into a woodpecker. In art he was shown as a woodpecker mounted on a pillar, and later as a youth with a woodpecker on his head. The woodpecker was also an important bird in augury.
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Pīcus (‘woodpecker’), Italian god of agriculture, sometimes described as a son of Saturn and as the first king of Italy, possessed of prophetic powers and usually taking the form of Mars' sacred bird, the woodpecker. This bird was of great importance in augury; omens were drawn from the sight of it and from its note. It was said that it helped to feed Romulus and Remus. There was a story that Picus was turned into a woodpecker by Circē (‘hawk’), whose love he had spurned. Virgil makes him the father of Faunus and grandfather of Latinus.
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For other uses, see Picus (disambiguation).
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 and attributed his avine transformation to his skills at interpreting bird omens.
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 religious 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
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