PROCRIS (legendary princess of Athens)
Figure of myth · legendary princess of Athens
- Parents
- Erechtheus, Praxithea
- Siblings
- Creusa
- Consorts
- Erechtheus, Cephalus, Pteleon
- Children
- Arcesius, Aglaura
- In the sources
- 10 ancient passages
Procris, daughter of the king Erechtheus, was a woman who enjoyed hunting and went out with Cephalus to chase game.1,2,3 Her family included siblings such as Creusa, Cecrops, and Orithyia, while her mother was Praxithea.2,4 Often in doubt, she hoped that troubling information might be a deception.5
Her father Erechtheus arranged her marriage to Cephalus, son of Deion.1,2,4
Tragedy struck when Procris accepted a golden crown to sleep with Pteleon.2 After Cephalus discovered the affair, she fled to Minos, where she slept with him in exchange for his swift dog and straight-flying dart.2 To protect herself from Minos's curse, she gave him the Circaean root to drink, a desperate measure to ensure her survival.2 Eos carried Cephalus away from Procris against his will, and she had prophesied that he would wish he had not had her.4
Hearing a false accusation regarding her husband's constancy, she fainted from sudden grief and refused to judge him guilty without seeing the alleged rival herself.5 She dreads a name without a body, grieving as though facing a real rival, and declared herself wretched and born to a cruel destiny.5
Found dying with blood staining her scattered vestments, Procris lacked the strength to speak her final words, forcing herself to utter only a few before expiring.5 She pulled the weapon that had wounded her out of her own body as her life faded.5 Her accidental death by her husband's hand led to his exile from Athens and condemnation to perpetual banishment in the Areopagus.2,6
The codex facts behind this entry
In the myths
Cephalus accidentally killed Procris, which caused him to be exiled from Athens and condemned to perpetual banishment in the Areopagus. Apollodorus 3.15.1 +2
Fate
Procris was accidentally killed by her husband Cephalus, who struck her in the breast with a dart or javelin while hunting in a thicket. Apollodorus 3.15.1 +4
