InGreek mythology,Byssa (Ancient Greek:Βύσσα,romanized: Bússa) is aKoan woman who refused to honour the deitiesArtemis,Athena andHermes, and was turned into a bird for her impiety. Her tale survives in the works ofAntoninus Liberalis.
Byssa was the daughter ofEumelus and the sister ofMeropis andAgron.[1]
Byssa with her family dwelled with Meropis onKos island, and though they honored the local Koan goddess, they refused to venerateArtemis,Athena andHermes. Every time the other islanders would invite them to a feast or sacrifice in honour of those gods they would refuse, on account of them hating grey eyes, owls, a goddess who was out at night, and thieves.
Artemis, Athena and Hermes paid them a visit one night, disguised as two countryside maidens and a shepherd. Hermes persuaded Agron and Eumelus to sacrifice to Hermes, Byssa and Meropis to the goddesses. They still denied however, so all four were turned into birds. Byssa became abyssa bird, sacred to the goddessLeucothea.[1]
It has been suggested that the bird Byssa turned into is some sort of horned owl, given its resemblance to the wordsbuza,buxa andbuas (which refer to owls), but Francis Celoria noted that a bird sacred to Leucothea would surely have to be some sort of seabird, ashearwater or agull.[2]
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