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ALCYONE, or HALCYONE

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 530 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ALCYONE, or HALCYONE , in See also:Greek See also:mythology, daughter of See also:Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. For their presumption in calling themselves See also:Zeus and See also:Hera they were changed into birds—Alcyone into a See also:diver, Ceyx into a See also:kingfisher. According to another See also:story, Ceyx was drowned and his See also:body See also:cast on the See also:shore. His wife found the body, and the gods, out of compassion, changed both her and her See also:husband into kingfishers. By command of Zeus (or Aeolus) the winds ceased to See also:blow during their brooding-See also:time, for seven days before and after the shortest See also:day, that their eggs might not be carried away by the See also:sea. Hence the expression " halcyon days," used in See also:ancient and See also:modern times to denote a See also:period of See also:calm and tranquillity. See also:Apollonius Rhodius i. 1087 ; See also:Ovid, Metam. xi. 410 et seq. ; See also:Hyginus, Fabulae, 65.

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