While researching Odysseus' family on his father's side, I had the blessing (and curse) of learning about Cephalus. This exploration had some ironic and tragic similarities between Odysseus and Cephalus. Both were taken advantage of by goddesses and held captive by them. Also, they share a Suicidal connection to the sea: Odysseus contemplated suicide on Calypso’s island, while Cephalus took his own life by drowning.
Correct me if I’m wrong abt smth
There seems to be plenty of parallelism with Cephalus who seems to be the beginning of the line of Odysseus or at least the founder of his kingdom and Odysseus himself. For starters we also have a tragic tale between Cephalus and his wife Procris (although their story is massively different than what we see between Odysseus and Penelope) in which Cephalus and Procris swear to each other to be loyal and according to sources like Hyginus we even hear a similar recognition game process such as between Odysseus and Penelope
Yes we see Cephalus being loved by the goddess Eos (Dawn) and him rejecting her and Eos kidnapped him and carried him over to Syria and even she tries to break his bond with Procris (see for example Calypso comparing herself to Penelope to manipulate Odysseus into seeing her as the better option). The iconography between Odysseus and Cephalus is very similar too. See for example this red-figure kylix that belongs to the painter Douris:
Eos appears to grab Cephalus bu the arm, pulling him out of his way. Cephalus is dressed in chlamys almost identical to the one Odysseus has in his, let's say depiction in the underworld and he wears a Petassos hat, significant part of people traveling or working outside. He is even holding two spears which was also a description Odysseus has more often whatnot (see for example when he is ready to fight Skylla in the Odyssey). I actually love this image at how scared and surprised Cephalus seems while Eos seems literally ready to pull him up at the sky.
As for the suicide thematic it seems that Strabo connects the location of Leucas or Leucatas as a "leap tradition" place for those who suffered of love. He seems to place Cephalus as the first person to start this "tradition" when he throws himself off the end of Leucatas rock where he had also built the temple to Apollo to clease himself from accidentally killing his wife so yes it seems that the connection between Cephalus and killing himself out of love exists
Ironically Odysseus even if he considered suicide out of desperation many times over in the Odyssey, he never did it for real even if he had chances of doing it.
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Natural 'Love Remedies' in the lanscapes of ancient greek myths. Part I: The White Rock
Sorry for the long post in advance, there are too many references and too much scholarly discussion to make a short snappy post. I abridged as much as I could :)
The White Rock is first mentioned in passing in the Odyssey, as part of the westward journey that the shades of the suitors undertake as they're led to to the underworld:
And they passed by the streams of Okeanos and the White Rock [Λευκάδα πέτρην] and past the Gates of the Sun and the District of Dreams. (Od. 24. 11-12)
This passage has at first glance little thematic relevance to the rest of the attestations to come (if you're interested in theories see further reading below), but I'd be remiss not to mention this first source for a "White Rock". The rest or these sources refer specifically to the White Rock of the island of Leukas (the Leukadian Rock), which was said to have the property of relieving the lovesick from their passion. According to Menander (in Fragment 258 quoted in Stabo's Geography):
It contains the temple of Apollo Leucatas, and also the 'Leap', which was believed to put an end to the longings of love. As Menander says, "Where Sappho is said to have been the first, when through frantic longing she was chasing the haughty Phaon, to fling herself with a leap from the far-seen rock, calling upon thee in prayer, O lord and master". Now although Menander says that Sappho was the first to take the leap, those who are better versed than he in antiquities say that it was Cephalus, the son of Deïoneus, who was in love with Pterelas. (Strab. 10.2.9)
Strabo is presumably quoting Menander's lost play The Leukadia. Unrelated to love but still interesting, Strabo continues:
It was an ancestral custom among the Leucadians, every year at the sacrifice performed in honor of Apollo, for some criminal to be flung from this rocky look-out for the sake of averting evil, wings and birds of all kinds being fastened to him, since by their fluttering they could lighten the leap, and also for a number of men, stationed all round below the rock in small fishing-boats, to take the victim in, and, when he had been taken on board* (alternatively: resuscitated), to do all in their power to get him safely outside their borders. (Strab. 10.2.9 continued) ~~ This might be seen as somewhat paralleling Pausanias 10.32.6 for those who are curious.
