Cepheus (Tegea)

Cepheus ( ancient Greek Κηφεύς ) is in Greek mythology a king of Tegea and participants of the voyage of the Argonauts . He was a son of King Aleos and his cousin Neaira and thus the brother of Lycurgus , Amphidamas and the Eye . His children included Sterope , Aeropos , and Antinoe .

When Heracles passed through Arcadia, he asked Cepheus to fight with his twenty sons by his side. But Cepheus feared that his neighbors, the Argives , would invade Tegea as soon as he left the city and therefore refused. Heracles had received a lock of hair from the head of Medusa from Athena , which he gave sterope. He told her to hold her lock as the enemy approached over the city walls and they would flee. Then Cepheus was persuaded to take part in the train. Sterope was able to repel an attack by the Argives with his lock, but Cepheus and his twenty sons were killed on the way.

swell

• Apollonios of Rhodes : Argonautica 1,8,2; 2.7.3
• Hyginus : Fabulae 14
• Pausanias 8.5.1; 8.8.4
• Gaius Valerius Flaccus : Argonautica 1,375

literature

• Karl Tümpel : Cepheus 1) . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 2.1, Leipzig 1894, Col. 1107-1109 ( digitized version ).

Web links

• The Argonauts at http://www.maicar.com/ (English)