Picus
(
*Pi=kos), a Latin prophetic divinity, is described as a son of Saturnus or Sterculus, as the husband of Canens, and the father of Faunus (
Ov. Met. 14.320,
338,
Fast. 3.291;
Verg. A. 7.48;
Serv. ad Aen. 10.76).
In some traditions he was called the first king of Italy (Tzetz.
ad Lyc. 1232).
He was a famous soothsayer and augur, and, as he made use in these things of a
picus (a wood-pecker), he himself also was called Picus.
He was represented in a rude and primitive manner as a wooden pillar with a wood-pecker on the top of it, but afterwards as a young man with a wood-pecker on his head (
Dionys. A. R. 1.14;
Ov. Met. 14.314;
Verg. A. 7.187).
The whole legend of Picus is founded on the notion that the wood-pecker is a prophetic bird, sacred to Mars. Pomona, it is said, was beloved by him, and when Circe's love for him was not requited, she changed him into a wood-pecker, who, however, retained the prophetic powers which he had formerly possessed as a man. (
Verg. A. 7.190;
Ov. Met. 14.346; Plut.
Quaest. Rom. 21;
Ov. Fast. 3.37.)
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