Εμφανίζονται 100 (επί συνόλου 407) τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Ομηρικός κόσμος στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ Περιφέρεια ΕΛΛΑΔΑ" .
ΜΥΚΗΝΕΣ (Μυκηναϊκό ανάκτορο) ΑΡΓΟΛΙΔΑ
Demodocus (Demodookos). The famous bard of the Odyssey, who according to the fashion
of the heroic ages delighted the guests of king Alcinous during their repast by
singing about the feats of the Greeks at Troy, of the love of Ares and Aphrodite,
and of the wooden horse (Od. viii. 62, xiii. 27). He is also mentioned as the
bard who advised Agamemnon to guard Clytaemnestra, and to expose Aegisthus in
a desert island (Od. iii. 267; Eustath. ad Hom.). Eustathius describes him as
a Laconian, and as a pupil of Automedes and Perimedes of Argos. He adds that he
won the prize at the Pythian games and then followed Agamemnon to Mycenae. One
story makes Odysseus recite Demodocus's song about the destruction of Troy during
a contest in Tyrrhenia (Ptolem. Heph. 7). On the throne of Apollo at Amyclae,
Demodocus was represented playing to the dance of the Phaeacians (Paus. iii. 18.7).
Later writers, who look upon this mythical minstrel as an historical person, describe
him as a native of Corcyra, and as an aged and blind singer (Ov. Ib. 272), who
composed a poem on the destruction of Troy (Iliou porDesis), and on the marriage
of Hephaestus and Aphrodite (Plut. de Mus. 3; Eudoc. p. 407; Phot. Bibl.). Plutarch
(de Flurm. 18) refers even to the first book of an epic poem on the exploits of
Heracles (Erakleia). But all such statements are fabulous; and if there existed
any poems under his name, they were certainly forgeries.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΒΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΑΛΑΜΑΤΑ
Περιλαμβάνεται στις 7 πόλεις που ο Αγαμέμνονας υποσχέθηκε στον Αχιλλέα να δώσει προίκα στην κόρη του. Την αποκαλεί "ποιήεσσαν (= με πολύ χορτάρι)" (Ιλ. Ι 150 & 292).
ΑΙΠΕΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΣΣΗΝΙΑ
Περιλαμβάνεται στις 7 πόλεις που ο Αγαμέμνονας υποσχέθηκε στον Αχιλλέα να του δώσει προίκα για το γάμο με την κόρη του (Ιλ. Ι 152 & 292).
ΓΕΡΗΝΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΒΙΑ
Περιλαμβάνεται στις 7 πόλεις που ο Αγαμέμνονας υποσχέθηκε στον Αχιλλέα να του δώσει προίκα για το γάμο με την κόρη του (Ιλ. Ι 149 & 292).
ΟΙΧΑΛΙΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΣΣΗΝΙΑ
Αναφορές Ομήρου για την Οιχαλία: Ιλ. Β 596, 730, Οδ. θ 224, φ 13-33.
ΠΗΔΑΣΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΣΣΗΝΙΑ
Περιλαμβάνεται στις 7 πόλεις που ο Αγαμέμνονας υποσχέθηκε στον Αχιλλέα να του δώσει ως προίκα για το γάμο με την κόρη του (Ιλ. Ι 149, 292). Ο Ομηρος την καλεί "αμπελόεσσαν" (Ιλ. Ι 152).
ΦΑΡΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΚΑΛΑΜΑΤΑ
Περιλαμβάνεται στις 7 πόλεις που ο Αγαμέμνονας υποσχέθηκε στον Αχιλλέα να δώσει προίκα σε όποια από τις τρεις κόρες του παντρευόταν (Ιλ. Ι 149, 292). Ενώ δεν περιλαμβάνεται στον Κατάλογο των Νεών, ο Ομηρος αναφέρει ότι ο Αινείας σκότωσε στην Τροία τους αδελφούς Κρήθωνα και Ορσίλοχο, παιδιά του Διοκλή από τις Φαρές (Ιλ. Ε 541). Ακόμα ο Τηλέμαχος, ψάχνοντας για τον πατέρα του, έφτασε από την Πύλο στο "δώμα" του Διοκλή (Οδ. γ 488).
ΤΑΙΝΑΡΟΝ (Ακρωτήρι) ΑΝΑΤΟΛΙΚΗ ΜΑΝΗ
The most dangerous labor of all was the twelfth and final one. Eurystheus
ordered Hercules to go to the Underworld and kidnap the beast called Cerberus
(or Kerberos). Eurystheus must have been sure Hercules would never succeed at
this impossible task!
The ancient Greeks believed that after a person died, his or her
spirit went to the world below and dwelled for eternity in the depths of the earth.
The Underworld was the kingdom of Hades, also called Pluto, and his wife, Persephone.
Depending on how a person lived his or her life, they might or might not experience
never-ending punishment in Hades. All souls, whether good or bad, were destined
for the kingdom of Hades.
Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and
kept the living from entering the world of the dead. According to Apollodorus,
Cerberus was a strange mixture of creatures: he had three heads of wild dogs,
a dragon or serpent for a tail, and heads of snakes all over his back. Hesiod,
though, says that Cerberus had fifty heads and devoured raw flesh. "...A
monster not to be overcome and that may not be described, Cerberus who eats raw
flesh, the brazen-voiced hound of Hades, fifty-headed, relentless and strong."
(Hesiod, Theogony 310).
Cerberus' parents were the monster Echinda (half-woman, half-serpent)
and Typhon (a fire-breathing giant covered with dragons and serpents). Even the
gods of Olympus were afraid of Typhon.
Among the children attributed to this awful couple were Orthus (or
Othros), the Hydra of Lerna, and the Chimaera. Orthus was a two-headed hound which
guarded the cattle of Geryon. With the Chimaera, Orthus fathered the Nemean Lion
and the Sphinx. The Chimaera was a three-headed fire-breathing monster, part lion,
part snake, and part goat. Hercules seemed to have a lot of experience dealing
with this family: he killed Orthus, when he stole the cattle of Geryon, and strangled
the Nemean Lion. Compared to these unfortunate family members, Cerberus was actually
rather lucky.
Before making the trip to the Underworld, Hercules decided that he
should take some extra precautions. This was, after all, a journey from which
no mortal had ever returned. Hercules knew that once in the kingdom of Hades,
he might not be allowed to leave and rejoin the living. The hero went to Eleusis
and saw Eumolpus, a priest who began what were known as the Eleusinian Mysteries.
The mysteries were sacred religious rites which celebrated the myth of Demeter
and her daughter Persephone. The ancients believed that those who learned the
secrets of the mysteries would have happiness in the Underworld. After the hero
met a few conditions of membership, Eumolpus initiated Hercules into the mysteries.
Hercules went to a place called Taenarum in Laconia. Through
a deep, rocky cave, Hercules made his way down to the Underworld. He encountered
monsters, heroes, and ghosts as he made his way through Hades. He even engaged
in a wrestling contest! Then, finally, he found Pluto and asked the god for Cerberus.
The lord of the Underworld replied that Hercules could indeed take Cerberus with
him, but only if he overpowered the beast with nothing more than his own brute
strength.
A weaponless Hercules set off to find Cerberus. Near the gates of
Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Underworld, Hercules encountered Cerberus.
Undaunted, the hero threw his strong arms around the beast, perhaps grasping all
three heads at once, and wrestled Cerberus into submission. The dragon in the
tail of the fierce flesh-eating guard dog bit Hercules, but that did not stop
him. Cerberus had to submit to the force of the hero, and Hercules brought Cerberus
to Eurystheus. Unlike other monsters that crossed the path of the legendary hero,
Cerberus was returned safely to Hades, where he resumed guarding the gateway to
the Underworld. Presumably, Hercules inflicted no lasting damage on Cerberus,
except, of course, the wound to his pride!
This text is cited July 2004 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
A twelfth labour imposed on Hercules was to bring Cerberus from Hades.
Now this Cerberus had three heads of dogs, the tail of a dragon, and on his back
the heads of all sorts of snakes. When Hercules was about to depart to fetch him,
he went to Eumolpus at Eleusis, wishing to be initiated. However it was not then
lawful for foreigners to be initiated: since he proposed to be initiated as the
adoptive son of Pylius. But not being able to see the mysteries because he had
not been cleansed of the slaughter of the centaurs, he was cleansed by Eumolpus
and then initiated. And having come to Taenarum in Laconia, where is the mouth
of the descent to Hades, he descended through it. But when the souls saw him,
they fled, save Meleager and the Gorgon Medusa. And Hercules drew his sword against
the Gorgon, as if she were alive, but he learned from Hermes that she was an empty
phantom. And being come near to the gates of Hades he found Theseus and Pirithous,
him who wooed Persephone in wedlock and was therefore bound fast. And when they
beheld Hercules, they stretched out their hands as if they should be raised from
the dead by his might. And Theseus, indeed, he took by the hand and raised up,
but when he would have brought up Pirithous, the earth quaked and he let go. And
he rolled away also the stone of Ascalaphus. And wishing to provide the souls
with blood, he slaughtered one of the kine of Hades. But Menoetes, son of Ceuthonymus,
who tended the king, challenged Hercules to wrestle, and, being seized round the
middle, had his ribs broken; howbeit, he was let off at the request of Persephone.
When Hercules asked Pluto for Cerberus, Pluto ordered him to take the animal provided
he mastered him without the use of the weapons which he carried. Hercules found
him at the gates of Acheron, and, cased in his cuirass and covered by the lion's
skin, he flung his arms round the head of the brute, and though the dragon in
its tail bit him, he never relaxed his grip and pressure till it yielded. So he
carried it off and ascended through Troezen. But Demeter turned Ascalaphus into
a short-eared owl, and Hercules, after showing Cerberus to Eurystheus, carried
him back to Hades.
Commentary:
Ancient writers differ as to the number of Cerberus's heads. Hesiod
assigned him fifty; Pindar raised the number to a hundred, a liberal estimate
which was accepted by Tzetzes in one place and by Horace in another. Others reduced
the number to three. Apollodorus apparently seeks to reconcile these contradictions,
and he is followed as usual by Tzetzes, who, however, at the same time speaks
of Cerberus as fifty-headed. The whole of the present passage of Apollodorus,
from the description of Cerberus down to Herakles's slaughter of one of the kine
of Hades, is quoted, with a few small variations, by a Scholiast on Hom. Il. viii.368.
As to the initiation of Herakles at Eleusis, according to Diodorus,
the rites were performed on this occasion by Musaeus, son of Orpheus. Elsewherethe
same writer says that Demeter instituted the lesser Eleusinian mysteries in honour
of Herakles for the purpose of purifying him after his slaughter of the centaurs.
The statement that Pylius acted as adoptive father to Herakles at his initiation
is repeated by Plutarch, who mentions that before Castor and Pollux were initiated
at Athens they were in like manner adopted by Aphidnus. Herodotus says that any
Greek who pleased might be initiated at Eleusis. The initiation of Herakles is
represented in ancient reliefs.
Sophocles seems to have written a Satyric drama on the descent of
Herakles into the infernal regions at Taenarum. According to another account,
Herakles descended, not at Taenarum but at the Acherusian Chersonese, near Heraclea
Pontica on the Black Sea. The marks of the descent were there pointed out to a
great depth.
So Bacchilides represents Herakles in Hades drawing his bow against
the ghost of Meleager in shining armour, who reminds the hero that there is nothing
to fear from the souls of the dead; so, too, Vergilius describes Aeneas in Hades
drawing his sword on the Gorgons and Harpies, till the Sibyl tells him that they
are mere flitting empty shades. Apollodorus more correctly speaks of the ghost
of only one Gorgon (Medusa ), because of the three Gorgons she alone was mortal.
On Theseus and Pirithous in hell, the general opinion seems to have
been that Herakles rescued Theseus, but that he could not save Pirithous. Others,
however, alleged that he brought up both from the dead; others again affirmed
that he brought up neither. A dull rationalistic version of the romantic story
converted Hades into a king of the Molossians or Thesprotians, named Aidoneus,
who had a wife Persephone, a daughter Cora, and a dog Cerberus, which he set to
worry his daughter's suitors, promising to give her in marriage to him who could
master the ferocious animal. Discovering that Theseus and Pirithous were come
not to woo but to steal his daughter, he arrested them. The dog made short work
of Pirithous, but Theseus was kept in durance till the king consented to release
him at the intercession of Herakles.
This extract is from: Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer, 1921). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
Heracles. 12. Cerberus. To fetch this monster from the lower world is
the crown of the twelve labours of Heracles, and is therefore usually reckoned
as the twelfth or last in the series. It is the only one that is expressly mentioned
in the Homeric poems. (Od. xi. 623, &c.) Later writers have added to the simple
story several particulars, such, e. g. that Heracles, previous to setting out
on his expedition, was initiated by Eumolpus in the Eleusinian mysteries, in order
to purify him from the murder of the Centaurs. Accompanied by Hermes and Athena,
Heracles descended into Hades, near Cape Taenarum, in Laconia. On his arrival
most of the shades fled before him, and he found only Meleager and Medusa, with
whom he intended to fight; but, on the command of Hermes, he left them in peace.
