Cephalus
Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
name, used both for the hero-figure in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
and carried as a theophoric name by historical persons. The word kephalos is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus. It could be that Cephalus means the head of the sun who kills (evaporates) Procris (dew) with his unerring ray or 'javelin'. Cephalus was one of the lovers of the dawn goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
Eos
Eos
In Greek mythology, Eos is the Titan goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of Oceanus, the ocean that surrounds the world, to herald her brother Helios, the Sun.- Greek literature :...
.
Sumptuous sacrifices for Cephalus and for Procris are required in the inscribed sacred calendar of Thorikos
Thoricus
Thoricus was an ancient Greek city in southern Attica, where lead and silver was mined. There is a theatre dating from ca. 525-480 BC.-History:...
in southern Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...
, dating perhaps to the 430s BCE and published from the stone in 1983.
Cephalus: son of Hermes and Herse
According to pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke Cephalus was an AthenianAthens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, son of Hermes
Hermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
and Herse
Herse
Herse is a figure in Greek mythology, daughter of Cecrops, sister to Aglauros and Pandrosos.According to Apollodorus, when Hephaestus unsuccessfully attempted to rape Athena, she wiped his semen off her leg with wool and threw it on the ground, impregnating Gaia...
.
Cephalus: husband of Procris
Deioneus
In Greek mythology, Deioneus or Deion is a name attributed to the following individuals:*Son of Aeolus, king of Phocis, and father of Cephalus, Actor, Aenetus, Phylacus, Nisus and Asterodia....
, ruler of Phocis, and Diomede
Diomede
Diomede is the name of four women in Greek mythology.- Diomede of Lesbos :As written in Homer's Iliad, Diomede was a mistress of Achilles, taken up after the seizure of Briseis by King Agamemnon. Her father was Phorbas of Lesbos.- Diomede the Lapith :Diomede was a Lapith, and daughter of Lapithes...
, and grandson of Aeolus
Aeolus
Aeolus was the ruler of the winds in Greek mythology. In fact this name was shared by three mythic characters. These three personages are often difficult to tell apart, and even the ancient mythographers appear to have been perplexed about which Aeolus was which...
. Athenians further localised the myth by asserting that Cephalus was married to Procris
Procris
In Greek mythology, Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea. She married Cephalus, the son of Deioneus. Procris had at least two sisters, Creusa and Orithyia...
, a daughter of Erechtheus
Erechtheus
Erechtheus in Greek mythology was the name of an archaic king of Athens, the re-founder of the polis and a double at Athens for Poseidon, as "Poseidon Erechtheus"...
, an ancient founding-figure of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. The goddess of dawn, Eos, kidnapped Cephalus when he was hunting. The resistant Cephalus and Eos became lovers, and she bore him a son named Phaëthon
Phaëton
In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon was the son of Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Alternate, less common genealogies make him a son of Clymenus by Merope, of Helios and Rhode or of Helios and Prote....
(not to be confused with the son of the sun-god Helios
Helios
Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...
). Some sources also give Tithonos
Tithonos
In Greek mythology, Tithonos was a son of Eos and Cephalus. The name of Eos' lover, Tithonus, is also sometimes spelled Tithonos. He is mentioned in Book Eleven of The Iliad as "the haughty Tithonos," by whom Eos slept . In this instance, he is most likely Eos's lover and not her son...
and Hesperus
Hesperus
In Greek mythology, Hesperus is the Evening Star, the planet Venus in the evening. He is the son of the dawn goddess Eos and is the brother of Eosphorus , the Morning Star. Hesperus' Roman equivalent is Vesper...
as children of Cephalus and Eos. However, Cephalus always pined for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her, making disparaging remarks about his wife's fidelity.
Once reunited with Procris after an interval of eight years, Cephalus tested her by returning from the hunt in disguise, and managing to seduce her. In shame Procris fled to the forest, to hunt with Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
. In returning and reconciling, Procris brought two magical gifts, an inerrant javelin
Javelin
A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...
that never missed its mark, and a hunting hound, Laelaps
Laelaps (mythology)
Laelaps was a Greek mythological dog who never failed to catch what he was hunting. In one version of Laelaps' origin, he was a gift from Zeus to Europa. The hound was passed down to King Minos. Minos had been cursed by his wife; he ejaculated scorpions and spiders that would devour the genitals...
that always caught its prey. The hound met its end chasing a fox (the Teumessian vixen) which could not be caught; both fox and the hound were turned into stone. But the javelin continued to be used by Cephalus, who was an avid hunter.
Procris then conceived doubts about her husband, who left his bride at the bridal chamber and climbed to a mountaintop and sang a hymn invoking Nephele
Nephele
In Greek mythology, Nephele was a cloud nymph who figured prominently in the story of Phrixus and Helle.Greek myth also has it that Nephele is the cloud whom Zeus created in the image of Hera to trick Ixion to test his integrity after displaying his lust for Hera during a feast as a guest of Zeus...
, "cloud". Procris became convinced that he was serenading a lover. She climbed to where he was to spy on him. Cephalus, hearing a stirring in the brush and thinking the noise came from an animal, threw the never-erring javelin in the direction of the sound – and Procris was impaled. As she lay dying in his arms, she told him "On our wedding vows, please never marry Eos". Cephalus was distraught at the death of his beloved Procris, and went into exile.
The primary literary source for the story is the poet Pherecydes of Athens, preserved in a quoted fragment (Pherecydes Fr. 34) in the so-called "Mythographus Homericus
Mythographus Homericus
Mythographus Homericus, the "Homeric Mythographer", is the unknown writer of a text of tales collected from Greek mythology that are transmitted in two manuscript traditions.-Writings:...
