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Halcyone

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.
Halcyone (hălsī`ənē) or Alcyone (ăl–), in Greek mythology, daughter of Aeolus and wife of Ceyx. When her husband drowned, Halcyone threw herself into the sea. Out of pity the gods changed the pair into kingfishers or halcyons, and Zeus forbade the winds to blow seven days before and after the winter solstice, the breeding season of the halcyon. The expression "halcyon days" comes from this myth and figuratively means a time of peace and tranquility.


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At the close of the "Shield" Heracles goes on to Trachis to the house of Ceyx, and this warning suggests that the "Marriage of Ceyx" may have come immediately after the `Or such as was' of Alcmena in the "Eoiae": possibly Halcyone, the wife of Ceyx, was one of the heroines sung in the poem, and the original section was `developed' into the "Marriage", although what form the poem took is unknown.
 
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