Near the gates of Hades he met Theseus and Peirithous, who stretched their arms
imploringly towards him. He delivered Theseus, but, when lie attempted to do the
same for Peirithous, the earth began to tremble. After having rolled the stone
from Ascalaphus, he killed one of the oxen of Hades, in order to give the shades
the blood to drink, and fought with Menoetius, the herdsman. Upon this, he asked
Pluto permission to take Cerberus, and the request was granted, on condition of
its being done without force of arms. This was accomplished, for Heracles found
Cerberus on the Acheron, and, notwithstanding the bites of the dragon, he took
the monster, and in the neighbourhood of Troezene he brought it to the upper world.
The place where he appeared with Cerberus is not the same in all traditions, for
some say that it was at Taenarum, others at Hermione, or Coroneia, and others
again at Heracleia. When Cerberus appeared in the upper world, it is said that,
unable to bear the light, he spit, and thus called forth the poisonous plant called
aconitun. After having shown the monster to Eurystheus, Heracles took it back
to the lower world. Some traditions connect the descent of Heracles into the lower
world with a contest with Hades, as we see even in the Iliad (v. 397), and more
particularly in the Alcestis of Euripides (24, 846, &c. See Apollod. ii. 5.12;
Diod. iv. 25, &c.; Plut. Thes. 30; Paus. ii. 31.2, ix. 34.4, iii. 25.4, ii. 35.7;
Ov. Met. vii. 415, Serv. ad Virg. Georg. ii. 152, Aen. vi. 617).
Such is the account of the twelve labours of Heracles. According to
Apollodorus, Eurystheus originally required only ten, and commanded him to perform
two more, because he was dissatisfied with two of them; but Diodorus represents
twelve as the original number required. Along with these labours (athloi), the
ancients relate a considerable number of other feats (parerga) which he performed
without being commanded by Eurystheus; some of them are interwoven with the twelve
Athloi, and others belong to a later period.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΤΙΡΥΝΣ (Μυκηναϊκό ανάκτορο) ΑΡΓΟΛΙΔΑ
Cyclopes (Kuklopes), that is, creatures with round or circular eyes. The tradition
about these beings has undergone several changes and modifications in its development
in Greek mythology, though some traces of their identity remain visible throughout.
According to the ancient cosmogonies, the Cyclopes were the sons of Uranus and
Ge; they belonged to the Titans, and were three in number, whose names were Arges,
Steropes, and Brontes, and each of them had only one eye on his forehead. Together
with the other Titans, they were cast by their father into Tartarus, but, instigated
by their mother, they assisted Cronus in usurping the government. But Cronus again
threw them into Tartarus, and as Zeus released them in his war against Cronus
and the Titans, the Cyclopes provided Zeus with thunderbolts and lightning, Pluto
with a helmet, and Poseidon with a trident (Apollod. i. 1; Hes. Theog. 503). Henceforth
they remained the ministers of Zeus, but were afterwards killed by Apollo for
having furnished Zeus with the thunderbolts to kill Asclepius (Apollod. iii. 10.4).
According to others, however, it was not the Cyclopes themselves that were killed,
but their sons. (Schol. ad Eurip. Alcest. 1.)
In the Homeric poems the Cyclopes are a gigantic, insolent, and lawless
race of shepherds, who lived in the south-western part of Sicily, and devoured
human beings. They neglected agriculture, and the fruits of the field were reaped
by them without labour. They had no laws or political institutions, and each lived
with his wives and children in a cave of a mountain, and ruled over them with
arbitrary power (Hom. Od. vi. 5, ix. 106, 190, 240, x. 200). Homer does not distinctly
state that all of the Cyclopes were one-eyed, but Polyphemus, the principal among
them, is described as having only one eye on his forehead (Od. i. 69, ix. 383)
The Homeric Cyclopes are no longer the servants of Zeus, but they disregard him.
(Od. ix. 275; comp. Virg. Aen. vi. 636 ; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 53.)
A still later tradition regarded the Cyclopes as the assistants of
Hephaestus. Volcanoes were the workshops of that god, and mount Aetna in Sicily
and the neighbouring isles were accordingly considered as their abodes. As the
assistants of Hephaestus they are no longer shepherds, but make the metal armour
and ornaments for gods and heroes; they work with such might that Sicily and all
the neighbouring islands resound with their hammering. Their number is, like that
in the Homeric poems, no longer confined to three, but their residence is removed
from the south-western to the eastern part of Sicily (Virg. Georg. iv. 170, Aen.
viii. 433; Callim. Hymn. in Dian. 56; Eurip. Cycl. 599; Val. Flacc. ii. 420).
Two of their names are the same as in the cosmogonic tradition, but new names
also were invented, for we find one Cyclops bearing the name of Pyracmon, and
another that of Acamas (Calim. Hymn. in Dian. 68; Virg. Aen. viii. 425; Val. Place.
i. 583).
The Cyclopes, who were regarded as skilful architects in later accounts,
were a race of men who appear to be different from the Cyclopes whom we have considered
hitherto, for they are described as a Thracian tribe, which derived its name from
a king Cyclops. They were expelled from their homes in Thrace, and went to the
Curetes (Crete) and to Lycia, Thence they followed Proetus to protect him, by
the gigantic walls which they constructed, against Acrisius. The grand fortifications
of Argos, Tiryns, and Mycenae, were in later times regarded as their works (Apollod.
ii. 1.2; Strab. viii; Paus. ii. 16.4; Schol. ad Eurip. Orest. 953). Such walls,
commonly known by the name of Cyclopean walls, still exist in various parts of
ancient Greece and Italy, and consist of unhewn polygones, which are sometimes
20 or 30 feet in breadth. The story of the Cyclopes having built them seems to
be a mere invention, and admits neither of an historical nor geographical explanation.
Homer, for instance, knows nothing of Cyclopean walls, and he calls Tiryns merely
a polis teichioessa (Il. ii. 559). The Cyclopean walls were probably constructed
by an ancient race of men -perhaps the Pelasgians- who occupied the countries
in which they occur before the nations of which we have historical records; and
later generations, being struck by their grandeur as much as ourselves, ascribed
their building to a fabulous race of Cyclopes. Analogies to such a process of
tradition are not wanting in modern countries; thus several walls in Germany,
which were probably constructed by the Romans, are to this day called by the people
Riesenmauer or Teufelsmauer.
In works of art the Cyclopes are represented as sturdy men with one
eye on their forehead, and the place which in other human beings is occupied by
the eyes, is marked in figures of the Cyclopes by a line. According to the explanation
of Plato (ap. Strab. xiii.), the Cyclopes were beings typical of the original
condition of uncivilized men ; but this explanation is not satisfactory, and the
cosmogonic Cyclopes at least must be regarded as personifications of certain powers
manifested in nature, which is sufficiently indicated by their names.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cyclopes (Kuklopes). A fabulous race, of gigantic size, having but one eye, large
and round, placed in the centre of their forehead, whence, according to the common
account, their name was derived--from kuklos, "a circular opening",
and ops, "an eye". Homer makes Odysseus, after having left the country
of the Lotus-eaters (Lotophagi), to have sailed on westward, and to have come
to that of the Cyclopes, who are described by him as a rude and lawless race,
who neither planted nor sowed, but whose land was so fertile as to produce of
itself wheat, barley, and vines. They had no social institutions, neither assemblies
nor laws, but dwelt separately, each in his cave, on the tops of lofty mountains,
and each, without regard to others, governed his own wife and children. The adventure
of Odysseus with Polyphemus, one of this race, will be found under the latter
title. Nothing is said by Homer respecting the size of the Cyclopes in general,
but every effort is made to give an exaggerated idea of that of Polyphemus. Hence
some have imagined that, according to the Homeric idea, the Cyclopes were not
in general of such huge dimensions or cannibal habits as the poet assigns to Polyphemus
himself; for the latter does not appear to have been of the ordinary Cyclops-race,
but the son of Poseidon and a seanymph; and he is also said to have been the strongest
of the Cyclopes ( Od.i. 70). Later poets, however, lost no time in supplying whatever
the fable wanted in this respect, and hence Vergil describes the whole race as
of gigantic stature and compares them to so many tall forest-trees ( Aen.iii.
680). It is not a little remarkable that neither in the description of the Cyclopes
in general, nor of Polyphemus in particular, is there any notice taken of their
being one-eyed; yet in the account of the blinding of the latter, it seems to
be assumed as a thing well known. We may hence, perhaps, infer that Homer followed
the usual derivation.
Such is the Homeric account of the Cyclopes. In Hesiod, on the other
hand (Theog. 139 foll.), we have what appears to be the earlier legend respecting
these fabled beings, a circumstance which may tend to show that the Odyssey was
composed by a poet later than Hesiod, and not by the author of the Iliad. In the
Theogony of Hesiod the Cyclopes are only three in number--Brontes, Steropes, and
Arges. They are the sons of Uranus and Gaea (Caelus and Terra), and their employment
is to forge the thunderbolts for Zeus. They are said to be in every other respect
like gods, excepting the one single eye in the middle of their foreheads, a circumstance
from which Hesiod also, like Homer, deduces their general name (Theog. 144 foll.).
In the individual names given by Hesiod we have evidently the germ of the whole
fable. The Cyclopes are the energies of the sky--the thunder, the lightning, and
the rapid march of the latter (Brontes, from bronte, "thunder"; Steropes,
from sterope, "the lightning"; Arges, from arges, "rapid").
In accordance with this idea the term Kuklops (Cyclops) itself may be regarded
as a simple, not a compound term, of the same class with molops, Kerkops, Kekrops,
Pelops; and the word kuklos being the root, we may make the Cyclopes to be "the
Whirlers", or, to designate them by a Latin name, Volvuli.
When the thunder, the lightning, and the flame had been converted
by poetry into oneeyed giants, and localized in the neighbourhood of volcanoes,
it was an easy process to convert them into smiths, the assistants of Hephaestus
(Callim. H. in Artem. 46 foll.; Georg.iv. 173; Aen.viii. 416 foll.). As they were
now artists in one line, it gave no surprise to find them engaged in a task adapted
to their huge strength--namely, that of rearing the massive walls of Tiryns, for
which purpose they were brought by Proetus from Lycia (Schol. ad Eurip. Orest.955).
Hence, too, the name "Cyclopean" is applied to this species of architecture,
just as in Germany the remains of ancient Roman walls are popularly called "Riesenmauer"
and "Tenfelsmauer". One theory refers the name Cyclops to the circular
buildings constructed by the Pelasgi, of which we have so remarkable a specimen
in what is called the Treasury of Atreus, at Mycenae. From the form of these buildings,
resembling within a hollow cone or beehive, and the round opening at the top,
the individuals who constructed them are thought to have derived their appellation.
(Cf. Gell's Argolis, p. 34.) Those who make them to have dwelt in Sicily blend
an old tradition with one of more recent date. This last probably took its rise
when Aetna and the Lipari Islands were assigned to Hephaestus, by the popular
belief of the day, as his workshops; which could only have happened when Aetna
had become better known, and Mount Moschylus, in the isle of Lemnos, had ceased
to be volcanic.
A few remarks may fittingly be added here on the subject of the Cyclopean
architecture. This style of building is frequently alluded to by the ancient writers.
In fact, every architectural work of extraordinary magnitude, to the execution
of which human labour appeared inadequate, was ascribed to the Cyclopes (Eurip.
Iph. in Aul. 534; id. Herc. Fur. 15; id. Troad. 108; Strab.373; Herc. Fur. 996;
Theb.iv. 151; Pausan. ii. 25). The general character of the Cyclopean style is
immense blocks of stone, without cement, placed upon each other, sometimes irregularly
and with smaller stones filling up the interstices, sometimes in regular and horizontal
rows. The Cyclopean style is commonly divided into four eras. The first, or oldest,
is that employed at Tiryns and Mycenae, consisting of blocks of various sizes,
some of them very large, the interstices of which are, or were once, filled up
with small stones. The second era is marked by polygonal stones, which nevertheless
fit into each other with great nicety. Specimens exist at Delphi, Iulis, and at
Cosa in Etruria. In this style there are no courses. The third era appears in
the Phocian cities, and in some of Boeotia and Argolis. It is distinguished by
the work being made in courses, and by the stones, though of unequal size, being
of the same height. The fourth and youngest style presents horizontal courses
of masonry, not always of the same height, but formed of stones which are all
rectangular. This style is chiefly confined to Attica. The most reasonable opinion
relative to the Cyclopean walls of antiquity is that which ascribes their erection
to the ancient Pelasgi.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΑΡΓΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΡΓΟΛΙΔΑ
Γιος του Τυδέα και της Δηιπύλης, σύζυγος της Αιγιάλειας, κόρης του Αδραστου, από τον οποίο κληρονόμησε το θρόνο του Αργους. Ηταν ο αρχηγός των Αργείων με 80 πλοία στον Τρωικό πόλεμο (Ιλ. Β 567, Ε 412, Ψ 470).
