(), a son of the Sicilian river-god Crimisus and
of a Trojan woman of the name of Egesta or Segesta (Verg. A.
1.195, 550, 5.36, 711, &c.), who according to Servius was sent by her father
Hippotes or Ipsostratus to Sicily, that she might not be devoured by the monsters, which
infested the territory of Troy, and which had been sent into the land, because the Trojans had
refused to reward Poseidon and Apollo for having built the walls of their city. When Egesta
arrived in Sicily, the river-god Crimisus in the form of a bear or a dog begot by her a son
Acestes, who was afterwards regarded as the hero who had founded the town of Segesta. (Comp.
Schol. ad Lycophr. 951, 963.) The tradition of Acestes in Dionysius
(1.52), who calls him Aegestus (Ἄιγεστος), is different, for according to him the grandfather of Aegestus
quarrelled with Laomedon, who slew him and gave his daughters to some merchants to convey them
to a distant land. A noble Trojan however embarked with them, and married one of them in
Sicily, where she subsequently gave birth to a son, Aegestus. During the war against Troy
Aegestus obtained permission from Priam to return and take part in the contest, and afterwards
returned to Sicily, where Aeneas on his arrival was hospitably received by him and Elymus, and
built for them the towns of Segesta and Elyme. The account of Dionysius seems to be nothing
but a rationalistic interpretation of the genuine legend. As to the inconsistencies in
Virgil's account of Acestes, see Heyne, Excurs. 1, on
Aen. v.