According to Wilamowitz 1913 (again see further reading below), Menander chose for his play a setting that was known for its exotic cult practice involving a white rock, and conflated it in the quoted passage with a literary theme likewise involving a white rock. There are two surviving attestations of this theme, in which falling off the white rock is apparently a metaphor for fainting (due to lust and wine respectively):
One more time taking off in the air, down from the White Rock into the dark waves do I dive, intoxicated with lust. (Anacreon PMG 370)
I would be crazy not to give all the herds of the Cyclopes
in return for drinking one cup [of that wine]
and throw myself from the White Rock into the brine,
once I am intoxicated, with eyebrows relaxed.
Whoever is not happy when he drinks is crazy. (Euripides Cyclops 163-168)
Sappho's legendary (and unfortunately fatal) leap off the Leucadian Rock to relieve herself of her love for the handsome Phaon (a figure that deserves a post of their own) is found also in Ovid's Heroines:
Here, when, weeping, I laid down my weary limbs, a Naiad stood before my eyes. She stood there and said: ‘Since you burn with the fires of injustice, Ambracia’s the land to be sought by you. Apollo on the heights watches the open sea: summoning the people of Actium and Leucadia. Here Deucalion, fired by love of Pyrrha, cast himself down and struck the sea without harming his body. Without delay love turned and fled from his slowly sinking breast: Deucalion was eased of his passion. The place obeys that law. Seek out the Leucadian height right away, and don’t be afraid to leap from the rock! (Ov. Her. 15. 165–220)
Finally, according to the mythographer Ptolemy Chennos (know for his bizarre stories) as quoted by Photius in his Library:
Those who leapt off the cliff are said to have freed themselves from erotic desire. And this is the story that lies behind it: it is said that,
after the death of Adonis, Aphrodite wandered about in search of him until she found him in the city of Argos in Cyprus in the sanctuary of Apollo Erithios. She carried him away [for a funeral], having told Apollo about her love for Adonis. Apollo took her to the
Leucadic Rock and ordered her to jump off the cliff. As she leapt, she freed herself of her love. They say that when she inquired about the reason, Apollo replied that as a seer he knew that whenever Zeus felt desire for Hera, he would come to the rock, sit there and free himself from the desire. Many other men and women who suffered from lovesickness got rid of it when they jumped off that cliff. (Photius Bibliotheca. 152-153. Bekker)
What follows is a long list of people who are said to have jumped off said cliff, some surviving while others not (in any case, quite darkly, all were relieved of their passions). Notably Sappho, the most celebrated leaper, is not mentioned.
The fact that Zeus is mentioned as only sitting on the rock and not hurling himself from it is interesting. Nagy 1990 (see below) notes the similarities between the Leucadic Rock and the "proverbially white" Thoríkios pétros ‘Leap Rock’ of Attic Kolonos (Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus). He also notes the double etymology of "Thoríkios" as derivable from the noun thorós ‘semen’ (e.g. Herodotus 2.93.1) as well as of the verb thrṓiskō ‘leap’ (which can also have the side-meaning ‘mount, fecundate’ e.g. Aeschylus Eumenides 600), and connects it with one of the myths that is said to have taken place on this mountain:
Others say that, in the vicinity of the rocks at Athenian Kolonos, he [Poseidon], falling asleep, had an emission of semen, and a horse Skúphios came out, who is also called Skīrōnítēs. (Scholia to Lycophron 766)
Poseidon Petraîos [= of the rocks] has a cult among the Thessalians … because he, having fallen asleep at some rock, had an emission of semen; and the earth, receiving the semen, produced the first horse, whom they called Skúphios. (Scholia to Pindar Pythian 4.246)
According to Bednarek 2019 (see below), in view of Ptolemy’s humorous intentions in his collection of weird narratives, the story becomes a sort of "sophomoric riddle": What cure does Zeus have to administer "repeatedly" (εὶ ἐρῶν … ἐκαθέζετο καὶ ἀνεπαύετο), while sitting down, presumably alone and in secrecy, that clearly only provides a temporary relief, and provides an aitiological name for the White Rock, to free himself from his desire?
This ass long-winded post just to make a fucking joke about Zeus having a wank. Worth it.
