Cephalus

• a son of Deïoneus (Hyg. Fab. 189) or of Pandion (id. ib. 279), a grandson of Aeolus (hence, Aeolides, Ov. M. 6, 681), the husband of Procris, whom he, when watched by her, unintentionally shot, Ov. M. 6, 681; 7, 665 sq.; 7, 841; Hyg. Astr. 2, 35; Serv. ad Verg. A. 6, 445.

(Κέφαλος).

1. A son of Hermes and Herse, was carried off by Eos, who became by him the mother of Tithonus in Syria. (Apollod. 3.14.3.) Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 160, 270) makes him a son of Hermes by Creusa, or of Pandion, and Hesiod (Hes. Th. 986) makes Phaeton the son of Cephalus instead of Tithonus. On the pediment of the kingly Stoa in the Cerameicus at Athens, and on the temple of Apollo at Amyclae, the carrying off of Cephelus by Hemera (not Eos) was represented. (Paus. 1.3.1, 3.18.7.)

2. A son of Deion, the ruler of Phocis, and Diomede, was married to Procris or Procne, by whom he become the father of Archius, the father of Laertes. He is described as likewise beloved by Eos (Apollod. 1.9.4; Hyg. Fab. 125; Schol. ad Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 209), but he and Procris were sincerely attached, and promised to remain faithful to each other. Once when the handsome Cephalus was amusing himself with the chase, Eos approached him with loving entreaties, which, however, he rejected. The goddess then bade him not break his vow until Procris had broken hers, but advised him to try her fidelity. She then metamorphosed him into a stranger, and gave him rich presents with which he was to tempt Procris. Procris was induced by the brilliant presents to break the vow she had made to Cephalus, and when she recognized her husband, she fled to Crete and discovered herself to Artemis. The goddess made her a present of a dog and a spear, which were never to miss their object, and then sent her back to Cephalus. Procris returned home in the disguise of a youth, and went out with Cephalus to chase. When he perceived the excellence of her dog and spear, he proposed to buy them of her; but she refused to part with them for any price except for love. When he accordingly promised to love her, she made herself known to him, and he became reconciled to her. As, however, she still feared the love of Eos, she always jealously watched him when he sent out hunting, but on one occasion he killed her by accident with the never-erring spear. (Hyg. Fab. 189.) Somewhat different versions of the same story are given by Apollodorus (3.15.1) and Ovid. (Met. 7.394, &c.; comp. Ant. Lib. 41; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 1643.) Subsequently Amphitryon of Thebes came to Cephalus, and persuaded him to give up his dog to hunt the fox which was ravaging the Cadmean territory. After doing this he went out with Amphitryon against the Teleboans, upon the conquest of whom he was rewarded by Amphitryon with the island which he called after his own name Cephallenia. (Apollod. 2.4.7; Strab. x. p.456; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 307, &c.) Cephalus is also called the father of Iphiclus by Clymene. (Paus. 10.29.2.) He is said to have put an end to his life by leaping into the sea from cape Leucas, on which he had built a temple of Apollo, in order to atone for having killed his wife Procris. (Strab. x. p.452; comp. Paus. 1.37.4; Hyg. Fab. 48.) [L.S]

(Κέφαλος), a Molossian chief, who, together with another chief, Antinous, was driven by the calumnies of Charops to take the side of Perseus, in self-defence, against the Romans. [Antinous.] Some have inferred from the language of Polybius that, after the outbreak of the war, Cephalus slew himself to avoid falling into the hands of the conquerors; but Livy tells us, that he was killed at the capture of the Molossian town of Tecmon, which he had obstinately defended against L. Anicius, the Roman commander, B. C. 167. Polybius speaks of him as " a man of wisdom and consistency," φρόνιμος καὶ στάσιμος ἄνθρωπος. (Plb. 27.13, 30.7; Liv. 43.18, 22, 45.26.) [E.E]

(Κέφαλος).

1. The son of Lysanias, grandson of Cephalus, and father of the orator Lysias, was a Syracusan by birth, but went to Athens at the invitation of Pericles, where he lived thirty years, till his death, taking a part in public affairs, enjoying considerable wealth, and having so high a reputation that he never had an action brought against him. He is one of the speakers in Plato's Republic. * The Cephalus, who is one of the speakers in the Parmenides of Plato, was a different person, a native of Clazomenae. (Plat. Parm. p. 126.) (Lys. c. Eratosth. p. 120. 26, ed. Steph.; Plat. Repub. p. 328b. &c., comp. Cic. Att. 4.16; Taylor's Life of Lysias, in Reiske's Oratores Graeci.) He died at a very advanced age before B. C. 443, so that he must have settled at Athens before B. C. 473. (Clinton, Fast. Hell. s. ann. 443.) He left three sons -- Polemarchus, Lysias, and Euthydemus.

