Alcyone

 

(hălsī'ənē) or Alcyone (ăl–) , in Greek mythology, daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband drowned, Halcyone threw herself into the sea. Out of pity the gods changed the pair into kingfishers or halcyons, and Zeus forbade the winds to blow seven days before and after the winter solstice, the breeding season of the halcyon. The expression “halcyon days” comes from this myth and figuratively means a time of peace and tranquility.

In Greek mythology, Alcyone (Greek: Ἁλκυόνη) was the daughter of Aeolus, either by Enarete or Aegiale. She married Ceyx, son of Eosphorus, the Morning Star.

They were very happy together in Trachis, and according to Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, often sacrilegiously called each other "Zeus" and "Hera."^[1] This angered Zeus, so while Ceyx was at sea (going to consult an oracle according to Ovid's account), the god threw a thunderbolt at his ship. Ceyx appeared to Alcyone as an apparition to tell her of his fate, and she threw herself into the sea in her grief. Out of compassion, the gods changed them both into halcyon birds, named after her.

Ovid^[2] and Hyginus ^[3] 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. Ovid also adds the detail of her seeing his body washed up on the shore before her attempted suicide.

Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the etymology for "halcyon days", the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the seven days each year (either side of the shortest day of the year) during which Alcyone (as a kingfisher) laid her eggs and made her nest on the beach and during which her father Aeolus, god of the winds, restrained the winds and calmed the waves so she could do so in safety. The phrase has since become a term used to describe a peaceful time generally.

The myth is also briefly referred to by Virgil, again without reference to Zeus's anger.^[4]

Classical sources

1. ^ Apollodorus i. 7. 3 - 4)
2. ^ Ovid Metamorphoses XI, 410ff.-748 (also here)
3. ^ Hyginus Fabulae 65
4. ^ Virgil Georgics i. 399 - "[At that time] not to the sun's warmth then upon the shore / Do halcyons dear to Thetis ope their wings"

Later references

• Various kinds of kingfishers are named after the couple, in reference to the metamorphosis myth:
  • The genus Ceyx (within the River kingfishers family) is named after him
  • The kingfisher family Halcyonidae (Tree Kingfishers) is named after his wife, as is the genus Halcyon.
  • The Belted Kingfisher's Latin species name (Megaceryle alcyon) also references her name.
• Their story features in The Book of the Duchess.

External links

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1867).

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