~~ Cape Lefkatas
Secondary Sources and Futher Reading (these are only the ones I mentioned in this post, apparently there's a lot to say on the subject):
Greek Mythology and Poetics, Gregory Nagy 1990. Ch. 9. Phaethon, Sappho’s Phaon, and the White Rock of Leukas: “Reading” the Symbols of Greek Lyric. https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/chapter-9-phaethon-sapphos-phaon-and-the-white-rock-of-leukas-reading-the-symbols-of-greek-lyric-pp-223-262/
Levaniouk, Olga. 2011. Eve of the Festival: Making Myth in Odyssey 19. Hellenic Studies Series 46. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies https://chs.harvard.edu/chapter/17-penelope-and-the-penelops/
Bednarek, Bartłomiej. “Zeus on the Leucadic Rock. White magic of an obscene passage in Ptolemy Chennos.” Acta Classica 62 (2019): 219–27. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26945053.
Sappho und Simonides, Untersuchungen über griechische Lyriker by Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, 1913
... insan öleceğini düşünür olunca, önceleri akıldan geçmeyen korkulara, kaygılara düşer. Bu dünyada kötülük eden Hades’te cezasını çeker, gibi sözlere gülenleri, gün gelir, ya bu söz doğruysa diye bir korku alır. İnsanlar, ya ihtiyarlığın verdiği dermansızlık yüzünden ya da kendilerini öteki dünyaya daha yakın gördüklerinden orada olup bitenler üzerinde kafa yorarlar, kuşku, korku dolar içlerine; kimlere kötülük ettiklerini araştırmaya başlarlar. Hayatlarını gözden geçirip ettikleri ettikleri haksızlıkların farkına varanlar, çocuklar gibi uykularından korkuyla uyanırlar. Umutsuz bir bekleme içinde zehir olur hayatları. Oysa hiç haksızlık etmediklerini bilenlerde hep tatlı bir umut vardır.
The scene is set at dawn, as the sun rises from the sea and the stars sink into it. The sun drives his chariot, pulled by four winged horses, up out of the ocean, while the stars are shown as boys, diving and disappearing into the water.
(A) Over the mountain-top on the left the setting moon is shown as Selene, a matronly figure in long chiton, necklace, and mantle passed over her head, riding side-saddle a horse, whose legs are already out of sight, to the left. Below her gallops up the mountain-side a large hound, who seems to be baying the moon; this is the hound of Kephalos, a wreathed youth equipped as a hunter (chlamys, petasos at back, two spears in left hand), who, as he moves to left, turns to menace with a stone Eos, as she extends her right to seize him. She moves rapidly after him, her powerful wings extended behind, wearing a long chiton, a mantle covering her body and left arm, a necklace, and a stephane with long rays; her hair is knotted behind. On the right (over the handle) is another hill-top, surmounted by a stunted pine-tree, beside which the morning star (Eosphoros, #Lucifer), represented as a wreathed boy with heavy mantle hanging from his left shoulder and arm, moves rapidly to the right, looking back at Eos, and raising his right hand in surprise; his feet and his right leg from the knee are concealed behind the hill-top.
(B) Continuing the scene, on the left four stars, as nude boys, are shown in various stages of setting in the rippling waves on the seashore. One, as a diver with extended arms, plunges headlong into the waves; a second stands en face on a small pinnacle of rock, raising his arms as if about to plunge; a third, already in the waves, swims to right, hand over hand, looking back at the last; and a fourth, who stands waist-high in the water, extends his arms as if about to dive beneath the surface to the left; he looks to right, where, spreading over the whole of this side of the vase, the chariot of Helios, drawn by four winged horses, springs forward and upward out of the sea. Helios, a beardless but full-grown man, with large radiated disc as background for his head, with short chiton, leaving right shoulder free, and mantle flying from both shoulders, leans slightly back in his chariot, with his weight on the reins, held in each hand, as if restraining his horses; in his right he holds also a goad. Each pair of reins is bound together at regular intervals; the chariot is decorated with floral ornaments; the horses have collars and bridles studded with white beads.
Late stage of finest style. Purple is used for ground-lines, waves, wreaths, rays of Eos, leaves of tree. Brown inner markings and a brown wash for wings and mane of horses, body of chariot, and disc of sun. Eye in profile. The drapery of Helios is like that of the Meidias vase. The left leg of Eos is curiously drawn, as if beneath transparent drapery. Below each side, sets of three maeanders separated by chequer squares. Round the lip, laurel-wreath. The design runs in a continuous band round the body of the vase and above each handle. The scene in a is laid on a rocky mountain side, sloping down in b to the waves of the sea. The surface of the upper part of A is damaged.
