Alcyone and Ceyx: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Alcyone and Ceyx transformed into Halycons (cropped).jpg|thumb|''Alcyone and Ceyx Transformed into Halcyons'']]
[[File:Alcyone and Ceyx transformed into Halycons (cropped).jpg|thumb|''Alcyone and Ceyx Transformed into Halcyons'']]


In [[Greek mythology]], '''Alcyone''' (or dubiously '''Halcyone''')<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Halcyone |url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Halcyone |encyclopedia=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |date=2022 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |access-date=6 June 2024 |via=The Fee Dictionary}})</ref>  ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|s|aɪ|ə|ˌ|n|i|,_|h|æ|l|ˈ|s|aɪ|ə|ˌ|n|i}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀλκυόνη|Alkyónē}}) and '''Ceyx''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|ɪ|k|s}}; {{langx|grc|Κήϋξ|Kḗÿx|label=none}}) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god [[Zeus]] for their romantic [[hubris]].
In [[Greek mythology]], '''Alcyone''' (or dubiously '''Halcyone''')<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Halcyone |url=https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Halcyone |encyclopedia=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia |date=2022 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |access-date=6 June 2024 |via=The Fee Dictionary}})</ref>  ({{IPAc-en|æ|l|ˈ|s|aɪ|ə|ˌ|n|i|,_|h|æ|l|ˈ|s|aɪ|ə|ˌ|n|i}}; {{langx|grc|Ἀλκυόνη|Alkyónē}}) and '''Ceyx''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|iː|ɪ|k|s}}; {{langx|grc|Κήυξ|Kḗux}}) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god [[Zeus]] for their romantic [[hubris]].


