Listed 29 sub titles with search on: Mythology for wider area of: "PIRAEUS Prefectural seat ATTIKI" .
SALAMINA (Island) ATTIKI
On a report of Telamon's death reaching him there, he returned to the old Salamis; but was repelled by Eurysaces, and finally settled among the Gallaeci in the north west of Spain.
(Sir Richard Jebb, Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax intro, section 18)
The country of the Gallaeci or Callaeci in the north of Spain, between the Astures and the Durius
(Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898) id gallaecia)
Hippolytus (Hippolutos). The Joseph of classical literature, a son of Theseus and Hippolyte, or, according to others, of Theseus and Antiope. Theseus, after the death of his first wife, married Phaedra, the daughter of Minos and sister of Ariadne. This princess was seized with a criminal affection for the son of the Amazon, an affection produced by the wrath of Aphrodite against Hippolytus for neglecting her divinity and for devoting himself solely to the service of Artemis; or else against Phaedra as the daughter of Pasiphae. During the absence of Theseus, the queen made advances to her step-son, which were indignantly rejected. Filled with fear and hate, on the return of her husband she accused Hippolytus of an attempt on her honour. Without giving the youth an opportunity of clearing himself, the monarch, calling to mind that Poseidon had promised him the accomplishment of any three wishes that he might form, cursed and implored destruction on his son from the god. As Hippolytus, leaving Troezen, was driving his chariot along the seashore, a monster, sent by Poseidon from the deep, terrified his horses; they burst away in fury, heedless of their driver, dashed the chariot to pieces, and dragged along Hippolytus, entangled in the reins, until he died. Phaedra ended her days by her own hand; and Theseus, when too late, learned the innocence of his son. Euripides has founded his tragedy, Hippolytus, on this subject, but the legend assumes a somewhat different shape with him. According to the plot of his play, Phaedra hangs herself in despair when she finds that she is slighted by her step-son, and Theseus, on his return from his travels, finds, when taking down her corpse, a writing attached to it, in which Phaedra accused Hippolytus of having attempted her honour. According to another legend, Aesculapius restored Hippolytus to life, and Artemis transported him, under the name of Virbius, to Italy, where he was worshipped in the grove of Aricia. The story of Hippolytus forms the subject of a play by Euripides with that title, of a Latin tragedy by Seneca, and the Phedre of Racine.
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
Editor’s Information:
About Hippolytus, Euripides wrote the homonymous tragedy, of which the e-text(s) is (are) found in Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
Troezen, (Troizen), a son of Pelops, and founder of the town of Troezen or Troezene. He was the father of Anaphlystus and Sphettus. (Paus. ii. 30.8)
FALIRON (Ancient demos) PIRAEUS
A son of Alcon, and grandson of Erechtheus or Eurysthenes, was one of the Argonauts, and the founder of Gyrton. (Orph. Arg. 144.) He is said to have emigrated with his daughter Chalciope or Chalcippe to Chalcis in Euboea, and when his father demanded that he should be sent back, the Chalcidians refused to deliver him up. (Schol. ad Apollon. Riod. i. 97.) In the port of Phalerum near Athens, which was believed to have derived its name front him, an altar was dedicated to him. (Paus. i. l. 4.)
KYTHIRA (Island) GREECE
The goddess of beauty and love (Il. 3.54, 19.282, 24.699, Od. 4.14 & 261, 20.74). She was a daughter of Zeus (Il. 5.348, 14.214, 20.105) by Dione (Il. 5.370) and was surnamed Cypris (Il. 5.330 & 422) and Cytherea (Od. 8.288, 18.192). She was also the wife of Hephaestus but not loyal to him as she had a love affair with Ares (Od. 8.267 etc.).
Aphrodite Lat. Venus). The Greek goddess of love. Her attributes
combine, with Hellenic conceptions, a great many features of Eastern, especially
Ph?nician, origin, which the Greeks must have grafted upon their native notions
in very old times. This double nature appears immediately in the contradictory
tales of her origin. To the oldest Greeks she was the daughter of Zeus and Dione
(and is sometimes called by that name herself); yet from a very early time she
appears as Aphrogenia, the “foam-born” (see Uranus), as Anadyomene, "she
who rises" out of the sea, and steps ashore on Cyprus, which had been colonized
by Phoenicians time out of mind; even as far back as Homer she is Cypris, the
Cyprian. The same transmarine and Eastern origin of her worship is evidenced by
the legend of the island of Cythera, on which she was supposed to have first landed
from a sea-shell. Other names applied to her are Pelagia (from Pelagos), Anadyomene
(as having risen from the water), Erycina (from Mount Eryx in Sicily), Paphia,
and Cypris, besides those mentioned below.
Again, the common conception of her as goddess of love limited
her agency to the sphere of human life. But she was, at the same time, a power
of nature, living and working in the three elements of air, earth, and water.