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Büyük Mitoloji Ailelerinden Athenai Soyu: Prokris ile Kephalos
Güzel, güzel olduğu kadar da talihsiz bir kadın, olan Prokris, Prokne ile Philomele’nin yeğenleriydi. Rüzgârlar tanrısı Aiolos’un torunu Kephalos’la evliydi. Mutluluk içinde yaşayıp gidiyorlardı; ama bu mutluluk, Şafak tanrıçası Aurora’-nın araya girmesiyle bozuldu.”
Kephalos, her sabah erkenden kalkıp geyik avına çıkardı. Şafak, genç avcıyı birkaç kere görmüş, ona âşık oluvermişti. Ama Kephalos’un gözü, Prokris’ten başkasını görmüyordu. Aurora, yakışıklı delikanlının bu bağlılığını koparmak için elinden geleni yaptı. Sonunda, “Bakalım,” dedi, “karın da sana bu kadar bağlı mı? Nereden biliyorsun seni aldatmadığım?”
Bu soru, Kephalos’u çılgına çevirdi. Uzun süredir kanımdan uzaktaydı. Üstelik Prokris de Öyle güzeldi ki… Karımın kendisine bağlılığını denemeden İçi rahat etmeyecekti. Hemen kılık değiştirerek ülkesine döndü. Bazıları, bu konuda Aurora’nm delikanlıya yardım ettiğini söylerler. İster etmiş, ister etmemiş olsun, öyle değişik bir kılığa girdi ki Kepha değil karısı, neredeyse kendi bile tanıyamayacaktı kendisini.
Kıskanç avcıyı, acılı yüzlerle karşıladılar evinde. Delikanlı. “Neden böyle üzüntülüsünüz?” diye sordu hizmetçilere. “Efendimiz uzaklarda da onun için,” cevabını aldı. Bunu duyunca çok sevindi Kephalos: “Demek beni bu kadar çok seviyorlar,” diye düşündü. Prokris’in karşısına çıkarıldığı zaman sevinci daha da arttı. Karısı, kocasının yokluğundan ötürü öyle üzgün, öyle üzgündü ki… Kepha’os, neredeyse kendini tutamayıp kim olduğunu söyleyecekti: ama Aurora’nın alaycı sözleri geldi akima, Prokris’e yakınlık göstermeye başladı. “Ne kadar güzelsiniz.” dedi kadına. “Kocanız uzaklarda kim bilir kiminle sevişirken siz burada tek başınıza solup gidiyorsunuz.”
Prokrİs, ağırbaşlı davranışını sürdürdü, karşısındaki yabancıya yüz vermedi. “Ben kocama bağlıyım,” dedi, “o nerede olursa olsun, ben ondan başkasını sevemem.”
Birkaç gün sonra, kılık değiştirmiş Kephalos’un üstelemelerine dayanamayarak bir an duraklayıverdi. Bu duraklama Kephalos İçin yetti de arttı bile. “Utanmaz kadın!” diye bağırdı. “Bak, işte ben senin koçanım! Beni aldatmaya kalkarsın ha? Kendi gözlerimle gördüm!” Aslında gördüğü bir şey yoktu ya, neyse…
Prokris, uğradığı bu haksızlığa dayanamayarak evden kaçtı. Sevgisi, ansızın nefrete dönüvermişti. Kocasına da, bütün erkeklere de lanet ederek dağlara çıktı. Yalnız başına yaşayacaktı artık.
Çok geçmedi, Kephalos suçunu anladı; karısının izini aradı bir süre. Sonunda Prokris’i saklandığı yerde bularak bağışlamasını diledi. Kocasını hemen bağışlamadı Prokris, ama sonunda onunla yeniden aynı evde oturmaya boyun eğdi.
Karı-koca, eskisi gibi, mutluluk içinde yasamaya, başladılar. Gece gündüz birlikteydiler. Zaman zaman da ava çıkıyorlardı. Prokris, kocasına, nereye fırlatılırsa gidip oraya saplanan bir mızrak armağan etmişti.
Bir gün, yine ava gitmişlerdi. Karı-koca, ağaçların arasında ayrıldılar. Kephalos, çevresini gözetlerken biraz ilerisindeki bir çalılığın kıpırdadığını gördü. Karısının verdiği mızrağı çalılığa fırlattı hemen. Hayvan yerine, bağırarak bir kadın yığıldı otların arasına. Bu kadın, Prokris’te ölmüştü.
