Cephissus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Cephissus

10 passages from 5 ancient authors that tell of Cephissus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. In Greek mythology, Cephissus was a river god, son of the gods Pontus and Thalassa. He was linked to the eponymous river in the region of Attica, Gree... For the story in one place, read our article on Cephissus.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 1.19–29Agenor's line, Thebes and BoeotiaThese fragments give the children of Phoenix and Agenor, including Europa, Phineus and Adonis, and then the children of Niobe and the death of Oedipus at Thebes. The rest are brief notes on places and people of Boeotia, such as the river Cephisus, Arnae and Onchestus.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 2.484–558The Catalogue of Ships (1): Boeotia to SalamisThe poet invokes the Muses, who are goddesses and know all things, since he could not name the whole host without them, and begins the Catalogue of the Achaean ships with the Boeotians. He lists the contingents from Orchomenus, Phocis, Locris and Euboea, and then the Athenians under Menestheus and Ajax's twelve ships from Salamis.

Pindar (1)

Pindar, Olympian Odes 14.1–24Olympian 14: for Asopichus — the Graces of OrchomenusPindar calls on the Graces of Orchomenus, by the Cephisus, to attend the victory song for Asopichus, boys' foot-race winner, and names Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. He says that all that is good for gods and men comes from the Graces, and asks Echo to carry the news of the victory to Cleodamus in the dark house of Persephone.

Pausanias (6)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.33.1–12Phocis: Ledon, Lilaea, Charadra, Parapotamii, Amphiclea, Tithronium and DrymaeaPausanias describes places in the valley of the Cephisus: Ledon, abandoned after Philomelus' impiety, Lilaea, with its source of the Cephisus and its stand against Philip, and Charadra, with altars of heroes. He treats the lost city of Parapotamii, Amphiclea with its story of a serpent and its oracular Dionysus, then Tithronium and Drymaea, which has an old sanctuary of Lawgiver Demeter.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.37.1–7The Sacred Way: tombs, the Cephisus and Harpalus’ monument to PythioniceContinuing along the Sacred Way, Pausanias lists the tombs of Heliodorus, Themistocles’ descendant and Nicocles the harpist, the story of Acestium and the Torch-bearers, and the precinct of Phytalus, where Demeter gave the fig-tree. Beyond the Cephisus he notes the altar of Gracious Zeus where Theseus was purified, the temple of Cyamites, and the great tomb Harpalus built for Pythionice, and the sanctuary of Apollo tied to the story of Cephalus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.38.1–9Eleusis: the Rhiti, Eumolpus, Triptolemus and EleutheraePausanias describes the salt streams called Rhiti, boundary between Eleusinians and Athenians, the palace of Crocon and the tomb of Eumolpus, with the war between Eleusis and Athens that fixed the mysteries’ arrangements. At Eleusis he notes shrines of Hippothoon and Zarex, the Cephisus where Theseus slew Procrustes, the temple of Triptolemus, the Callichorum well and the Rarian plain, but declines to describe the sanctuary itself. He ends with Eleutherae and the cave of the infant sons of Antiope.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.20.1–10Argos: Gracious Zeus, the Seven against Thebes and TelesillaAt Argos Pausanias describes the statue of Gracious Zeus by Polyclitus, set up after the Argives destroyed the thousand-man regiment of Bryas, then the relief of Cleobis and Biton and sanctuaries of Nemean Zeus and Fortune. He lists the statues of the Seven against Thebes and the later captors of Thebes, the tombs of Danaus and Cephisus’ shrine, and the theatre group of Perilaus and Othryadas. He ends with the sanctuary of Aphrodite and the story of Telesilla and the women who repelled Cleomenes.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.8.1–10Delphi: the Amphictyonic Council, the temples at the entrance and the Castalian springPausanias gives the origin and membership of the Amphictyonic Council and how its composition changed after the Sacred War, the Gallic invasion and the foundation of Nicopolis, with the present thirty members. On entering Delphi he describes the row of temples, including that of Forethought Athena, the precinct of the hero Phylacus and the gymnasium, then the river Plistus and the spring Castaly, with the accounts of its name and its link to the Cephisus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.38.1–10Orchomenus: the sanctuary of the Graces, the treasury of Minyas, Hesiod's bones and ActaeonPausanias describes the oldest sanctuary at Orchomenus, that of the Graces, with its sacred natural stones, and the circular treasury of Minyas. He gives the graves of Minyas and Hesiod, and how a crow showed the envoys where the bones of Hesiod lay at Naupactus. He tells how the Orchomenians bound a bronze spectre of Actaeon to a rock on the Delphic god's advice. He also describes the temple of Hercules, the river Melas and the Cephisian Lake, and the abandonment of Aspledon for lack of water.

Nonnus of Panopolis (1)

Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca 47.0–115Book 47: Dionysos in Attica gives wine to IcariosAthens breaks into dance as Dionysos arrives in Attica, and the vines and flowers spring up everywhere. The god visits the old gardener Icarios, whose daughter Erigone is drawing goat's milk, and gives him wine. Icarios admires the new drink and shares it with his neighbours, and the countrymen drink it neat until they reel.