Cicada (mythology) - Eunomos and His Cithara

Eunomos and His Cithara

Egan (1994) affirms that there are several independent Greek sources that tell the story of Eunomos and the cicada. Eunomos, an accomplished cithara player and singer, was performing in a competition when one of the cithara strings snaps. A cicada as offering, alights on his cithara, sustaining the note of the broken string. Eunomos, thereby attributed accolade, wins the competition.