1.
Iphigenia
–
In Greek mythology, Iphigenia was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Argos. According to other myths she is the daughter of Theseus and Helen but was raised by Clytemnestra. Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis, who retaliates by commanding him to kill Iphigenia as a sacrifice so his ships can sail to Troy, in some versions, Iphigenia is sacrificed at Aulis, but in others, Artemis rescues her. In the version where she is saved, she goes to the Taurians, Iphigenia means strong-born, born to strength, or she who causes the birth of strong offspring. Iphianassa is the name of one of Agamemnons three daughters in Homers Iliad The name Iphianassa may be simply a variant of the name Iphigenia. In Greek mythology, Iphigenia appears as the Greek fleet gathers in Aulis to prepare for war against Troy, at Aulis, the leader of the Greeks, Agamemnon, accidentally kills a deer in a grove sacred to the goddess Artemis. She punishes him by interfering with the winds so that his fleet cannot sail to Troy, the seer Calchas reveals that, to appease Artemis, Agamemnon must sacrifice his eldest daughter, Iphigenia. Agamemnon at first refuses, but, pressured by the other commanders eventually agrees, Iphigenia and her mother Clytemnestra are brought to Aulis under the pretext of a marriage to Achilles, but soon discover the marriage is a ruse. In some versions of the story, Iphigenia remains unaware of her imminent sacrifice until the last moment, in some versions, Iphigenia is not actually sacrificed. According to Hyginus Fabulae, Iphigenia was not sacrificed, some sources claim that Iphigenia was taken by Artemis to Tauris in Crimea at the moment of the sacrifice, and that the goddess left a deer or a goat in her place. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women called her Iphimede and told that Artemis transformed her into the goddess Hecate, antoninus Liberalis said that Iphigenia was transported to the island of Leuke, where she was wedded to immortalized Achilles under the name Orsilochia. In Aeschyluss Agamemnon, the first play in the Oresteia, the sacrifice of Iphigenia is given as one of the reasons that Clytemnestra, in Euripides’ Iphigenia at Aulis, it is Menelaus who convinces Agamemnon to heed the seer Calchass advice. After Agamemnon sends a message to Clytemnestra informing her of Iphigenias supposed marriage, he regrets his decision. Menelaus intercepts the letter and he and Agamemnon argue, Menelaus insists that it is Agamemnons duty to do all he can to aid the Greeks. Clytemnestra arrives at Aulis with Iphigenia and the infant Orestes, Agamemnon tries to convince Clytemnestra to go back to Argos, but Clytemnestra insists on staying for the wedding. When she sees Achilles, Clytemnestra mentions the marriage, Achilles, however, appears to be unaware of it, Achilles, angry that Agamemnon has used him in his plot, vows to help prevent the murder of Iphigenia. Iphigenia and Clytemnestra plead with Agamemnon to spare his daughters life, Achilles informs them that the Greek army, eager for war, has learned of the seers advice and now demand that Iphigenia be sacrificed. If Agamemnon refuses, it is likely they will turn on him and kill him, Iphigenia, knowing she is doomed, decides to be sacrificed willingly, reasoning that as a mere mortal, she cant go against the will of a goddess
Iphigenia
–
François Perrier 's The Sacrifice of Iphigenia (17th century), depicting
Agamemnon 's sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia.
Iphigenia
–
Iphigenie (1862) by
Anselm Feuerbach
2.
Peristyle
–
In Hellenistic Greek and Roman architecture a peristyle is a continuous porch formed by a row of columns surrounding the perimeter of building or a courtyard. Tetrastoon is a rarely used term for this feature. In the Christian ecclesiastical architecture that developed from Roman basilica, a courtyard peristyle, in rural settings a wealthy Roman could surround a villa with terraced gardens, within the city Romans created their gardens inside the domus. Sometimes the lararium, a shrine for the Lares, the gods of the household, was located in this portico, the courtyard might contain flowers and shrubs, fountains, benches, sculptures and even fish ponds. No new peristyle houses were built after A. D.550
Peristyle
–
Reconstruction of a Roman peristylum (peristyle) and peristylium (courtyard) of Pompeii.
Peristyle
–
"In the Peristyle"
John William Waterhouse (1849-1917). Rochdale Art Gallery,
Rochdale,
England.
Peristyle
–
Ceiling decoration in the peristyle hall of the
Medinet Habu
Peristyle
–
Peristyle of the Diocletian palace in Split, Croatia.
R. Adam 1764
3.
