Prokris

Prokris and her husband Kephalos were figures in the mythology of Athens. The following is a mélange of the several somewhat various stories about her that have come from five different ancient mythographers: Pherekydes, Apollodoros, Antoninus Liberalis, Ovid, and Hyginus.

According to Apollodoros, Prokris lay with Pteleon for a golden crown, and Kephalos caught them in the act; we are not told whether or not Pteleon was a friend whom Kephalos had engaged to tempt Prokris. In other versions it is Kephalos himself who tempts his wife.

In Antoninus Liberalis’ version, probably taken from Nicander, Eos fell in love with Kephalos and carried him off, making him her bed-partner (synoikos). When Kephalos returned to his home and wife in Thorikos of Attica, he tested Prokris to see whether she had remained faithful to him. He told her that he was going hunting; whenen distant from the house he sent a servant, whom Prokris had never seen, with much gold to Prokris. The servant, at Kephalos’ direction, told Prokris that he had come from a stranger who was in love with her and who would give her the gold if she would lie with him. Prokris refused, but Kephalos again sent the servant with twice as much gold, and then Prokris assented. She went to the house that the servant had indicated, and was getting into bed, whenen Kephalos lit a lamp and thus proved Prokris a would-be adulteress.

In the version known to Hyginus, Aurora/Eos saw Kephalos when he went hunting in the mountains. She fell in love with him, but he refused her when she offered herself to him, since he had promised Prokris that he would never be unfaithful to her (quod Procri fidem dederat). Eos said that she would not have him break his promise to Prokris unless Prokris should be unfaithful first. So Eos changed Kephalos’ appearance and gave him valuable gifts to offer Prokris. He thus came to Prokris as a stranger, offered her the gifts, and she yielded to him at once. Then Eos restored Kephalos to his own shape, so that Prokris recognized her husband and realized that Eos had tricked her.

According to Pherekydes’ version Kephalos, wanting to test his wife’s fidelity, left her for eight years. Then he disguised himself and returned to his home with valuable gifts. He offered these to Prokris if she would lie with him. She consented, since both the valuables and the handsome stranger attracted her. Then Kephalos revealed himself and accused her of infidelity.

As Ovid tells the story, Eos carried Kephalos off soon after his marriage to Prokris. He stayed with Eos against his will, always talking of Prokris. Finally Eos sent him back to Prokris, but sowed the seeds of suspicion in his mind, so that he decided to test Prokris’ fidelity. In this Eos aided him by changing his appearance so that he came back to Athens as a stranger. with difficulty he gained access to Prokris—she gave every indication of having been faithful—and vainly attempted to seduce her; she assured him that she kept her faith to her absent husband. He nevertheless persisted, offering riches; finally, by doubling the amount, he caused her to hesitate. Then he at once revealed himself, accusing her of unfaithfulness.

In Apollodoros’ version Prokris fled to Minos in Crete after Kephalos found her with Pteleon. Minos fell in love with her and proposed a liaison. Unfortunately, Minos destroyed every woman with whom he copulated; for his wife, Pasiphae, had poisoned him for his many adulteries, so that he discharged noxious animals (theria) into his partners’ bodies. Prokris consented to intercourse with Minos if he would give her the swift dog and unerring javelin that he possessed. He agreed, and so Prokris gave him the Circaean root, which prevented his harming her; then she entered his bed. Thus in Apollodoros’ story Prokris is doubly an adulteress.

Antoninus Liberalis also tells us that Prokris fled in shame to Minos. She found him afflicted with an inability to procreate, since he discharged snakes, scorpions, and millipedes. She inserted a goat’s bladder into a woman’s vagina; Minos discharged his vermin into that and then had intercourse safely with Pasiphae. When his wife had conceived, Minos rewarded Prokris with the javelin that always hit its mark and the dog that always overtook the beast it chased. In this version Prakris does not become Minos’ sexual partner; her remedy for Minos’ malady is different; and Pasiphae had not caused her husband’s ailment.

No absence of Prokris is mentioned in the summary of Pherekydes’ version that survives.

In Hyginus’ version too Prokris fled to Crete, but not to Minos: she went to Artemis’ hunting grounds to join the goddess’s company. Artemis told her that only virgins could hunt with her: Prokris was not a virgin and could not be a member of her band. Then Prokris told her what had happened and how Eos had tricked her. Artemis pitied Prokris and gave her the javelin and the dog Lailaps (Hurricane) of marvelous powers, and bade her go back and contend with Kephalos in hunting prowess.

As Ovid tells the story (Metamorphoses 7.743-756), Prokris said nothing when Kephalos accused her; deeply wounded and hating all men, she went off to the mountains (Ovid does not specify them as Cretan) and took up Artemis’ pursuits; in fact, she entered Artemis’ company. Soon Kephalos begged her to come back to him, confessing his fault, and finally she returned. When she left the mountains, Artemis gave her the dog and javelin, and she gave these to Kephalos.

When Prokris returned to Athens, as Apollodoros tells the story, she became reconciled to Kephalos and, a huntress herself, went hunting with him. one day she was chasing game in a thicket, and Kephalos, casting his javelin at what he supposed to be an animal, hit Prokris and killed her. For this he was tried by the Areiopagos court and condemned to exile.

According to Pherekydes, Kephalos went hunting alone after becoming reconciled to Prokris. He went often, and Prokris began to suspect that he was meeting a woman. She asked a servant, who told her that he had seen Kephalos on a hilltop calling for Nephele (the word means "cloud"). So Prokris went to the hill and hid herself. When she heard him call Nephele, she ran toward him. Kephalos was startled and cast his javelin at her, thus killing her. The summarized version has nothing to say of the javelin’s marvelous powers.

Eos abducting Kephalos
(on an ancient altar from Magna Graecia)

Antoninus’ story has it that when Prokris went back to Thorikos, she disguised herself as a man, cutting her hair, so that no one recognized her. Thus disquised, she attached herself to Kephalos and went hunting with him. With her javelin she had great success, but Kephalos had a run of bad luck. He asked for the javelin, and Prokris said that she would give him the dog too if he would submit to her (as a supposed male) in a homosexual act. Kephalos agreed to the terms, and when they reclined, Prokris revealed herself and reproached Kephalos for having committed a worse transgression than she had. She gave him the dog and javelin. At this point Antoninus turns to the story of Lailaps’ pursuit of the Teumessian fox and says no more about Prokris.

Hyginus has the same episode, with a few differences. Prokris assumed male disguise at Artemis’ direction and challenged Kephalos to competition in hunting. Kephalos asked for both javelin and dog when he saw their powers. After the homosexual encounter, when Prokris revealed herself, the pair were reconciled. But Prokris, afraid that Kephalos met Aurora/Eos, followed him one morning. She hid in a thicket, and when Kephalos saw the bushes move he cast the javelin and killed Prokris.

Ovid says nothing about Prokris’ disguise on her return. After reconciliation, she and Kephalos lived together for several happy years. She gave him the javelin and dog, with which he often went hunting. After the hunt he liked to lie in the shade and call the breeze (aura) to refresh him. Someone overheard him and told Prokris that Kephalos met a nymph named Aura. She went out to the forest to see whether this was true. When Kephalos called aura he heard a groan and then a rustle of leaves; he cast his javelin and struck Prokris. As she lay dying she asked Kephalos not to marry Aura. It was after Prokris’ death that Kephalos hunted the Teumessian fox with Lailaps in Boiotia.

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