Autonous

In the sole surviving narrative recorded in Antoninus Liberalis' Metamorphoses (as summarized in modern sources), Autonous, son of Melaneus, is head of a household that keeps a large herd of horses. Because he neglected husbandry, his land produced only rushes and thistles and his children received plant-derived names. When the family's horses, driven from familiar pastures and hungry, attacked and ate his son Anthus, Autonous was stricken by panic and could not save him. Out of pity Zeus and Apollo transformed the grieving family members into birds; Autonous became the bird called ὄκνος (commonly rendered stone‑curlew or thick‑knee). The account functions etiologically to link human character and fate to bird names and behaviors.

No detailed physical description of Autonous as a human survives in the provided sources beyond his role as the owner of a large herd and his family relations. After the metamorphosis he is identified with the bird called ὄκνος (rendered in modern summaries as the stone‑curlew / thick‑knee). The sources do not provide further physical detail of the bird-form beyond this identification.

As a human, Autonous is characterized by neglect of agricultural husbandry and by panicked incapacity during the crisis that led to Anthus' death. The sources attribute no ongoing supernatural powers to him after transformation; the metamorphosis is etiological, explaining the bird-name ὄκνος in relation to his failure to act 'in time' (Greek ὀκνήσe/ὀκνέω). No special abilities, agency, or continued interventions are ascribed in the provided material.