As goddess of the shifting gale and changeful sky, she was Aphrodite Urania (Ourania),
the "heavenly," and at many places in Greece and Asia her temples crowned
the heights and headlands; for instance, the citadels of Thebes and Corinth, and
Mount Eryx in Sicily. As goddess of storm and lightning, she was represented armed,
as at Sparta and Cythera; and this, perhaps, explains why she was associated with
Ares both in worship and in legend, and worshipped as a goddess of victory.
The moral conception of Aphrodite Urania as goddess of the
higher and purer love, especially wedded love and fruitfulness, as opposed to
mere sensual lust, was but slowly developed in the course of ages.
As goddess of the sea and maritime traffic, especially of calm
seas and prosperous voyages, she was widely worshipped by sailors and fishermen
at ports and on sea-coasts, often as the goddess of calm, while Poseidon was the
god of disturbance. Next, as regards the life of the earth, she was the goddess
of gardens and groves, of spring and its bounties, especially tender plants and
flowers, as the rose and myrtle; hence, as the fruitful and bountiful, she was
worshipped most of all at that season of the year in which her birth from the
sea was celebrated at Paphos in Cyprus. But to this, her time of joyful action,
was opposed a season of sorrow, when her creations wither and die--a sentiment
expressed in her inconsolable grief for her beloved Adonis, the symbol of vegetation
perishing in its prime, a myth derived by the Greeks from the Babylonian worship
of Adon or Thammuz, and akin to those of Linus, Hyacinthus, and Narcissus. In
the life of gods and men, she showed her power as the golden, sweetly smiling
goddess of beauty and love, which she knew how to kindle or to keep away. She
outshone all the goddesses in grace and loveliness; in her girdle she wore united
all the magic charms that could bewitch the wisest man and subdue the very gods.
Her retinue consisted of Eros (Cupid), the Hours, the Graces, Peitho (Persuasion),
Pothos and Himeros (personifications of longing and yearning). By uniting the
generations in the bond of love, she became a goddess of marriage and family life,
and the consequent kinship of the whole community. As such she had formerly been
worshipped at Athens under the name of Pandemos (=all the people's), as being
a goddess of the whole country. By a regulation of Solon, the name acquired a
very different sense, branding her as goddess of prostitution; and then it was
that the new and higher meaning was imported into the word Urania.
In later times, the worship of Aphrodite as the goddess of
mere sensual love made rapid strides, and in particular districts assumed forms
more and more immoral, in imitation of the services performed to love-goddesses
in the East, especially at Corinth, where large bands of girls were consecrated
as slaves to the service of the gods and the practice of prostitution. And later
still, the worship of Astarte ("Star"), the Syrian Aphrodite, performed
by eunuchs, spread all over Greece. See Aphrodisia; Meretrix.
In the Greek myths Aphrodite appears occasionally as the wife
of Hephaestus. Her love adventures with Ares are notorious. From these sprang
Eros and Anteros, Harmonia, the wife of Cadmus, and Deimos and Phobos (Fear and
Alarm), attendants on their father. By Anchises she was the mother of Aeneas.
The chief seats of her worship were Paphos, Amathus, and Idalion (all in Cyprus),
Cnidus in Dorian Asia Minor, Corinth, the island of Cythera, and Eryx in Sicily.
As mother of Harmonia, she was a guardian deity of Thebes. Among plants, the myrtle,
the rose, and the apple were specially sacred to her as goddess of love; among
animals, the ram, he-goat, hare, dove, sparrow, and other creatures of amorous
nature (the ram and dove being widely current symbols of great antiquity); as
sea-goddess, the swan, mussel, and dolphin; as Urania, the tortoise.
The various myths connected with the name of Aphrodite have
inspired many exquisite poems in modern literature. In recent English verse reference
may be made to the magnificent Chorus to Aphrodite in Swinburne's Atalanta in
Calydon; Hake's Birth of Venus; Morris's Aphrodite in his Epic of Hades; and Rossetti's
Ve- nus Verticordia and Venus Victrix.
In ancient art, in which Aphrodite is one of the favourite
subjects, she is represented in a higher or lower aspect, according as the artist's
aim was to exhibit Urania or the popular goddess of love. In the earlier works
of art she usually appears clothed, but in later ones more or less undraped--either
as rising from the sea or leaving the bath, or (as in still later times) merely
as an ideal of female beauty. In the course of time the divine element disappeared,
and the presentation became more and more ordinary. While the older sculptures
show the sturdier forms, the taste of later times leans more and more to softer,
weaker outlines. Most renowned in ancient times [p. 97] were the statue at Cnidus
by Praxiteles (a copy of which is now at Munich), and the painting of Aphrodite
Anadyomene by Apelles. Of original statues preserved to us, the most famous are
the Aphrodite of Melos (see illustration), now at Paris, and that of Capua at
Naples, both of which bring out the loftier aspect of the goddess; and the Medicean
Venus at Florence, the work of a late Attic sculptor, Cleomenes, in the delicate
forms of face and body that pleased a younger age.