"; a papyrus
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
(PBerolinensis 13282) representing a parallel text based on the same source confirms the details (see Mythographus Homericus
Mythographus Homericus
Mythographus Homericus, the "Homeric Mythographer", is the unknown writer of a text of tales collected from Greek mythology that are transmitted in two manuscript traditions.-Writings:...
).
In a separate episode that is simply an aition explaining the name of Cephallenia and reinforcing its cultural connections with Athens, Cephalus helped Amphitryon
Amphitryon
Amphitryon , in Greek mythology, was a son of Alcaeus, king of Tiryns in Argolis.Amphitryon was a Theban general, who was originally from Tiryns in the eastern part of the Peloponnese. He was friends with Panopeus....
of Mycenae
Mycenae
Mycenae is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 11 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
in a war against the Taphians
Taphians
In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of sea-going and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians...
and Teleboans. He was awarded with the island of Samos, which thereafter came to be known as Cephallenia. The people who lived on Cephallenia and nearby islands came to be known as Cephallenians.
Cephalus eventually married again, choosing a daughter of Minyas
Minyas (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Minyas was the founder of Orchomenus, Boetia. As the ancestor of the Minyans, a number of Boeotian genealogies lead back to him, according to the classicist H.J. Rose...
to be his wife. This woman (named Clymene, according to some sources) bore him a son named Arcesius
Arcesius
In Greek mythology, Arcesius was the son of Cephalus, and king in Ithaca. Zeus made his line one of "only sons": his only son was Laertes, whose only son was Odysseus, whose only son was Telemachus...
. Arceisius succeeded Cephalus as ruler of his Cephallenian realm. This Arceisius was the grandfather of Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, son of Laertes
Laertes
In Greek mythology, Laërtes was the son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa. He was the father of Odysseus and Ctimene by his wife Anticlea, daughter of the thief Autolycus. Laërtes was an Argonaut and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar...
. Nevertheless, Cephalus never forgave himself over the death of Procris, and he committed suicide by leaping from Cape Leucas into the sea.
The legend is retold in Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus, a 1595 poem by Thomas Edwards
Thomas Edwards (poet)
Thomas Edwards was an English poet who published two Ovidian epic poems Cephalus and Procris and Narcissus. Beyond his name, nothing is known with certainty of Edwards...
. It is echoed in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream (Act V, scene i), where Pyramus and Thisbe refer to "Shafalus" and "Procrus." While Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's "the Attic boy" in Il Penseroso is also a reference to Cephalus.
Operatic treatments include Caccini
Giulio Caccini
Giulio Caccini , also known as Giulio Romano, was an Italian composer, teacher, singer, instrumentalist and writer of the very late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He was one of the founders of the genre of opera, and one of the single most influential creators of the new Baroque style...
's Il rapimento di Cefalo
Il rapimento di Cefalo
Il rapimento di Cefalo was one of the first Italian operas. Most of the music was written by Giulio Caccini but Stefano Venturi del Nibbio, Luca Bati and Piero Strozzi also contributed...
(c. 1600), André Grétry's Céphale et Procris
Céphale et Procris
Céphale et Procris is an opera by the French composer Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre. It takes the form of a tragédie en musique in five acts with an allegorical prologue. The libretto, by Joseph-François Duché de Vancy, is loosely based on the myth of Cephalus and Procris as told in Ovid's...
(1773), and Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
's Cefalo e Procri
Cefalo e Procri
Cefalo e Procri is a chamber opera in three scenes and a prolog by Ernst Krenek, his opus 77, begun in 1933 and finished August 3, 1934...
(1934), as well as works by Hidalgo
Hidalgo
Hidalgo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Hidalgo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 84 municipalities and its capital city is Pachuca de Soto....
(1660), Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre was a French musician, harpsichordist and composer.-Life and works:...
(1694), Krieger and others.
Historical persons named Cephalus
- Cephalus, son of Lysanias from Syracuse (5th c.BC), a wealthy meticMeticIn ancient Greece, the term metic referred to a resident alien, one who did not have citizen rights in his or her Greek city-state of residence....
and elderly arms manufacturer living in AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
who engages in dialogue with SocratesSocratesSocrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
in PlatoPlatoPlato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Republic. He was the father of orator LysiasLysiasLysias was a logographer in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace in the third century BC.-Life:According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus and the author of the life ascribed to...
, philosopher PolemarchusPolemarchusPolemarchus or Polemarch was the son of Cephalus of Syracuse. He had two brothers, Lysias and Euthydemus, and a sister who married Brachyllus. Polemarchus and Lysias traveled to Thurii when the latter was 15 years old....
and EuthydemusEuthydemus-People:*Euthydemus , a fleet commander for Athens during the Sicilian Expedition, 415 to 413 BC*Euthydemus, son of Cephalus, mentioned in Plato's Republic...
. - Cephalus, Athenian orator who flourished after the time of Thirty TyrantsThirty TyrantsThe Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Contemporary Athenians referred to them simply as "the oligarchy" or "the Thirty" ; the expression "Thirty Tyrants" is due to later historians...
. - Cephalus, a Molossian who sided with Perseus in Third Macedonian WarThird Macedonian WarThe Third Macedonian War was a war fought between Rome and King Perseus of Macedon. In 179 BC King Philip V of Macedon died and his talented and ambitious son, Perseus, took his throne. Perseus married Laodike, daughter of King Seleucus IV Keraunos of Asia, and increased the size of his army...
.
External links
- John Flaxman's statue 'Cephalus and Aurora' at the Lady Lever Art Gallery
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyDictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and MythologyThe Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary.- Characteristic :...
Cephalus