ABSTRACT
Son of King Priam and the nymph Alexirrhoe, daughter of the River Granicus. Brought up in the country near Mount Ida, Aesacus fell in love with the nymph Hesperia. Seeing her one day drying her hair by the River Cebren, of which river her father was the god, Aesacus pursued her. Fleeing, she was bitten on the foot by a snake and died. Mortified by guilt, Aesacus leapt into the sea to drown himself. But Tethys had pity on him and turned him into a diver bird, which dashes itself constantly into the waves from a great height.