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
Aphrodite, one of the great Olympian divinities, was, according to the popular
and poetical notions of the Greeks, the goddess of love and beauty. Some traditions
stated that she had sprung from the foam (aphros) of the sea, which had gathered
around the mutilated parts of Uranus, that had been thrown into the sea by Kronos
after he had unmanned his father (Hesiod. Theog. 190). With the exception of the
Homeric hymn on Aphrodite there is no trace of this legend in Homer, and according
to him Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Dione (Il. v. 370, &c., xx. 105.)
Later traditions call her a daughter of Kronos and Euonyme, or of Uranus and Hemera.
(Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 23; Natal. Com. iv. 13). According to Hesiod and the
Homeric hymn on Aphrodite, the goddess after rising from the foam first
approached the island of Cythera, and thence went to Cyprus, and as she
was walking on the sea-coast flowers sprang up under her feet, and Eros and Himeros
accompanied her to the assembly of the other great gods, all of whom were struck
with admiration and love when she appeared, and her surpassing beauty made every
one desire to have her for his wife. According to the cosmogonic views of the
nature of Aphrodite, she was the personification of the generative powers of nature,
and the mother of all living beings. A trace of this notion seems to be contained
in the tradition that in the contest of Typhon with the gods, Aphrodite metamorphosed
herself into a fish, which animal was considered to possess the greatest generative
powers (Ov. Met. v. 318, &c.; comp. Hygin. Poet. Astr. 30). But according to the
popular belief of the Greeks and their poetical descriptions, she was the goddess
of love, who excited this passion in the hearts of gods and men, and by this power
ruled over all the living creation (Hom. Hymn. in Ven.; Lucret. 15, &c.). Ancient
mythology furnishes numerous instances in which Aphrodite punished those who neglected
her worship or despised her power, as well as others in which she favoured and
protected those who did homage to her and recognized her sway. Love and beauty
are ideas essentially connected, and Aphrodite was therefore also the goddess
of beauty and gracefulness. In these poiits she surpassed all other goddesses,
and she received the prize of beauty from Paris; she had further the power of
granting beauty and invincible charms to others. Youth is the herald, and Peitho,
the Horae, and Charites, the attendants and companions of Aphrodite (Pind. New.
viii. 1, &c.). Marriages are called by Zeus her work and the things about which
she ought to busy herself (Hom. Il. v. 429; comp. Od. xx. 74; Pind. Pyth. ix.
16, &c.). As she herself had sprung from the sea, she is represented by later
writers as having some influence upon the sea (Virg. Aen. viii. 800; Ov. Heroid.
xv. 213; comp. Paus. ii. 34.11).
During the Trojan war, Aphrodite, the mother of Aeneas, who had been
deelared the most beautiful of all the goddesses by a Trojan prince, naturally
sided with the Trojans. She saved Paris from his contest with Menelaus (Il. iii.
380), but when she endeavoured to rescue her darling Aeneas from the fight, she
was pursued by Diomedes, who wounded her in her hand. In her fright she abandoned
her son, and was carried by Iris in the chariot of Ares to Olympus, where she
complained of her misfortune to her mother Dione, but was laughed at by Hera and
Athena (Il. v. 311, &c.). She also protected the body of Hector, and anointed
it with ambrosia (Il. xxiii. 185).
According to the most common accounts of the ancients, Aphrodite was
married to Hephaestus (Odyss. viii. 270), who, however, is said in the Iliad (viii.
383) to have married Charis. Her faithlessness to Hephaestus in her amour with
Ares, and the manner in which she was caught by the ingenuity of her husband,
are beautifully described in the Odyssey (viii. 266, &c.). By Ares she became
the mother of Phobos, Deimos, Harmonia, and, according to later traditions, of
Eros and Anteros also (Hesiod. Theog. 934, &c., Scut. Herc. 195; Hom. Il. xiii.
299, iv. 440; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. iii. 26; Cic. De Nat. Deor. iii. 23). But
Ares was not the only god whom Aphrodite favoured; Dionysus, Hermes, and Poseidon
likewise enjoyed her charms. By the first she was, according to some traditions,
the mother of Priapus (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 933) and Bacchus (Hesych. s.
v. Bakchou Diones), by the second of Hermaphroditus (Ov. Met. iv. 289, &c.; Diod.
iv. 6; Lucian, Dial. Deor. xv. 2), and by Poseidon she had two children, Rhodos
and Herophilus (Schol. ad Pind. Pyth. viii. 24). As Aphrodite so often kindled
in the hearts of the gods a love for mortals, Zeus at last resolved to make her
pay for her wanton sport by inspiring her too with love for a mortal man. This
was accomplished, and Aphrodite conceived an invincible passion for Anchises,
by whom she became the mother of Aeneas and Lyrus. Respecting her connexions with
other mortals see Adonis (in ancient Phoenece)
and Butes (in ancient Lilybaeum).
