Editing Crinisus

{{for|the river in Sicily|Crinisus (river)}}
{{redirect-distinguish-text|Crimisus|the groundhopper of subfamily [[Metrodorinae]]}}
[[File:Segesta 475-455 Didrachm.jpg|thumb|[[Segesta]]n Silver [[Didrachm]], 475–455 BCE, possibly depicting Crinisus in the form of a dog on one side, and Segesta on the other<ref name="Bottari 2023"/>]]
'''Crinisus''' (in [[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' and subsequent Roman texts) or '''Crimisus''' was the god of the [[Sicily|Sicilian]] river [[Crinisus (river)|Crinisus]] in [[Greek mythology|Greek]] and [[Roman mythology]]. According to most versions of the myth, Crinisus fathered [[Acestes]] with a [[Troy|Trojan]] woman while in the form of a dog. Acestes then went on to found [[Segesta]], which he named after his mother.<ref name="DGRG Segesta">{{Cite DGRG|title=Segesta}}</ref><ref name="DGRG Crimisus">{{Cite DGRG|title=Crimisus}}</ref> Segestan coins from 475–390 BCE often depict a dog on one side, and a woman's head on the other, which have traditionally been associated with Crinisus and the [[eponym]]ous Segesta.<ref name="Bottari 2023"/>

==Myth==
[[Lycophron]]'s ''Alexandra'' contains the first known version of this myth. When [[Troy]] was under attack from a sea monster, king [[Laomedon of Troy|Laomedon]] instructed mariners to take the three daughters of [[Phoenodamas]] to die of exposure and be devoured by wild beasts. They were taken to [[Sicily]], but survived there, and built a great shrine to [[Aphrodite]] in thanks. The [[Crinisus (river)|River Crimissus]], in the likeness of a dog, took one of them (not named by Lycophron) as his bride, and had a son with her. Their son (also not named here) became the "settler and founder of three places" (generally considered to be [[Segesta]], [[Eryx (Sicily)|Eryx]], and [[Entella]]), and guided [[Elymus (mythology)|Elymus]] from [[Dardanus (city)|Dardanus]] to western Sicily. He concludes by saying that the people of Aegesta ([[Segesta]]) continue to mourn the loss of [[Troy]] long after its destruction (''Alexandra'', 951–977).

[[Virgil]]'s ''[[Aeneid]]'' briefly describes [[Acestes]] as being "born of a Trojan mother to the river god Crinisus" (''Aeneid'', 5.38), and [[Gaius Julius Hyginus]] also calls Acestes "son of the river Crinisus" (''Fabulae'', 273).

[[Servius the Grammarian]]'s commentary on the ''Aeneid'' gives the most complete version of the myth. After [[Neptune]] and [[Apollo]] built the walls of [[Troy]], and were refused their promised reward by king [[Laomedon of Troy|Laomedon]], Neptune sent sea monsters to the city, and Apollo decreed that the daughters of the nobility should be attacked by them. Fearing for his daughter Egesta, Hippotes (or Isostratus) sent her away from Troy in a ship, which was carried to [[Sicily]] on winds sent by the [[Crinisus (river)|River Crimissus]]. Crimissus turned into a bear or a dog and mated with her, producing Egestus, who founded the Trojan city of Egesta there, named after his mother, which later became known as [[Segesta]]. Servius also notes that Virgil used poetic license to change the river god's name from Crimissus to Crinisus, and his son's name from Egestus to Acestes (''Commentary on the Aeneid'', 1.550).

In contrast to this, [[Claudius Aelianus]]' ''Varia Historia'' stated that the people of Segesta "honour the Porpax, Crimisus, and Telmessus in the form of men" (''Varia Historia'', 2.33).

[[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]' ''Roman Antiquities'' has a different version of the story, with [[Acestes]]' father as "a youth of distinguished family", who was in love with Acestes' mother, accompanied her from Troy, and married her when they arrived in Sicily (''Roman Antiquities'', 1.52.1–4).

==Coins==
Ancient coins from [[Segesta]] often have a dog on one side, and the head of a woman on the other. The similarity between these images and the Crinisus myth has led to academic debate about whether or not they depict Crinisus and the eponymous Segesta.<ref name="Bottari 2023"/>

Coins of this type originated from Segesta after the defeat of the [[Carthage|Carthiginians]] at the [[Battle of Himera (480 BC)|Battle of Himera]] in 480 BCE. The first of these coins are [[didrachma]]s produced from 475 BCE, which show a dog sniffing the ground; from 460 BCE they also produced coins with a dog looking back, from 455 BCE looking forward, and from 430 BCE following a scent. Around 415–400 BCE, new designs started to appear, such as [[litra]] with a standing dog with a shell and a [[gorgoneion]] or solar head on one side, and a three-quarter woman's head surrounded by a laurel wreath on the other. From 412/410–400 BCE, hunting scenes appear, such as a dog carrying the head of a deer on didrachmas, hunting a [[hare]] on smaller denominations, and a hunter (sometimes identified as Crinisus) accompanied by a dog. This may reflect increasingly aggressive attitudes between the settlements of western Sicily around this time, including territorial disputes between Segesta and [[Selinunte]]. Coins with these dog motifs continued to be produced until around 390 BCE.<ref name="Bottari 2023"/>

These Segestan designs spread to [[Eryx (Sicily)|Eryx]] by 460 BCE, and [[Palermo|Panormus]] and [[Motya]] from 430 BCE. Around 415 BCE, a coin from [[Alikai]] depicts a [[nymph]] sacrificing a dog or wolf on an altar, and [[litrae]] from Eryx at the same time show a dog standing proudly on one side, and on the other a full-length [[Aphrodite]] seated on a chair, and either holding a dove or stretching her hand out to [[Eros]], who crowns her.<ref name="Bottari 2023">{{cite book | editor1-first=Ivana | editor1-last=Fiore | editor2-first=Francesca | editor2-last=Lugli | first=Alessandra | last=Bottari | chapter=The Image of the Dog on Ancient Coins in the Mediterranean Area | title=Dogs, Past and Present: An Interdisciplinary Perspective | isbn=9781803273556 | year=2023 | publication-place=Oxford | publisher=Archaeopress Publishing | pages=347–355 | url=https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781803273549 | doi=10.32028/9781803273549 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Numismatist]]s traditionally considered the woman to depict a local [[nymph]], the [[eponym]]ous Segesta, though [[Karl Galinsky]] argues that it may be the goddess [[Artemis]], who [[Cicero]] reported had a famous statue at Segesta. [[Aphrodite Urania]] has also been suggested.<ref name="Galinsky 2015">{{cite book | last=Galinsky | first=Karl | chapter=The Trojan Landing in Sicily | title=Aeneas, Sicily, and Rome | publisher=Princeton University Press | series=Princeton Legacy Library | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-4008-7663-1 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSPWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 | page=68 }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Aeneid}}

[[Category:Deities in the Aeneid]]
[[Category:Roman mythology]]
[[Category:River gods in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Rivers of the Province of Trapani]]