Diomedes. A son of Tydeus and Deipyle, the husband of Aegialeia, and the successor
of Adrastus in the kingdom of Argos, though he was descended from an Aetolian
family (Apollod. i. 8.5). The Homeric tradition about him is as follows: His father
Tydeus fell in the expedition against Thebes,
while Diomedes was yet a boy (II. vi. 222); but he himself afterwards was one
of the Epigoni who took Thebes
(II. iv. 405; comp. Paus. ii. 20.4). Diomedes went to Troy
with Sthenelus and Euryalus, carrying with him in eighty ships warriors from Argos,
Tiryns, Hermione,
Asine, Troezene,
Eionae, Epidaurus, Aegina,
and Mases (ii. 559). In the
army of the Greeks before Troy,
Diomedes was, next to Achilles, the bravest among the heroes; and, like Achilles
and Odysseus, he enjoyed the special protection of Athena, who assisted him in
all dangerous moments (v. 826, vi. 98, x. 240, xi. 312; comp. Virg. Aen. i. 96).
He fought with the most distinguished among the Trojans, such as Hector and Aeneias
(viii. 110, v. 310), and even with the gods who espoused the cause of the Trojans.
He thus wounded Aphrodite, and drove her from the field of battle (v. 335, 440),
and Ares himself was likewise wounded by him (v. 837). Diomedes was wounded by
Pandareus, whom, however, he afterwards slew with many other Trojans (v. 97).
In the attack of the Trojans on the Greek camp. he and Odysseus offered a brave
resistance, but Diomedes was wounded and returned to tile ships (xi. 320). He
wore a cuirass made by Hephaestus, but sometimes also a lion's skin (viii. 195,
x. 177). At the funeral games of Patroclus he conquered in the chariot-race, and
received a woman and a tripod as his prize (xxiii. 373). He also conquered the
Telamonian Ajax in single combat, and won the sword which Achilles had offered
as the prize (xxiii. 811). He is described in the Iliad in general as brave in
war and wise in council (ix. 53), in battle furious like a mountain torrent, and
the terror of the Trojans, whom he chases before him, as a lion chases goats (v.
87, xi. 382). He is strong like a god (v. 884), and the Trojan women during their
sacrifice to Athena pray to her to break his spear and to make him fall (vi. 306).
He himself knows no fear, and refuses his consent when Agamemnon proposes to take
to flight, and he declares that, if all flee, he and his friend Sthenelus will
stay and fight till Troy
shall fill (ix. 32, comp. vii. 398, viii. 151: Philostr. Her. 4).
The story of Diomedes, like those of other heroes of the Trojan time,
has received various additions and embellishments from the hands of later writers,
of which we shall notice the principal ones. After the expedition of the Epigoni
he is mentioned among the suitors of Helen (Hygin. Fab. 81; Apollod. iii. 10.8),
and his love of Helen induced him to join the Greeks in their expedition against
Troy with 30 ships (Hygin.
Fab. 97). Being a relative of Thersites, who was slain by Achilles, he did not
permit the body of the Amazon Penthesileia to be honourably buried, but dragged
her by the feet into the river Scamander (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 993 ; Dict. Cret.
iv. 3). Philoctetes was persuaded by Diomedes and Odysseus to join the Greeks
against Troy (Soph. Philoct.
570; Hygin. Fab. 102). Diomedes conspired with Odysseus against Palamedes, and
under the pretence of having discovered a hidden treasure, they let him down into
a well and there stoned him to death (Dict. Cret. ii. 15; comp. Paus. x. 31.1).
After the death of Paris, Diomedes and Odysseus were sent into the city of Troy
to negotiate for peace (Dict. Cret. v. 4), but he was afterwards one of the Greeks
concealed in the wooden horse (Hygin. Fab. 108). When he and Odysseus had arrived
in the arx of Troy by a subterraneous
passage, they slew the guards and carried away the palladium (Virg. Aen. ii. 163),
as it was believed that Ilium could not be taken so long as the palladium was
within its walls. When, during the night, the two heroes were returning to the
camp with their precious booty, and Odysseus was walking behind him, Diomedes
saw by the shadow of his companion that he was drawing his sword in order to kill
him, and thus to secure to himself alone the honour of having taken the palladium.
Diomedes, however, turned round, seized the sword of Odysseus, tied his hands,
and thus drove him along before him to the camp (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 822). Diomedes,
according to some, carried the palladium with him to Argos, where it remained
until Ergiaeus, one of his descendants, took it away with the assistance of the
Laconian Leagrus, who conveyed it to Sparta
(Plut. Quaest. Graec. 48). According to others, Diomedes was robbed of the palladium
by Demophon in Attica, where
he landed one night on his return from Troy,
without knowing where he was (Paus. ii. 28.9). A third tradition stated, that
Diomedes restored the palladium and the remains of Anchises to Aeneias, because
he was informed by an oracle, that he should be exposed to unceasing sufferings
unless lie restored the sacred image to the Trojans (Serv. ad Aen. ii. 166, iii.
407, iv, 427, v. 81).
On his return from Troy,
he had like other heroes to suffer much from the enmity of Aphrodite, but Athena
still continued to protect him. He was first thrown by a storm on the coast of
Lycia, where lie was to be
sacrificed to Ares by king Lycus; but Callirrhoe, the king's daughter, took pity
upon him, and assisted him in escaping (Plut. Parall. Gr. et Rom. 23). On his
arrival in Argos lie met with an evil reception which had been prepared for him
either by Aphrodite or Nauplius, for his wife Aegialeia was living in adultery
with Hippolytus, or according to others, with Cometes or Cyllabarus (Dict. Cret.
vi. 2; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 609; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 9). He therefore quitted Argos
either of his own accord, or he was expelled by the adulterers (Tzetz. ad Lyc.
602), and went to Aetolia.
His going to Aetolia and
the subsequent recovery of Argos are placed in some traditions immediately after
the war of the Epigoni, and Diomedes is said to have gone with Alcmaeon to assist
his grandfather Oeneus in Aetolia
against his enemies. During the absence of Diomedes, Agamemnon took possession
of Argos; but when the expedition against Troy
was resolved upon, Agamemnon from fear invited Diomedes and Alcmaeon back to Argos,
and asked them to take part in the projected expedition. Diomedes alone accepted
the proposal, and thus recovered Argos (Strab. vii, x; comp. Hygin. Fab. 175;
Apollod. i. 8.6; Paus. ii. 25.2). According to another set of traditions, Diomedes
did not go to Aetolia till
after his return from Troy,
when he was expelled from Argos, and it is said that he went first to Corinth;
but being informed there of the distress of Oeneus, he hastened to Aetolia
to assist him. Diomedes conquered and slew the enemies of his grandfather, and
then took up his residence in Aetolia
(Dict. Cret. vi. 2). Other writers make him attempt to return to Argos, but on
his way home a storm threw him on the coast of Daunia in Italy. Daunus, the king
of the country, received him kindly, and solicited his assistance in a war against
the Messapians. He promised in return to give him a tract of land and the hand
of his daughter Euippe. Diomedes defeated the Messapians, and distributed their
territory among the Dorians who had accompanied him In Italy. Diomedes gave up
his hostility against the Trojans, and even assisted them against Turnus (Paus.
i. 11; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 9). He died in Daunia at an advanced age, and was buried
in one of the islands off cape Garganus, which were called after him the Diomedean
islands. Subsequently, when Daunus too had died, the Dorians were conquered by
the Illyrians, but were metamorphosed by Zeus into birds (Anton. Lib. 37; comp.
Tzetz. ad Lyc. 602, 618). According to Tzetzes, Diomedes was murdered by Daunus,
whereas according to others he returned to Argos, or disappeared in one of the
Diomedean islands, or in the country of the Heneti (Strab. vi. p. 284). A number
of towns in the eastern part of Italy, such as Beneventum, Aequumtuticum, Argos
Hippion (afterwards Argyripa or Arpi), Venusia
or Aphrodisia, Canusium,
Venafrum, Salapia, Spina,
Sipus, Garganum, and Brundusium,
were believed to have been founded by Diomedes (Serv. ad Aen viii. 9, xi. 246;
Strab. vi. pp. 283, 284; Plin-H. N. iii. 20; Justin, xii. 2). The worship and
service of gods and heroes was spread by Diomedes far and wide: in and near Argos
he caused temples of Athena to be built (Plut. de Flum. 18; Paus. ii. 24.2); his
armour was preserved in a temple of Athena at Luceria
in Apulia, and a gold chain
of his was shown in a temple of Artemis in Peucetia. At Troezene
he had founded a temple of Apollo Epibaterius, and instituted the Pythian games
there. He himself was subsequently worshipped as a divine being, especially in
Italy, where statues of him existed at Argyripa,
Metapontum, Thurii,
and other places (Schol. ad Pind. Nem. x. 12 ; Scylax, Peripl. p. 6; comp. Strab.
v. p. 214).
There are traces in Greece also of the worship of Diomedes, for it
is said that he was placed among the gods together with the Dioscuri, and that
Athena conferred upon him the immortality which had been intended for his father
Tydeus. It has been conjectured that Diomedes is an ancient Pelasgian name of
some divinity, who was afterwards confounded with the hero Diomedes, so that the
worship of the god was transferred to the hero (Bockh, Explicat. ad Pind. Nem.
x.). Diomedes was represented in a painting on the acropolis
of Athens in the act of carrying
away the Palladium from Troy (Paus. i. 22.6), and Polygnotus had painted him in
the Lesche at Delphi (x.
25.2, 10.2).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Aegiale or Aegialeia (Aigiale or Aigialeia), a daughter of Adrastus and Amphithea, or of Aegialeus the son of Adrastus, whence she bears the surname of Adrastine (Hom.Il. v. 412; Apollod. i. 8.6, 9.13). She was married to Diomedes, who, on his return from Troy, found her living in adultery with Cometes (Eustath, ad Il. v). The hero attributed this misfortune to the anger of Aphrodite, whom he had wounded in the war against Troy, but when Aegiale went so far as to threaten his life he fled to Italy (Schol. ad Lycophr. 610; Ov. Met. xiv. 476). According to Dictys Cretensis (vi. 2), Aegiale, like Clytemnestra, had been seduced to her criminal conduct by a treacherous report, that Diomedes was returning with a Trojan woman who lived with him as his wife, and on his arrival at Argos Aegiale expelled him. In Ovid (Ibis, 349) she is described as the type of a bad wife.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Διαδέχθηκε τον Ιφιο κι έγινε ο 29ος βασιλιάς του Αργους (1193 π.Χ.).
Γιος του Καπανέως και της Ευάδνης, που συμβασίλευσε με τον Αδραστο και τον Οϊκλή (Ιλ. Β 564, Δ 367, Ι 48, Ψ 511).
Sthenelus. A son of Capaneus and Evadue, belonged to the family of the Anaxagoridae in Argos. and was the father of Cylarabes (Hom Il. v. 109; Paus. ii. 18.4, 22. 8, 30); but, according to others, his son's name was Comeres (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 603, 1093 ; Serv. ad Aen. xi. 269). He was one of the Epigoni, by whom Thebes was taken (Hom. Il. iv. 405; Apollod. iii. 7.2), and commanded the Argives under Diomedes, in the Trojan war, being the faithful friend and companion of Diomedes (Hom. Il. ii. 564, iv. 367, xxiii. 511; Philostr. Her. 4 ; Hygin. Fab. 175). He was one of the Greeks concealed in the wooden horse (Hygin. Fab. 108), and at the distribution of the booty, lie was said to have received an image of a three-eyed Zeus, which was in aftertimes shown at Argos (Paus. ii. 45.5, viii. 46.2). His own statue and tomb also were believed to exist at Argos (ii. 20.4, 22. in fin.; comp. Horat. Carm. i. 15. 23, iv. 9. 20; Stat. Achill. i. 469).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Γιος του Μηκιστέως, του γιου του Ταλαού (Ιλ. Β 565, Ζ 52, Ψ 680).
Euryalus (Eurualos). A son of Mecisteus, is mentioned by Apollodorus (i. 9.16) among the Argonauts, and was one of the Epigoni who took and destroyed Thebes (Paus. ii. 20.4; Apollod. iii. 7.2). He was a brave warrior, and at the funeral games of Oedipus he conquered all his competitors (Hom. Il. xxiii. 608) with the exception of Epeius, who excelled him in wrestling. He accompanied Diomedes to Troy, where he was one of the bravest heroes, and slew several Trojans (Il. ii. 565, vi. 20; Pans. ii. 30.9). In the painting of Polygnotus at Delphi, he was represented as being wounded; and there was also a statue of him at Delphi, which stood between those of Diomedes and Aegialeus (Paus. x. 10.2, 25.2).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΜΥΚΗΝΕΣ (Μυκηναϊκό ανάκτορο) ΑΡΓΟΛΙΔΑ
Ο Αγαμέμνων ήταν ο βασιλιάς των Μυκηνών, Ατρείδης, δηλαδή γιος του Ατρέως, αρχηγός των Μυκηναίων στον πόλεμο της Τροίας και αδελφός του Μενελάου.
Σύζυγός του ήταν η Κλυταιμήστρα, η οποία ήταν κόρη του Τυνδάρεω και της Λήδας και αδελφή της Ελένης (Ιλ. Α 113, Οδ. γ 264). Στο διάστημα της απουσίας του, απίστησε και παντρεύτηκε τον Αίγισθο, ο οποίος οργάνωσε με τη σύμπραξή της τη δολοφονία του. Ο γιος του δολοφονηθέντος Αγαμέμνονα Ορέστης εκδικήθηκε το θάνατό του σκοτώνοντας τη μητέρα του και τον Αίγισθο (Οδ. α 300, λ 409 κ.ε., ω 198).
