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Canens, a MythSource painting
Roman

Canens

01Identity

Canens in Roman tradition

Canens, wife of Picus, is remembered for songs that can settle wild creatures and disrupt the movement of rivers and birds. When Picus disappears on a hunt, she searches for him herself; after days without rest or food, she fades beside the Tiber, and the place bears her name.

SourceThe Metamorphoses of Ovid: PDF page 516· The Metamorphoses of Ovid: PDF pages 518, 519

Top questions

The quick answers

02Family

Canens’s family, at a glance

JanusVenilia
Canens

with Picus

03The myths

The myths of Canens

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Canens Searches for Picus

Canens enters the story through her voice. Daughter of Venilia and Janus, she is a Nymph and the wife of Picus, whom she prefers above other suitors. Her songs can quiet wild animals; in this account, streams and birds also seem to pause. Picus leaves for the Laurentine fields to hunt boar, riding a spirited horse with two javelins. As evening comes, he has not returned. His attendants and the people search the woods with lamps, while Canens waits for him.

She eventually undertakes the search herself. Her distress appears in her actions: she cries, pulls at her hair and strikes her breast as she roams the Latian countryside. For six nights and six days, she goes without sleep or food, crossing hills and valleys wherever chance carries her. The Tiber marks the end of her wandering. She reaches its bank, rests, and sings softly about her sorrow. Little by little she disappears from view. The place where this happens retains the Nymph's name.

Canens Searches for Picus, a MythSource painting of the scene

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Canens, each on that figure’s page.