Pompeii
–
Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples, in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m of volcanic ash. Researchers believe that the town was founded in the seventh or sixth century BC by the Osci or Oscans. It came under the domination of Rome in the 4th century BC, by the time of its destruction,160 years later, its population was estimated at 11,000 people, and the city had a complex water system, an amphitheatre, gymnasium, and a port. The eruption destroyed the city, killing its inhabitants and burying it under tons of ash, the site was lost for about 1,500 years until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. The objects that lay beneath the city have been preserved for centuries because of the lack of air and these artefacts provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city during the Pax Romana. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill in the voids in the ash layers that once held human bodies and this allowed archaeologists to see the exact position the person was in when he or she died. Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years, today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year. Pompeii in Latin is a second declension plural, the ruins of Pompeii are located near the modern suburban town of Pompei. It stands on a formed by a lava flow to the north of the mouth of the Sarno River. Today it is some distance inland, but in ancient times was nearer to the coast, Pompeii is about 8 km away from Mount Vesuvius. It covered a total of 64 to 67 hectares and was home to approximately 11,000 to 11,500 people on the basis of household counts and it was a major city in the region of Campania. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies below the city and, mixed in with the sediment, archaeologists have found bits of bone, pottery shards. Carbon dating has placed the oldest of these layers from the 8th–6th centuries BC, the other two strata are separated either by well-developed soil layers or Roman pavement, and were laid in the 4th century BC and 2nd century BC. It is theorized that the layers of the sediment were created by large landslides. The town was founded around the 7th-6th century BC by the Osci or Oscans and it had already been used as a safe port by Greek and Phoenician sailors. According to Strabo, Pompeii was also captured by the Etruscans, and in recent excavations have shown the presence of Etruscan inscriptions. Pompeii was captured for the first time by the Greek colony of Cumae, allied with Syracuse, in the 5th century BC, the Samnites conquered it, the new rulers imposed their architecture and enlarged the town
Pompeii
–
View into a street of Pompeii
Pompeii
–
The Temple of Jupiter with
Vesuvius in the distance
Pompeii
–
Pompeii, Italy. Pompeii - Forum and Vesuvius. Brooklyn Museum Archives, Goodyear Archival Collection
Pompeii
–
Illustrated reconstruction, from a
CyArk /
University of Ferrara research partnership, of how the
Temple of Apollo may have looked before Mt. Vesuvius erupted
4.
Greek mythology
–
It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
Greek mythology
–
Bust of
Zeus,
Otricoli (Sala Rotonda,
Museo Pio-Clementino,
Vatican).
Greek mythology
–
Greek Mythology
Greek mythology
–
Prometheus (1868 by
Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by
Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of
Prometheus Bound,
Prometheus Unbound, and
Prometheus Pyrphoros.
Greek mythology
–
The Roman poet
Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the
Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.
5.
Ancient Greek
–
Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
Ancient Greek
–
Inscription about the construction of the statue of
Athena Parthenos in the
Parthenon, 440/439 BC
Ancient Greek
–
Ostracon bearing the name of
Cimon,
Stoa of Attalos
Ancient Greek
–
The words ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ as they are inscribed on the marble of the 1955
Leonidas Monument at
Thermopylae
6.
Argive
–
Argos is a city in Argolis, Peloponnese, Greece and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is also a bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see. It is the biggest town in Argolis and a center for the area. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the municipality of Argos-Mykines, the municipal unit has an area of 138.138 km2. It is 11 kilometres from Nafplion, which was its historic harbour, a settlement of great antiquity, Argos has been continuously inhabited as at least a substantial village for the past 7,000 years. The city is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network, a resident of the city of Argos is known as an Argive. However, this term is used to refer to those ancient Greeks generally who assaulted the city of Troy during the Trojan War. Numerous ancient monuments can be found in the city today, the most famous of which is the Heraion of Argos, agriculture is the mainstay of the local economy. The name of the city is ancient and several etymological theories have been proposed as an explanation to its meaning. The most popular one maintains that the name of the city is a remainder from the Pelasgian language, i. e. the one used by the people who first settled in the area, in which Argos meant plain. Alternatively, the name is associated with Argos, the king of the city in ancient times. It is also believed that Argos is linked to the word αργός, which meant white, possibly, according to Strabo, the name could have even originated from the word αγρός by antimetathesis of the consonants. As a strategic location on the plain of Argolis, Argos was a major stronghold during the Mycenaean era. There is evidence of settlement in the area starting with a village about 7000 years ago in the late Neolithic. It was colonized in prehistoric times by the Pelasgian Greeks, since that time, Argos has been continually inhabited at the same geographical location. Its creation is attributed to Phoroneus, with its first name having been Phoronicon Asty, the city is located at a rather propitious area, among Nemea, Corinth and Arcadia. It also benefitted from its proximity to lake Lerna, which, during the Dorian invasion, c.1100 BC, Argos was divided into four neighbourhoods, each of them inhabited by a different phyle. Argos experienced its greatest period of expansion and power under the energetic 7th century BC ruler King Pheidon, under Pheidon, Argos regained sway over the cities of the Argolid and challenged Sparta’s dominance of the Peloponnese
Argive
–
View of Argos, seen from the ancient theatre
Argive
–
The Heraion of Argos
Argive
–
View of the ancient theatre
Argive
–
The
castle on Larissa Hill.
