In Greek mythology, Cephalus (/ˈsɛfələs/; Ancient Greek: Κέφαλος Kephalos) was a member of the Athenian royal family as the son of Princess Herse and Hermes.
Family
In some accounts, Cephalus was said to be the son of Hermes by Creusa or of Pandion I.
Mythology
Because of Cephalus's great beauty, Eos (Dawn) fell in love with him. He was eventually carried away by her from the summit of mount Hymetttus to Syria, and by him she became the mother of Phaeton or Tithonus, the father of Phaeton.
On the pediment of the kingly Stoa in the Kerameikos at Athens, and on the temple of Apollo at Amyclae, the carrying off of Cephalus by Hemera (not Eos) was represented. According to a single myth, Eosphorus was also called the son of Cephalus and Eos.
Notes
- Hyginus, Fabulae 160
- Hyginus, Fabulae 270.
- "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Eos". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-09.
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio 1.3.1.
- Hyginus, De Astronomica 2.42.4.
References
- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Hesiod, Theogony from The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940–1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.