Agamemnon. A son of Pleisthenes and grandson of Atreus, king of Mycenae, in whose
house Agamemnon and Menelaus were educated after the death of their father. (Apollod.
iii. 2.2; Schol. ad Eurip. Or. 5; Schol. ad Iliad. ii. 249.) Homer and several
other writers call him a son of Atreus, grandson of Pelops, and great-grandson
of Tantalus. (Hom. Il. xi. 131; Eurip. Helen. 396; Tzetz. ad Lycophr. 147; Hygin.
Fab. 97.) His mother was, according to most accounts, Aerope; but some call Eriphyle
the wife of Pleisthenes and the mother of Agamemnon. Besides his brother Menelaus,
he had a sister, who is called Anaxibia, Cyndragora, or Astyocheia. (Schol. Eurip.
Or. 5; Hygin. Fab. 17.) Agamemnon and Memelaus were brought up together with Aegisthus,
the son of Thyestes, in the house of Atreus. When they had grown to manhood, Atreus
sent Agamemnon and Menelaus to seek Thyestes. They found him at Delphi, and carried
him to Atreus, who threw him into a dungeon. Aegisthus was afterwards commanded
to kill him but, recognising his father in him, he abstained from the cruel deed,
slew Atreus, and after having expelled Agamemnon and Menelaus, he and his father
occupied the kingdom of Mycenae. The two brothers wandered about for a time, and
at last came to Sparta, where Agamemnon married Clytemnestra, the daughter of
Tyndareus, by whom he became the father of Iphianassa (Iphigeneia), Chrysothemis,
Laodice (Electra), and Orestes. (Hom. Il. ix. 145, with th e note of Eustath.;
Lucret. i. 86.)
The manner in which Agamemnon came to the kingdom of Mycenae is differently
related. From Homer (Il. ii. 10; comp. Paus. ix. 40.6), it appears as if he had
peaceably succeeded Thyestes, while, according to others (Aeschyl. Agam. 1605),
he expelled Thyestes, and usurped his throne. After he had become king of Mycenae,
he rendered Sicyon and its king subject to himself (Paus. ii. 6.4), and became
the most powerful prince in Greece. A catalogue of his dominions is given in the
Iliad. (ii. 569; comp. Strab. viii; Thucyd. i. 9.) When Homer (Il. ii. 108) attributes
to Agamemnon the sovereignty over all Argos, the name Argos here signifies Peloponnessus,
or the greater part of it, for the city of Argos was governed by Diomedes. (Il.
ii. 559) Strabo (l. c.) has also shewn that the name Argos is sometimes used by
the tragic poets as synonymous with Mycenae.
When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was carried off by Paris, the son
of Priam, Agamemnon and Menelaus called upon all the Greek chiefs for assistance
against Troy. (Odyss. xxiv. 115.) The chiefs met at Argos in the palace of Diomedes,
where Agamemnon was chosen their chief commander, either in consequence of his
superior power (Eustath, ad Il. ii. 108; Thucyd. i. 9), or because he had gained
the favour of the assembled chiefs by giving them rich presents. (Dictys, Cret.
i. 15, 16.) After two years of preparation, the Greek army and fleet assembled
in the port of Aulis in Boeotia. Agamemnon had previously consulted the oracle
about the issue of the enterprise, and the answer given was, that Troy should
fall at the time when the most distinguished among the Greeks should quarrel.
(Od. viii. 80.) A similar prophecy was derived from a marvellous occurrence which
happened while the Greeks were assembled at Aulis. Once when a sacrifice was offered
under the boughs of a tree, a dragon crawled forth from under it, and devoured
a nest on the tree containing eight young birds and their mother. Calchas interpreted
the sign to indicate that the Greeks would have to fight against Troy for nine
years, but that in the tenth the city would fall. (Il. ii. 303) An account of
a different miracle portending the same thing is given by Aeschylus. (Ayam. 110)
Another interesting incident happened while the Greeks were assembled
at Aulis. Agamemnon, it is said, killed a stag which was sacred to Artemis, and
in addition provoked tle anger of the goddess by irreverent words. She in return
visited the Greek army with a pestilence, and produced a perfect calm, so that
the Greeks were unable to leave the port. When the seers declared that the anger
of the goddess could not be soothed unless Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon,
were offered to her as an atoning sacrifice, Diomedes and Odysseus were sent to
fetch her to the camp under the pretext that she was to be married to Achilles.
She came; but at the moment when she was to be sacrificed, she was carried off
by Artemis herself (according to others by Achilles) to Tauris, and another victim
was substituted in her place. (Hygin. Fab. 98; Eurip. Iphig. Aul. 90, Iphig. Taur.
15; Sophocl. Elect. 565; Pind. Pyth. xi. 35; Ov. Met. xii. 31; Dict. Cret. i.
19; Schol. ad Lycophr. 183; Antonin. Lib. 27.) After this the calm ceased, and
the army sailed to the coast of Troy. Agamemnon alone had one hundred ships, independent
of sixty which he had lent to the Arcadians. (Il. ii. 576, 612.)
In the tenth year of the siege of Troy -for it is in this year that
the Iliad opens- we find Agamemnon involved in a quarrel with Achilles respecting
the possession of Briseis, whom Achilles was obliged to give up to Agamemnon.
Achilles withdrew from the field of battle, and the Greeks were visited by successive
disasters. Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon to persuade him to lead the Greeks to
battle against the Trojans. (Il. ii. 8) The king, in order to try the Greeks,
commanded them to return home, with which they readily complied, until their courage
was revived by Odysseus, who persuaded them to prepare for battle. (Il. ii. 55)
After a single combat between Paris and Menelaus, a battle followed, in which
Agamemnon killed several of the Trojans. When Hector challenged the bravest of
the Greeks, Agamemnon offered to fight with him, but in his stead Ajax was chosen
by lot. Soon after this another battle took place, in which the Greeks were worsted
(Il. viii.), and Agamemnon in despondence advised the Greeks to take to flight
and return home. (Il. ix. 10.) But he was opposed by the other heroes. An attempt
to conciliate Achilles failed, and Agamemnon assembled the chiefs in the night
to deliberate about the measures to be adopted. (Il. x. 1) Odysseus and Diomedes
were then sent out as spies, and on the day following the contest with the Trojans
was renewed. Agamemnon himself was again one of the bravest, and slew many enemies
with his own hand. At last, however, he was wounded by Coon and obliged to withdraw
to his tent. (Il. xi. 250) Hector now advanced victoriously, and Agamemnon again
advised the Greeks to save themselves by flight. (Il. xiv. 75) But Odysseus and
Diomedes again resisted him, and the latter prevailed upon him to return to the
battle which was going on near the ships. Poseidon also appeared to Agamemnon
in the figure of an aged man, and inspired him with new courage. (Il. xiv. 125)
The pressing danger of the Greeks at last induced Patroclus, the friend of Achilles,
to take an energetic part in the battle, and his fall roused Achilles to new activity,
and led to his reconciliation with Agamemnon. In the games at the funeral pyre
of Patroclus, Agamemnon gained the first prize in throwing the spear. (Il. xxiii.
890)
Agamemnon, although the chief commander of the Greeks, is not the
hero of the Iliad, and in chivalrous spirit, bravery, and character, altogether
inferior to Achilles. But he nevertheless rises above all the Greeks by his dignity,
power, and majesty (Il. iii. 166), and his eyes and head are likened to those
of Zeus, his girdle to that of Ares, and his breast to that of Poseidon. (Il.
ii. 477) Agamemnon is among the Greek heroes what Zeus is among the gods of Olympus.
This idea appears to have guided the Greek artists, for in several representations
of Agamemnon still extant there is a remarkable resemblance to the representations
of Zeus. The emblem of his power and majesty in Homer is a sceptre, the work of
iiephaestus, which Zeus had once given to Hermes, and Hermes to Pelops, from whom
it descended to Agamemnon. (Il. ii. 100; comp. Paus. ix. 40.6) His armour is described
in the Iliad. (xi. 19)
The remaining part of the story of Agamemnon is related in the Odyssey,
and by several later writers. At the taking of Troy he received Cassandra, the
daughter of Priam, as his prize (Od. xi. 421; Diet. Cret. v. 13), by whom, according
to a tradition in Pausanias (ii. 16.5), he had two sons, Teledamus and Pelops.
On his return home he was twice driven out of his course by storms, but at last
landed in Argolis, in the dominion of Aegisthus, who had seduced Clytemnestra
during the absence of her husband. He invited Agamemnon on his arrival to a repast,
and had him and his companions treacherously murdered during the feast (Od. iii.
263), and Clytemnestra on the same occasion murdered Cassandra. (Od. xi. 400-422,
xxiv. 96) Odysseus met the shade of Agamemnon in the lower world. (Od. xi. 387,
xxiv. 20.) Menelaus erected a monument in honour of his brother on tle river Aegyptus.
(Od. iv. 584.) Pausanias (ii. 16.5) states, that in his time a monument of Agamemnon
was still extant at Mycenae.
The tragic poets have variously modified the story of the murder of
Agamemnon. Aeschylus (Agam. 1492) makes Clytemnestra alone murder Agamemnon: she
threw a net over him while he was in the bath, and slew him with three strokes.
Her motive is partly her jealousy of Cassandra, and partly her adulterous life
with Aegisthus. According to Tzetzes (ad Lycophr. 1099), Aegisthus committed the
murder with the assistance of Clytemnestra. Euripides (Or. 26) mentions a garment
which Clytemnestra threw over him instead of a net, and both Sophocles (Elect.
530) and Euripides represent the sacrifice of Iphigeneia as the cause for which
she murdered him. After the death of Agamemnon and Cassandra, their two sons were
murdered upon their tomb by Aegisthus. (Paus. ii. 16.5) According to Pindar (Pyth.
xi. 48) the murder of Agamemnon took place at Amyclae, in Laconica, and Pausanias
(l. c.) states that the inhabitants of this place disputed with those of Mycenae
the possession of the tomb of Cassandra (Paus. iii. 19.5).
In later times statues of Agamemnon were erected in several parts
of Greece, and he was worshipped as a hero at Amyclae and Olympia. (Paus. iii.
19.5, v. 25 5) He was represented on the pedestal of the celebrated Rhamnusian
Nemesis (i. 33.7), and his fight with Coon on the chest of Cypselus. (v. 19.1)
He was painted in the Lesche of Delphi, by Polygnotus. (x. 25.2; compare Plin.
H. N. xxxv. 36.5; Quintil. ii. 13.13; Val. Max. viii. 11.6.) It should be remarked
that several Latin poets mention a bastard son of Agamemnon, of the name of Halesus,
to whom the foundation of the town of Falisci or Alesium is ascribed. (Ov. Fast.
iv. 73; Amor. iii. 13. 31; comp. Serv. ad Aen. vii. 695; Sil. Ital. viii. 476.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Agamemnon. The son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus. Driven from Mycenae after the murder of Atreus by Thyestes, the two young princes fled to Sparta, where King Tyndareos gave them his daughters in marriage-Clytaemnestra to Agamemnon, and Helen to Menelaus. While the latter inherited his father-in-law's kingdom, Agamemnon not only drove his uncle out of Mycenae, but so extended his dominions that in the war against Troy for the recovery of Helen the chief command was intrusted to him, as the mightiest prince in Greece. He contributed one hundred ships manned with warriors, besides lending sixty to the Arcadians.In Homer he is one of the bravest fighters before Troy; yet, by arrogantly refusing to let Chryses, priest of Apollo, ransom his daughter Chryseis, who had fallen to Agamemnon as the prize of war, be brought a plague on the Grecian host, which he afterwards almost ruined by ruthlessly carrying off Briseis, the prize of Achilles, who henceforth sulked in his tents and refused to fight. After the fall of Troy, Agamemnon came home with his captive, the princess Cassandra; but at supper he and his comrades were murdered by his wife's lover, Aegisthus, while the queen herself killed Cassandra. Such is Homer's account; the tragic poets make Clytaemnestra, in revenge for her daughter's immolation, throw a net over Agamemnon while bathing, and kill him with the help of Aegisthus. In Homer his children are Iphianassa, Chrysothemis, Laodice, and Orestes; the later legend puts Iphigenia and Electra in the place of Iphianassa and Laodice. Agamemnon was worshipped as a hero. His name is the title of a play by Aeschylus.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Πληροφορίες Σύνταξης:
Tο(α) ηλεκτρονικό(ά) κείμενο(α) της τραγωδίας του Αισχύλου "Αγαμέμνων" παρατίθε(ν)ται στην Ελλάδα (αρχαία χώρα) στην κατηγορία Αρχαία Ελληνική Γραμματεία
Clytaemnestra (Klutaimnestra). A daughter of Tyndarus, king of Sparta, by Leda. She was born,
together with her brother Castor, from one of the eggs which her mother brought
forth after her amour with Zeus under the form of a swan. She married Agamemnon,
king of Mycenae, and when this monarch went to the Trojan War, he left his wife
and family, and all his affairs, to the care of his relation Aegisthus. But the
latter proved unfaithful to his trust, corrupted Clytaemnestra, and usurped the
throne. Agamemnon, on his return home, was murdered by his guilty wife, who was
herself afterwards slain, along with Aegisthus, by Orestes, son of the deceased
monarch. For a more detailed account, see the articles Agamemnon and Orestes.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical
Antiquities
Cited Sept. 2002 from Perseus Project
URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ΟΡΝΕΙΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΝΕΜΕΑ
Menestheus. The son of Peteos, who seized the government of Attica, while Theseus pined away in the nether world, and commanded the Athenians before Troy, where he fell.
ΠΥΛΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΣΣΗΝΙΑ
Ηταν ο βασιλιάς της Πύλου, γιος του Νηλέως και της Χλωρίδος, περίφημος σε σύνεση και ρητορική δεινότητα (Ιλ. Β 370), που έλαβε μέρος στον πόλεμο της Τροίας ενώ ήταν σε μεγάλη ηλικία (Ιλ. Α 247-252). Σύζυγός του ήταν η Ευρυδίκη, κόρη του Κλυμένη (Οδ. γ 452).
Nestor. Son of Neleus and Chloris, ruler of the Messenian and Triphylian Pylus, and later also, after the extinction of the royal family there, of Messenia. He was married to Eurydice, by whom he had seven sons and two daughters. He was the only one of twelve sons of Neleus who escaped being slain by Heracles, since he was, it is said, living at the time among the Gerenians in Messenia, from whom he derives the name Gerenios, given him in Homer. After this disaster, the king of the Epeans, Augeas, illegally kept back a fourhorse chariot which Neleus had sent to Elis to compete in a contest. Nestor , as yet hardly a youth, retaliated by driving off the herds of the Epeans; upon which the latter with a large army besieged the Pylian fortress of Thyroessa on the Eurotas. Nestor formed one of the relieving army, serving as a foot-soldier, owing to his father's having, from regard to his youth, had the war-horses concealed from him.
He slew in battle Augeas's son-in-law, and, fighting from the dead man's chariot, won a most brilliant victory, so that the Pylians offered thanks to him among men just as they offered them to Zeus among the gods. In like manner in the war against the Arcadians, when he was the youngest of all the combatants, he killed the gigantic and much-dreaded hero Ereuthalion. He also took an important part in the battle between the Centaurs and the Lapithae, and is mentioned as among the Argonauts. In old age, when he was ruling over the third generation of his people, he was involved in the expedition against Troy, owing, as the story went, to the obligation incurred by his son Antilochus as a suitor of Helen; with Odysseus he gained the help of Achilles and Patroclus for the undertaking, and himself sailed, in the company of his sons Antilochus and Thrasymedes, with ninety ships to the seat of war at Ilium.
Here, according to Homer, "Nestor the horseman", in spite of his great age, took a prominent part among the heroes in council and battle alike: the qualities which adorned him were wisdom, justice, eloquence, "from his lips flows language sweeter than honey", experience in war, unwearied activity, and courage. All valued and loved him, and none more than Agamemhon, who wished that he had ten such counsellors: in which case, he said, Troy would soon fall. He is so great a favourite with Homer that in ancient times it was conjectured that the poet was himself a native of Pylos. After the destruction of Troy he returned in safety with his son Thrasymedes to Pylos, Antilochus having for the sake of his father, who was in sore peril, sacrificed his own life in battle against Memnon. Ten years afterwards, Telemachus found him still at Pylos, amidst his children, in the enjoyment of a cheerful and prosperous old age.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities
Cited Aug 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Αναξίβια. Ο Απολλόδωρος παραδίδει ότι η Αναξίβια, κόρη του Κρατεού, ήταν δεύτερη σύζυγος του Νέστορος (Απλδ. 1,9,9).
ΣΠΑΡΤΗ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΛΑΚΩΝΙΑ
Ο Μενέλαος ήταν γιος του Ατρέα, δηλαδή Ατρείδης, αδελφός του Αγαμέμνονα και γαμπρός του Τυνδάρεω από την Ελένη (Ιλ. Η 470, Β 408), η αρπαγή της οποίας από τον Πάρη, το γιο του βασιλιά της Τροίας, Πριάμου, αποτέλεσε την ατιία του Τρωικού πολέμου.
Η Ελένη ήταν κόρη του Διός και της Λήδας, σύζυγος του Μενελάου και μητέρα της Ερμιόνης. Μετά το τέλος του Τρωικού πολέμου, επανήλθε στη Σπάρτη μαζί με τον Μενέλαο (Ιλ. Β 161, Γ 91 & 121, Οδ. δ 184).
Ο Μενέλαος, ο βασιλιάς της Λακεδαίμονας ηγείτο στον Τρωικό πόλεμο της Φάριδος, της Σπάρτης, της Μέσσης, των Βρυσειαίων, των Αυγειαίων, των Αμυκλών, του Ελους, της Λάας και του Οιτύλου με 60 πλοία (Ιλ. Β 581).
(Menelaos and Meneleos). A son of Atreus, and younger brother of Agamemnon, with whom he was exiled by Thyestes, the murderer of Atreus, and fled to King Tyndareos, at Sparta, whose daughter Helen he married, and whose throne he inherited after the death of Helen's brothers, Castor and Polydeuces (Pollux). When Paris had robbed him of his wife and of great treasures, he went with Odysseus to Troy to demand restitution, and they were hospitably received there by Antenor. His just claims were refused, and his life was even put in danger. He and Agamemnon accordingly called on the Greek chieftains to join in an expedition against Troy, and himself furnished sixty ships. At Troy he distinguished himself in counsel and in action, and was specially protected by Athene and Here. In the single combat with Paris he was victorious, but his opponent was rescued and carried off by Aphrodite. On demanding that Helen and the treasures should be restored, he was wounded by an arrow shot by the Trojan Pandarus. He was also ready to fight Hector, and was only prevented by the entreaties of his friends. When Patroclus had fallen, he shielded the dead body, at first alone, and then with the aid of Aiax, and bore it from the field of battle with Meriones. He was also one of the heroes of the wooden horse. Having recovered Helen he hastened home, but on rounding the promontory of Malea was driven to Egypt with five ships, and wandered about for eight years among the peoples of the East, where he was kindly received everywhere, and received rich presents. He was finally detained at the isle of Pharos by contrary winds, and with the help of the marine goddess Eidothea artfully compelled her father Proteus to prophesy to him. He thus learned the reason for his being detained at the island, and was also told that, as husband of the daughter of Zeus, he would not die, but enter the Elysian plains alive. After appeasing the gods in Egypt with hecatombs, he returned prosperously to his home, where he arrived on the very day on which Orestes was burying Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra. He spent the rest of his life quietly with Helen, in Lacedaemon. Their only daughter Hermione was married to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Helena, (Helen) The beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda, the wife of Tyndareos
of Sparta. She was sister of the Dioscuri and of Clytaemnestra. The post-Homeric
story represented her as carried off, while still a maiden, by Theseus, to the
Attic fortress of Aphidnae, where she bore him a daughter, Iphigenia. She was
afterwards set free by her brothers, who took her back to Sparta. She was wooed
by a number of suitors, and at length gave her hand to Menelaus, by whom she became
the mother of one child, Hermione. In the absence of her husband she was seduced
and carried away to Troy by Paris, the son of Priam, taking with her great treasures.
This was the origin of the Trojan War. The Trojans, in spite of the calamity she
had brought upon them, loved her for her beauty, and refused to restore her to
her husband. She, however, lamented the folly of her youth, and yearned for her
home, her husband, and her daughter. After the death of Paris she was wedded to
Deiphobus, assisted the Greeks at the taking of Troy, and betrayed Deiphobus into
Menelaus's hands. With Menelaus she finally returned to Sparta after eight years'
wandering, and lived thenceforth with him in happiness and concord.
According to another story, mainly current after the time of
Stesichorus, Paris carried off to Troy not the real Helen, but a phantom of her
created by Here. The real Helen was wafted through the air by Hermes, and brought
to King Proteus in Egypt, whence, after the destruction of Troy, she was taken
home by Menelaus. After the death of Menelaus she was, according to one story,
driven from Sparta by her step-sons, and fled thereupon to Rhodes to her friend
Polyxo, who hanged her on a tree. Another tradition represented her as living
after death in wedlock with Achilles on the island of Lence. She was worshipped
as the goddess of beauty in a special sanctuary at Therapne in Laconia, where
a festival was held in her honour. She was also invoked, like her brothers the
Dioscuri, as a tutelary deity of sailors.
In the Iliad, Helen is apparently regarded as one who is not
responsible for the ruin that she works, two passages seeming to imply that she
was carried off by force (ii. 356 and 390). In the Odyssey she is also excused
by the fact that she sins because a god has so willed it. Mr. Gladstone in his
Homeric studies even regards her as not only a type of womanly loveliness, but
of almost Christian penitence as well! The story of Helen has received a splendid
setting in the genius of poets of every age. She is the most famous woman of all
antiquity. In Goethe's Faust she is allegorically introduced as typifying the
classical spirit of beauty. In English, see the Hellenics of Walter Savage Landor,
Tennyson's Dream of Fair Women, and Andrew Lang's poem Helen of Troy, with the
appended essay.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ιππος του Μενελάου, που αναφέρεται στην Ιλιάδα, είναι ο Πόδαργος (Ιλ. Ψ 295).
Menelaus & Helen: Various WebPages
ΤΕΓΕΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΡΚΑΔΙΑ
Ηταν γιος του Αγκαίου και έγινε βασιλιάς της Τεγέας μετά τον Εχεμο. Πήρε μέρος στον Τρωικό πόλεμο ως αρχηγός των Αρκάδων (Ιλ. Β 609). Μετά τον πόλεμο, κακοκαιρία έριξε το στόλο του στην Κύπρο, όπου ίδρυσε το Ιερό της Αφροδίτης στην Παλαίπαφο και οίκισε την Πάφο (Παυσ. 8,5,2-3).
Agapenor, a son of Ancaeus, and grandson of Lycurgus. He was king of the Arcadians,
and received sixty ships from Agamemnon, in which he led his Arcadians to Troy
(Hom. Il. ii. 609, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 97). He also occurs among the suitors of Helen
(Hygin. Fab. 81; Apollod. iii. 10.8). On his return from Troy he was cast by a
storm on the coast of Cyprus, where he founded the town of Paphus, and in it the
famous temple of Aphrodite (Paus. viii. 5.2, &c.).
Monarchia, a general name for any form of government in which the supreme functions of political administration are in the hands of a single person. The term monarchia is applied to such governments, whether they are hereditary or elective, legal or usurped. If all the officials and ministers of the ruler are merely his deputies, appointed and removable by him, then the term monarchia strictly applies. Aristotle (Pol. iii. 15, 2,= p. 1287) calls this pambasileia. This form of monarchy did not belong to Greek states except as a consequence of revolution, when some citizen usurped this power for himself, and sometimes transmitted it. Monarchy of the more constitutional kind, as described in Homer, probably existed throughout Greece at the time of the Dorian conquest, and gradually disappeared, appeared, as in each state the weak or violent rule stirred up successful opposition of the people. In Argos, however, it lasted to the time of the invasion of Xerxes (Herod. vii. 149), but disappeared before the Peloponnesian War. In Sparta it remained in a peculiar form. In its commonest application, it is equivalent busileia, whether absolute or limited. But the rule of an aesymnetes or a tyrant would equally be called a monarchia. (Arist. Pol. iii. 16, iv. 8 = pp. 1286, 1294;--Plato, Polit. p. 291, C, E; p. 302, D, E.) Hence Plutarch uses it to express the Latin dictatura. Aristotle defines four sorts of basileia: firstly, the kingship of the heroic period, when the obedience was voluntary, but the power of the kings strictly defined, the king being general, judge, and supreme religious functionary; secondly, the non-Greek, which was a hereditary despotic rule of a constitutional character; thirdly, the Asymneteia, as it is called, an elective tyranny; and, fourthly, the Laconian, which may be broadly defined as a hereditary generalship for life. (Arist. Pol. iii. 14, Welldon's translation.) It is by a somewhat rhetorical use of the word that it is applied now and then to the demos. (Eurip. Suppl. 352; Arist. Pol. iv. 4.)
Γιος του Βήλου και της κόρης του Νείλου Αγχιρρόης, δίδυμος αδελφός του Αιγύπτου, απόγονος της Ιούς, 14ος βασιλιάς του Αργους (15ος αιώνας π.Χ.). Ο πατέρας του μοίρασε το βασίλειό του στα παιδιά του, ο Κηφεύς και ο Φινεύς πήραν τη Χώρα των Κεκαυμένων (Αιθιοπίαν), ο Φοίνιξ και ο Αγήνωρ την Φοινίκην, ο Δαναός την Λιβύην και ο Αίγυπτον την Μελαμποδίαν που πήρε το όνομά του. Φοβούμενος ο Δαναός τις επεκτατικές τάσεις του αδελφού του και των 50 παιδιών του, μετά και από συμβουλή της Αθηνάς, κατασκεύασε πεντηκόντορον , με την οποία ήρθε στο Αργος μαζί με τις 50 κόρες του. Ο μύθος του Δαναού και των Δαναϊδων είναι από τους πιο αξιόλογους του Αργειακού κύκλου, για την ερμηνεία του οποίου ασχολήθηκε και ασχολείται ο πνευματικός κόσμος (βλ. Perseus Encyclopedia).
