Acis

• a river in Sicily, which rises in Mount Aetna, and falls into the sea; now Fiume di Taci, Ov. F. 4, 468; Sil. 14, 221; Claud. Rapt. Pros. 3, 332 al.—Hence,
• II A river-god, acc. to the myth, son of Faunus, beloved by Galatea on account of his beauty, Ov. M. 13, 750 sq.

• one of the Cyclades, i. q. Siphnus, Plin. 4, § 66.

(Ἄκις), according t Ovid (Ov. Met. 13.750, &c.) a son of Faunus and Symaethis. He was beloved by the nymph Galatea, and Polyphemus the Cyclop, jealous of him, crushed him under a huge rock. His blood gushing forth from under the rock was changed by the nymph into the river Acis or Acinius at the foot of mount Aetna. This story does not occur any where else, and is perhaps no more than a happy fiction suggested by the manner in which the little river springs forth from under a rock. [L.S]

ACIS (Ἄκις), a river of Sicily, on the eastern coast of the island, and immediately at the foot of Aetna. It is celebrated on account of the mythological fable connected with its origin, which was ascribed to the blood of the youthful Acis, crushed under an enormous rock by his rival Polyphemus. (Ovid. Met. 13.750, &c.; Sil. Ital.--226; Anth. Lat. 1.148; Serv. ad Virg. Ecl. ix. 39, who erroneously writes the name Acinius.) It is evidently in allusion to the same story that Theocritus speaks of the sacred waters of Acis.( Ἄκιδος ἱερὸν ὕδωρ, Idyll. 1.69.) From this fable itself we may infer that it was a small stream gushing forth from under a rock; the extreme coldness of its waters noticed by Solinus (Solin. 5.17) also points to the same conclusion. The last circumstance might lead us to identify it with the stream now called Fiume Freddo, but there is every appearance that the town of Acium derived its name from the river, and this was certainly further south. There can be no doubt that Cluverius is right in identifying it with the little river still called Fiume di Jaci, known also by the name of the Acque Grandi, which rises under a rock of lava, and has a very short course to the sea, passing by the modern town of Aci Reale (Acium). The Acis was certainly quite distinct from the Acesines or Asines, with which it has been confounded by several writers. (Cluver. Sicil. p. 115; Smyth's Sicily, p. 132; Ortolani, Diz. Geogr. p. 9; Ferrara, Descriz. dell' Etna, p. 32.)

(Ἄκις). The son of Faunus and Symaethis, who was beloved by the nymph Galatea, and slain by Polyphemus, who was jealous of his success. His blood, gushing forth from under the rock with which he had been crushed, was changed by Galatea into the river Acis, or Acinius, at the foot of Mt. Aetna—a story perhaps suggested by the fact that the river in question springs out from under a rock. The legend has suggested a number of fine poems in English, among them Gay's Song of Polypheme in his Acis and Galatea; J. S. Blackie's Galatea; Buchanan's Polypheme's Passion; and Procter's Death of Acis.