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
Alkyóne comes from alkyón ({{lang|grc|ἀλκυών}}), which refers to a sea-bird with a mournful song<ref>{{cite web |title=ἀλκυών |url=https://homeric_el_en.en-academic.com/615/%E1%BC%80%CE%BB%CE%BA%CF%85%CF%8E%CE%BD |website=Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |access-date=29 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> or to a [[Common kingfisher|kingfisher]] bird in particular.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Woodhouse |first1=Sidney Chawner |title=English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language |date=1910 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited |location=London |isbn=9780710023247 |page=470 |url=https://artflsrv03.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/efts/sqldbs/WOODHOUSE/woodhouse.py?pagenumber=470&pageturn=1}}</ref> The meaning(s) of the words is uncertain because ''alkyón'' is considered to be of pre-[[Greek language|Greek]], non-[[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=71}}</ref> However, [[folk etymology]] related them to the ''háls'' ({{lang|grc|ἅλς}}, "brine, sea, salt") and ''kyéo'' ({{lang|grc|κυέω}}, "I conceive"). Alkyóne originally is written with a [[smooth breathing]] mark, but this false origin beginning with a [[rough breathing]] mark (transliterated as the letter H) led to the common misspellings ''halkyón'' ({{lang|grc|ἁλκυών}}) and ''Halkyóne'' ({{lang|grc|Ἁλκυόνη}}),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |title=A Greek-English Lexicon, ἀλκυών |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)lkuw/n |website=Perseus Digital Library |publisher=Tufts University |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> and thus the name of one of the kingfisher bird [[genus]]' in English [[Halcyon (genus)|Halcyon]]. It is also speculated that Alkyóne is derived from ''alké'' ({{lang|grc|ἀλκή}}, "prowess, battle, guard") and ''onéo'' ({{lang|grc|ὀνέω}}, from {{lang|grc|ὀνίνεμι}}, ''onínemi'',<ref>{{cite web |title=ὀνέω - Ancient Greek (LSJ) |url=https://lsj.gr/index.php?title=%E1%BD%80%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%89&mobileaction=toggle_view_desktop |website=Liddell, Scott, Jones Ancient Greek Lexicon |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> "to help, to please").<ref>{{cite web |title=ALCYONE (Alkyone) - Boeotian Pleiad Nymph of Greek Mythology |url=https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheAlkyone.html |website=Theoi Project |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref>
Alkyóne comes from {{transliteration|grc|alkyón}} ({{lang|grc|ἀλκυών}}), which refers to a sea-bird with a mournful song<ref>{{cite web |title=ἀλκυών |url=https://homeric_el_en.en-academic.com/615/%E1%BC%80%CE%BB%CE%BA%CF%85%CF%8E%CE%BD |website=Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |access-date=29 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> or to a [[Common kingfisher|kingfisher]] bird in particular.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Woodhouse |first1=Sidney Chawner |title=English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language |date=1910 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |location=London |isbn=9780710023247 |page=470 |url=https://artflsrv03.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/efts/sqldbs/WOODHOUSE/woodhouse.py?pagenumber=470&pageturn=1}}</ref> The meaning(s) of the words is uncertain because {{transliteration|grc|alkyón}} is considered to be of pre-[[Greek language|Greek]], non-[[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] origin.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=71}}</ref> However, [[folk etymology]] related them to the {{transliteration|grc|háls}} ({{lang|grc|ἅλς}}, "brine, sea, salt") and {{transliteration|grc|kyéo}} ({{lang|grc|κυέω}}, "I conceive"). {{transliteration|grc|Alkyóne}} originally is written with a [[smooth breathing]] mark, but this false etymology beginning with a [[rough breathing]] mark (transliterated as the letter H) led to the common misspellings {{transliteration|grc|halkyón}} ({{lang|grc|ἁλκυών}}) and {{transliteration|grc|Halkyóne}} ({{lang|grc|Ἁλκυόνη}}),<ref>{{cite dictionary |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |dictionary=A Greek-English Lexicon |title=ἀλκυών |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a)lkuw/n |publisher=Clarendon Press |via=Perseus Digital Library at Tufts University |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> and thus the name of one of the kingfisher bird [[genus]]' in English, [[Halcyon (genus)|''Halcyon'']]. It is also speculated that Alkyóne is derived from {{transliteration|grc|alké}} ({{lang|grc|ἀλκή}}, "prowess, battle, guard") and {{transliteration|grc|onéo}} ({{lang|grc|ὀνέω}}, from {{lang|grc|ὀνίνημι}}, {{transliteration|grc|onínēmi}},<ref>{{cite dictionary |title=ὀνέω |url=https://lsj.gr/index.php?title=%E1%BD%80%CE%BD%CE%AD%CF%89 |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |first3=Henry Stuart |last3=Jones <!--additional authors for this version:-->|first4=Spiros |last4=Doikas |first5=William |last5=Berg |dictionary=Ancient Greek Lexicon |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> "to help, to please").<ref>{{cite web |title=ALCYONE (Alkyone) - Boeotian Pleiad Nymph of Greek Mythology |url=https://www.theoi.com/Nymphe/NympheAlkyone.html |website=Theoi Project |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref>


Kéyx as referring to a sea-bird appears to be related to ''kaúax'' ({{lang|grc|καύαξ}}),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=691}}</ref> which is a ravenous sea-bird ({{lang|grc|λάρος}}, ''láros''). These suggest that Kéyx may have been turned into either a [[Common gull|sea mew]] or a [[tern]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=657}}</ref>
{{transliteration|grc|Kéyx}} as referring to a sea-bird appears to be related to {{transliteration|grc|kaúax}} ({{lang|grc|καύαξ}}),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=691}}</ref> which is a ravenous sea-bird ({{lang|grc|λάρος}}, {{transliteration|grc|láros}}). These suggest that {{transliteration|grc|Kéyx}} may have been turned into either a [[Common gull|sea mew]] or a [[tern]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beekes |first1=Robert Stephen Paul |last2=van Beek |first2=Lucien |title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek |date=2010 |volume=1 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 |page=657}}</ref>