Aphrodite possessed a magic girdle which had the power of inspiring
love and desire for those who wore it; hence it was borrowed by Hera when she
wished to stimulate the love of Zeus (Hom. Il. xiv. 214, &c.). The arrow is also
sometimes mentioned as one of her attributes (Plnd. Pyth. iv. 380; Theocrit. xi.
16). In the vegetable kingdom the myrtle, rose, apple, poppy, and others, were
sacred to her (Ov. Fast. iv. 15. 143; Bion, Idyll. i. 64; Schol. ad Aristoph.
Nub. 993; Paus. ii. 10.4; Phornut. 23). The animals sacred to her, which are often
mentioned as drawing her chariot or serving as her messengers, are the spar row,
the dove, the swan, the swallow, and a bird called iynx (Sappho, in Ven. 10; Athen.
ix.; Horat. Carm. iv. 1. 10; Aelian, Hist. An. x. 34). As Aphrodite Urania the
tortoise, the symbol of domestic modesty and chastity, and as Aphrodite Pandemos
the ram was sacred to her. When she was represented as the victorious goddess,
she had the attributes of Ares, a helmet, a shield, a sword : or a lance, and
an image of Victory in one hand. The planet Venus and the spring-month
of April were likewise sacred to her (Cie. de Nat. Deor. iii. 20; Ov.
Fast. iv. 90). All the surnames and epithets given to Aphrodite are derived from
places of her worship, from events connected with the legends about her, or have
reference to her character and her influence upon man, or are descriptive of her
extraordinary beauty and charms. All her surnames are explained in separate articles.
The principal places of her worship in Greece were the islands
of Cyprus and Cythera. At Cnidus in Caria she had three temples, one
of which contained her renowned statue by Praxiteles. Mount Ida in Troas was an
ancient place of her worship, and among the other places we may mention particularly
the island of Cos, the towns of Abydos, Athens, Thespiae, Megara, Sparta, Sicyon,
Corinth, and Eryx in Sieily. The sacrifices offered to her consisted mostly of
incense and garlands of flowers (Virg. Aen. i. 416; Tacit. Hist. ii. 3), but in
some places animals, such as pigs, goats, young cows, hares, and others, were
sacrificed to her. In some places, as at Corinth, great numbers of females belonged
to her, who prostituted themselves in her service, and bore the name of hierodouloi.
(Dict.of Ant. s. v. Hetairai.) Respecting the festivals of Aphrodite see Dict.
of Ant. s.v. Adonia, Anagogia, Aphrodisia, Katagogia.
The worship of Aphrodite was undoubtedly of eastern origin, and probably
introduced from Syria to the islands of Cyprus, Cythera, and others, from whence
it spread all over Greece. It is said to have been brought into Syria from Assyria
(Paus. i. 14.6). Aphrodite appears to have been originally identical with Astarte,
called by the Hebrews Ashtoreth, and her connexion with Adonis clearly points
to Syria. But with the exception of Corinth, where the worship of Aphrodite had
eminently an Asiatic character, the whole worship of this goddess and all the
ideas concerning her nature and character are so entirely Greek, that its introduction
into Greece must be assigned to the very earliest periods. The elements were derived
from the East, but the peculiar development of it belongs to Greece. Respecting
the Roman goddess Venus and her identification with the Greek Aphrodite, see Venus.
Aphrodite, the ideal of female graec and beauty, frequently engaged
the talents and genius of the ancient artists. The most celebrated representations
of her were those of Cos and Cnidus. Those which are still extant are divided
by archaeologists into several classes, accordingly as the goddess is represented
in a standing position and naked, as the Medicean Venus, or bathing, or half naked,
or dressed in a tunic, or as the victorious goddess in arms, as she was represented
in the temples of Cythera, Sparta, and Corinth (Paus. iii. 23.1, ii. 5.1, iii.
15.10).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
THYMETADES (Ancient demos) KERATSINI
An Athenian hero, believed to have been a son of Oxyntas, and king of Attica. One of the Attic demes (Thymoetiadae or Thymaetiadae) derived its name from him. (Suid. s. v. ; Paus. ii. 18.7.)
Theseus... set himself to building a fleet, part of it at home in the township
of Thymoetadae, far from the public road.. (Plut. Thes.19.1)
AEGINA, AIGINA (Island) GREECE
Aeacus was the king of the island of Aegina, son of Zeus by nymph Aegina, father of Peleus and Telamon by Endeis and of Phocus by numph Psamathe (Il. 21.189, also see Hes. Theog. 1003). He arbitrated between Nisus and Sciron in their dispute for the kingship of Megara (Paus. 1,39,6).