7.
Apollo
–
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in classical Greek and Roman religion and Greek and Roman mythology. The ideal of the kouros, Apollo has been recognized as a god of music, truth and prophecy, healing, the sun and light, plague, poetry. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, Apollo is known in Greek-influenced Etruscan mythology as Apulu. As the patron of Delphi, Apollo was an oracular god—the prophetic deity of the Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing are associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated through his son Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as a god who could bring ill-health and deadly plague. Amongst the gods custodial charges, Apollo became associated with dominion over colonists, as the leader of the Muses and director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music and poetry. Hermes created the lyre for him, and the instrument became an attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to Apollo were called paeans, Apollo and Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts until the 3rd century CE. The name Apollo—unlike the related older name Paean—is generally not found in the Linear B texts, the etymology of the name is uncertain. The spelling Ἀπόλλων had almost superseded all other forms by the beginning of the common era and it probably is a cognate to the Doric month Apellaios, and the offerings apellaia at the initiation of the young men during the family-festival apellai. According to some scholars the words are derived from the Doric word apella, apella is the name of the popular assembly in Sparta, corresponding to the ecclesia. R. S. P. Beekes rejected the connection of the theonym with the noun apellai, several instances of popular etymology are attested from ancient authors. Thus, the Greeks most often associated Apollos name with the Greek verb ἀπόλλυμι, in the ancient Macedonian language πέλλα means stone, and some toponyms may be derived from this word, Πέλλα and Πελλήνη. The role of Apollo as god of plague is evident in the invocation of Apollo Smintheus by Chryses, the Hittite testimony reflects an early form *Apeljōn, which may also be surmised from comparison of Cypriot Ἀπείλων with Doric Ἀπέλλων. A Luwian etymology suggested for Apaliunas makes Apollo The One of Entrapment, Apollos chief epithet was Phoebus, literally bright. It was very commonly used by both the Greeks and Romans for Apollos role as the god of light, like other Greek deities, he had a number of others applied to him, reflecting the variety of roles, duties, and aspects ascribed to the god. However, while Apollo has a number of appellations in Greek myth. Aegletes, from αἴγλη, light of the sun Helius, literally sun Lyceus light, the meaning of the epithet Lyceus later became associated with Apollos mother Leto, who was the patron goddess of Lycia and who was identified with the wolf
Apollo
–
Apollo Belvedere, ca. 120–140 CE
Apollo
–
Partial view of the temple of Apollo Epikurios (healer) at
Bassae in southern Greece
Apollo
–
Temple of the Delians at
Delos, dedicated to Apollo (478 BC). 19th-century pen-and-wash restoration.
Apollo
–
Temple of Apollo Smintheus at
Çanakkale, Turkey
8.