Büyük Mitoloji Ailelerinden Athenai Soyu: Prokris ile Kephalos
Güzel, güzel olduğu kadar da talihsiz bir kadın, olan Prokris, Prokne ile Philomele’nin yeğenleriydi. Rüzgârlar tanrısı Aiolos’un torunu Kephalos’la evliydi. Mutluluk içinde yaşayıp gidiyorlardı; ama bu mutluluk, Şafak tanrıçası Aurora’-nın araya girmesiyle bozuldu.”
Kephalos, her sabah erkenden kalkıp geyik avına çıkardı. Şafak, genç avcıyı birkaç kere görmüş, ona âşık oluvermişti. Ama Kephalos’un gözü, Prokris’ten başkasını görmüyordu. Aurora, yakışıklı delikanlının bu bağlılığını koparmak için elinden geleni yaptı. Sonunda, “Bakalım,” dedi, “karın da sana bu kadar bağlı mı? Nereden biliyorsun seni aldatmadığım?”
Bu soru, Kephalos’u çılgına çevirdi. Uzun süredir kanımdan uzaktaydı. Üstelik Prokris de Öyle güzeldi ki… Karımın kendisine bağlılığını denemeden İçi rahat etmeyecekti. Hemen kılık değiştirerek ülkesine döndü. Bazıları, bu konuda Aurora’nm delikanlıya yardım ettiğini söylerler. İster etmiş, ister etmemiş olsun, öyle değişik bir kılığa girdi ki Kepha değil karısı, neredeyse kendi bile tanıyamayacaktı kendisini.
Kıskanç avcıyı, acılı yüzlerle karşıladılar evinde. Delikanlı. “Neden böyle üzüntülüsünüz?” diye sordu hizmetçilere. “Efendimiz uzaklarda da onun için,” cevabını aldı. Bunu duyunca çok sevindi Kephalos: “Demek beni bu kadar çok seviyorlar,” diye düşündü. Prokris’in karşısına çıkarıldığı zaman sevinci daha da arttı. Karısı, kocasının yokluğundan ötürü öyle üzgün, öyle üzgündü ki… Kepha’os, neredeyse kendini tutamayıp kim olduğunu söyleyecekti: ama Aurora’nın alaycı sözleri geldi akima, Prokris’e yakınlık göstermeye başladı. “Ne kadar güzelsiniz.” dedi kadına. “Kocanız uzaklarda kim bilir kiminle sevişirken siz burada tek başınıza solup gidiyorsunuz.”
Prokrİs, ağırbaşlı davranışını sürdürdü, karşısındaki yabancıya yüz vermedi. “Ben kocama bağlıyım,” dedi, “o nerede olursa olsun, ben ondan başkasını sevemem.”
Birkaç gün sonra, kılık değiştirmiş Kephalos’un üstelemelerine dayanamayarak bir an duraklayıverdi. Bu duraklama Kephalos İçin yetti de arttı bile. “Utanmaz kadın!” diye bağırdı. “Bak, işte ben senin koçanım! Beni aldatmaya kalkarsın ha? Kendi gözlerimle gördüm!” Aslında gördüğü bir şey yoktu ya, neyse…
Prokris, uğradığı bu haksızlığa dayanamayarak evden kaçtı. Sevgisi, ansızın nefrete dönüvermişti. Kocasına da, bütün erkeklere de lanet ederek dağlara çıktı. Yalnız başına yaşayacaktı artık.
Çok geçmedi, Kephalos suçunu anladı; karısının izini aradı bir süre. Sonunda Prokris’i saklandığı yerde bularak bağışlamasını diledi. Kocasını hemen bağışlamadı Prokris, ama sonunda onunla yeniden aynı evde oturmaya boyun eğdi.
Karı-koca, eskisi gibi, mutluluk içinde yasamaya, başladılar. Gece gündüz birlikteydiler. Zaman zaman da ava çıkıyorlardı. Prokris, kocasına, nereye fırlatılırsa gidip oraya saplanan bir mızrak armağan etmişti.
Bir gün, yine ava gitmişlerdi. Karı-koca, ağaçların arasında ayrıldılar. Kephalos, çevresini gözetlerken biraz ilerisindeki bir çalılığın kıpırdadığını gördü. Karısının verdiği mızrağı çalılığa fırlattı hemen. Hayvan yerine, bağırarak bir kadın yığıldı otların arasına. Bu kadın, Prokris’te ölmüştü.
