Meanings
- Greekhuman sciencesA giant fox destined to never be caught.
One Greek myth has it that Laelaps and the Teumessian Fox were cast into space where they formed the two constellations, Canis Major and Minor.
2015, Hankins, Justine, author, Dogopedia : a compendium of canine curiosities2 more examples
[…]there is a place called Teumessus, where they say Europa was concealed by Jupiter. It is likewise said of the Teumessian fox, that it was nourished by Bacchus for the purpose of destroying the Thebans; aod that when it was on the point of being taken by that dog which Diana gave to Procris the daughter of Erechtheus, both the dog and the fox were changed into stones.
1824, Pausanias, The Description of Greece, →OCLCWhen Amphitryon came to Thebes he found that another curse had descended on that unlucky city. For the Teumessian Fox, which was as large and savage as a wolf, had been sent by Dionysus to plague the land, catching children and carrying them away to its lair, as a punishment for the things he had suffered in Thebes.
1961, Green, Roger Lancelyn, Heroes of Greece and Troy, retold from the ancient authors, →OCLC
Cite this entry
Teumessian fox. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Teumessian%20fox
“Teumessian fox.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Teumessian%20fox. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Teumessian fox,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Teumessian%20fox.
Source: Teumessian fox on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.