Augur
–
The augur was a priest and official in the classical Roman world. This was known as taking the auspices, the ceremony and function of the augur was central to any major undertaking in Roman society—public or private—including matters of war, commerce, and religion. Roman augurs were part of a college of priests who shared the duties and responsibilities of the position, at the foundation of the Republic in 510 BC, the patricians held sole claim to this office, by 300 BC, the office was open to plebeian occupation as well. Senior members of the collegium put forth nominations for any vacancies, in the Regal period tradition holds that there were three augurs at a time, by the time of Sulla, they had reached fifteen in number. Augury sought the divine will regarding any proposed course of action which might affect Romes pax, fortuna, political, military and civil actions were sanctioned by augury, historically performed by priests of the college of augurs and by haruspices on behalf of senior magistrates. The presiding magistrate at an augural rite thus held the “right of augury”, magistracies were therefore religious offices in their own right, and magistrates were directly responsible for the pax, fortuna and salus of Rome and everything that was Roman. The effectiveness of augury could only be judged retrospectively, the divinely ordained condition of peace was an outcome of successful augury and those whose actions had led to divine wrath could not have possessed a true right of augury. Of all the protagonists in the Civil War, only Octavian could have possessed it, lucan, writing during the Principate, described the recent Civil War as unnatural - a mirror to supernatural disturbances in the greater cosmos. His imagery is apt to the principles of augury and its broader interpretation by Stoic apologists of the Imperial cult. In the Stoic cosmology, pax deorum is the expression of natural order in human affairs, according to Cicero, the auctoritas of ius augurum included the right to adjourn and overturn the process of law, consular election could be - and was - rendered invalid by inaugural error. For Cicero, this made the augur the most powerful authority in the Republic, Cicero himself was co-opted into the college only late in his career. In the later Republic, augury came under the supervision of the college of pontifices, the office of pontifex maximus eventually became a de facto consular prerogative. In ancient Rome the auguria were considered to be in equilibrium with the sacra and were not the way by which the gods made their will known. The augures publici concerned themselves only with related to the state. The jus augurale was rigorously secret, therefore very little about the aspects of ceremonies. We have only the names of some auguria, e. g, the first one required the sacrifice of red dogs and took place before wheat grains were shelled but not before they had formed. Of the second we know only the name implies a ritual related to the harvest. Augurium and auspicium are terms used indifferently by the ancient, modern scholars have debated the issue at length but have failed to find a distinctive definition that may hold for all the known cases
Augur
–
Flamen (250–260 AD)
Augur
–
An augur holding a
lituus, the curved wand often used as a symbol of augury on Roman coins
9.
Entrails
–
Gastrointestinal is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the stomach and intestines. A tract is a collection of related anatomic structures or a series of connected body organs, the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, and intestines are part of the human alimentary canal. All bilaterians have a gastrointestinal tract, also called a gut or an alimentary canal and this is a tube that transfers food to the organs of digestion. In large bilaterians, the gastrointestinal tract generally also has an exit, some small bilaterians have no anus and dispose of solid wastes by other means. The gastrointestinal tract contains thousands of different bacteria in their gut flora, the human gastrointestinal tract consists of the esophagus, stomach, and intestines, and is divided into the upper and lower gastrointestinal tracts. In contrast, the digestive system comprises the gastrointestinal tract plus the accessory organs of digestion. The tract may also be divided into foregut, midgut, and hindgut, the whole human GI tract is about nine metres long at autopsy. The GI tract releases hormones from enzymes to help regulate the digestive process, the structure and function can be described both as gross anatomy and as microscopic anatomy or histology. The tract itself is divided into upper and lower tracts, the upper gastrointestinal tract consists of the buccal cavity, pharynx, esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. The exact demarcation between the upper and lower tracts is the muscle of the duodenum. Upon dissection, the duodenum may appear to be an organ, but it is divided into four segments based upon function, location. The four segments of the duodenum are as follows, bulb, descending, horizontal, the suspensory muscle attaches the superior border of the ascending duodenum to the diaphragm. The suspensory muscle is an important anatomical landmark which shows the division between the duodenum and the jejunum, the first and second parts of the small intestine. This is a muscle which is derived from the embryonic mesoderm. The lower gastrointestinal tract includes most of the intestine and all of the large intestine. In humans, the intestine is further subdivided into the duodenum, jejunum and ileum while the large intestine is subdivided into the cecum, colon, rectum. The small intestine begins at the duodenum, which receives food from the stomach and it is a tubular structure, usually between 6 and 7 m long. The area of the human, adult small intestinal mucosa is about 30 m2 and its main function is to absorb the products of digestion into the bloodstream
Entrails
–
Stomach colon rectum diagram
10.