== Mythology ==
== Mythology ==
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[[Virgil]] in the ''[[Georgics]]'' also alludes to the myth—again without reference to Zeus's anger.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D393 1.399] - "[At that time] not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore / Do halcyons dear to [[Thetis]] ope their wings"</ref>
[[Virgil]] in the ''[[Georgics]]'' also alludes to the myth—again without reference to Zeus's anger.<ref>[[Virgil]], ''[[Georgics]]'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0058%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D393 1.399] - "[At that time] not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore / Do halcyons dear to [[Thetis]] ope their wings"</ref>


It is possible that the earlier myth was a simpler version of the one by Nicander, where a woman named Alcyone mourned her unnamed husband; Ceyx was probably added later due to him being an important figure in mythology and poetry, and also having a wife whose name was Alcyone (as evidenced from the [[Hesiod]]ic poem ''[[Wedding of Ceyx]]'').<ref>{{cite book | last = Forbes Irving | date = 1990 | page = 240 | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] |  url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}</ref>
It is possible that the earlier myth was a simpler version of the one by Nicander, where a woman named Alcyone mourned her unnamed husband; Ceyx was probably added later due to him being an important figure in mythology and poetry, and also having a wife whose name was Alcyone (as evidenced from the [[Hesiod]]ic poem ''[[Wedding of Ceyx]]'', which was probably about a different [[Ceyx of Trachis|Ceyx]]).<ref>{{cite book | last = Forbes Irving | date = 1990 | page = 240 | title = Metamorphosis in Greek Myths | first = Paul M. C. | publisher = [[Clarendon Press]] |  url = https://books.google.com/books?id=URvXAAAAMAAJ | isbn = 0-19-814730-9}}</ref>


== Halcyon days ==
== Halcyon days ==
Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term "[[wiktionary:halcyon days|halcyon days]]", the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the 14 days each year (seven days on either side of the [[winter solstice|shortest day of the year]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ACL3129.0001.001/123|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology|year=1867|series=Volume 1|page=108|quote=It was fabled, that during the seven days before, and as many after, the shortest day of the year, while the bird ἀλκυών, was breeding, there always prevailed calms at sea.|editor=William Smith}}</ref>) during which Alcyone (as a [[kingfisher]]) made her nest on the beach and laid her eggs while her father [[Aeolus]], the god of the winds, helped her do so safely by restraining the winds and thus calming the waves.<ref name="Roman, L. 2010"/> The phrase has since come to refer to any peaceful time.  Its proper meaning, however, is that of a lucky break, or a bright interval set in the midst of adversity; just as the days of calm and mild weather are set in the height of winter for the sake of the kingfishers' egglaying according to the myth. Kingfishers however do not live by the sea, so Ovid's tale is not based on any actual observations of the species and in fact refers to a mythical bird only later identified with the kingfisher.
Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term "[[wiktionary:halcyon days|halcyon days]]", the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the fourteen days each year (seven days on either side of the [[winter solstice|shortest day of the year]]<ref>{{cite book|url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/ACL3129.0001.001/123|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology|year=1867|series=Volume 1|page=108|quote=It was fabled, that during the seven days before, and as many after, the shortest day of the year, while the bird ἀλκυών, was breeding, there always prevailed calms at sea.|editor=William Smith}}</ref>) during which Alcyone (as a [[kingfisher]]) made her nest on the beach and laid her eggs while her father [[Aeolus]], the god of the winds, helped her do so safely by restraining the winds and thus calming the waves.<ref name="Roman, L. 2010"/> The phrase has since come to refer to any peaceful time.  Its proper meaning, however, is that of a lucky break, or a bright interval set in the midst of adversity; just as the days of calm and mild weather are set in the height of winter for the sake of the kingfishers' egglaying according to the myth. Kingfishers however do not live by the sea, so Ovid's tale is not based on any actual observations of the species and in fact refers to a mythical bird only later identified with the kingfisher.


