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Alcyone
Associated to Place: AncientWorlds > Hellas > Thessalia > articles -- by * Alerissa Nestor (37 Articles), Social Article
Kingfisher
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The story of Alcyone and Ceyx, by Thomas Bulfinch
Hellas > Thessalia

Alcyone
The Goddess of the Sea, the Moon, Calm, and Tranquility
Hellas is celebrating the Festival of Alcyone with two events. Come join us!
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The Myth
Alcyone (or Halcyone) was in Greek mythology a demi-goddess, sometimes regarded as one of the Pleiades. More often she was thought of as the daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx, King of Trachis, a city in southern Thessaly. They were a happy couple, but when Ceyx perished in a shipwreck when he was journeying to the oracle at Delphi, Alcyone threw herself into the sea. Out of pity, the gods changed the pair into kingfishers or halcyons.

Since Alcyone made her nest on the beach, and waves threatened to destroy it, Zeus forbade the winds to blow and made the waves be calm seven days before and after the winter solstice, the breeding season of the halcyon.

The kingfisher is thus associated in Greek myth with the winter solstice, and the expression "halcyon days", which comes from this myth, figuratively means a time of peace and tranquility.

In a less romantic version of the tale, the gods transformed Ceyx into a sea swallow and Alcyone into a kingfisher or halcyon, as a sign of wrath and punishment, since they had dared to compare themselves to Zeus and Hera.

Sources
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/alcyone.html
http://www.blueroebuck.com/halcyon__kingfisher.htm
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Ceyx.html

-Article by Anna Hippon & Alerissa Nestor
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Posted Nov 22, 2004 - 15:10 , Last Edited: Nov 30, 2004 - 00:22











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