Cadmean Vixen
A supernatural vixen cursed to never be caught, sent to terrorise the people of Thebes as divine punishment — an uncatchable fox that had to be fed a child each month.
The Myth of Cadmean Vixen
The Cadmean Vixen (also called the Teumessian Fox) was a beast set loose on the Thebans as punishment — the source of the punishment varies by source, with Dionysus and Themis both cited. The fox could not, by divine decree, ever be caught. The Thebans were forced to offer a child to it each month. In desperation they appealed to the hero Amphitryon, who brought the magical hound Laelaps — a dog fated always to catch its quarry — to hunt it. The logical paradox of an uncatchable fox and an always-catching hound could not be resolved, so Zeus turned them both to stone and placed them among the stars. This myth is one of antiquity's clearest examples of an irresolvable divine contradiction resolved by petrification.
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None recorded
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Fun Fact
The logical impossibility — an uncatchable fox versus an always-catching dog — was solved by Zeus simply removing both from the mortal world entirely, turning them to stone.
Explore Further
Teumessian Fox
🐉 creatureparadox, fate
A giant fox destined never to be caught, sent to ravage Thebes, creating an impossible paradox when pitted against Laelaps, the hound fated never to miss its prey.
Laelaps
🐉 creatureHunting, paradox
Magical hound fated never to fail in catching its prey, which created an impossible paradox when set against an uncatchable fox
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🐉 creaturebeasts
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