In
Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox was an enormous
fox that was destined never to be caught.[1]
Mythology
It was said that the Teumessian fox had been sent by the gods (perhaps
Dionysus) to prey upon the children of
Thebes as a punishment for
a national crime.
Creon, then-Regent of Thebes, set
Amphitryon the impossible task of destroying this beast. He discovered a supposedly perfect solution by using the magical dog
Laelaps, who was destined to catch everything it chased, to catch the Teumessian fox.
Zeus, faced with an inevitable contradiction due to
the paradoxical nature of their mutually excluding abilities, turned the two beasts into
stone. The pair were cast into the stars and remain as
Canis Major (Laelaps) and
Canis Minor (Teumessian Fox).
^Ancient Greek: Τευμησ(σ)ία ἀλώπηξ (Teumēs(s)íā alôpēx), gen.: Τευμησίας ἀλώπεκος, also known as ἀλώπηξ τῆς Τευμησσοῦ "fox of
Teumessos"; Teumessos was an ancient city in
Boeotia.
Suida, Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others.
Online version at the Topos Text Project.