Acis’s Family Tree

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Family

• Pan(parent),Symaethis(parent)— Consort

  Pan and the river nymph Symaethis sired Acis, the Sicilian shepherd youth whose love for the sea-nymph Galatea would bring him into fatal conflict with the Cyclops Polyphemus.

Slain by

• Polyphemus

  Polyphemus, maddened by jealousy over Galatea's love for Acis, tore a massive boulder from Mount Etna and crushed the youth. The gods transformed Acis's blood into the river Acis near Catania.

Created by

• Galatea

  After Polyphemus crushed Acis with a boulder, Galatea transformed his blood into the river Acis (modern Jaci) flowing from beneath Mount Etna, granting him immortality as a river god.

Associated with

• Galatea

  In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the shepherd Acis and the Nereid Galatea were lovers on the coast of Sicily. Their idyll was shattered when the jealous Cyclops Polyphemus killed Acis.