Troy
–
The present-day location is known as Hisarlik. It was the setting of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle, in particular in the Iliad, a new capital called Ilium was founded on the site in the reign of the Roman Emperor Augustus. It flourished until the establishment of Constantinople and declined gradually in the Byzantine era and these excavations revealed several cities built in succession. Troy VII has been identified with the city that the Hittites called Wilusa, the origin of the Greek Ἴλιον. Today, the hill at Hisarlık has given its name to a village near the ruins. It lies within the province of Çanakkale, some 30 km south-west of the provincial capital, the map here shows the adapted Scamander estuary with Ilium a little way inland across the Homeric plain. Troy was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998, Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC, Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, in the Iliad, the Achaeans set up their camp near the mouth of the River Scamander, where they had beached their ships. The city of Troy itself stood on a hill, across the plain of Scamander, recent geological findings have permitted the identification of the ancient Trojan coastline, and the results largely confirm the accuracy of the Homeric geography of Troy. In November 2001, the geologist John C, kraft from the University of Delaware and the classicist John V. Luce from Trinity College, Dublin, presented the results of investigations, begun in 1977, into the geology of the region. Besides the Iliad, there are references to Troy in the major work attributed to Homer. The Homeric legend of Troy was elaborated by the Roman poet Virgil in his Aeneid, the Greeks and Romans took for a fact the historicity of the Trojan War and the identity of Homeric Troy with the site in Anatolia. Alexander the Great, for example, visited the site in 334 BC and there made sacrifices at tombs associated with the Homeric heroes Achilles and Patroclus. After the 1995 find of a Luwian biconvex seal at Troy VII, with the rise of critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were, for a long time, consigned to the realms of legend. However, the location of ancient Troy had from classical times remained the subject of interest. The Troad peninsula was anticipated to be the location, leChavaliers location, published in his Voyage de la Troade, was the most commonly accepted theory for almost a century. In 1822, the Scottish journalist Charles Maclaren was the first to identify with confidence the position of the city as it is now known, the hill, near the city of Çanakkale, was known as Hisarlık. In 1868, Heinrich Schliemann visited Calvert and secured permission to excavate Hisarlık, in 1871–73 and 1878–79, he excavated the hill and discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities dating from the Bronze Age to the Roman period
Troy
–
The walls of the
acropolis belong to Troy VII, which is identified as the site of the
Trojan War (c. 1200 BC).
Troy
–
Silver
tetradrachm from Troy with head of
Athena, c. 165–150 BC
Troy
–
The
odeon dates to the
Roman Troy IX and was renovated by
Hadrian in 124 AD.
Troy
–
The view from
Hisarlık across the plain of Ilium to the
Aegean Sea.
11.
Agamemnon
–
Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area. When Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was taken to Troy by Paris, upon Agamemnons return from Troy, he was murdered by Aegisthus, the lover of his wife, Clytemnestra. In some later versions Clytemnestra herself does the killing, or they act together as accomplices, Atreus, Agamemnons father, murdered the children of his twin brother Thyestes and fed them to Thyestes after discovering Thyestes adultery with his wife Aerope. Thyestes fathered Aegisthus with his own daughter, Pelopia, and this son vowed gruesome revenge on Atreus children, Aegisthus successfully murdered Atreus and restored his father to the throne. Aegisthus took possession of the throne of Mycenae and jointly ruled with Thyestes, during this period Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus, took refuge with Tyndareus, King of Sparta. There they respectively married Tyndareus daughters Clytemnestra and Helen, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra had four children, one son, Orestes, and three daughters, Iphigenia, Electra and Chrysothemis. Menelaus succeeded Tyndareus in Sparta, while Agamemnon, with his brothers assistance, drove out Aegisthus and he extended his dominion by conquest and became the most powerful prince in Greece. Thus misfortune hounded successive generations of the House of Atreus, until atoned by Orestes in a court of justice held jointly by humans, Agamemnon gathered the reluctant Greek forces to sail for Troy. Preparing to depart from Aulis, which was a port in Boeotia, misfortunes, including a plague and a lack of wind, prevented the army from sailing. Finally, the prophet Calchas announced that the wrath of the goddess could only be propitiated by the sacrifice of Agamemnons daughter Iphigenia and her death appeased Artemis, and the Greek army set out for Troy. Several alternatives to the human sacrifice have been presented in Greek mythology, hesiod said she became the goddess Hecate. Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief of the Greeks during the Trojan War, during the fighting, Agamemnon killed Antiphus and fifteen other Trojan soldiers. The Iliad tells the story about the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles in the year of the war. Following one of the Achaean Armys raids, Chryseis, daughter of Chryses, Chryses pleaded with Agamemnon to free his daughter but was met with little success. Chryses then prayed to Apollo for the return of his daughter. After learning from the Prophet Calchas that the plague could be dispelled by returning Chryseis to her father, Agamemnon reluctantly agreed, however, as compensation for his lost prize, Agamemnon demanded a new prize. As a result, Agamemnon stole an attractive slave called Briseis, one of the spoils of war, Achilles, the greatest warrior of the age, withdrew from battle in response to Agamemnons supposedly evil deed and allegedly put the Greek armies at risk of losing the war. Although not the equal of Achilles in bravery, Agamemnon was a representative of kingly authority, as commander-in-chief, he summoned the princes to the council and led the army in battle
Agamemnon
–
The
Mask of Agamemnon which was discovered by
Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 at
Mycenae, now believed to pre-date the legendary Trojan War.
Agamemnon
–
Orestes slaying
Clytemnestra
12.