Danaus (Danaos). A son of Belus and Anchinoe, and brother of Aegyptus.
Belus assigned the country of Libya to Danaus, while to Aegyptus he gave Arabia.
Aegyptus conquered the country of the Melampodes and named it from himself. By
many wives he became the father of fifty sons. Danaus had by several wives an
equal number of daughters. Dissension arising between him and the sons of Aegyptus,
they aimed at depriving him of his kingdom; and, fearing their violence, he built,
with the aid of Athene, a fifty-oared vessel, the first that ever was made, in
which he embarked with his daughters and fled over the sea. He first landed on
the isle of Rhodes, where he set up a statue of the Lindian Athene; but, not caring
to remain in that island, he proceeded to Argos; where Gelanor, who at that time
ruled over the country, cheerfully resigned the government to the stranger who
had brought thither civilization and the arts. The people took the name of their
new monarch, and were called Danai (Danaoi).
The country of Argos being at this time extremely deficient
in pure and wholesome water (see Inachus), Danaus sent forth his daughters in
quest of some. As Amymone, one of them, was engaged in the search, she was rescued
by Poseidon from the intended violence of a satyr, and the god revealed to her
a fountain called after her name and the most famous among the streams that contributed
to form the Lernaean lake or marsh. The sons of Aegyptus came now to Argolis and
entreated their uncle to bury past enmity in oblivion, and to give them their
cousins in marriage. Danaus, retaining a perfect recollection of the injuries
they had done him and distrustful of their promises, consented to bestow upon
them his daughters, whom he divided among them by lot; but on the wedding-day
he armed the hands of the brides with daggers, and enjoined upon them to slay
in the night their unsuspecting bridegrooms. All but Hypermnestra obeyed the cruel
orders of their father; and cutting off the heads of their husbands, they flung
them into Lerna, and buried their bodies with all due rites outside of the town.
At the command of Zeus, Hermes and Athene purified them from the guilt of their
deed. Hypermnestra had spared Lynceus for the delicate regard which he had shown
to her modesty. Her father, at first, in his anger at her disobedience, put her
into close confinement. Relenting, however, after some time, he gave his consent
to her union with Lynceus, and proclaimed gymnastic games, in which the victors
were to receive his other daughters as the prizes. It was said, however, that
the crime of the Danaides did not pass without due punshment in the lower world,
where they were condemned to pour water forever into a perforated vessel.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Danaus (Danaos), a son of Belus and Anchinoe, and a grandson of Poseidon and Libya. He was brother of Aegyptus, and farther of fifty daughters, and the mythical ancestor of the Danai (Apollod. ii. 1,4). According to the common story he was a native of Chemnis, in the Thebais in Upper Egypt, and migrated from thence into Greece (Herod. ii. 91). Belus had given Danaus Libya, while Aegyptus had obtained Arabia. Danaiis had reason to think that the sons of his brother were plotting against him, and fear or the advice of an oracle (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 37), induced him to build a large ship and to embark with his daughters. On his flight he first landed at Rhodes, where he set up an image of Athena Lindia. According to the story in Herodotus, a temple of Athena was built at Lindus by the daughters of Danaus, and according to Strabo (xiv. p. 654) Tlepolemus built the towns of Lindus, Ialysus and Cameirus, and called them thus after the names of three Danaides. From Rhodes Danaus and his daughters sailed to Peloponnesus, and landed at a place near Lerna, which was afterwards called from this event Apobathmi (Paus. ii. 38.4). At Argos a dispute arose between Danaus and Gelanor about the government, and after many discussions the people deferred the decision of the question to the next day. At its dawn a wolf rushed among the cattle and killed one of the oxen. This occurrence was to the Argives an event which seemed to announce to them in what manner the dispute should terminate, and Danaiis was accordingly made king of Argos. Out of gratitude he now built a sanctuary of Apollo Lycius, who, as he believed, had sent the wolf (Paus. ii. 19.3. Comp. Serv. ad Aen. iv. 377, who relates a different story). Danaus also erected two wooden statues of Zeus and Artemis, and dedicated his shield in the sanctuary of Hera (Paus. ii. 19.6; Hygin. Fab. 170). He is further said to have built the acropolis of Argos and to have provided the place with water by digging wells (Strab. i. p. 23, viii. p. 371; Eustath. ad Hom) The sons of Aegyptus in the mean time had followed their uncle to Argos; they assured him of their peaceful sentiments and sued for the hands of his daughters. Danaus still mistrusted them and remembered the cause of his flight from his country; however he gave them his daughters and distributed them among his nephews by lot. But all the brides, with the exception of Hypermnestra murdered their husbands by the command of their father. In aftertimes the Argives were called Danai. Whether Danaus died a natural death, or whether he was killed by Lynceus, his son-in-law, is a point on which the various traditions are not agreed, but he is said to have been buried at Argos, and his tomb in the agora of Argos was shown there as late as the time of Pausanias (ii. 20.4; Strab. viii). Statues of Danaus, Hypermnestra and Lynceus were seen at Delphi by Pausanias (x. 10.2).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Herse. The wife of Danaus and mother of Hippodice and Adiante. (Apollod. ii. 1.5)
Wells were invented by Danaus,who came from Egypt into that part of Greece which had been previously known as Argos Dipsion.
Commentary:
Danaus is said to have migrated from Egypt into Greece about 1485 B.C. He may
have introduced wells into Greece, but they had, long before his time, been employed
in Egypt and in other countries. The term "Dipsion," "thirsting," which it appears
had been applied to the district of Argos, may seem to render it probable, that,
before the arrival of Danaus, the inhabitants had not adopted any artificial means
of supplying themselves with water. But this country, we are told, is naturally
well supplied with water.
Γιος του Αμυθάονος και της Ειδομένης, αδελφός του Βίαντος, πατέρας του Αντιφάτη και του Μάντιου και περιβόητος μάντης από την Πύλο. Για να λάβει χάριν του αδελφού του την Πηρώ, κόρη του Νηλέως, πήγε στη Φυλάκη της Θεσσαλίας για να πάρει τα βόδια του Ιφίκλου. Εκεί, όμως, αιχμαλωτίστηκε για ένα έτος και ελευθερώθηκε, αφού είπε στον Ιφικλο όλους τους χρησμούς. Επειτα, επανήλθε στην Πύλο, όπου τιμώρησε το Νηλέα για τα αδικήματα κατά των Αμυθαονιδών, έδωσε την Πηρώ στον αδελφό του κι έφυγε στο Αργος (Οδ. λ 287 κ.ε., ο 225 κ.ε.), όπου έγινε ο 21ος βασιλιάς και συμβασίλεψε με τον Αναξαγόρα και τον Βίαντα.
Melampus (Melampous), a son of Amythaon by Eidomene, or according to others, by
Aglaia or Plhodope (Apollod. i. 9.1; Diod. iv. 68; Schol. ad Theocrit. iii. 43),
and a brother of Bias. He was looked upon by the ancients as the first mortal
that had been endowed with prophetic powers, as the person that first practised
the medical art, and established the worship of Dionysus in Greece (Apollod. ii.
2.2). He is said to have been married to Iphianassa (others call her Iphianeira
or Cyrianassa - Diod. iv. 68; Serv. ad Virg. Ecloy. vi. 48), by whom he became
the father of Mantius and Antiphates (Hom. Od. xv. 225). Apollodorus (i. 9.13)
adds a son, Abas; and Diodorus calls his children Bias, Antiphates, Manto, and
Pronoe (comp. Pans. vi. 17.4). Melampus at first dwelt with Neleus at Pylus,
afterwards he resided for a time at Phylace,
near Mount Othrys, with Phylacus
and Iphiclus and at last ruled over a third of the territory of Argos (Hom. l.
c.). At Aegosthena, in the
north-western part of Megaris,
he had a sanctuary and a statue, and an annual festival was there celebrated in
his honour. (Paus. i. 44.8.)
With regard to his having introduced the worship of Dionysus into
Greece, Herodotus (ii. 49) thinks that Melampus became acquainted with the worship
of the Egyptian Dionysus, through Cadmus and the Phoenicians, and his connection
with the Dionysiac religion is often alluded to in the ancient writers. Thus,
we are told, for example, that he taught the Greeks how to mix wine with water
(Athen. ii. p. 45; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1816). Diodorus (i. 97) further adds that
Melampus brought with him from Egypt
the myths about Crones and the fight of the Titans.
As regards his prophetic power, his residence at Phylace,
and his ultimate rule over a portion of Argos, the following traditions were current
in antiquity. When Melampus lived with Neleus, he dwelt outside the town of Pylos,
and before his house there stood an oak tree containing a serpent's nest. The
old serpents were killed by his servants, and burnt by Melampus himself, who reared
the young ones. One day, when they had grown up, and Melampus was asleep, they
approached from both sides and cleaned his ears with their tongues. Being thus
roused from his sleep, he started up, and to his surprise perceived that he now
understood the language of birds, and that with their assistance he could foretell
the future. In addition to this he acquired the power of prophesying, from the
victims that were offered to the gods, and, after having had an interview with
Apollo on the banks of the Alpheius,
he became a most renowned soothsayer (Apollod. i. 9.11; Eustath. ad Hom.).
During his stay with Neleus it happened that his brother Bias was
one of the suitors for the hand of Pero, the daughter of Neleus, and Neleus promised
his daughter to the man who should bring to him as a gift for the maiden, the
oxen of Iphiclus, which were guarded by a dog whom neither man nor animal could
approach. Melampus undertook the task of procuring the oxen for his brother, although
he knew that the thief would be caught and kept in imprisonment for one whole
year, after which he was to come into possession of the oxen. Things turned out
as he had said; Melampus was thrown into prison, and in his captivity he learned
front the wood-worms that the building in which he was would soon break down.
He accordingly demanded to be let out, and as Phylacus and Iphiclus became thus
acquainted with his prophetic powers, they asked him in what manner Iphiclus,
who had no children, was to become father. Melampus, on the suggestion of a vulture,
advised Iphiclus to take the rust from the knife with which Phylacus had once
cut his son, and drink it in water during ten days. This was done, and Iphiclus
became the father of Podarces. Melampus now received the oxen as a reward for
his good services, and drove them to Pylos;
he thus gained Pero for his brother, and henceforth remained in Messenia
(Apollod. i. 9.12; Paus. iv. 36.2; Schol. ad Theocrit. iii. 43).
His dominion over Argos is said to have been acquired in the following
manner. In the reign of Anaxagoras, king of Argos, the women of the kingdom were
seized with madness, and roamed about the country in a frantic state. Melampus
cured them of it, on condition that he and his brother Bias should receive an
equal share with Anaxagoras in the kingdom of Argos (Paus. ii. 18.4; Diod. iv.
68). Others, however, give the following account. The daughters of Proetus, Iphinoe,
Lysippe and Iphianassa, were seized with madness, either because they opposed
the worship of Dionysus (Diod. l. c.; Apollod. i. 9.12), or because they boasted
of equalling Hera in beauty, or because they had stolen the gold from the statue
of the goddess (Serv. ad Viry. Ecl. vi. 48). Melampus promised to cure the women,
if the king would give him one-third of his territory and one of his daughters
in marriage. Proetus refused the proposal: but when the madness continued, and
also seized the other Argive women, messengers came to Melampus to request his
aid; but he now demanded two-thirds of the kingdom, one for himself, and the other
for his brother. The demand was complied with, and with a band of youths, he pursued
the women as far as Sicyon,
with Bacchic shouts. Iphinoe died during the pursuit, but the surviving women
were cured by purifications in a well, Anigrus, or in a temple of Artemis near
Lusi, or in the town of Sicyon
itself; and Melampus and Bias married the two daughters of Proetus (Apollod. ii.
2. § 2; Strab. viii; Ov. Met. xv. 322; Paus. ii. 7.8, viii. 18; Herod. ix. 34;
Schol. ad Pind. Nem. ix. 30).
Another mythical personage of the same name occurs in Virgil (Aen.
x. 320).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Melampus, (Melampous). The son of Amythaon and of Idomene; brother
of Bias, the oldest Greek seer, and ancester of the family of seers called Melampodidae.
The brothers went with their uncle Neleus from Thessaly to Pylus in Messenia,
where they dwelt in the country. Melampus owed his gift of soothsaying to some
serpents, which he had saved from death and reared, and who in return cleansed
his ears with their tongues when he slept; on awaking he understood the voices
of birds, and thus learned what was secret. When Neleus would only give Bias his
beautiful daughter Pero on condition that he first brought him the oxen of Iphiclus
of Phylace in Thessaly, which were guarded by a watchful dog, Melampus offered
to bring the oxen for his brother, though he knew beforehand that he would be
imprisoned for a year. He was caught in the act of stealing them, and kept in
strict confinement. From the talk of the worms in the woodwork of the roof he
gathered that the house would soon fall to pieces. He thereupon demanded to be
taken to another prison; and this was scarcely done when the house broke down.
