Messapus (Linguists trace the name back to Proto-Indo-European roots — Mess- comes from *médʰyos, meaning "middle" (cognate with the Ancient Greek mésos and English mid) and -apus comes from *h₂ep-, meaning "water" (or river/sea).) was the ninth king of Sicyon in the Peloponnesus according to classical Greek mythography.
Mythology Writers quoting Castor of Rhodes stated that he reigned over Sicyon for 47 years following Leucippus, and before Eratus.Eusebius, Chronographia 63 However, Pausanias omitted this king Messapus, alleging that the throne passed directly from Leucippus, who had no male heir, to his grandson Peratus.Pausanias, 2.5.7
According to Strabo, Messapio in BoeotiaStrabo, 9.2.13 and later Messapia in southeastern Italy, derived their names from this Messapus.
St. Augustine writing in The City of God mentions Messapus of Sicyon, asserting that some historians had identified him with Cephissus.
Notes
References
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library. Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.