Cephalus and Procris
Cephalus and Procris were devoted spouses whose mutual jealousy — tested by Eos and by a magic gift — led to Procris's accidental death.
The Legend of Cephalus and Procris
Cephalus, a prince beloved of Eos the Dawn, was abducted by the goddess but remained faithful to his wife Procris. Eos, spurned, planted doubt about Procris's fidelity. Artemis (or Aphrodite) gave Procris a javelin that never missed and a hound that always caught its prey. Procris, later suspecting Cephalus of meeting another woman, hid in the bushes to spy on him. Hearing the rustling, Cephalus hurled the unerring javelin and killed her. Apollo could not undo the tragedy, and Cephalus was exiled to the islands.
Parents
Deioneus and Diomede; Erechtheus and Praxithea
Symbols
Fun Fact
The tragedy of Cephalus and Procris was Ovid's demonstration that love itself, not the gods, is the most destructive force.
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Phaedra
🗡 heroQueen consumed by forbidden love
Phaedra was the wife of Theseus who was cursed by Aphrodite to fall hopelessly in love with her stepson Hippolytus — her suicide and false accusation destroyed him.
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Deianeira
🗡 herolove, destruction
The wife of Heracles whose love inadvertently killed the greatest hero in Greek mythology when she used the poisoned shirt of Nessus.
Deiphobus
🗡 herowar
Trojan prince who married Helen after Paris was killed, making him the last husband of the most contested woman in myth.
Bellerophon and Pegasus
🗡 herohubris, fall
The hero who tamed Pegasus and slew the Chimera but was destroyed by his own hubris when he tried to fly to Olympus.
Pyramus and Thisbe
🗡 heroStar-crossed lovers of Babylon
Pyramus and Thisbe were neighbours who fell in love but were forbidden to meet — their tragic miscommunication at a lion-bloodied mulberry tree became the model for Romeo and Juliet.
Bellerophon
🗡 heroThe hero who tamed Pegasus
The Corinthian hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus and slew the Chimera, but fell from heaven when he tried to reach Olympus.
Paris
🗡 heroPrince who caused the Trojan War
Paris was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the Trojan War — the most consequential act of desire in Western mythology.
Hippolytus
🗡 heroSon of Theseus destroyed by Aphrodite
Hippolytus was the chaste son of Theseus who rejected Aphrodite and was destroyed when his stepmother Phaedra fell in love with him.
Menelaus
🗡 heroKing of Sparta, husband of Helen
Menelaus was the king of Sparta whose stolen wife Helen was the cause of the Trojan War — yet he survived the war, the return, and old age, a rare happy ending among Greek heroes.
Psyche
🗡 heroMortal whose love conquered a god
Psyche was a princess so beautiful that Aphrodite was jealous — she married Eros in darkness and lost him when she looked, then won him back through impossible labours.