(), a surname of Apollo, which is derived by some
from σμίνθος, a mouse, and by others from the town of
Sminthe in Troas (Horn. Il. 1.3.9; Ov. Fast. 6.425, Met. 12.585 ; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 34). The mouse was regarded by the ancients as inspired by the
vapours arising from the earth, and as the symbol of prophetic power. In the temple of Apollo
at Chryse there was a statue of the god by Scopas, with a mouse under its foot (Strab. xiii. p.604, &c.; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 34), and on coins Apollo is represented carrying a mouse in his
hands (Müller, Ancient Art and its Rem. § 361, note 5). Temples
of Apollo Sminthens and festivals (Smintheia) existed in several parts of Greece, as at
Tenedos, near Hamaxitos in Aeolis, near Parion, at Lindos in Rhodes, near Coressa, and in
other places. (Strab. x. p 486, xiii. pp. 604, 605.)