Aeacus (Aiakos), a son of Zeus and Aegina, a daughter of the river-god Asopus.
He was born in the island of Oenone or Oenopia, whither Aegina had been carried
by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents, and whence this island was
afterwards called Aegina (Apollod. iii. 12.6; Hygin. Fab. 52; Paus. ii. 29.2;
comp. Nonn. Dionys. vi. 212; Ov. Met. vi. 113, vii. 472). According to some accounts
Aeacus was a son of Zeus and Europa. Some traditions related that at the time
when Aeacus was born, Aegina was not yet inhabited, and that Zeus changed the
ants (murmekes) of the island into men (Myrmidones) over whom Aeacus ruled, or
that he made men grow up out of the earth (Hes. Fragm. 67, ed. Gottling; Apollod.
iii. 12.6; Paus. l. c.). Ovid (Met. vii. 520; comp. Hygin. Fab. 52; Strab. viii.
p. 375), on the other hand, supposes that the island was not uninhabited at the
time of the birth of Aeacus, and states that, in the reign of Aeacus, Hera, jealous
of Aegina, ravaged the island bearing the name of the latter by sending a plague
or a fearful dragon into it, by which nearly all its inhabitants were carried
off, and that Zeus restored the population by changing the ants into men.
These legends, as Muller justly remarks (Aeginetica), are nothing
but a mythical account of the colonisation of Aegina, which seems to have been
originally inhabited by Pelasgians, and afterwards received colonists from Phthiotis,
the seat of the Myrmidones, and from Phlius on the Asopus. Aeacus while he reigned
in Aegina was renowned in all Greece for his justice and piety, and was frequently
called upon to settle disputes not only among men, but even among the gods themselves
(Pind. Isth. viii. 48; Paus. i. 39.5). He was such a favourite with the latter,
that, when Greece was visited by a drought in consequence of a murder which had
been committed (Diod. iv. 60, 61; Apollod. iii. 12.6), the oracle of Delphi declared
that the calamity would not cease unless Aeacus prayed to the gods that it might;
which lie accordingly did, and it ceased in consequence. Aeacus himself shewed
his gratitude by erecting a temple to Zeus Panhellenius on mount Panhellenion
(Paus. ii. 30.4), and the Aeginetans afterwards built a sanctuary in their island
called Aeaccum, which was a square place enclosed by walls of white marble. Aeacus
was believed in later times to be buried under the altar in this asacred enclosure
(Paus. ii. 29.6). A legend preserved in Pindar (Ol. viii. 39) relates that Apollo
and Poseidon took Aeacus as their assistant in building the walls of Troy. When
the work was completed, three dragons rushed against the wall, and while the two
of them which attacked those parts of the wall built by the gods fell down dead,
the third forced its way into the city through the part built by Aeacus. Hereupon
Apollo prophesied that Troy would fall through the hands of the Aeacids. Aeacus
was also believed by the Aeginetans to have surrounded their island with high
cliffs to protect it against pirates (Paus. ii. 29.5). Several other incidents
connected with the story of Aeacus are mentioned by Ovid (Met. vii. 506, ix. 435).
By Endeis Aeacus had two sons, Telamon and Peleus, and by Psamathe a son, Phocus,
whom he preferred to the two others, who contrived to kill Phocus during a contest,
and then fled from their native island. After his death Aeacus became one of the
three judges in Hades (Ov. Met. xiii. 25; Hor. Carm. ii. 13. 22), and according
to Plato (Gorg.; compare Isocrat. Evag. 5) especially for the shades of Europeans.
In works of art he was represented bearing a sceptre and the keys of Hades (Apollod.
iii. 12.6; Pind. Isthm. viii. 47). Aeacus had sanctuaries both at Athens and in
Aegina (Paus. ii. 29.6; Hesych. s. v. ; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. xiii. 155), and the
Aeginetans regarded him as the tutelary deity of their island (Pind. Nem. viii.
22).
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
SALAMINA (Island) ATTIKI
Son of Telamon, king of Salamis, and grandson of Aeacus. Homer
calls him Aiax the Telamonian, Aiax the Great, or simply Aiax, whereas the other
Aiax, son of Oileus, is always distinguished from the former by some epithet.
He sailed against Troy in twelve ships, and is represented in the Iliad as second
only to Achilles in bravery. In the contest for the armour of Achilles he was
conquered by Odysseus, and this, says Homer, was the cause of his death. Later
poets relate that his defeat by Odysseus threw him into a state of madness; that
he rushed from his tent and slaughtered the sheep of the Greek army, fancying
they were his enemies; and that at length he put an end to his own life. From
his blood there sprang up a purple flower bearing the letters Ai (Ai) on its leaves,
which were at once the initials of his name and expressive of a sigh. Homer does
not mention his mistress Tecmessa.
