Ciane and Anapo
Reference page: Repertory of Cults and Myths
Cyane was the nymph companion of Persephone ( Demeter 's daughter ) who, in an attempt to oppose Pluto who wanted to kidnap Persephone, was transformed into a spring: the current Cyane stream which is found in Syracuse, where a temple was even built [Diodorus Siculus lib. XIV.72].
One version of the legend says that the young Anapo , in love with Ciane, upon seeing his beloved transformed into a river, decided to follow her fate by having himself transformed into a river.
The link between the cult of Cyane and that of Persephone is also derived from the story of Diodorus (lib. IV.23) who, speaking of Heracles' journey to Sicily, says that the hero placed one of his bulls in the Cyane fountain in Syracuse to sacrifice it to Persephone, ordering the inhabitants to make the same sacrifice every year in honor of Persephone and Ciane. It is probable that behind the sacrifice of the bull was actually hidden the ancient memory of human sacrifices which were carried out at the source, as often happened in Eastern cultures. This fact and the reference to the Phoenician Hercules would give an oriental imprint to the cult of Ciane.
The other version of the myth of Cyane also features human sacrifice, seen as atonement for past sins. It is said, in fact, that in Syracuse there lived a girl named Cyane, daughter of a certain Cyanippus who one night, in a drunken state, raped his daughter, thus committing incest. During the rape, the girl managed to tear off the ring her father wore, allowing her, to her great pain, to recognize the rapist the next day. Meanwhile, the plague had struck the city, and Apollo 's oracle declared that a sacrifice was needed to quell the epidemic, and the victim must be guilty of incest. Cyane, seeing this as a sign of her fate, killed her father, and then followed his fate by committing suicide.
In Sicily, Diodorus speaks of a temple dedicated to Ciane with reference to the events that saw the tyrant Dionysus oppose the Carthaginians who were at the gates of Syracuse in 396 BC [Diodorus Siculus lib. XIV.72]. From excavations carried out in 1887 near the source of the river Ciane, on the Cozzo Scanderra hill , remains of a building in square masonry were found, to be identified, probably, with the sanctuary mentioned by Diodorus [Biagio Bace: Art and Civilization of Ancient Sicily page 464 vol III].
The Myth in the IWB Register of the Sicily Region
The places of the Myth of Anapo and the Ninfa Ciane have been included by the Sicily Region in the LIM Register (Places of Identity and Memory of Sicily), sector of the Places of Metamorphoses.
The places concerned are:
- “Prism head”, at the source of the Ciane River (province of Syracuse)
- Mouth of the Anapo and Ciane Rivers, at the Porto Grande (Syracuse)
Excerpt from the book " Cults of Ancient Sicily " by Ignazio Caloggero ISBN: 9788832060102 © 2022 Centro Studi Helios srl
