CEYX (mortal king of Trachinia)

A close friend of Heracles, Ceyx welcomed the hero when he arrived to suffer the penalty of exile.^4,2,3 Heracles frequently visited the house of Ceyx, and the king assisted him in conquering the Dryopes.^10,3 When Heracles' children sought refuge after fleeing Eurystheus, Ceyx welcomed them, though he claimed he lacked the strength to help them himself.^11,4 Instead, he sent the youths to Athens to seek protection from Theseus.⁴ Ceyx's son, Hippasus, was killed during the attack on Oechalia.³ Beyond his duties to heroes, Ceyx performed burial rites for Cycnus and the inhabitants of Anthe, the Myrmidons' city, Iolcus, Arne, and Helice.⁶

Mentally distressed by the strange fate and wonders that followed his brother, Ceyx planned to visit the oracle at Delphi to seek divine guidance.¹² As the ship departed, Ceyx stood on the stern to wave farewell to his wife using hand signals.¹³ A south wind destroyed his ship, and a large wave broke over him, burying his head beneath the water and preventing him from calling out his wife's name.^8,9,14 Clinging to a piece of his broken ship with the hand that usually held his sceptre, he repeatedly spoke his wife's name while swimming in the waves.¹⁴ He called out to his father and father-in-law while drowning, praying that the waves would carry his body to his wife's eyes.¹⁴ He also asked to be buried by his friends after his death.¹⁴

Hera commanded Sleep to appear to Halcyone in the form of the dead Ceyx, and Morpheus assumed his physical appearance to visit his wife.^15,8 The ghost appeared pale, bloodless, and naked, with dripping hair and beard, and lacked his usual cheerful countenance.^8,9 He personally informed his wife of his death rather than sending a messenger, and urged her to mourn him before he went to Tartarus.⁸ Morpheus made Ceyx's ghost shed real tears, and the figure was desirous to detain Halcyone as he departed.⁹ Halcyone tried to detain the ghost by extending her hands, but Ceyx fled when she tried to hold him.⁹

Ceyx was found as a corpse washed up on the shore by his wife, dead and lifeless on a man-made mole by the sea.^16,17 Due to his and Alcyone's pride, Zeus turned Ceyx into a gannet.^1,17 Ceyx and his wife shared the same fate of becoming birds, and they became parents after this transformation.¹⁷ Halcyon is identified as the mourning partner of Ceyx, associated with the tossing wave where she mourns him.⁷