Cepheus (father of Andromeda)
| Cepheus | |
|---|---|
King of Aethiopia | |
 | |
| Genealogy | |
| Born | |
| Parents | Belus and Achiroe |
| Siblings | Danaus, Aegyptus, Phineus |
| Consort | Cassiopeia |
| Offspring | Andromeda |
In Greek mythology, Cepheus (/ˈsiːfiəs, -fjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Ancient Greek: Κηφεύς, romanized: Kepheús) was the king of Aethiopia and the father of Andromeda, the princess who is saved by the hero Perseus.
Family
[edit]Cepheus was the son of either Belus,[1] Agenor[2] or Phoenix.[3] When Belus is described as his father, Achiroe, daughter of Nilus, is given as his mother, and Danaus, Aegyptus, and Phineus as his brothers.[citation needed] He was called Iasid Cepheus, pertaining to his Argive ancestry through King Iasus of Argus, father of Io.[4]
Mythology
[edit]
Cepheus features in the Perseus legend as the husband of Cassiopeia, the father of Princess Andromeda, and the brother of Phineus (who expects to marry Andromeda). Various sources identify his kingdom as "Aethiopia" or later, as the city of Joppa (Jaffa) in Phoenicia, which was named after Cepheus's wife, Iope/Cassiopeia, a daughter of Aeolus.[5]
Cassiopeia boasts that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, angering both the sea nymphs and Poseidon. In response, Poseidon sends a flood and the sea monster Cetus to attack Aethiopia. Cepheus and Cassiopeia seek guidance from the oracle of Ammon (identified with Zeus) at the oasis of Siwa in the Libyan desert; the oracle declares that only offering Andromeda to the monster as a human sacrifice will end the calamity. The king chains his daughter to a rock by the shore to be devoured by Cetus at the whim of his subjects.
But Andromeda survives: Perseus, flying home with his trophy head of Medusa, passes by the kingdom of Cepheus and notices a beautiful girl chained to a rock on the shore. Perseus falls in love with her and undertakes to slay the monster if she promises to marry him; in a slightly different version, he approaches Cepheus. The hero then kills the monster (or turns it to stone by showing it the Gorgon's head). Perseus washes off his blood in a spring near the city of Joppa, which apocryphally turns red as a result.[6]
Cepheus and Cassiopeia allow Perseus to become Andromeda's husband after he uses Medusa's head to turn Phineus and his men to stone for plotting against him.[7] (According to Hyginus, the betrothed of Andromeda is named Agenor.[8]) After spending a year or so at the court of his father-in-law, Perseus finally sets off for Seriphos with his wife. Since Cepheus has no heir of his own, the departing couple allows him to adopt their first-born child, Perses, who is destined mythologically to give his name to the Persians (Ancient Greek: Πέρσαι, romanized: Pérsai) per Greek folk etymology.
Zeus subsequently places Cepheus in the heavens as the constellation Cepheus[9] located alongside Cassiopeia and near both Andromeda and Perseus.
Notes
[edit]- ^ Herodotus, 7.61; Apollodorus, 2.1.4
- ^ Nonnus, Dionysiaca 2.682–683
- ^ Hyginus, De astronomica 2.9.1
- ^ Aratus, Phaenomena 189
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Iope: Ἰόπη
- ^ Pausanias, 4.35.9
- ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.1–238
- ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 64
- ^
Westmoreland, Perry L. (2007). Ancient Greek Beliefs. San Ysidro, California: Lee And Vance Publishing Company. p. 508. ISBN 9780979324819. Retrieved 9 June 2026.
Zeus places him as a constellation among the stars.
References
[edit]Primary sources
[edit]- Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
- Aratus Solensis, Phaenomena translated by G. R. Mair. Loeb Classical Library Volume 129. London: William Heinemann, 1921. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Aratus Solensis, Phaenomena. G. R. Mair. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1921. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Hyginus. Fabulae and Astronomica. Translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies, no. 34. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1960.
- Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Herodotus, The Histories with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. ISBN 0-674-99133-8. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library.
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca translated by William Henry Denham Rouse (1863-1950), from the Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1940. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca. 3 Vols. W.H.D. Rouse. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1940-1942. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More (1859-1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Ovidius Naso, Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Stephanus of Byzantium, Stephani Byzantii Ethnicorum quae supersunt, edited by August Meineike (1790-1870), published 1849. A few entries from this important ancient handbook of place names have been translated by Brady Kiesling. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Secondary sources
[edit]- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
- The Heroes Or, Greek Fairy Tales for my Children by Charles Kingsley (1901). Page 38