Habis (from the Cynete language meaning

fawn A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family (biology), family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, a ...

) is a legendary king of the Spanish region of

Tartessos Tartessos () is, as defined by archaeological discoveries, a historical civilization settled in the southern Iberian Peninsula characterized by its mixture of local Prehistoric Iberia, Paleohispanic and Phoenician traits. It had a writing syste ...

. The only source of the legend of Habis and his father

Gargoris Gargoris was a mythical king of the Cynetes, considered part of the people of Tartessos, and, according to legend, the inventor of beekeeping. He exiled his own son, Habis, who was adopted by a female deer and saved from the sea, and who later in ...

is the work ''Epitome'' by

Justin Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

, who copied it from the now lost work ''Philippic Histories'' by

Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus also anglicized as was a Gallo-Roman historian from the Celtic Vocontii tribe in Narbonese Gaul who lived during the reign of the emperor Augustus. He was nearly contemporary with Livy. Life Pompeius Trogus's grandfa ...

History

According to legend, Habis's story began when his mother was stung by a bee. Her father,

, the king of Tartessos, hurried to heal her. As he knelt to soften her wound with his mouth, a passion came over both, thus procreating the baby. Due to the shame of having committed

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

, the king ordered the child to be abandoned on the prairies outside the kingdom. Eventually the boy was raised by the deer in there, acquiring deer features. He was later found and recognized as the true heir to the kingdom, and later accordingly named.

References

Tartessos Spanish_folklore

History

References

Further reading