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
A son of Telamon, king of Salamis, by Periboea or Eriboea (Apollod.
iii. 12.7; Paus. i. 42.4; Pind. Isth. vi. 65; Diod. iv. 72), and a grandson of
Aeacus. Homer calls him Ajax the Telamonian, Ajax the Great, or simply Ajax (Il.
ii. 768, ix. 169, xiv. 410; comp. Pind. Isth. vi. 38), whereas the other Ajax,
the son of Oileus, is always distinguished from the former by some epithet. According
to Homer Ajax joined the expedition of the Greeks against Troy, with his Salaminians,
in twelve ships (Il. ii. 557), and was next to Achilles the most distinguished
and the bravest among the Greeks (ii 768, xvii. 279). He is described as tall
of stature, and his head and broad shoulders as rising above those of all the
Greeks (iii 226); in beauty he was inferior to none but Achilles (Od. xi. 550,
xxiv. 17; comp. Paus. i. 35.3). When Hector challenged the bravest of the Greeks
to single combat, Ajax came forward among several others. The people prayed that
he might fight, and when the lot fell to Ajax (Il. vii. 179, &c.), and he approached,
Hector himself began to tremble (215). He wounded Hector and dashed him to the
ground by a huge stone. The combatants were separated, and upon parting they exchanged
arms with one another as a token of mutual esteem (305, &c.). Ajax was also one
of the ambassadors whom Agamemnon sent to conciliate Achille. (ix. 169). He fought
several times besides with Hector, as in the battle near the ships of the Greeks
(xiv. 409, &c. xv. 415, xvi. 114), and in protecting the body of Patroclus (xvii.
128, 7 32). In the games at the funeral pile of Patroclus, Ajax fought with Odysseus,
but without gaining any decided advantage over him (xxiii. 720, &c.), and in like
manner with Diomedes. In the contest about the armour of Achilles, he was conquered
by Odysseus, and this, says Homer, became the cause of his death (Od. xi. 541,
&c.). Odysseus afterwards met his spirit in Hades, and endeavoured to appease
it, but in vain.
Thus far the story of Ajax, the Telamonian, is related in the Homeric poems.
Later writers furnish us with various other traditions about his youth, but more
especially about his death, which is so vaguely alluded to by Homer. According
to Apollodorus (iii. 12.7) and Pindar (Isth. vi. 51, &c.), Ajax became invulnerable
in consequence of a prayer which Heracles offered to Zeus, while he was on a visit
in Salamis. The child was called Aias from aetos, an eagle, which appeared immediately
after the prayer as a favourable omen. According to Lycophron (455 with the Schol.),
Ajax was born before Heracles came to Telamon, and the hero made the child invulnerable
by wrapping him up in his lion's skin (Comp. Schol. ad Il. xxiii. 841). Ajax is
also mentioned among the suitors of Helen (Apollod. iii. 10.8; Hygin. Fab. 81).
During the war against Troy, Ajax, like Achilles, made excursions into neighbouring
countries. The first of them was to the Thracian Chersonesus, where he took Polydorus,
the son of Priam, who had been entrusted to the care of king Polymnestor, together
with rich booty. Thence, he went into Phrygia, slew king Teuthras, or Teleutas,
in single combat, and carried off great spoils, and Tecmessa, the king's daughter,
who became his mistress (Soph. Aj. 210, 480, &c.; Hor. Carm. ii. 4. 5). In the
contest about the armour of Achilles, Agamemnon, on the advice of Athena, awarded
the prize to Odysseus. This discomfiture threw Ajax into an awful state of madness.
In the night he rushed from his tent, attacked the sheep of the Greek army, made
great havoc among them, and dragged dead and living animals into his tent, fancying
that they were his enemies. When, in the morning, he recovered his senses and
beheld what he had done, shame and despair led him to destroy himself with the
sword which Hector had once given him as a present. (Pind. Nem. vii. 36; Soph.
Aj. 42, 277, 852; Ov. Met. xiii. 1, &c.; Lycophr. l. c.). Less poetical traditions
make Ajax die by the hands of others. His step-brother Teucrus was charged by
Telamon with the murder of Ajax, but succeeded in clearing himself from the accusation
(Paus. i. 28.12). A tradition mentioned by Pausanias (i. 35.3; comp. Ov. Met.
xiii. 397) states, that from his blood there sprang up a purple flower which bore
the letters ai on its leaves, which were at once the initials of his name and
expressive of a sigh. According to Dictys, Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, deposited
the ashes of the hero in a golden urn on mount Rhoeteion; and according to Sophocles,
he was buried by his brother Teucrus against the will of the Atreidae. Pausanias
(iii. 19.11) represents Ajax, like many other heroes, as living after his death
in the island of Leuce. It is said that when, in the time of the emperor Hadrian,
the sea had washed open the grave of Ajax, bones of superhuman size were found
in it, which the emperor, however, ordered to be buried again (Philostr. Her.
i. 2; Paus. iii. 39.11). Respecting the state and wandering of his soul after
his death, see Plato, De Re Publ. x. in fin.; Plut. Sympos. ix. 5.
