Teumesia. Those who have written on Theban affairs have given a full account of the Teumesian fox. They relate that the creature was sent by the gods to punish the descendants of Cadmus, and that the Thebans therefore excluded those of the house of Cadmus from kingship. But (they say) a certain Cephalus, the son of Deion, an Athenian, who owned a hound which no beast ever escaped, had accidentally killed his wife Procris, and being purified of the homicide by the Cadmeans, hunted the fox with his hound, and when they had overtaken it both hound and fox were turned into stones near Teumessus. These writers have taken the story from the Epic Cycle.
- Fragment of the lost Greek epic Epigoni, taken from Photius' Lexicon, translated by H. G. Evelyn-White
When Electryon reigned over Mycenae, the sons of Pterelaus came with some Taphians and claimed the kingdom of Mestor, their maternal grandfather, and as Electryon paid no heed to the claim, they drove away his kine; and when the sons of Electryon stood on their defence, they challenged and slew each other. But of the sons of Electryon there survived Licymnius, who was still young; and of the sons of Pterelaus there survived Everes, who guarded the ships. Those of the Taphians who escaped sailed away, taking with them the cattle they had lifted, and entrusted them to Polyxenus, king of the Eleans; but Amphitryon ransomed them from Polyxenus and brought them to Mycenae. Wishing to avenge his sons' death, Electryon purposed to make war on the Teleboans, but first he committed the kingdom to Amphitryon along with his daughter Alcmena, binding him by oath to keep her a virgin until his return. However, as he was receiving the cows back, one of them charged, and Amphitryon threw at her the club which he had in his hands. But the club rebounded from the cow's horns and striking Electryon's head killed him. Hence Sthenelus laid hold of this pretext to banish Amphitryon from the whole of Argos, while he himself seized the throne of Mycenae and Tiryns; and he entrusted Midea to Atreus and Thyestes, the sons of Pelops, whom he had sent for.
Amphitryon went with Alcmena and Licymnius to Thebes and was purified by Creon and gave his sister Perimede to Licymnius. And as Alcmena said she would marry him when he had avenged her brothers' death, Amphitryon engaged to do so, and undertook an expedition against the Teleboans, and invited Creon to assist him. Creon said he would join in the expedition if Amphitryon would first rid the Cadmea of the vixen; for a brute of a vixen was ravaging the Cadmea. But though Amphitryon undertook the task, it was fated that nobody should catch her.
As the country suffered thereby, the Thebans every month exposed a son of one of the citizens to the brute, which would have carried off many if that were not done. So Amphitryon betook him to Cephalus, son of Deioneus, at Athens, and persuaded him, in return for a share of the Teleboan spoils, to bring to the chase the dog which Procris had brought from Crete as a gift from Minos; for that dog was destined to catch whatever it pursued. So then, when the vixen was chased by the dog, Zeus turned both of them into stone. Supported by his allies, to wit, Cephalus from Thoricus in Attica, Panopeus from Phocis, Heleus, son of Perseus, from Helos in Argolis, and Creon from Thebes, Amphitryon ravaged the islands of the Taphians.
- Pseudo-Apollodorus, The Bibliotheca, Book 2, Chapter 4
FOX
Cephalus, son of Deion, married at Thoricus in Attica Procris, daughter of Erechtheus. Cephalus was a handsome and brave youth and the goddess of Dawn fell in love with him because of his beauty. She kidnapped him, keeping him at home as a lover. ...
And then Cephalus put Procris to a test to see if she was inclined to remain faithful to him. He pretended that he was going out hunting and sent in to Procris one of his servants who was not known to her, with a great deal of gold. He was instructed to say that a foreign gentleman had fallen in love with her and offered her this gold if she would have intercourse with him.
At first Procris refused the gold but when the man sent double the quantity, she agreed and accepted the proposition. When Cephalus saw her approaching the house in order to lie with the foreigner, he brought out a flaming torch and discovered her.
In her shame Procris forsook Cephalus and went off as a fugitive to Minos the king of Crete. She found on arrival that he was afflicted by childlessness and promised a cure, showing him how to beget children. Now Minos would ejaculate snakes, scorpions and millipedes, killing the women with whom he had intercourse.