Artemis
–
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Some scholars believe that the name, and indeed the goddess herself, was originally pre-Greek, Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron, Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals. The Arcadians believed she was the daughter of Demeter, in the classical period of Greek mythology, Artemis was often described as the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin sister of Apollo. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her, in later Hellenistic times, she even assumed the ancient role of Eileithyia in aiding childbirth. The name Artemis is of unknown or uncertain origin and etymology although various ones have been proposed, for example, according to J. T. Jablonski, the name is also Phrygian and could be compared with the royal appellation Artemas of Xenophon. Anton Goebel suggests the root στρατ or ῥατ, to shake, babiniotis, while accepting that the etymology is unknown, states that the name is already attested in Mycenean Greek and is possibly of pre-Hellenic origin. It is believed that a precursor of Artemis was worshiped in Minoan Crete as the goddess of mountains and hunting, R. S. P. Beekes suggested that the e/i interchange points to a Pre-Greek origin. Artemis was venerated in Lydia as Artimus, various conflicting accounts are given in Classical Greek mythology of the birth of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, an account by Callimachus has it that Hera forbade Leto to give birth on either terra firma or on an island. Hera was angry with Zeus, her husband, because he had impregnated Leto, but the island of Delos disobeyed Hera, and Leto gave birth there. In ancient Cretan history Leto was worshipped at Phaistos and in Cretan mythology Leto gave birth to Apollo, a scholium of Servius on Aeneid iii. The myths also differ as to whether Artemis was born first, most stories depict Artemis as born first, becoming her mothers mid-wife upon the birth of her brother Apollo. The childhood of Artemis is not fully related in any surviving myth, the Iliad reduced the figure of the dread goddess to that of a girl, who, having been thrashed by Hera, climbs weeping into the lap of Zeus. She wished for no city dedicated to her, but to rule the mountains, Artemis believed that she had been chosen by the Fates to be a midwife, particularly since she had assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin brother, Apollo. All of her companions remained virgins, and Artemis closely guarded her own chastity and her symbols included the golden bow and arrow, the hunting dog, the stag, and the moon. Okeanus daughters were filled with fear, but the young Artemis bravely approached and asked for bow, Callimachus then tells how Artemis visited Pan, the god of the forest, who gave her seven bitches and six dogs. She then captured six golden-horned deer to pull her chariot, Artemis practiced with her bow first by shooting at trees and then at wild beasts. As a virgin, Artemis had interested many gods and men, Orion was accidentally killed either by Artemis or by Gaia
Artemis
–
The
Diana of Versailles, a
Roman copy of a
Greek sculpture by
Leochares (
Louvre Museum)
Artemis
–
Didrachm from
Ephesus,
Ionia, representing the goddess Artemis
Artemis
–
Silver tetradrachm of the
Indo-Greek king
Artemidoros (whose name means "gift of Artemis"), c. 85 BCE, featuring Artemis with a drawn bow and a quiver on her back on the reverse of the coin
Artemis
–
Artemis (on the left, with a deer) and Apollo (on the right, holding a lyre) from
Myrina, dating to approximately 25 BC
13.
Epic Cycle
–
Aside from the Iliad and the Odyssey, the cyclic epics only survive in fragments and summaries from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period. The epics were composed in dactylic hexameter verse, the epic cycle was the distillation in literary form of an oral tradition that had developed during the Greek Dark Age, which was based in part on localised hero cults. The traditional material from which the epics were drawn treats Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age. In modern scholarship the study of the historical and literary relationship between the Homeric epics and the rest of the Cycle is called Neoanalysis, modern scholars do not normally include the Theban Cycle when referring to the Epic Cycle. Herodotus knew of the Cypria and the Epigoni when he wrote his History in mid-5th century BCE and he rejected the Homeric authorship for the former, and questioned it for the latter. As a result, only one tragedy is made out of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but from the Cypria many, the Library attributed to Apollodorus and the 2nd century CE Latin Genealogia attributed to Hyginus also drew on them. Furthermore, there is also the Tabula iliaca inscriptions that cover the same myths, most knowledge of the Cyclic epics comes from a broken summary of them which serves as part of the preface to the famous 10th century CE Iliad manuscript known as Venetus A. This preface is damaged, missing the Cypria, and has to be supplemented by other sources, the summary is in turn an excerpt from a longer work, Chrestomathy, written by a Proclus. This is known from evidence provided by the later scholar Photius, Photius provides sufficient information about Proclus Chrestomathy to demonstrate that the Venetus A excerpt is derived from the same work. Little is known about Proclus, except that he is not the philosopher Proclus Diadochus. The non-Homeric epics are usually regarded as later than the Iliad, there is no reliable evidence for this, however, and some Neoanalyst scholars operate on the premise that the Homeric epics were later than the Cyclic epics and drew on them extensively. Other Neoanalysts make the claim that the Homeric epics draw on legendary material which later crystallized into the Epic Cycle. In antiquity the Homeric epics were considered to be the greatest works in the Cycle, how and when the eight epics of the Cycle came to be combined into a single collection and referred to as a cycle is a matter of ongoing debate. More recent scholars have preferred to push the date slightly earlier, the nature of the relationship between the Cyclic epics and Homer is also bound up in this question. As told by Proclus, the plots of the six non-Homeric epics look very much as though they are designed to integrate with Homer and it is probable that at least some editing or stitching was done to edit epics together. For the last line of the Iliad, ὣς οἵ γ᾽ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο, in this way they performed the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses. An alternative reading is preserved which is designed to directly into the Aethiopis, ὣς οἵ γ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος· ἦλθε δ Ἀμαζών. In this way they performed the funeral of Hector, then the Amazon Penthesileia came, there are contradictions between epics in the Cycle
Epic Cycle
–
Achilles tending the wounded
Patroclus (
Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BCE)
14.