2. An eminent Athenian orator and demagogue of the Colyttean demus, who flourished at and after the time of the Thirty Tyrants, in effecting whose overthrow he appears to have borne a leading part. He is placed by Clinton at B. C. 402, on the authority of Deinarchus c. Demosth. p. 100. 4, ed. Steph., compare p. 95. 7-8.) This date is confirmed by Demosthenes, who mentions him in connexion with Callistratus, Aristophon the Azenian, and Thrasybulus. (De Coron. p. 301.) He is summoned by Andocides to plead for him at the end of the oration De Mysteriis. (B. C. 400.) He flourished at least thirty years longer. Aeschines (who calls him ὁ παλαιὸς ἐκεῖνος ὁ δοκῶν δημοτικώτατος γεγονέναι) relates, that, on one occasion, when he was opposed to Aristophon the Azenian, the latter boasted that he had been acquitted seventy-five times of accusations against his public conduct, but Cephalus replied, that during his long public life he had never been accused. (c. Ctesiph. p. 81. 39, ed. Steph.; see the answer of Dem. de Coron. pp. 310-11.) He had a daughter named Oea, who was married to Cherops. (Suid. s.v. Harpocrat. s. v. Οἰῆθεν.) Tzetzes (Chil. vi. Hist. 34) confounds this Cephalus with the father of Lysias. In spite of the coincidence on the point of never having been accused, they must have been different persons, at least if the date given above for the death of Lysias's father be correct.

The Scholiast on Aristophanes asserts, that the Cephalus whom the poet mentions (Eccles.248) as a scurrilous and low-born demagogue, but powerful in the Ecclesia, was not the same person as the orator mentioned by Demosthenes. This is perhaps a mistake, into which the Scholiast was led by the high respect with which Cephalus is referred to by Demosthenes, as well as by Aeschines and Deinarchus. The attacks of an Athenian comic poet are no certain evidence of a public man's worthlessness.

According to Suidas (s. v.), Cephalus was the first orator who composed προοίμια and ἐπιλόγοι. A small fragment from him is preserved in the Etymologicon Magnum (s. v. Ἐπιτιμία). Athenaeus (xiii. p. 592c.) states, that he wrote an ἐγκώμιον on the celebrated courtezan Lagis (or Lais), the mistress of Lysias. Ruhnken (Hist. Crit. Orat. Graec. § 5) supposes, that the writer mentioned by Athenaeus was a different person from the orator, but his only reason for this opinion is, that such an ἐγκώμιον is unworthy of a distinguished orator. [P.S]

(Κέφαλος). (1) The son of Deïon, and a grandson of Aeolus, married to Procris, the eldest daughter of Erechtheus. They dwelt at Thoricos in Attica, and lived happily together till curiosity to try the fidelity of his wife entered the mind of Cephalus. Feigning a journey of eight years, he disguised himself and came to Procris with a splendid jewel, which he offered to her on dishonourable terms. After much hesitation she yielded, when her husband discovered himself and reproached her with her conduct. She fled from him in shame, but they were soon after reconciled. Cephalus went constantly to the chase; and Procris growing suspicious, as she had failed herself, fancied that he was attracted by the charms of some other fair one. She questioned the slave who used to accompany him; and he told her that his master used frequently to ascend the summit of a hill and cry out, “Come, Nephelé, come!” Procris went to the designated hill and concealed herself in a thicket; and on her husband's crying, “Come, Nephelé, come!” (which was nothing more than an invocation for some cloud, ϝεφέλη, to interpose itself between him and the scorching beams of the sun), she rushed forward towards her husband, who, in his astonishment, threw his dart and unwittingly killed her. (See Hyg. 189; cf. Ovid, Met. vii. 661 foll.) This legend is told with great variations. Cephalus, for his involuntary crime, was banished. He went to Thebes, which was at that time ravaged by a fox which nothing could overtake, and he joined Amphitryon in the chase of it. His dog Laelaps ran it down; but, just as he was catching it, Zeus turned them both to stone. Cephalus then aided Amphitryon against the Teleboans, and on their conquest he settled in the island named from him Cephallenia.

(2) An Athenian orator, who flourished towards the end of the Peloponnesian War, and was one of those who contributed most to overthrow the rule of the Thirty Tyrants (q.v.). Although he lived during a very stormy period, and although no one ever proposed or caused to be passed more laws than he did, yet he never had any accusation brought against him—a remarkable fact in the history of Athens. We must not confound him with Cephalus, the father of Lysias, who came from Syracuse and settled at Athens. Suidas makes Cephalus to have been the first orator that made use of an exordium and peroration.

(3) The father of Lysias the orator. He was a native of Syracuse, but settled at Athens as a resident sojourner, or one of the μέτοικοι.