刻法罗斯是希腊神话中赫耳墨斯和赫尔斯（Herse）的儿子。他的妻子是厄瑞克修斯的女儿普罗克里丝。但是他后来在打猎时被曙光女神厄俄斯（罗马神话中的欧若拉——Aurora）所诱拐，同后者育有三个儿子。然而刻法罗斯思妻心切，愤愤的女神只好将他送回——但对这对夫妇施加了诅咒。刻法罗斯在一次打猎的时候失手杀死了自己的妻子，她倒在他的怀里，最后恳求他不要再回到伊俄丝的身边。于是他离开了阿提卡，来到凯法利尼亚岛创建了最早的定居点。

Cephalus (/ˈsɛfələs/; Ancient Greek: Κέφαλος, Kephalos) is a name, used both for the hero-figure in Greek mythology and carried as a theophoric name by historical persons. The word kephalos is Greek for "head", perhaps used here because Cephalus was the founding "head" of a great family that includes Odysseus. It could be that Cephalus means the head of the Sun who kills (evaporates) Procris (dew) with his unerring ray or 'javelin'. Cephalus was one of the lovers of the dawn goddess Eos.