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InGreek mythology, theTeumessian fox, sometimes called theTeumessian vixen, was an enormousfox that was destined never to be caught.^[1]

It was said that the Teumessian fox had been sent by the gods (perhapsDionysus) to prey upon the children ofThebes as a punishment fora national crime.Creon, then–Regent of Thebes, setAmphitryon the impossible task of destroying this beast. He discovered a supposedly perfect solution by using the magical dogLaelaps, who was destined to catch everything it chased, to catch the Teumessian fox.Zeus, faced with an inevitable contradiction due tothe paradoxical nature of their mutually excluding abilities, turned the two beasts intostone. The pair were cast into the stars and remain asCanis Major (Laelaps) andCanis Minor (Teumessian Fox).

In reference toCadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes, the Teumessian fox is referred to by theelegant variationCadmean vixen inJames George Frazer's 1921 translation ofBibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus),^[2] though in the Greek texts the sex of the fox was not specified.^[3] The termsCadmeian vixen andTeumessian vixen are used by theOxford Classical Dictionary (1948) andThe New Encyclopædia Britannica (1985).^[4][5]

• Antoninus Liberalis,Metamorphoses41, withn. 478
• Apollodorus,Bibliotheca2.4.6
• Corinna (fr. 672 PMG).[1]
• Epigoni (fr. 4 PEG).
• Hyginus,Poeticon astronomicon2.35
• Ovid,Metamorphoses7.762
• Pausanias,Description of Greece9.19.1
• Suda,s.v.Τευμησία

• Antoninus Liberalis,The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis translated by Francis Celoria (Routledge 1992).Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Apollodorus,The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921.ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
• Gaius Julius Hyginus,Astronomica from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies.Online version at the Topos Text Project.
• Pausanias,Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.ISBN 0-674-99328-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
• Pausanias,Graeciae Descriptio.3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses translated by Brookes More. Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Publius Ovidius Naso,Metamorphoses. Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
• Suida,Suda Encyclopedia translated by Ross Scaife, David Whitehead, William Hutton, Catharine Roth, Jennifer Benedict, Gregory Hays, Malcolm Heath Sean M. Redmond, Nicholas Fincher, Patrick Rourke, Elizabeth Vandiver, Raphael Finkel, Frederick Williams, Carl Widstrand, Robert Dyer, Joseph L. Rife, Oliver Phillips and many others.Online version at the Topos Text Project.

• Deeds of Zeus
• Foxes in literature
• Greek legendary creatures
• Metamorphoses into inanimate objects in Greek mythology
• Mythological foxes
• Theban mythology
• Astronomical myths

• Articles containing Ancient Greek (to 1453)-language text
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Duplicate articles