Thoricus

In myth

Thoricus, in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (probably 7th century BC) is mentioned by the goddess, who is disguised as an old woman, as her landing place when she had been unwillingly brought from Crete. Thoricus directly faces Crete to the south, across the open Aegean Sea. Thoricus is celebrated in mythology as the residence of Cephalus, whom Eos (Roman Aurora) carried off to dwell with the gods. It has been conjectured by Christopher Wordsworth, with much probability, that the idea of Thoricus was associated in the Athenian mind with such a translation to the gods, and that the "Thorician stone" (Θορίκιος πέτρος) mentioned by Sophocles, respecting which there has been so much doubt, probably has reference to such a migration, as the poet is describing a similar translation of Oedipus. Cephalus is also said to have died at Thoricus.