Iliad
–
The iLiad was an electronic handheld device, or e-Reader, which could be used for document reading and editing. Like the Barnes and Noble nook, Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle, in 2010, sales of the iLiad ended when its parent company, iRex, filed for bankruptcy. The display used is an active matrix display, which uses E Ink Vizplex Imaging Film manufactured by E Ink Corporation. Underneath the E Ink screen is a tablet by WACOM which requires a stylus for input. When it was introduced, the Iliad had largest screen size of existing e-paper products, the iLiad can display document files in several formats, including PDF, Mobipocket, XHTML and plain text. It can also display JPEG, BMP and PNG images, as of May 3,2007 Mobipocket is supported, making the mobipocket digital rights management content available on this platform. IRexs product page for the states that Support for additional E-book formats will become available over the coming months. Through its wireless service, iDS, the iLiad can also download content. Les Echos, a French financial newspaper, is distributed this way, users can connect to their computer over a wireless network to sync new data onto the iLiads internal memory or an inserted MMC, SD, or CF card. The distributor of the iLiad is iRex Technologies, a Philips spin-off company and it was initially advertised in December 2005, to be launched in April 2006, but was delayed until July, when it started to be sold as a beta product. It was released to the public near the end of July. Its list price in Europe is €649, and in US $699, one of the advanced features of the iLiad is the ability to add notes to existing documents. With the integrated Wacom tablet and stylus, it is possible to directly on almost any document. Using the desktop software, those notes can be merged into the original document and this provides malleability, an important feature of physical books that is missing from most ebook products, allowing users to annotate, highlight, and personalize the text. Because of its open Linux operating system, the iLiad is able to run third party applications created for it, developers and users wishing to create or run third party applications can request shell access from the manufacturer. Developers have been able to improve on the devices functionality by porting viewers such as FBReader, full screen PDF reading is made available by community-supported iPDF releases. Programs for recreation, including audio playback, sudoku, and calendars, are rapidly growing community content available for use on the iLiad, independent users have also reported successful porting of mobile web browsers to iLiads Linux platform, although with limited functionality and many bugs. IRex as a company has had a relationship with its Open Source developers
Iliad
–
iRex iLiad
Iliad
Iliad
–
iLiad in sunlight
Iliad
–
iLiad e-book reader equipped with e-paper display
15.
Chryseis
–
In Greek mythology, Chryseis was a Trojan woman, the daughter of Chryses. Chryseis, her apparent name in the Iliad, means simply Chryses daughter, later writers give her name as Astynome. Apollo then sends a plague sweeping through the Greek armies, and Agamemnon is forced to give Chryseis back in order to end it, so Agamemnon sends Odysseus to return Chryseis to her father. Agamemnon compensates himself for this loss by taking Briseis from Achilles, an act that offends Achilles, a later Greek legend, preserved in Hyginus Fabulae, states that she had a son by Agamemnon. In medieval literature, Chryseis is developed into the character Cressida, I Modi, a work of art which depicts her
Chryseis
–
Odysseus returns Chryseis to her father (by
Claude Lorrain, 1644).
16.
