Ascalaphus

Ασκαλαφος

1. The son of a Nymph of the Styx and the Acheron; he was in the garden of Hades when Persephone was eating a pomegranate seed, thus breaking her fast and unknowingly making any hope of returning to the light of day impossible. Ascalaphus saw this and denounced it. Demeter in her anger changed him into an owl. Another version of the story has it that Ascalaphus was first made to lie under a large stone, which Heracles moved when he descended into Hades whereupon Ascalaphus, as a second punishment, was changed into an owl.
    
2. For Ascalaphus, the son of Ares, see Ialmenus.

{E2 DICTIONARY OF CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY}

Table of Sources:

1. - Apollod. Bibl. 1, 5, 3; 2, 5, 12
   - Ovid, Met. 5, 539
    
2. - Paus. 9, 37, 3