Ajax was worshipped in Salamis as the tutelary hero of the island,
and had a temple with a statue there, and was honoured with a festival, Aianteia.
At Athens too he was worshipped, and was one of the eponymic heroes, one of the
Attic tribes (Aeantis) being called after him (Paus. i. 35.2; Plut. Sympos. i.
10). Not far from the town Rhoeteion, on the promontory of the same name, there
was likewise a sanctuary of Ajax, with a beautiful statue, which Antonius sent
to Egypt, but which was restored to its original place by Augustus (Strab. xiii.).
According to Dictys Cretensis (v. 16) the wife of Ajax was Glauca, by whom she
had a son, Aeantides; by his beloved Tecmessa, he had a son, Eurysaces (Soph.
Aj. 333). Several illustrious Athenians of the historical times, such as Miltiades,
Cimon, and Alcibiades, traced their pedigree to the Telamonian Ajax (Paus. ii.
29.4; Plut. Alcib.1). The traditions about this hero furnished plentiful materials,
not only for poets, but also for sculptors and painters. His single combat with
Hector was represented on the chest of Cypselus (Paus. v. 19.1); his statue formed
a part of a large group at Olympia, the work of Lycius (Paus. v. 22.2; comp. Plin.
H. N. xxxv. 10.36 ; Aelian, V. H. ix. 11). A beautiful sculptured head, which
is generally believed to be a head of Ajax, is still extant in the Egremont collection
at Petworth.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Sep 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Editor’s Information:
The electronic text(s) of Sophocles’ tragedy Ajax can be found at the location Greece (ancient country) under the category Ancient Greek Writings.
A son of Aeacus and Endeis, and a brother of Peleus. He emigrated from
Aegina to Salamis, and was first married to Glance, a daughter of Cenchreus (Diod.
iv. 72), and afterwards to Periboea or Eriboea, a daughter of Alcathous, by whom
he became the father of Ajax (Pind. Isthm. vi. 65; Apollod. iii. 12.6). He was
one of the Calydonian hunters and of the Argonauts (Apollod. i. 8.2, 9.16, iii.
12.7 ; Paus. i. 42.4; Hygin. Fab. 173 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 175). Miltiades traced
his pedigree to Telamon (Paus. ii. 29.4). After Telamon and Peleus had killed
their step-brother Phocus. they were expelled by Aeacus from Aegina, and Telamon
went to Cychreus in Salamis, who bequeathed to him his kingdom (Apollod. l. c.
; Paus. ii. 29.2, 7.) He is said to have been a great friend of Heracles (Schol.
ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 1289; Theocrit. Id. xiii. 38), and to have joined him in
his expedition against Laomedon of Troy, which city he was the first to enter.
He there erected to Heracles Callinicus or Alexicacus, an altar. Heracles, in
return gave to him Theaneira or Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became
the father of Teucer and Trambelus (Apollod. ii. 6.4, iii. 10.8, 12.7; Tzetz.
ad Lycoph. 468 ; Diod. iv. 32). On this expedition Telamon and Heracles also fought
against the Meropes in Cos, on account of Chalciope, the beautiful daughter of
Eurypylus, the king of the Meropes, and against the giant Alcioneus, on the isthmus
of Corinth (Pind. Nem. iv. 40, with the Schol.). He also accompanied Heracles
on his expedition against the Amazons, and slew Melanippe. (Pind. Nem. iii. 65,
with the Schol.)
The son of Aeacus and Endeis, and brother of Peleus. Having assisted Peleus in slaying their half-brother Phocus, Telamon was expelled from Aegina, and came to Salamis. Here he was first married to Glauce, daughter of Cychreus, king of the island, on whose death Telamon became king of Salamis. He afterwards married Periboea or Eriboea, daughter of Alcathous, by whom he became the father of Aiax, who is hence frequently called Telamoniades and Telamonius heros. Telamon himself was one of the Calydonian hunters and one of the Argonauts. He was also a warm friend of Heracles, whom he joined in his expedition against Laomedon of Troy, which city he was the first to enter, and also against the Amazons. Heracles, in return, gave to him Theanira or Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became the father of Teucer and Trambelus.
