Ampyx

• One of the Lapithae; acc. Ampyca, Ov. M. 12, 450. —
• II One of the companions of Phineus, changed to stone by Perseus, Ov. M. 5, 184.

(Ἄμπυξ).

1. [Ampycus.] 2. There are two other mythical personages of this name. (Ov. Met. 5.184, 12.450.) [L.S]

AMPYX(ἄμπυχ), a frontlet, or band, worn by Greek ladies to confine the hair, passing round the front of the head and fastening behind. It appears generally to have consisted of a plate of gold or silver, often richly worked and adorned with precious stones. Artemis (Eur. Hec. 465) wears a χρυσέα ἄμπυχ, and the epithet χρυσάμπυκες is applied by the poets to the Muses, Hours, and Fates, while the Scholiast (Eur. l. c.) explains it as κόσμος τις χρυσῷ καὶ λίθοις πεποικιλμένος. (Il. 22.468-470; Theocr. 1.33.) It appears in the festive scenes represented on Etruscan tombs as worn by females (Dennis, Etruria, i. pp. 307, 368, 371).

The word ἄμπυχ, was also applied to the frontal of a horse's bridle, Lat. frontale, or more usually plur. frontalia (Plin. Nat.37.194; Liv. 37.40). In this sense the form ἀμπυκτὴρ also occurs (Aesch. Theb, 461). The frontalia might likewise be adorned with precious stones (Plin. l. c.), and were worn also by elephants (Liv. l. c.). In Aesch. Suppl. 431, there is a play on the two senses; a woman torn from sanctuary (βρετέων) is compared to a horse dragged by its bridle (ἱππηδὸν ἀμπύκων).

Hesychius (s. v. Λυδίῳ νόμῳ) supposes the men to have worn frontlets in Lydia; they were also worn by the Jews (Dent. 6.8, 11.18).

The above woodcut exhibits the frontal on the head of Pegasus, taken from one of Sir William Hamilton's vases, in contrast with the corresponding ornament as shown on the heads of two females in the same collection.

(Ἄμπυξ). Son of Pelias, husband of Chloris, and father of Mopsus (q.v.), who was hence known as Ampycides.

• Paus. 7.18.5
• father of Mopsus: Paus. 5.17.10