Cepheus was the mythological king of
Ethiopia. He was deemed worthy of a place in the sky because he
was fourth in descent from the nymph Io, one of the loves of
Zeus – and having Zeus as a relative was always an
advantage when it came to being commemorated among the
constellations. The kingdom of Cepheus was not the Ethiopia we
know today, but stretched from the south-eastern shore of the
Mediterranean southwards to the Red Sea, an area that contains
parts of the modern Israel, Jordan and Egypt. Ptolemy described
him as wearing the tiara-like head-dress of a Persian king.
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Cepheus in the robes of a Persian king, depicted in the Atlas Coelestis
of John Flamsteed (1729).
Cepheus was married to Cassiopeia, an
unbearably vain woman whose boastfulness caused Poseidon to
send a sea monster, Cetus, to ravage the shores of
Cepheus’s kingdom. Cepheus was instructed by the Oracle
of Ammon to chain his daughter Andromeda to a rock in sacrifice
to the monster. She was saved by the hero Perseus, who killed
the monster and claimed Andromeda for his bride.
King Cepheus laid on a sumptuous banquet at
his palace to celebrate the wedding. But Andromeda had already
been promised to Phineus, brother of Cepheus. While the
celebrations were in progress, Phineus and his followers burst
in, demanding that Andromeda be handed over, which Cepheus
refused to do. The dreadful battle that ensued is described in
gory detail by Ovid in Book V of his Metamorphoses. Cepheus
retired from the scene, muttering that he had done his best,
and left Perseus to defend himself. Perseus cut down many of
his attackers, turning the remainder to stone by showing them
the Gorgon’s head.
The constellation of Cepheus lies near the
north celestial pole. Its most celebrated star is Delta Cephei,
a pulsating supergiant star that varies in brightness every 5.4
days. It is the prototype of the Cepheid variable stars that
astronomers use for estimating distances in space.
In the Chinese sky, Alpha and Beta Cephei
were part of a nine-star group called Gouxing, the celestial hook;
the stars in this group were associated with omens regarding
earthquakes. To the south of Gouxing, the stars Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Mu and Nu
Cephei formed Zhaofu, named after the legendary charioteer of the
emperor Mu Wang.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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