The expression {{lang|grc|ἀλκῠονίδες ἡμέραι}} ({{grc-transl|ἀλκῠονίδες ἡμέραι}}) first occurs in [[Aristophanes]]' play ''The Birds'' 1594, then again in [[Aristotle]], [[Philochorus]], and [[Lucian]].<ref>Liddell, Scott, Jones, ''Greek Lexicon'', s.v. {{lang|grc|ἀλκῠονίς}}.</ref> In Latin it occurs as {{lang|la|alcyonides dies}} in [[Pliny the Elder]], {{lang|la|alcyonei}} (''-nĭī'') {{lang|la|diēs}} in [[Columella]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], {{lang|la|alcyonia}} in [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], and {{lang|la|alcedonia}} in [[Plautus]] and [[Frontinus]].<ref>Lewis and Short, ''Latin Dictionary''.</ref>
The expression {{lang|grc|ἀλκῠονίδες ἡμέραι}} ({{grc-transl|ἀλκῠονίδες ἡμέραι}}) first occurs in [[Aristophanes]]' play ''The Birds'' 1594, then again in [[Aristotle]], [[Philochorus]], and [[Lucian]].<ref>Liddell, Scott, Jones, ''Greek Lexicon'', s.v. {{lang|grc|ἀλκῠονίς}}.</ref> In Latin it occurs as {{lang|la|alcyonides dies}} in [[Pliny the Elder]], {{lang|la|alcyonei}} (''-nĭī'') {{lang|la|diēs}} in [[Columella]] and [[Marcus Terentius Varro|Varro]], {{lang|la|alcyonia}} in [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], and {{lang|la|alcedonia}} in [[Plautus]] and [[Frontinus]].<ref>Lewis and Short, ''Latin Dictionary''.</ref>


== Legacy ==
== Legacy ==
* Various kinds of [[kingfisher]]s are named after the couple, in reference to the metamorphosis myth:
{{unordered list
** The [[genus]] ''[[Ceyx (kingfisher)|Ceyx]]'' (within the [[river kingfishers]] [[family (biology)|family]]) is named after him
| Various kinds of [[kingfisher]]s are named after the couple, in reference to the metamorphosis myth:
** The kingfisher family Halcyonidae ([[tree kingfisher]]s) is named after Alcyone, as is the genus ''[[Halcyon (genus)|Halcyon]]''.
{{unordered list |item_style=list-style-type:circle
** The [[belted kingfisher]]'s Latin species name (''Megaceryle alcyon'') also references her name.
|The [[genus]] ''[[Ceyx (kingfisher)|Ceyx]]'' (within the [[river kingfishers]] [[family (biology)|family]]) is named after him.
* Their story features in ''[[The Book of the Duchess]]''.
| The kingfisher family Halcyonidae ([[tree kingfisher]]s) is named after Alcyone, as is the genus ''[[Halcyon (genus)|Halcyon]]''.
* Their story is the basis for the opera ''[[Alcyone (opera)|Alcyone]]'' by the French composer [[Marin Marais]] and the cantata ''[[Alcyone (Ravel cantata)|Alcyone]]'' by [[Maurice Ravel]]
| The [[belted kingfisher]]'s Latin species name (''Megaceryle alcyon'') also references her name.}}
* A collection of Canada's celebrated nature poet, [[Archibald Lampman]], ''Alcyone'', his final set of poetry published posthumously in 1899, highlights both Lampman's apocalyptic and utopian visions of the future.
| Their story features in ''[[The Book of the Duchess]]''.
* [[T. S. Eliot]] draws from this myth in ''[[The Dry Salvages]]'': "And the ragged rock in the restless waters,/Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;/On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,/In navigable weather it is always a seamark/To lay a course by: but in the sombre season/Or the sudden fury, is what it always was."
| Their story is the basis for the opera ''[[Alcyone (opera)|Alcyone]]'' by the French composer [[Marin Marais]] and the cantata ''[[Alcyone (Ravel cantata)|Alcyone]]'' by [[Maurice Ravel]]
| A collection of Canada's celebrated nature poet, [[Archibald Lampman]], ''Alcyone'', his final set of poetry published posthumously in 1899, highlights both Lampman's apocalyptic and utopian visions of the future.
| [[T. S. Eliot]] draws from this myth in part of his poem ''[[The Dry Salvages]]'':{{cn|date=September 2025}}
{{poemquote|
And the ragged rock in the restless waters,
Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;
On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,
In navigable weather it is always a seamark
To lay a course by: but in the sombre season
Or the sudden fury, is what it always was.}}}}


