In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone) and Ceyx were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris. Alcyone became the queen of Trachis after marrying King Ceyx. The couple were very happy together in Trachis. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus’s account, this couple often sacrilegiously called each other “Zeus” and “Hera”. 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. Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term “halcyon days”, the seven days in winter when storms never occur.
Appearance List Literature: Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 CE), Virgil’s Georgics (29 BCE), Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca (1st-2nd century CE), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (8 CE), Hyginus’ Fabulae, Hesiod’s Ehoiai
Sample Read A Book of Myths (1915) by Jeanie Lang [Internet Archive]
Description In Greek mythology, Alcyone (or dubiously Halcyone) and Ceyx were a wife and husband who incurred the wrath of the god Zeus for their romantic hubris. Alcyone became the queen of Trachis after marrying King Ceyx. The couple were very happy together in Trachis. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus’s account, this couple often sacrilegiously called each other “Zeus” and “Hera”. 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. Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term “halcyon days”, the seven days in winter when storms never occur.