When, on account of this, Phylacus, father of Iphiclus, perceived his prophetic
gifts, he promised him the oxen, if, by his art, he would find out some way of
curing his son's childlessness. Melampus offered a bull to Zeus, cut it in pieces,
and invited the birds to the meal. From these he heard that a certain vulture,
that had not come, knew how it could be effected. This vulture was made to appear,
and related that the defect in Iphiclus was the result of a sudden fright at seeing
a bloody knife, with which his father had been castrating some goats; he had dug
the knife into a tree, which had grown round about it; if he took some of the
rust scraped off it, for ten days, he would be cured. Melampus found the knife,
cured Iphiclus, obtained the oxen, and Bias received Pero for his wife.
Afterwards he went to Argos, because, according to Homer, Neleus
had committed a serious offence against him in his ab sence, for which he had
taken revenge; while, according to the usual account, he had been asked by king
Proetus to heal his daughter, stricken with madness for acting impiously towards
Dionysus or Here. He had stipulated that his reward should be a third of the kingdom
for himself, another for Bias; besides which Iphianassa became his wife, and Lysippe
that of Bias, both being daughters of Proetus. A descendant of his son Antiphates
was Oicles, who was a companion of Heracles in the expedition against Troy, and
was slain in battle by Laomedon; he again was ancestor of the seer and hero Amphiaraus.
Descendants of his other son Mantius were Cleitus, whom Eos, the goddess of dawn,
carried off on account of his beauty, and Polypheides, whom, after the death of
Amphiaraus, Apollo made the best of seers. The son of Polypheides was the seer
Theoclymenus, who, flying from Argos on account of committing a murder, met Telemachus
at Pylus, was led by him to Ithaca, and announced to Penelope the presence in
Ithaca of Odysseus and to the suitors their approaching death. The seer Polyidus
was also said to be a great-grandson of Melampus. At Argos Melampus was held to
be the first priest of Dionysus, and originator of mysterious customs at festivals
and at ceremonies of expiation.
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Γιος του Μελάμποδος, πατέρας του Οϊκλή, αδελφός του Μάντιου (Οδ. ο 242). Μάλλον βασίλευσε μετά τον άτεκνο αδελφό του ως ο 28ος βασιλιάς του Αργους, όπου συμβασίλευσε με τον Ιφίο και τον Πρώνακτα.
Γιος του Μελάμποδα και της Ιφιάνασσας, αδελφός του Αντιφάτη και πατέρας του Πολυφείδη και του Κλείτου (Οδ. ο 243 κ.ε.). Ηταν ο 25ος βασιλιάς του Αργους και συμβασίλευσε με τον Αλέκτορα και τον Ταλαό.
Γιος του Βίαντα και της Πηρούς, 24ος βασιλιάς του Αργους, παντρεύτηκε τη Λυσιάνασσα ή Λισίππη ή Λυσιμάχη, κόρη του Πόλυβου και της Μερόπης, βασιλέων της Σικυώνας, συμβασίλευσε με τον Αλέκτορα και το Μάντιο.
Talaus (Talaos), a son of Bias and Pero, and king of Argos. He was married to Lysimache (Eurynome, Hygin. Fab. 70, or Lysianassa, Paus. ii. 6.3), and was father of Adrastus, Parthenopaeus, Pronax, Mecisteus, Aristomachus, and Eriphyle (Apollod. i. 9.13; Pind. Nem. ix. 14). Hyginus mentions two other daughters of his. He also occurs among the Argonauts (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 118), and his tomb was shown at Argos (Paus. ii. 21.2). Being a great grandson of Cretheus, Antimachus in a fragment preserved in Pausanias (viii. 25.5) calls him Cretheiades. His own sons, Adrastus and Mecisteus, are sometimes called Talaionides, as in Hom. Il. ii. 566; Pind. Ol. vi. 24.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Ο Αδραστος, γιος του Ταλαού και σύζυγος της Αμφιθέας, διαδέχθηκε τον αδελφό του Πρώνακτα και έγινε ο 30ος βασιλιάς του Αργους. Συμβασίλευσε με τον Σθένελο και τον Οϊκλή. Αργότερα, κατέφυγε στη Σικυώνα, όπου έμεινε κοντά στον Πόλυβο και πήρε την εξουσία μετά το θάνατό του (Παυσ. 2,6,6). Εδωσε στον Τυδέα γυναίκα μια από τις κόρες του (Ιλ. Β 572, Ξ 121).
Ο Ομηρος αναφέρει και το όνομα του αλόγου του, Αρείων, το οποίο τον είχε σώσει κατά την πολιορκία των Θηβών (Ιλ. Ψ 346).
Adrastus (Adrastos), a son of Talaus, king of Argos, and of Lysimache (Apollod.
i. 9.13). Pausanias (ii. 6.3) calls his mother Lysianassa, and Hyginus (Fab. 69)
Eurynome (Comp. Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 423). During a feud between the most powerful
houses in Argos, Talaus was slain by Amphiaraus, and Adrastus being expelled from
his dominions fled to Polybus, then king of Sicyon.
When Polybus died without heirs, Adrastus succeeded him on the throne of Sicyon,
and during his reign he is said to have instituted the Nemean
games (Hom. Il. ii. 572; Pind. Nem. ix. 30; Herod. v. 67; Paus. ii. 6.3). Afterwards,
however, Adrastus became reconciled to Amphiaraus, gave him his sister Eriphyle
in marriage, and returned to his kingdom of Argos. During the time he reigned
there it happened that Tydeus of Calydon and Polynices of Thebes,
both fugitives from their native countries, met at Argos near the palace of Adrastus,
and came to words and from words to blows. On hearing the noise, Adrastus hastened
to them and separated the combatants, in whom he immediately recognised the two
men that had been promised to him by an oracle as the future husbands of two of
his daughters; for one bore on his shield the figure of a boar, and the other
that of a lion, and the oracle was, that one of his daughters was to marry a boar
and the other a lion. Adrastus therefore gave his daughter Deipyle to Tydeus,
and Argeia to Polynices, and at the same time promised to lead each of these princes
back to his own country. Adrastus now prepared for war against Thebes,
although Amphiaraus foretold that all who should engage in it should perish, with
the exception of Adrastus (Apollod. iii. 6.1; Hygin. Fab. 69, 70).
Thus arose the celebrated war of the " Seven against Thebes," in which
Adrastus was joined by six other heroes, viz. Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus,
Hippomedon, and Parthenopaeus. Instead of Tydeus and Polynices other legends mention
Eteoclos and Mecisteus. This war ended as unfortunately as Amphiaraus had predicted,
and Adrastus alone was saved by the swiftness of his horse Areion, the gift of
Heracles (Hom. Il. xxiii. 346; Paus. viii. 25.5; Apollod. iii. 6). Creon of Thebes
refusing to allow the bodies of the six heroes to be buried, Adrastus went to
Athens and implored the assistance
of the Athenians. Theseus was persuaded to undertake an expedition against Thebes;
he took the city and delivered up the bodies of the fallen heroes to their friends
for burial (Apollod. iii. 7.1 Paus. ix. 9.1).
Ten years after this Adrastus persuaded the seven sons of the heroes,
who had fallen in the war against Thebes,
to make a new attack upon that city, and Amphiaraus now declared that the gods
approved of the undertaking, and promised success (Paus. ix. 9.2; Apollod. iii.
7.2). This war is celebrated in ancient story as the war of the Epigoni (Epigonoi).
Thebes was taken and razed
to the ground, after the greater part of its inhabitants had left the city on
the advice of Tiresias (Apollod. iii. 7.2--4; Herod. v. 61; Strab. vii.). The
only Argive hero that fell in this war, was Aegialeus, the son of Adrastus. After
having built a temple of Nemesis in the neighbourhood of Thebes,
he set out on his return home. But weighed down by old age and grief at the death
of his son he died at Megara
and was buried there (Paus. i. 43.1). After his death he was worshipped in several
parts of Greece, as at Megara
(Paus. l. c.), at Sicyon
where his memory was celebrated in tragic choruses (Herod. v. 67), and in Attica
(Paus. i. 30.4). The legends about Adrastus and the two wars against Thebes have
furnished most ample materials for the epic as well as tragic poets of Greece
(Paus. ix. 9. 3), and some works of art relating to the stories about Adrastus
are mentioned in Pausanias. (iii. 18.7, x. 10.2).
From Adrastus the female patronymic Adrastine was formed (Hom. Il.
v. 412).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Adrastus (Adrastos). Son of Talaus of Argos. Being expelled from Argos by Amphiaraus, he fled to Polybus, king of Sicyon, whom he succeeded on the throne of Sicyon, and instituted the Nemean games. Afterwards he became reconciled to Amphiaraus, and returned to his kingdom of Argos. He married his two daughters Deipyle and Argia, the former to Tydeus of Calydon, and the latter to Polynices of Thebes, both fugitives from their native countries. He then prepared to restore Polynices to Thebes, who had been expelled by his brother Eteocles, although Amphiaraus foretold that all who should engage in the war would perish, with the exception of Adrastus. Thus arose the celebrated war of the "Seven against Thebes," in which Adrastus was joined by six other heroes, viz., Polynices, Tydeus, Amphiaraus, Capaneus, Hippomedon, and Parthenopaeus. This war ended as unfortunately as Amphiaraus had predicted, and Adrastus alone was saved by the swiftness of his horse Arion, the gift of Heracles. Ten years afterwards, Adrastus persuaded the six sons of the heroes who had fallen in the war to make a new attack upon Thebes, and Amphiaraus now promised success. This war is known as the war of the Epigoni (epigonoi), or descendants. Thebes was taken and razed to the ground. The only Argive hero that fell in this war was Aegialeus, the son of Adrastus: the latter died of grief at Megara on his return to Argos, and was buried in the former city. The legends about Adrastus and the two wars against Thebes furnished ample materials for the epic as well as tragic poets of Greece.
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Demonassa, the mother of Aegialus by Adrastus. (Hygin. Fab. 71.)
Γιος του Αντιφάτη ή του Μάντιου, πατέρας του Αμφιάρου, 31ος βασιλιάς του Αργους, συμβασίλευσε με τον Σθένελο και τον Αδραστο (Οδ. ο 244).
Oicles (Oikles) or Oicleus (Oikleus). The son of Antiphates, grandson of Melampus and father of Amphiaraus, of Argos. He is also called a son of Amphiaraus, or a son of Mantius, the brother of Antiphates. Oicles accompanied Heracles on his expedition against Laomedon of Troy, and was there slain in battle. According to other traditions, he returned home from the expedition, and dwelt in Arcadia, where he was visited by his grandson Alcmaeon , and where his tomb was shown.
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Hupermnestra, a daughter of Thestius and Eurythemis, and the witie of Oicles, by whom she became the mother of Amphhiaraus Her tomb was shown at Argos. (Apollod. i. 7.10; Paus. ii. 21. 2.) One of the daughters of Danaus was likewise called Hypermnestra.
Γιος του Ταλαού, αδελφός του Αδραστου και πατέρας του Ευρύαλου (Ιλ. Β 566).
Ο Παυσανίας παραδίδει ότι πήρε μέρος στους επικήδειους αγώνες του Οιδίποδα στη Θήβα (Παυσ. 1,28,7).
Mecisteus, (Mekisteus). A son of Talaus and Lysimache, brother of Adrastus, and father of Euryalus of Thebes (Hom. Il. ii. 566; Apollod. iii. 6.3).
Ο Αμφιάραος, βασιλιάς του Αργους, ήταν γιος του Οϊκλή και σύζυγος της Εριφύλης, αδελφής του Αδράστου, επίσης απόγονος του Μελάμποδος και πατέρας του Αλκμαίωνος και του Αμφιλόχου. Η Εριφύλη τον ανάγκασε να πάρει μέρος στην Εκστρατεία των Επτά εναντίον των Θηβών και εκείνος πριν φύγει έδωσε εντολή στο γιο τους Αλκμαίωνα να τη σκοτώσει, όπως και έγινε (Οδ. λ 326, ο 244 κ.ε.). Υπήρχε στον Κεραμεικό ανδριάντας του Αμφιάραου.
