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Greek Mythology >> Bestiary >> Teumessian Fox (Alopex Teumesios)

ALOPEX TEUMESIOS

Greek Name

Αλωπεξ Τευμησιος

Transliteration

Alôpex Teumêsios

Latin Spelling

Alopex Teumesius

Translation

Teumessian Fox

THE ALOPEX TEUMESIOS (Teumessian Fox) was a giant fox sent by the gods to ravage the countryside of Thebes as punishment for some crime. Kreon (Creon), regent of Thebes, commanded Amphitryon destroy the fox--an impossible task for the beast was destined never to be caught. The hero solved the problem by setting the magical dog Lailaps (Laelaps) on the trail, for it was destined to always catch its quarry. Zeus, faced with a paradox of fate--an uncatchable fox being pursued by an inescapable dog--, turned the pair to stone, so freezing their contest in time.

FAMILY OF THE FOX

PARENTS

Perhaps a child of TYPHOEUS though nowhere stated

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Homerica, The Epigoni Frag 2 (from Photius, Lexicon s.v. Teumesia) (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C7th B.C.) :
"Teumesia. Those who have written on Theban affairs have given a full account of the Teumesian Fox (Alopekos Teumesia). They relate that the creature was sent by the gods to punish the descendants of Kadmos (Cadmus), and that the Thebans therefore excluded those of the house of Kadmos from the kingship. But they say a certain Kephalos (Cephalus), the son of Deion, an Athenian, who owned a Hound [Lailaps (Laelaps)] which no beast ever escaped, had accidentally killed his wife Prokris (Procris), and being purified of the homicide by the Kadmeans, hunted the Fox with his Hound, and when they had overtaken it both Hound and Fox were turned into stones near Teumessos (Teumessus). These writers have taken the story from the Epic Cycle."

Corinna, Fragment 672 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Oidipos (Oedipus) killed not only the Sphinx but also the Teumessian Fox."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 2. 57 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"[Amphitryon stepfather of Herakles] undertook a campaign against the Teleboans, inviting Kreon (Creon) [king of Thebes] to join him. Kreon agreed to do so, if first Amphitryon would free the Kadmeian (Cadmean) Land [Thebes] of its Fox. For a wild Fox was creating havoc in the land. But despite Amphitryon's attempts, it was fated that no one would subdue this Fox. As the land continued in torment, the Thebans once a month would set out one of the citizen's children for it, for otherwise it would have seized many of them. Amphitryon went to Deioneus' son Kephalos (Cephalus) at Athens, and after promising him a share of the booty from the Teleboan expedition, persuaded him to bring to the fox- hunt the Dog [Lailaps (Laelaps)] which Prokris (Procris) had received from Minos and brought from Krete (Crete), for it was also fated that this Dog would catch whatever it chased. Consequently, when the Fox was chased by the Dog, Zeus turned them both to stone." [N.B. They were turn to stone to resolve a paradox of fate--a Fox destined never be caught being chased by a Dog destined to catch whatever it chased.]

Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 19. 1 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"On this highway is a place called Teumessos (Teumessus), where it is said that Europa was hidden by Zeus. There is also another legend, which tells of a Fox called the Teumessian Fox, how owing to the wrath of Dionysos the beast was reared to destroy the Thebans, and how, when about to be caught by the Hound [Lailaps (Laelaps)] given by Artemis to Prokris (Procris) the daughter of Erekhtheus (Erechtheus), the Fox was turned into a stone, as was likewise this Hound."

Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses 41 (trans. Celoria) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Amphitryon who needed the dog [Lailaps (Laelaps) who always caught his quarry], went to Kephalos (Cephalus) and asked him if he would be willing to join him, with the dog, in going after the [Teumessian] Fox. He promised to hand over to him a share of the booty which he would take from the Teleboans. For at that time there had appeared in the land of the people of Kadmos (Cadmus), a Fox was a monstrous creature. It would regularly issue out of Teumessos snatching up Kadmeans (Cadmeans). Every thirty days they would put out a child for it and the Fox would take it and eat it up. Amphitryon had asked Kreon (Creon) and the Kadmeans to help in making war against the Teleboians. They refused unless he helped them do away with the Fox. Amphitryon accepted these conditions from the Kadmeans and went to Kephalos and told him about the agreement and urged him to go to Thebes with the dog. Kephalos accepted the proposal and set out to hunt the Fox. But it had been ordained that the Fox could not be taken by any hunter, and that nothing should escape that dog when it went hunting. Zeus saw them when they reached the plain of Thebes and turned them both into stones."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 35 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"The Dog [Laelaps] was so swift that no beast could escape . . . Cephalus brought it to Thebes with him when he came. There was a Fox there which was said to be so swift that it could outrun all dogs. So when the two animals met, Jupiter [Zeus], in a dilemma, as Istrus says, changed them both to stone."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 748 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"[Kephalos (Cephalus) recounts the Teumessian Fox hunt :] The riddle that had baffled earlier brains was solved by Laiades [Oidipous (Oedipus) son of Laius] and headlong down the Carmina [Sphinx] had fallen, her mysteries forgotten. At once a second plague was launched on Thebae Aoniae (Aonian Thebes), a savage beast [the Teumessian Fox] that killed and feasted on the farmfolk and their flocks. We, the young squires, ringed the broad pastures with our hunting nets, but with a bound the beast was over them, clearing the tops of our entanglements. We slipped our dogs; the beast, as they gave chase, fled like a bird and mocked our hundred hounds. With one accord my comrades called to me for Laelaps (Whirlwind)--my find gift-hound--, who for long had fought the leash that checked him. He was loosed and straightway lost to sight; the hot dust held his footprints; he had vanished; not so swift a lance's flight or bullets from a sling or slender arrows from a Cretan bow. Some rising ground commanded the wide fields; I climbed the top and gained a grandstand view of that strange chase; one moment the beast's caught the next the death-wound's missed him--he's escaped. His course was cunning, never straight for long; he doubled back and circled to deceive the chasing jaws, to foil his foe's assault. The hound pressed close, clung step for step; it seemed he'd got him, but he failed and snapped the air. My javelin must help, I thought, and while I weighed it in my hand and tried to fit my fingers in the loop, I glanced aside, and when I looked again--amazing sight!--there in the open plain below I saw two marble statues, one of them, you'd swear, in flight, the other pouncing on its prey. Some god, if gods were watching, must have willed that both should be unbeaten in that chase."

SOURCES

GREEK

ROMAN

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.