Gyas, a character in

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''Aeneid'', features most extensively as one of the captains in the boat race in Book 5. He also appears (briefly) in Books 1 and 12. He was claimed as the eponymous ancestor of the

Gegania gens The gens Gegania was an old patrician family at ancient Rome, which was prominent from the earliest period of the Republic to the middle of the fourth century BC. The first of this gens to obtain the consulship was Titus Geganius Macerinus in 49 ...

, a patrician family of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

Occurrences

Book 1

Gyas is introduced to the reader after

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas ( , ; from ) was a Troy, Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus (mythology), Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy ...

has landed on the coast of Libya, after the storm dispersed and, he fears, wrecked his fleet. "Intrepid Gyas" is one of the captains whose presumed death he mourns (''Aeneid'' 1.222).

Book 5

Gyas is one of the four captains in the boat race in Book 5 of the ''Aeneid''; he commands the ''Chimaera'', and after gaining an early lead, at the halfway point he orders Menoetes, his helmsman, to steer in tightly, but Menoetes, afraid of hitting the reef, takes a wider turn and the ''Chimaera'' is passed on the inside by Cloanthus in the ''Scylla''. In anger, Gyas throws Menoetes overboard, to the amusement of the spectators. Gyas flew out to see first, slipping by others in all the noise and confusion. ... ...Reaching the marker, the leading captain, Gyas, seawater swirling around him, called to the ship's helmsman, Menoetes: "Why so far to starboard? Alter your course there, hug that rock.... ... ...he grabbed a fretful Menoetes, forgot good grace and the safety of crewmen, and threw him headlong down from the high stern in the water. (''Aeneid'' 5.151-152; 159-63; 173-175.)

Commentary

Gyas, through his "extraordinary" and "ill-considered" action, forces himself to take up two roles: captain and helmsman. In doing so, he prefigures

, who will have to do the same thing at the end of Book 5, after

Palinurus Palinurus (''Palinūrus''), in Roman mythology and especially Virgil's ''Aeneid'', is the coxswain of Aeneas' ship. Later authors used him as a general type of navigator or guide. Palinurus is an example of human sacrifice; his life is the price ...

falls overboard and drowns. According to Joseph Farrell, the comparison favors Aeneas. The swimming ability of "old man" Menoetes to swim to shore fully clothed, and without the assistance of a magical veil, contrasts with

Odysseus In Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology, Odysseus ( ; , ), also known by the Latin variant Ulysses ( , ; ), is a legendary Greeks, Greek king of Homeric Ithaca, Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, epic poem, the ''Odyssey''. Od ...

's swim to shore and avoidance of the sort of rocks at

Phaeacia Scheria or Scherie (; or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia, was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's '' Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey before returning ...

that Menoetes clambered up onto unaided. Gyas was considered the eponymous ancestor of the

(the link was made by

Maurus Servius Honoratus Servius, distinguished as Servius the Grammarian ( or ), was a late fourth-century and early fifth-century grammarian. He earned a contemporary reputation as the most learned man of his generation in Italy; he authored a set of commentaries o ...

, a fifth-century grammarian and commentator of Virgil), but Virgil lists the other three captains ( Mnestheus,

Sergestus In Roman mythology, Sergestus was a Trojan friend of Aeneas. He was the ancestor of gens Sergia, a famous Patrician family of which Catilina was a member. Hence he is also the ultimate namesake of the given names Sergey, Sergio, etc. Mythology ...

, Cloanthus) along with the families they supposedly founded (the Memmia gens, the

Sergia gens The gens Sergia was a patrician family at ancient Rome, which held the highest offices of the Roman state from the first century of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the Sergii to obtain the consulship was Lucius Sergius Fidenas ...

, and the Cluentians, respectively), the Gegania, which would have been much less familiar to Virgil's audience than the other families, get no such credit, which

John Conington John Conington (10 August 1825 – 23 October 1869) was an English classical scholar. In 1866 he published his best-known work, the translation of the ''Aeneid'' of Virgil into the octosyllabic metre of Walter Scott. He was Corpus Christi Pro ...

found "singular".Conington, note on 118. David Ross, professor of classics at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

, also noted Gyas was not directly connected to a gens, and also characterized the description of the Chimaera as "decidedly odd", seeming to be "an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

, racing against

destroyer In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, maneuverable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy, or carrier battle group and defend them against a wide range of general threats. They were conceived i ...

s".

Joseph Addison Joseph Addison (1 May 1672 – 17 May 1719) was an English essayist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was the eldest son of Lancelot Addison. His name is usually remembered alongside that of his long-standing friend Richard Steele, with w ...

wrote in issue 279 of ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' that "Sentiments which raise laughter can very seldom be admitted with any decency into an heroic poem ..I remember but one laugh in the whole ''Aeneid'', which rises in the fifth book upon Menoetes, where he is represented as thrown overboard, and drying himself upon a rock.". David Ross observed that it is, however, "the laughter of mockery and derision". Professor of Latin at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

M. M. Willcock concurred that it is "insensitive" and that " laugh at the unmerited misfortune of another human being is not the highest moral reaction", observing that Menoetes had done nothing deserving of such a reaction from spectators. Addison's recollection notwithstanding, a second instance of the same mocking laughter occurs when Sergestus brings his boat in.

Book 10, possibly

Through the word " clavus" meaning both tiller and club, the "huge" namesake in 10.317–322 who lays his foes low with a club that belongs to Hercules is linked by scholars to the ship's captain.

Book 12

In Book 12.460, Gyas beheads Ufens (''Aeneid'' 12.460).

Later commentary and references

* Minor planet 5637 was discovered by C. S. Shoemaker and E. M. Shoemaker in 1988 and named for Gyas. *

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robins ...

's sonnet titled "Menoetes", first published in the ''Harvard Advocate'' of 1892-03-15, is based upon this incident: "Who is this fellow floundering in the wave / Flung from the Trojan galley thundering by?" *

Richard Anthony Salisbury Richard Anthony Salisbury (born Richard Anthony Markham; 2 May 1761 – 23 March 1829) was a British botanist. While he carried out valuable work in horticultural and botanical sciences, several bitter disputes caused him to be ostracised by hi ...

chose Gyas as the name for a botanical

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, naming orchid species such as ''Gyas verecunda'', ''Gyas florida'', and ''Gyas humilis''. However, this was superseded by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

's name ''

Bletia ''Bletia'' is a genus of about 30 species of orchids (family Orchidaceae), almost all of which are terrestrial; some are occasionally lithophytic or epiphytic. It is named after Spanish botanist and pharmacist Don Luis Blet. The genus is wides ...

''.

References

Bibliography

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