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InGreek andRoman mythology, theMessapian shepherds (Ancient Greek:Μεσσάπιοι) are the flock-tending inhabitants ofMessapia (southernApulia), an ancient region in theItalian Peninsula. They feature in two similar myths, where they offend localnymphs and are punished by them for their impiousness.
In one version of the myth, some nymphs, companions ofPan, lived in Messapia. A shepherd frightened them, and then proceeded to mock them by mimicking their dance with loutish leaps, crude shouts and rustic insults. He would not stop until they turned him into awild olive tree, whose bitter berries still bear his sourness to this day.[1]
In another variation of the myth, a group of Messapian shepherds declared themselves better dancers than theEpimelides nymphs (the nymphs that tend to the flocks), not realizing they were goddesses. The shepherds and the nymphs then agreed to settle the issue with a dancing competition. The shepherds danced in a crude and artless manner, while the movements of the nymphs were full of grace and beauty. Naturally the nymphs were proclaimed victors, and after winning they revealed their true identities to the hubristic shepherds. As punishment for their hubris, they turned them all into trees, which still groan and lament their fate to this day.[2][3]
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