Teumessian fox

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

In Greek mythology, the Teumessian fox was an enormous fox that was destined never to be caught.[1]

Mythology

It was said that the Teumessian fox had been sent by the gods (perhaps

Creon, then-Regent of Thebes, set Amphitryon the impossible task of destroying this beast. He discovered a supposedly perfect solution by using the magical dog Laelaps, who was destined to catch everything it chased, to catch the Teumessian fox. Zeus, faced with an inevitable contradiction due to the paradoxical nature of their mutually excluding abilities, turned the two beasts into stone. The pair were cast into the stars and remain as Canis Major (Laelaps) and Canis Minor
(Teumessian Fox).

Naming

In reference to

Sources

Notes

  1. Teumessos"; Teumessos was an ancient city in Boeotia
    .
  2. .
  3. ^ The ungendered nouns ἀλώπηξ and άλώπεκος (fox) are used rather than the term for vixen, σκαφώρη
  4. ^ Oxford University Press (1948). Oxford Classical Dictionary. pp. 55, 222.
  5. OCLC 11793850
    .

References