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="160px">
<gallery mode="packed" heights="160px">
File:Virgil Solis - Alcyone Juno.jpg|''Alcyone praying Juno'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 573-582
File:Virgil Solis - Alcyone Juno.jpg|''Alcyone praying Juno'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 573–582
File:Virgil Solis - Ceyx Tempest.jpg|''Ceyx in the tempest'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 410-572
File:Virgil Solis - Ceyx Tempest.jpg|''Ceyx in the tempest'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 410–572
File:Virgil Solis - Ceyx-Morpheus Alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx/ Morpheus appears to Alcyone'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 650–749.
File:Virgil Solis - Ceyx-Morpheus Alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx/Morpheus appears to Alcyone'', engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 650–749.
File:Johann Wilhelm Baur - Morpheus in the house of Ceyx, before Alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx/ Morpheus appears to Alcyone'', engraving (or etching more likely) by Bauer for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 633–676.
File:Johann Wilhelm Baur - Morpheus in the house of Ceyx, before Alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx/Morpheus appears to Alcyone'', engraving (or etching more likely) by Bauer for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 633–676.
File:Ceyx prenant conge d'alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx prenant congé d'Alcyone'' (15th century)
File:Ceyx prenant conge d'alcyone.jpg|''Ceyx prenant congé d'Alcyone'' (15th century)
File:Alcyone ceyx.jpg|Alcyone and Ceyx marble bas relief, originally at Parlington Hall, Aberford, removed to Lotherton Hall sometime after 1905.
File:Alcyone ceyx.jpg|Alcyone and Ceyx marble bas relief, originally at Parlington Hall, Aberford, removed to Lotherton Hall sometime after 1905.
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[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Queens in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Mythological Thessalians]]
[[Category:Mythological Thessalians]]
[[Category:Thessalian mythology]]
[[Category:Hubris myths]]
[[Category:Suicides by drowning]]
[[Category:Deaths due to shipwreck at sea]]
[[Category:Suicides in Greek mythology]]

Latest revision as of 22:31, 1 November 2025

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote".

File:Alcyone and Ceyx transformed into Halycons (cropped).jpg
Alcyone and Ceyx Transformed into Halcyons

In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone)[1] (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) and Ceyx (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris.

Etymology

Alkyóne comes from Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang".), which refers to a sea-bird with a mournful song[2] or to a kingfisher bird in particular.[3] The meaning(s) of the words is uncertain because Template:Transliteration is considered to be of pre-Greek, non-Indo-European origin.[4] However, folk etymology related them to the Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang"., "brine, sea, salt") and Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang"., "I conceive"). Template:Transliteration originally is written with a smooth breathing mark, but this false etymology beginning with a rough breathing mark (transliterated as the letter H) led to the common misspellings Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang".) and Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang".),[5] and thus the name of one of the kingfisher bird genus' in English, Halcyon. It is also speculated that Alkyóne is derived from Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang"., "prowess, battle, guard") and Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang"., from Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Transliteration,[6] "to help, to please").[7]

Template:Transliteration as referring to a sea-bird appears to be related to Template:Transliteration (Script error: No such module "Lang".),[8] which is a ravenous sea-bird (Script error: No such module "Lang"., Template:Transliteration). These suggest that Template:Transliteration may have been turned into either a sea mew or a tern.[9]

Mythology

File:Herbert James Draper - Halcyone (1915).jpg
Herbert James Draper, Halcyone, 1915.

