Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology/Nisus
NISUS (Νισος). 1. A son of Pandion (or, according to others, of Deion or Ares) and Pylia, was a brother of Aegeus, Pallas, and Lycus, and husband of Abrote, by whom he became the father of Scylla. He was king of Megara; and when Minos, on his expedition against Athens, took Megara, Nisus died, because his daughter Scylla, who had fallen in love with Minos, had pulled out the purple or golden hair which grew on the top of her father's head, and on which his life depended. (Apollod. iii. 15. §§ 5, 6, 8; Schol. ad Eurip. Hippol. 1090.) Minos, who was horrified at the conduct of the unnatural daughter, ordered Scylla to be fastened to the poop of his ship, and afterwards drowned her in the Saronic gulf. (Apollod. l. c.) According to others, Minos left Megara in disgust, but Scylla leaped into the sea, and swam after his ship; but her father, who had been changed into an eagle, perceived her, and shot down upon her, whereupon she was metamorphosed into either a fish or a bird called Ciris. (Ov. Met. viii. 6, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 198; Virg. Georg. i. 405, Eclog. vi. 74.) The tradition current at Megara itself knew nothing of this expedition of Minos, and called the daughter of Nisus Iphinoe, and represented her as married to Megareus. It is further added, that in the dispute between Sciron and Nisus Aeacus assigned the government to Nisus (Paus. i. 39. § 5), and that Nisa, the original name of Megara, and Nisaea, afterward the port town of Megara, derived their names from Nisus, and that the promontory of Scyllaeum was named after his daughter. (Paus. i. 39. § 4, ii. 34. § 7; Strab. viii. p. 373.) The tomb of Nisus was shown at Athens, behind the Lyceum. (Paus. i. 19. § 5.)
2. A son of Hyrtacus, a companion of Aeneias and friend of Euryalus, whose death he avenged by slaying Volscens, and then himself, in a dying state, threw himself upon the body of his friend and expired. (Virg. Aen. ix. 176, &c. 444.)
3. A noble of Dulichium, and father of Amphinomus, who was one of the suitors of Penelope. (Hom. Od. xvi. 395, xviii. 126, 412.) [L. S.]