Καλαμος
The son of the river-god Meander of Phrygia, his name means 'reed'. He was deeply in love with a youth of great beauty named Carpus who was the son of the god Zephyrus and one of the Horae. One day they were both bathing in the Meander and Calamus wanted to show his friend that he was the better swimmer, but in the competition which ensued Carpus was drowned. In his grief Calamus withered to such an extent that he became a reed by the river bank. Carpus (whose name means 'fruit') became the 'fruit of the fields' which dies and is reborn every year.
{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}
Table of Sources
- Serv. on Virgil, Ecl. 5, 48
- Nonnus, Dion. 11, 370ff.