Editing Alcyone and Ceyx (section)

== Mythology ==
[[File:Herbert James Draper - Halcyone (1915).jpg|thumb|280px|[[Herbert James Draper]], ''Halcyone'', 1915.]]

Alcyone was a [[Ancient Thessaly|Thessalian]] princess, the daughter of King [[Aeolus (son of Hellen)|Aeolus]] of Aeolia, either by [[Enarete]]<ref>[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.3&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=7&highlight=Alcyone 1.7.3]</ref> or [[Aegiale (daughter of Helios)|Aegiale]].<ref name=":0" /> She was the sister of [[Salmoneus]], [[Athamas]], [[Sisyphus]], [[Cretheus]], [[Perieres (king of Messenia)|Perieres]], [[Deioneus]], [[Magnes (son of Aeolus)|Magnes]], [[Calyce (mythology)|Calyce]], [[Canace]], [[Pisidice]] and [[Perimede (mythology)|Perimede]].

Later on, Alcyone became the queen of [[Trachis]] after marrying King [[Ceyx of Trachis|Ceyx]]. The latter was the son of [[Phosphorus (morning star)#mythology|Eosphorus]] (often translated as [[Lucifer]]).<ref>[[Ovid]], ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' 11.271</ref> The couple were very happy together in Trachis. 

According to [[Pseudo-Apollodorus]]'s account, this couple often [[sacrilege|sacrilegiously]] called each other "[[Zeus]]" and "[[Hera]]".<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''[[Catalogue of Women|Ehoiai]]'' fr. 15; Apollodorus, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.+1.7.4&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0022:book=1:chapter=7&highlight=Alcyone 1.7.4]</ref> 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 (mythology) |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 kingfisher]]s), named after her. Apollodorus says that Ceyx was turned into a [[gannet]], and not a kingfisher.

Ovid<ref>Ovid,  ''Metamorphoses'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0028&layout=&loc=11.411 11.410 ff.-748] (also [http://www.tkline.freeserve.co.uk/Metamorph11.htm#_Toc64105704 here] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050419213419/http://www.tkline.freeserve.co.uk/Metamorph11.htm|date=2005-04-19}})</ref> and Hyginus<ref name=":0">[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html#65 65]</ref> 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.<ref name="Roman, L. 2010">Roman, L., & Roman, M. (2010). {{Google books|tOgWfjNIxoMC |Encyclopedia of Greek and Roman mythology |page= 55}}</ref> 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 (daughter of Sciron)|Alcyone]].<ref>{{cite book | title = Transformative Change in Western Thought: A History of Metamorphosis from Homer to Hollywood | first = Ingo | last = Gildenhard | page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=wiMxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT164 164] | isbn = 978-1-907975-01-1 | publisher = [[Routledge]] | date = July 5, 2017 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wiMxDwAAQBAJ}}</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>