In Greek mythology, Manto was the daughter of Tiresias and mother of Mopsus.
During the War of the Epigonoi, Manto was brought to Delphi as a war prize. Apollo sent her to Colophon to found an oracle devoted to him. She married Rhacius and gave birth to Mopsus. Alternatively, she went to Italy and gave birth to Ocnus (father: Tiberinus), who founded Mantua (cur: Mantova) and named it after her.
Alternatively, Mantua was named after a different Manto, a daughter of Heracles. In his didactic Latin poem Manto written in the 1480s, the Italian poet and humanist Poliziano combines the goddesses of Revenge and Fate— Nemesis and Fortuna— to introduce the works of Vergil. Poliziano collected it with three others as Silvae ("woodlands"), a title he took from the Roman poet Statius, used the poems as prologues to his courses of study in Florence; in 1516 they received a French edition [1]. As regards the contents of each poem, Ambra and Manto are general introductions to Homer and Virgil; Rusticus constitutes a georgic treatise modelled upon Virgil’s Georgics and Hesiod’s Works and Days, whereas Nutricia is a summary of Classical poetry.
Virgil X, 199
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