Alcyone was a Thessalian princess, the daughter of King Aeolus of Aeolia, either by Enarete[10] or Aegiale.[11] She was the sister of Salmoneus, Athamas, Sisyphus, Cretheus, Perieres, Deioneus, Magnes, Calyce, Canace, Pisidice and Perimede.

Later on, Alcyone became the queen of Trachis after marrying King Ceyx. The latter was the son of Eosphorus (often translated as Lucifer).[12] The couple were very happy together in Trachis.

According to Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, this couple often sacrilegiously called each other "Zeus" and "Hera".[13] This angered Zeus, so while Ceyx was at sea (in order to consult an oracle, according to Ovid), he killed Ceyx with a thunderbolt. Soon after, Morpheus, the god of dreams, disguised as Ceyx, appeared to Alcyone to tell her of her husband's fate. In her grief she threw herself into the sea. Out of compassion, the gods changed them both into "halcyon birds" (common kingfishers), named after her. Apollodorus says that Ceyx was turned into a gannet, and not a kingfisher.

Ovid[14] and Hyginus[11] both also recount the metamorphosis of the pair in and after Ceyx's loss in a terrible storm, though they both omit Ceyx and Alcyone calling each other "Zeus" and "Hera" (and Zeus's resulting anger) as a reason for it. On the contrary, it is mentioned that while still unaware of Ceyx's death in the shipwreck, Alcyone continued to pray at the altar of Hera for his safe return.[15] Ovid also adds the detail of her seeing his body washed ashore before her attempted suicide. Pseudo-Probus, a scholiast on Virgil's Georgics, notes that Ovid followed Nicander's version of the tale, instead of Theodorus's starring another Alcyone.[16]

Virgil in the Georgics also alludes to the myth—again without reference to Zeus's anger.[17]

It is possible that the earlier myth was a simpler version of the one by Nicander, where a woman named Alcyone mourned her unnamed husband; Ceyx was probably added later due to him being an important figure in mythology and poetry, and also having a wife whose name was Alcyone (as evidenced from the Hesiodic poem Wedding of Ceyx, which was probably about a different Ceyx).[18]

Halcyon days

Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term "halcyon days", the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the fourteen days each year (seven days on either side of the shortest day of the year[19]) during which Alcyone (as a kingfisher) made her nest on the beach and laid her eggs while her father Aeolus, the god of the winds, helped her do so safely by restraining the winds and thus calming the waves.[15] The phrase has since come to refer to any peaceful time. Its proper meaning, however, is that of a lucky break, or a bright interval set in the midst of adversity; just as the days of calm and mild weather are set in the height of winter for the sake of the kingfishers' egglaying according to the myth. Kingfishers however do not live by the sea, so Ovid's tale is not based on any actual observations of the species and in fact refers to a mythical bird only later identified with the kingfisher.

The expression Script error: No such module "Lang". (Template:Grc-transl) first occurs in Aristophanes' play The Birds 1594, then again in Aristotle, Philochorus, and Lucian.[20] In Latin it occurs as Script error: No such module "Lang". in Pliny the Elder, Script error: No such module "Lang". (-nĭī) Script error: No such module "Lang". in Columella and Varro, Script error: No such module "Lang". in Hyginus, and Script error: No such module "Lang". in Plautus and Frontinus.[21]

Legacy

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Gallery

See also

Citations

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General and cited references

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External links

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".)
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Template:Cite dictionary
  6. ↑ Template:Cite dictionary
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Apollodorus, 1.7.3
  11. ↑ a b Hyginus, Fabulae 65
  12. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.271
  13. ↑ Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 15; Apollodorus, 1.7.4
  14. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 11.410 ff.-748 (also here Template:Webarchive)
  15. ↑ a b Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). Template:Google books
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Virgil, Georgics 1.399 - "[At that time] not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore / Do halcyons dear to Thetis ope their wings"
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Liddell, Scott, Jones, Greek Lexicon, s.v. Script error: No such module "Lang"..
  21. ↑ Lewis and Short, Latin Dictionary.
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