Alkyóne comes from alkyón (ἀλκυών), which refers to a sea-bird with a mournful song[2] or to a
kingfisher bird in particular.[3] The meaning(s) of the words is uncertain because alkyón is considered to be of pre-
Greek, non-
Indo-European origin.[4] However,
folk etymology related them to the háls (ἅλς, "brine, sea, salt") and kyéo (κυέω, "I conceive"). Alkyóne originally is written with a
smooth breathing mark, but this false origin beginning with a
rough breathing mark (transliterated as the letter H) led to the common misspellings halkyón (ἁλκυών) and Halkyóne (Ἁλκυόνη),[5] and thus the name of one of the kingfisher bird
genus' in English
Halcyon. It is also speculated that Alkyóne is derived from alké (ἀλκή, "prowess, battle, guard") and onéo (ὀνέω, from ὀνίνεμι, onínemi,[6] "to help, to please").[7]
Kéyx as referring to a sea-bird appears to be related to kaúax (καύαξ),[8] which is a ravenous sea-bird (λάρος, láros). These suggest that Kéyx may have been turned into either a
sea mew or a
tern.[9]
Later on, Alcyone became the queen of
Trachis after marrying King
Ceyx. The latter was the son of
Eosphorus (often translated as
Lucifer).[12] The couple were very happy together in Trachis.
According to
Pseudo-Apollodorus's account, this couple often
sacrilegiously called each other "
Zeus" and "
Hera".[13] This angered Zeus, so while Ceyx was at sea (in order to consult an oracle, according to
Ovid), he killed Ceyx with a thunderbolt. Soon after,
Morpheus, the god of dreams, disguised as Ceyx, appeared to Alcyone to tell her of her husband's fate. In her grief she threw herself into the sea. Out of compassion, the gods changed them both into "halcyon birds" (
common kingfishers), named after her. Apollodorus says that Ceyx was turned into a
gannet, and not a kingfisher.
Ovid[14] and Hyginus[11] both also recount the metamorphosis of the pair in and after Ceyx's loss in a terrible storm, though they both omit Ceyx and Alcyone calling each other "Zeus" and "Hera" (and Zeus's resulting anger) as a reason for it. On the contrary, it is mentioned that while still unaware of Ceyx's death in the shipwreck, Alcyone continued to pray at the altar of Hera for his safe return.[15] Ovid also adds the detail of her seeing his body washed ashore before her attempted suicide.
Pseudo-Probus, a scholiast on Virgil's Georgics, notes that Ovid followed
Nicander's version of the tale, instead of Theodorus's starring another
Alcyone.[16]
Virgil in the Georgics also alludes to the myth - again without reference to Zeus's anger.[17]
It is possible that the earlier myth was a simpler version of the one by Nicander, where a woman named Alcyone mourned her unnamed husband; Ceyx was probably added later due to him being an important figure in mythology and poetry, and also having a wife whose name was Alcyone (as evidenced from the
Hesiodic poem Wedding of Ceyx).[18]
Halcyon days
Ovid and Hyginus both also make the metamorphosis the origin of the term "
halcyon days", the seven days in winter when storms never occur. They state that these were originally the 14 days each year (seven days on either side of the
shortest day of the year[19]) during which Alcyone (as a
kingfisher) laid her eggs and made her nest on the beach and during which her father
Aeolus, god of the winds, restrained the winds and calmed the waves so she could do so in safety. Aeolus controls the wind and the bird couple can nurture their young nestlings.[15] The phrase has since come to refer to any peaceful time. Its proper meaning, however, is that of a lucky break, or a bright interval set in the midst of adversity; just as the days of calm and mild weather are set in the height of winter for the sake of the kingfishers' egglaying according to the myth. Kingfishers however do not live by the sea, so Ovid's tale is not based on any actual observations of the species and in fact refers to a mythical bird only later identified with the kingfisher.
A collection of Canada's celebrated nature poet,
Archibald Lampman, Alcyone, his final set of poetry published posthumously in 1899, highlights both Lampman's apocalyptic and utopian visions of the future.
TS Eliot draws from this myth in The Dry Salvages: "And the ragged rock in the restless waters,/Waves wash over it, fogs conceal it;/On a halcyon day it is merely a monument,/In navigable weather it is always a seamark/To lay a course by: but in the sombre season/Or the sudden fury, is what it always was."
Gallery
Alcyone praying Juno, engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 573-582
Ceyx in the tempest, engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 410-572
Ceyx/ Morpheus appears to Alcyone, engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 650–749.
Ceyx/ Morpheus appears to Alcyone, engraving (or etching more likely) by Bauer for Ovid's Metamorphoses Book XI, 633–676.
Ceyx prenant congé d'Alcyone (15th century)
Alcyone and Ceyx marble bas relief, originally at Parlington Hall, Aberford, removed to Lotherton Hall sometime after 1905.
^William Smith, ed. (1867).
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Volume 1. p. 108. It was fabled, that during the seven days before, and as many after, the shortest day of the year, while the bird ἀλκυών, was breeding, there always prevailed calms at sea.
Hesiod, Catalogue of Women from Homeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homerica translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.
Online version at theoi.com