Amphiaraus (Amphiaraos), a son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, the daughter of Thestius (Hom. Od. xv. 244; Apollod. i. 8.2; Hygin. Fab. 73; Paus. ii. 21.2.). On his father's side he was descended from the famous seer Melampus (Paus. vi. 17.4). Some traditions represented him as ason of Apollo by Hypermnestra, which, however, is merely a poetical expression to describe him as a seer and prophet (Hygin. Fab. 70). Amphiaraus is renowned in ancient story as a brave hero: he is mentioned among the hunters of the Calydonian boar, which he is said to have deprived of one eye, and also as one of the Argonauts (Apollod. i. 8.2, 9.16). For a time he reigned at Argos in common with Adrastus; but, in a feud which broke out between them, Adrastus took to flight. Afterwards, however, he became reconciled with Amphiaraus, and gave him his sister Eriphyle in marriage, by whom Amphiaraus became the father of Alcmaeon, Amphilochus, Eurydice, and Demonassa. On marrying Eriphyle, Amphiaraus had sworn, that he would abide by the decision of Eriphyle on any point in which he should differ in opinion from Adrastus. When, therefore, the latter called upon him to join the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, Amphiaraus, although he foresaw its unfortunate issue and at first refused to take any part in it, was nevertheless persuaded by his wife to join his friends, for Eriphyle had been enticed to induce her husband by the necklace of Harmonia which Polyneices had given her. Amphiaraus on leaving Argos enjoined his sons to avenge his death on their heartless mother (Apollod. iii. 6.2; Hygin. Fab. 73; Diod. iv. 65; Hom Od. xv. 247). On their way to Thebes the heroes instituted the Nemean games, and Amphiaraus won the victory in the chariot-race and in throwing the discus (Apollod. iii. 6.4). During the war against Thebes, Amphiaraus fought bravely (Pind. Ol. vi. 26), but still he could not suppress his anger at the whole undertaking, and when Tydeus, whom he regarded as the originator of the expedition, was severely wounded by Melanippus, and Athena was hastening to render him immortal, Amphiaraus cut off the head of Melanippus, who had in the mean time been slain, and gave Tydeus his brains to drink, and Athena, struck with horror at the sight, withdrew (Apollod. iii. 6.8). When Adrastus and Amphiaraus were the only heroes who survived, the latter was pursued by Periclymenus, and fled towards the river Ismenius. Here the earth opened before he was overtaken by his enemy, and swallowed up Amphiaraus together with his chariot, but Zeus made him immortal (Pind. Nem. ix. 57, Ol. vi. 21; Plut. Parall. 6; Cic. de Divin. i. 40). Henceforth Amphiaraus was worshipped as a hero, first at Oropus and afterwards in all Greece (Paus. i. 34.2; Liv. xlv. 27). He had a sanctuary at Argos (Paus. ii. 23.2), a statue at Athens (i. 8.3), and a heroum at Sparta. The departure of Amphiaraus from his home when he went to Thebes, was represented on the chest of Cypselus (Paus. v. 17.4). Respecting some extant works of art, of which Amphiaraus is the subject, see GrΌneisen, Die alt griechische Bronze des Tux'schen Kabinets in TΌbingen, Stuttg. and TΌbing.1835. The prophetic power, which Amphiaraus was believed to possess, was accounted for by his descent from Melampus or Apollo, though there was also a local tradition at Phlius, according to which he had acquired them in a night which he spent in the prophetic house (oikos mantikos) of Phlius. (Paus. ii. 13.6; comp. i. 34.3). He was, like all seers, a favourite of Zeus and Apollo (Hom. Od. xv. 245). Respecting the oracle of Amphiaraus see Dict. of Ant. s. v. Oraculum. It should be remarked here, that Virgil (Aen. vii. 671) mentions three Greek heroes as contemporaries of Aeneas, viz. Tiburtus, Catillus, and Coras, the first of whom was believed to be the founder of Tibur, and is described by Pliny (H. N. xvi. 87) as a son of Amphiaraus.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Amphiaraus (Amphiaraos). An Argive, the son of Oicles and Hypermnestra, great-grandson of the seer Melampus. In Homer he is a favourite of Zeus and Apollo, alike distinguished as a seer and a hero, who takes part in the Calydonian boar-hunt, in the voyage of the Argonauts, and in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes. Reconciled to Adrastus after a quarrel, and wedded to his sister Eriphyle, he agreed that any future differences between them should be settled by her. She, bribed by Polynices with the fatal necklace of his ancestress Harmonia, insisted on her husband joining the war against Thebes, though he foresaw that it would end fatally for him, and in departing charged his youthful sons Alcmaeon and Amphilochus to avenge his coming death.
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Eriphyle (Eriphule). In Greek mythology, sister of Adrastus and wife of
Amphiaraus. Bribed with a necklace by Polynices, she prevailed on her husband
to take part in the war of the Seven against Thebes, in which he met his death.
In revenge for this she was slain by her son Alcmaeon.
Γιος του Αμφιάραου και της Εριφύλης και αδελφός του Αμφίλοχου (Οδ. ο 248). Σκότωσε τη μητέρα του όταν έμαθε ότι εκείνη προέτρεψε τον Αμφιάραο να πάρει μέρος στην εκστρατεία των Επτά στη Θήβα ξέροντας ότι θα σκοτωνόταν.
Alacmaeon (Alkmaion), a son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle, and brother of Amphilochus,
Eurydice, and Demonassa (Apollod. iii. 7.2). His mother was induced by the necklace
of Harmonia, which she received from Polyneices, to persuade her husband Amphiaraus
to take part in the expedition against Thebes
(Hom. Od. xv. 247). But before Amphiaraus set out, he enjoined his sons to kill
their mother as soon as they should be grown up (Apollod. iii. 6.2; Hygin. Fab.
73). When the Epigoni prepared for a second expedition against Thebes,
to avenge the death of their fathers, the oracle promised them success and victory,
if they chose Alcmaeon their leader. He was at first disinclined to undertake
the command, as he had not yet taken vengeance on his mother, according to the
desire of his father. But she, who had now received from Thersander, the son of
Polyneices, the peplus of Harmonia also, induced him to join the expedition. Alcmaeon
distinguished himself greatly in it, and slew Laodamus, the son of Eteocles (Apollod.
iii. 7.2; comp. Diod. iv. 66). When, after the fall of Thebes,
he learnt the reason for which his mother had urged him on to take part in the
expedition, he slew her on the advice of an oracle of Apollo, and, according to
some traditions, in conjunction with his brother Amphilochus. For this deed he
became mad, and was haunted by the Erinnyes. He first came to Oecleus in Arcadia,
and thence went to Phegeus in Psophis,
and being purified by the latter, he married his daughter Arsinoe or Alphesiboea
(Paus. viii. 24.4), to whom he gave the necklace and peplus of Harmonia. But the
country in which he now resided was visited by scarcity, in consequence of his
being the murderer of his mother, and the oracle advised him to go to Achelous.
According to Pausanias, he left Psophis
because his madness did not yet cease. Pausanias and Thucydides (ii. 102; comp.
Plut. De Exil. p. 602) further state, that the oracle commanded him to go to a
country which had been formed subsequent to the murder of his mother, and was
therefore under no curse. The country thus pointed out was a tract of land which
had been recently formed at the mouth of the river Achelous.
Apollodorus agrees with this account, but gives a detailed history of Alcmaeon's
wanderings until he reached the mouth of Achelous,
who gave him his daughter Calirrhoe in marriage. Calirrhoe had a desire to possess
the necklace and peplus of Harmonia, and Alcmaeon, to gratify her wish, went to
Psophis to get them from
Phegeus, under the pretext that he intended to dedicate them at Delphi
in order to be freed from his madness. Phegeus complied with his request, but
when he heard that the treasures were fetched for Calirrhoe, he sent his sons
Pronous and Agenor (Apollod. iii. 7.6) or, according to Pausanias (viii. 24.4),
Temenus and Axion, after him, with the command to kill him. This was done, but
the sons of Alcmaeon by Calirrhoe took bloody vengoance at the instigation of
their mother (Apollod. Paus. ll. cc.; Ov. Met. ix. 407)
The story about Alcmaeon furnished rich materials for the epic and
tragic poets of Greece, and their Roman imitators. But none of these poems is
now extant, and we only know from Apollodorus (iii. 7.7), that Euripides, in his
tragedy " Alcmaeon," stated that after the fall of Thebes
he married Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, and that he had two children by her,
Amphilochus and Tisiphone, whom he gave to Creon, king of Corinth,
to educate. The wife of Creon, jealous of the extraordinary beauty of Tisiphone,
afterwards sold her as a slave, and Alcmaeon himself bought her, without knowing
that she was his daughter (Diod. iv. 66; Paus. vii. 3.1, ix. 33.1). Alcmaeon after
his death was worshipped as a hero, and at Thebes
he seems to have had an altar, near the house of Pindar (Pyth. viii. 80), who
calls him his neighbour and the guardian of his property, and also seems to suggest
that prophetic powers were ascribed to him, as to his father Amphiaraus. At Psopllis
his tomb was shown, surrounded with lofty and sacred cypresses (Paus. viii. 24.4).
At Oropus, in Attica,
where Amphiaraus and Amphilochus were worshipped, Alcmaeon enjoyed no such honours,
because he was a matricide (Paus. i. 34.2). He was represented in a statue at
Delphi, and on the chest
of Cypselus (x. 10.2, v. 17.4).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited April 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alcmaeon, (Alkmaion). A native of Argos and son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. As his father, in departing on the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, had bound him and his brother Amphilochus, then mere boys, to avenge him on their faithless mother, Alcmaeon refused to take part in the second expedition, that of the Epigoni, till he had first fulfilled that filial duty; nevertheless his mother, bribed by Thersander with the garment of Harmonia, persuaded him to go. The real leader at the siege of Thebes, he slew the Theban king, Laodamas, and was the first to enter the conquered city. On returning home, he, at the bidding of the Delphian Apollo, avenged his father by slaying his mother, with, or according to some accounts, without, his brother's help; but immediately, like Orestes, he was set upon by the Furies, and wandered distracted, seeking purification and a new home. Phegeus, of the Arcadian Psophis, half purified him of his guilt, and gave him his daughter Arsinoe or Alphesiboea to wife, to whom he presented the jewels of Harmonia, which he had brought from Argos. But soon the crops failed in the land, and he fell into his distemper again, till, after many wanderings, he arrived at the mouth of the Achelous, and there, in an island that had floated up, he found the country promised by the god, which had not existed at the time of his dying mother's curse, and so he was completely cured. He married Achelous's daughter, Callirrhoe, by whom he had two sons, Acarnan and Amphoterus. Unable to withstand his wife's entreaties that she might have Harmonia's necklace and robe, he went to Phegeus in Arcadia, and begged those treasures of him, pretending that he would dedicate them at Delphi for the perfect healing of his madness. He obtained them; but Phegeus, on learning the truth, set his son to waylay him on the road, and rob him of his treasure and his life. Alcmaeon 's sons then avenged their father's death on his murderers. Alcmaeon received divine honours after death, and had a sanctuary at Thebes and a consecrated tomb at Psophis.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Οι γυναίκες του Αλμαίωνα:
Αρσινόη ή Αλφεσίβοια, κόρη του Φηγέα. Μαζί της απέκτησε τον Κλυτία.
Μαντώ, κόρη του Τειρεσία. Μαζί της απέκτησε τον Αμφίλοχο και τον Τησιφόνη
Καλλιρόη, κόρη του Αχελώου. Μαζί της απέκτησε τον Ακάρνανα και τον Αμφότερο
Callirrhoe, adaughter of Achelous and wife of Alcmaeon, whom she induced to procure her the peplus and necklace of Harmonia, by which she caused her husband's death. Callirrhoe then requested Zeus, with whom she lived in close intimacy, to grant that her sons by Alcmaeon might grow up to manhood at once, in order that they might be able to avenge the death of their father. Zeus granted the request, and Amphoterus and Acarnan killed the murderers of their father, the sons of Phegeus, at Delphi, and afterwards Phegeus himself also. (Apollod. iii. 7.6)
ΚΟΡΙΝΘΟΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ
Γιος του Αιόλου και της Εναρέτης, σύζυγος της Μερόπης, πατέρας του Γλαύκου (Ιλ. Ζ 153 κ.ε.), του Ορνυτίωνα, του Θέρσανδρου και του Αλμου (Παυσ. 2,4,3). Παρέλαβε τη βασιλεία της Κορίνθου από τη Μήδεια, όταν εκείνη έφυγε από την Κόρινθο για την Αθήνα (Παυσ. 2,3,11). Καταδικάστηκε στον Αδη να κυλά μια τεράστια πέτρα στην ανωφέρεια ενός λόφου, η οποία πάντα κυλούσε πίσω χωρίς να φτάνει ποτέ την κορυφή. Η σύζυγός του Μερόπη ήταν μία από τις Πλειάδες, κόρη του Ατλαντα.
Sisyphus, (Sisuphos). The son of Aeolus and Enarete, whence he is called Aeolides. He was married to Merope, a daughter of Atlas or a Pleiad, and became by her the father of Glaucus, Ornytion (or Porphyrion), Thersander, and Halmus. In later accounts he is also called a son of Autolycus, and the father of Odysseus by Anticlea; whence we find Odysseus sometimes called Sisyphides. He is said to have built the town of Ephyra, afterwards Corinth. As king of Corinth he promoted navigation and commerce, but he was fraudulent, avaricious, and deceitful. His wickedness during life was severely punished in the lower world, where he had to roll up hill a huge marble block, which as soon as it reached the top always rolled down again. The special reasons for this punishment are not the same in all authors: some relate that it was because he had betrayed the designs of the gods; others because he attacked travellers, and killed them with a huge block of stone; and others again because he had betrayed to Asopus that Zeus had carried off Aegina, the daughter of the latter. The more usual tradition related that Sisyphus requested his wife not to bury him, and that, when she complied with his request, Sisyphus in the lower world complained of this seeming neglect, and obtained from Pluto or Persephone permission to return to the upper world to punish his wife. He then refused to return to the lower world, until Hermes carried him off by force; and this piece of treachery is said to have been the cause of his punishment.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Merope. Daughter of Atlas, one of the Pleiades, wife of Sisyphus of Corinth and mother of Glaucus. In the constellation of the Pleiades she is the seventh and the least visible star, because she is ashamed of having had intercourse with a mortal man.
Sisyphus, Sisyphos & Merope: Perseus Project
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