In Ovi's Metamorphoses (xiii.750-68) Acis was the spirit of the Acis River, which flowed past Akion (Acium) near Mount Etna in Sicily. According to Ovid's poem, Acis was the son of Faunus and the river-nymph Symaethis, daughter of the River Symaethus. Acis loved the sea-nymph Galatea, but a jealous suitor, the Cyclops Polyphemus, killed him with a boulder. Galatea then turned his blood into the river Acis.