Alcyone- Greek FigureMortal
Also known as: Ἀλκυόνη, Alkyonē, and Halcyone
Symbols
Description
She watches from the shore as winter waves return her husband's body, then leaps into the surf — and where grief should end in drowning, feathers spread instead, as the gods reshape both lovers into kingfishers and still the seas for fourteen days each winter.
Mythology & Lore
The Voyage of Ceyx
Alcyone was the daughter of Aeolus, keeper of the winds, and wife of Ceyx, king of Trachis. When Ceyx resolved to sail across the Aegean to consult the oracle at Claros, troubled by the fate of his brother Daedalion, Alcyone pleaded for him not to go. As Aeolus's daughter, she had grown up with storms. She begged to sail with him, preferring shared peril to the agony of waiting. Ceyx promised to return before two moons had passed.
The storm struck with terrible swiftness. The waves mounted and the sky went black. The ship broke apart. Ceyx, clinging to wreckage, called Alcyone's name with his last breaths and prayed that the current might carry his body back to her hands.
Dream, Death, and Transformation
While Ceyx lay drowned, Alcyone continued her daily prayers at Juno's altar for his safe return. Juno, unable to bear prayers offered on behalf of the dead, dispatched Iris to the cave of Somnus. Morpheus, the dream-shaper, appeared to Alcyone as the dripping corpse of Ceyx, standing at her bedside to tell her he was dead and that she should not hope in vain.
At dawn Alcyone rushed to the shore where she had watched Ceyx depart. She recognized his body floating in the waves and ran along a breakwater toward him. As she leaped from the mole into the sea, she did not fall. Feathers covered her body and she skimmed the waves as a bird, uttering a thin, grieving cry. When she reached the floating corpse and wrapped her new wings around his cold limbs, Ceyx too stirred and changed. The gods transformed both into kingfishers.
Each winter, Aeolus stills the winds for fourteen days so his daughter can brood upon her floating nest.