But his wife Pasiphae, daughter of the Sun, was immortal. Procris accordingly devised the following to make Minos fertile. She inserted the bladder of a goat into a woman and Minos first emitted the snakes into the bladder; then he went over to Pasiphae and entered her. And when children were born to them, Minos gave Procris his spear and his dog. No animal could escape these two and they always reached their target.
Accepting them, Procris went to Thoricus in Attica, where Cephalus lived, and became a hunter with him. She had altered her clothes and had cut her hair as a man; no one who saw her recognized her. When Cephalus saw that he never caught anything when hunting, while everything went the way of Procris, he yearned to have that spear for himself. Procris promised to give him the dog as well, if he would agree to enjoy her youthful charms.
Cephalus accepted the proposition and when they lay down together, Procris revealed who she was and reproached him for having committed something far more disgraceful. But Cephalus acquired the dog and the spear. Amphitryon, who needed the dog, went to Cephalus and asked him if he would be willing to join him, with the dog, in going after the Fox. He promised to hand over to him a share of the booty which he would take from the Teleboeans.
For at that time there had appeared in the land of the people of Cadmus, a fox that was a monstrous creature. It would regularly issue out of Teumessus snatching up Cadmeans. Every thirty days they would put out a child for it and the Fox would take it and eat it up.
Amphitryon had asked Creon and the Cadmeans to help in making war against the Teleboeans. They refused unless he helped them do away with the Fox. Amphitryon accepted these conditions from the Cadmeans and went to Cephalus and told him about the agreement and urged him to go to Thebes with the dog. Cephalus accepted the proposal and set out to hunt the Fox.
But it had been ordained that the Fox could not be taken by any hunter, and that nothing should escape that dog when it went hunting. Zeus saw them when they reached the Plain of Thebes and turned them both into stones.
- Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses
This figure is said to be the dog given to Europa as guard, along with a spear. Minos later presented both dog and spear to Procris, after she cured him of an illness. Soon after, Cephalus gained possession of dog and spear by marrying Procris. Cephalus brought the dog to Thebes to chase the fox which, it was said, no one could slay. Caught in a dilemma, Zeus turned the fox to stone and placed the dog among the stars, judging it worthy of the honor. Others say this constellation is the dog of Orion which followed him on the hunt, since all hunters believe that a dog helps to ward off wild animals. They say that the dog was placed among the stars when Orion was changed into a constellation, and that this was done, in all likelihood, so that Orion would lack none of his belongings.
- Pseudo-Eratosthenes, Catasterismi
This dog was reportedly appointed by Jupiter to guard Europa; thus he came into the possession of Minos. When the latter was ill, he was cured by Procris, the wife of Cephalus, who received the dog as a reward for the service rendered, for she was very fond of hunting and the dog had the power to outrun any wild beast. After her death, the dog came into the possession of Cephalus, since Procris was his wife, and he brought the dog to Thebes, where there was a fox said to be capable of outrunning any dog. When dog and fox came together, Jupiter, in a quandary, changed both to stone, as Istrus recounts.
Many say that this is the dog of Orion and that because Orion was a zealous hunter, the dog was placed with him among the stars. Others, however, say it is the dog of Icarius, about whom we spoke earlier [2 .4] ; and many other ideas are put forth. Canis [“dog”] has one star on the tongue which is also called Canis, and another on the head which Isis herself reportedly placed there and called Sirius on account of the brightness of its light, which is such that it outshines all other stars. She called the star Sirius [“scintillating”] so that it might be recognized more easily.
- Pseudo-Hyginus, The Astronomica
On this highway is a place called Teumessus, where it is said that Europa was hidden by Zeus. There is also another legend, which tells of a fox called the Teumessian fox, how owing to the wrath of Dionysus the beast was reared to destroy the Thebans, and how, when about to be caught by the hound given by Artemis to Procris the daughter of Erechtheus, the fox was turned into a stone, as was likewise this hound. In Teumessus there is also a sanctuary of Telchinian Athena, which contains no image. As to her surname, we may hazard the conjecture that a division of the Telchinians who once dwelt in Cyprus came to Boeotia and established a sanctuary of Telchinian Athena.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 9
According to some authorities his own mother was slain by Oedipus, and he slew not only the Sphinx but, according to Corinna, the Teumesian Fox.
- Scholion on Euripides' Phoenician Women, translated by J. M. Edmonds