Cephalus

Cephalus was a hero of Attica and Phocis in Greek mythology, husband of Procris, the daughter of Erechtheus. He is remembered for the love of the goddess Dawn for him, for the dog and the javelin that never missed, and for the accident in which he killed Procris with that javelin.

Family

Apollodorus makes Cephalus a son of Deion, king of Phocis, and Diomede, daughter of Xuthus, and brother of Asterodia, Aenetus, Actor and Phylacus (Library 1.9.4). In another version he was the son of Hermes and Herse, daughter of Cecrops, and Dawn loved him and carried him off (Library 3.14.3). Hesiod says that Dawn bore Phaethon to Cephalus, and that Aphrodite carried the boy away to be a night-keeper in her temples (Theogony 986–991). Procris was the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and Praxithea (Library 1.9.4, 3.15.1). Pausanias adds that, according to the epic poem the Returns, Cephalus also married Clymene, a daughter of Minyas, who bore him a son Iphiclus (Pausanias 10.29.6).

Cephalus and Dawn

Ovid’s Cephalus tells how, in the second month after the wedding, Dawn saw him spreading nets for deer on the summit of Mount Hymettus and carried him off against his will. He kept speaking of Procris, and the goddess sent him back to her in anger, saying that if her foresight was right he would soon wish he had not kept her (Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.700–713).

The test of Procris

Afraid that his wife had not kept faith, Cephalus decided to test her. Dawn changed his appearance, and he returned to Athens unrecognised. Procris stayed faithful through many attempts, but he went on offering her money for a night until she began to waver, and then revealed himself. Ashamed, she left him and wandered in the mountains as a follower of Diana (Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.714–746). He begged her forgiveness, admitting that he too might have given way to such gifts, and they were reconciled. She gave him two gifts she had received from Diana: a dog that would overtake everything it pursued, and a javelin that never missed (Metamorphoses 7.747–756).

Apollodorus tells it differently. In his account Procris is bribed with a golden crown to sleep with Pteleon, is caught by Cephalus and flees to Minos of Crete. Minos falls in love with her, but any woman who lay with him died, because Pasiphae had bewitched him. Minos owned a swift dog and a dart that flew straight, and in return for these gifts Procris shared his bed, after first giving him the Circaean root to drink so that he could not harm her. Fearing Minos’ wife, she returns to Athens and is reconciled with Cephalus, and goes hunting with him, for she loves the chase (Library 3.15.1).

Laelaps and the Teumessian fox

Thebes was plagued by a fox that no one could catch. Amphitryon, who was preparing a war against the Taphians and Teleboans, persuaded Cephalus, in return for a share of the spoils, to bring the dog Procris had brought from Crete, which was destined to catch whatever it chased. When the dog chased the fox, Zeus turned both of them into stone (Apollodorus, Library 2.4.7; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.759–793). Cephalus fought with Amphitryon against the Taphians and, when Amphitryon had conquered the islands, he and Heleus were given some of them to rule, founding cities named after themselves (Library 2.4.7; Strabo, Geography 10.2.20).

The death of Procris

Cephalus used to go hunting in the woods at dawn and, resting from the midday heat, would call on the breeze: “Aura, come.” Someone overheard him, took “Aura” for the name of a nymph, and reported to Procris that her husband had a lover. The next day she followed him into the woods and hid. When Cephalus called again, she made a sound among the leaves; he took it for a wild animal and threw his javelin. It was Procris, wounded in the breast. As she died she asked him by their marriage and by his love not to let Aura take her place in their bed, and he explained the mistake over her dying body (Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.796–862). Apollodorus says only that Cephalus, unaware she was in a thicket, threw his dart, killed her, and was tried on the Areopagus and condemned to permanent exile (Library 3.15.1).

Exile and Cephallenia

Pausanias says Cephalus lived at Thebes, in exile from Athens because he had killed Procris, and that after helping Amphitryon against the Teleboans he was the first to settle the island now called Cephallenia after him (Pausanias 1.37.6). Pausanias also describes a painting at Delphi that includes Procris, and notes that her story, and how her husband killed her, was told by everyone (Pausanias 10.29.6). Strabo reports a tradition that Cephalus, in love with Pterelas, was the first to take the leap from the white cliff of Leucatas on Leucas, before Sappho (Strabo, Geography 10.2.9).

Cephalus Sources

Hesiod, Theogony 986–991; Apollodorus, Library 1.9.4, 2.4.7, 3.14.3, 3.15.1; Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.690–862; Pausanias 1.37.6, 10.29.6; Strabo, Geography 10.2.9, 10.2.20.

See Also: Procris, Eos, Deion, Erechtheus, Amphitryon, Minos, Artemis, Hermes