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
Eurysaces (Eurusakes), a son of the Telamonian Ajax and Tecmessa, was named after the broad shield of his father. (Soph. Aj. 575; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 857; Serv. ad Aen. i. 623; Philostr. Heroic. 11. 2.) An Athenian tradition related, that Eurysaces and his brother Philaeus had given up to the Athenians the island of Salamis, which they had inherited from their grandfather, and that the two brothers received in return the Attic franchise. One of the brothers then settled at Brauron, and the other at Melite. Eurysaces was honoured like his father, at Athens, with an altar. (Plut. Sol. 10; Paus. i. 35. § 2.)
Cychreus or Cenchreus (Kuchreus), a son of Poseidon and Salamis, became king of the island of Salamis, which was called after him Cychreia, and which he delivered from a dragon. He was subsequently honoured as a hero, and had a sanctuary in Salamis. (Apollod. iii. 12.7; Diod. iv. 72.) According to other traditions, Cychreus himself was called a dragon on account of his savage nature, and was expelled from Salamis by Eurylochus; but he was received by Demeter at Eleusis, and appointed a priest to her temple. (Steph. Byz. s. v. Kuchreios.) Others again said that Cychreus had brought up a dragon, which was expelled by Eurylochus. (Strab. ix.) There was a tradition that, while the battle of Salamis was going on, a dragon appeared in one of the Athenian ships, and that an oracle declared this dragon to be Cychreus. (Paus. i. 36.1; comp. Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 110, 175; Plut. Thes. 10, Solon. 9.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited July 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Scirus (Skiros), a soothsayer of Dodona, who, in the reign of Erechtheus, came to Salamis, and was afterwards honoured in the island with heroic honours. Salamis is further said to have been called after him, Sciras. (Paus. i. 36.3; Strab. ix.; Steph. Byz. s. v.)
(Troezenians) They say that Orus was the first to be born in their land. Now, in my opinion, Orus is an Egyptian name and utterly un-Greek; but they assert that he became their king, and that the land was called Oraea after him and that Althepus, the son of Poseidon and of Leis, the daughter of Orus, inheriting the kingdom after Orus, named the land Althepia. (Paus. 2.30.5)
Son of Poseidon and Leis, second king of Troezenia, founds temple of Demeter Lawgiver.
Althepus (Althepos), a son of Poseidon and Leis, a daughter of Orus, king of Troezen. The territory of Troezen was called after him Althepia. In his reign Pallas and Poseidon disputed the possession of the country with each Other (Paus. ii. 30. 6.)
Saron, a mythical king of Troezene, who built a sanctuary of Artemis Saronia on
the sea-coast. Once while chasing a stag into the sea he was drowned, and his
body, which was washed on shore in the grove of Artemis, was buried there, and
the gulf between Attica and Argolis was, from this circumstance, called the Saronic
Gulf (Paus. ii. 30.7). Near Troezene there was a little town called Saron (Steph.
Byz. s. v.), and Troezene itself is said at one time to have been called Saronia
(Eustath. ad Hom.)
After Althepus, Saron became king. They said that this man built the sanctuary
for Saronian Artemis by a sea which is marshy and shallow, so that for this reason
it was called the Phoebaean lagoon. Now Saron was very fond of hunting. As he
was chasing a doe, it so chanced that it dashed into the sea and he dashed in
alter it. The doe swam further and further from the shore, and Saron kept close
to his prey, until his ardor brought him to the open ocean. Here his strength
failed, and he was drowned in the waves. The body was cast ashore at the grove
of Artemis by the Phoebaean lagoon, and they buried it within the sacred enclosure,
and after him they named the sea in these parts the Saronic instead of the Phoebaean
lagoon. They know nothing of the later kings down to Hyperes and Anthas. (Paus. 2.30.7)
They (Troezenians) know nothing of the later (after Saros) kings down to Hyperes and Anthas. These they assert to be sons of Poseidon and of Alcyone, daughter of Atlas, adding that they founded in the country the cities of Hyperea and Anthea; Aetius, however, the son of Anthas, on inheriting the kingdoms of his father and of his uncle, named one of the cities Poseidonias. When Troezen and Pittheus came to Aetius there were three kings instead of one, but the sons of Pelops enjoyed the balance of power. Here is evidence of it. When Troezen died, Pittheus gathered the inhabitants together, incorporating both Hyperea and Anthea into the modern city, which he named Troezen after his brother. Many years afterwards the descendants of Aetius, son of Anthas, were dispatched as colonists from Troezen, and founded Halicarnassus and Myndus in Caria. Anaphlystus and Sphettus, sons of Troezen, migrated to Attica, and the parishes are named after them. (Paus. 2.30.8-9)
SALAMINA (Island) ATTIKI
Salamis, a daughter of Asopus, and by Poseidon the mother of Cenchreus or Cychreus. (Paus. i. 35.2; Apollod. iii. 12.7; Diod. iv. 72.) From her the island of Salamis was believed by the ancients to have received its name.
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