Ascalaphus (son of Acheron)

Ascalaphus
Demeter turns Ascalaphus into an owl. Engraving by Johann Ulrich Kraus, 1690
Abode	Underworld
Parents	Acheron (Father) Orphne (Mother)

In Greek mythology, Ascalaphus (/əˈskæləfəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἀσκάλαφος Askalaphos) was the son of Acheron and Orphne.

Ascalaphus is the son of the stygian river god, Acheron, and the nymph, Orphne, and who was the custodian of Hades' orchard in the Underworld. He told the other gods that Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds in the Underworld. Because she had tasted food in the underworld, Persephone was obliged to return to the Underworld and spend four months^[1] (in later versions six months^[2]) there every year.

Demeter was so angry, she buried Ascalaphus beneath a heavy rock in the Underworld. When Heracles went to the underworld, he rolled the stone away and released him from his prison. But then, Demeter transformed Ascalaphus into an eagle owl. According to another myth, Persephone herself changed him into an eagle owl by sprinkling him with water of the river Phlegethon.^[3] Ovid mentions: "So he became the vilest bird; a messenger of grief; the lazy owl; sad omen to mankind."^[4] As an owl, he became the familiar bird of Hades, god of the underworld.

• Ascalaphidae – the owlflies, named after Ascalaphus

• Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Ovid, Metamorphoses, Brookes More, Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.