Manto

, a daughter of the prophet Tires i as, endowed with the gift of prophecy. She was made prisoner by the Argives when the city of Thebes fell into their hands, and as she was the worthiest part of the booty, the conquerors sent her to Apollo the god of Delphi, as the most valuable present they could make. Manto, often called Daphne, remained for some time at Delphi, where she officiated as prieste , and where she gave oracles. From Delphi she came to Claros in Ionia, where she established an oracle of Apollo. Here she married Rhadius the sovereign of the country, by whom she had a son called Mopsus. Manto afterwards visited Italy, where she married Tiberinus the king of Alba, or, as the poets mention, the god of the river Tiber. From this marriage sprang Ocnus, who built a town in the neighbourhood, which, in honour of his mother, he called Mantua. Manto, according to a certain tradition, was so struck at the misfortunes which afflicted Thebes, her native country, that she gave way to her sorrow, and was turned into a fountain. Some suppose her to be the same who conducted Æneas into hell, and who sold the Sibylline books to Tarquin the Proud. She received divine honours after death. Virgil , Æneid , bk. 1 , li. 199 ; bk. 10 , li. 199 .— Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 6 , li. 157 .— Diodorus , bk. 4 .— Apollo dor us , bk. 3 , ch. 7 .— Strabo , bks. 14 & 16.— Pausanias , bk. 9 , chs. 10 & 33; bk. 7 , ch. 3 .