Chryses
–
In Greek mythology, Chryses was a Trojan priest of Apollo at Chryse, near the city of Troy. According to a tradition mentioned by Eustathius of Thessalonica, Chryses and Briseus were brothers, during the Trojan War, Agamemnon took Chryses daughter Chryseis from Moesia as a war prize and when Chryses attempted to ransom her, refused to return her. Chryses prayed to Apollo, and he, in order to defend the honor of his priest, sent a plague sweeping through the Greek armies, the significance of Agamemnons actions lies not in his kidnapping Chryseis, but in his refusal to release her upon her fathers request. Chryses, with help from Orestes, was responsible for the death of Thoas. He killed Thoas after finding out that the son of Chryseis, after he killed Thoas, Chryses went to Mycenae. Bibliotheca, Hyginus, R. Scott Smith, and Stephen M. Trzaskoma, apollodorus Library and Hyginus Fabulae, two handbooks of Greek mythology
Chryses
–
Chryses attempting to ransom his daughter
Chryseis from
Agamemnon,
Apulian red-figure
crater by the Athens 1714 Painter, ca. 360 BC–350 BC,
Louvre.
17.
Achilles
–
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and the central character and greatest warrior of Homers Iliad. His mother was the immortal nymph Thetis, and his father, Achilles’ most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan hero Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the Iliad, other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, later legends state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for his heel. Alluding to these legends, the term Achilles heel has come to mean a point of weakness, Achilles name can be analyzed as a combination of ἄχος grief and λαός a people, tribe, nation. In other words, Achilles is an embodiment of the grief of the people, Achilles role as the hero of grief forms an ironic juxtaposition with the conventional view of Achilles as the hero of κλέος kleos. Laos has been construed by Gregory Nagy, following Leonard Palmer, to mean a corps of soldiers, a muster. With this derivation, the name would have a meaning in the poem, when the hero is functioning rightly, his men bring grief to the enemy. The poem is in part about the misdirection of anger on the part of leadership, R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin of the name. The name Achilleus was a common and attested name among the Greeks soon after the 7th century BC. It was also turned into the female form Ἀχιλλεία attested in Attica in the 4th century BC and, in the form Achillia, Achilles was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon had been rivals for the hand of Thetis until Prometheus, for this reason, the two gods withdrew their pursuit, and had her wed Peleus. Thetis, although a daughter of the sea-god Nereus, was brought up by Hera. According to the Achilleid, written by Statius in the 1st century AD, and to no surviving previous sources, however, he was left vulnerable at the part of the body by which she held him, his heel. It is not clear if this version of events was known earlier, in another version of this story, Thetis anointed the boy in ambrosia and put him on top of a fire, to burn away the mortal parts of his body. She was interrupted by Peleus and abandoned both father and son in a rage, however, none of the sources before Statius makes any reference to this general invulnerability. To the contrary, in the Iliad Homer mentions Achilles being wounded, in Book 21 the Paeonian hero Asteropaeus, son of Pelagon and he cast two spears at once, one grazed Achilles elbow, drawing a spurt of blood. Peleus entrusted Achilles to Chiron the Centaur, on Mt. Pelion, Achilles consuming rage is at times wavering, but at other times he cannot be cooled. Thetis foretold that her sons fate was either to gain glory and die young, or to live a long, Achilles chose the former, and decided to take part in the Trojan war
Achilles
–
Achilles and the
Nereid Cymothoe: Attic red-figure
kantharos from
Volci (
Cabinet des Médailles, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris)
Achilles
–
Head of Achilles depicted on a 4th-century BC coin from
Kremaste,
Phthia. Reverse:
Thetis, wearing
chiton and holding shield of Achilles with his AX monogram.
Achilles
–
Greek Mythology
Achilles
–
Thetis Dipping the Infant Achilles into the River Styx (ca. 1625),
Peter Paul Rubens
18.
Poseidon
–
Poseidon was one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean, and he is called the God of the Sea, additionally, he is referred to as Earth-Shaker due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the tamer of horses. He is usually depicted as a male with curly hair. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology, both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have birth to a colt. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, according to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon. The form Ποτειδάϝων appears in Corinth, the origins of the name Poseidon are unclear. Walter Burkert finds that the second element da- remains hopelessly ambiguous, another theory interprets the second element as related to the word *δᾶϝον dâwon, water, this would make *Posei-dawōn into the master of waters. There is also the possibility that the word has Pre-Greek origin, Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two alternative etymologies, either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a foot-bond, or he knew many things. If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted, the name occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja. A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia, is found, indicating a lost consort goddess. Poseidon carries frequently the title wa-na-ka in Linear B inscriptions, as king of the underworld, the chthonic nature of Poseidon-Wanax is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos, a powerful attribute. In the cave of Amnisos Enesidaon is related with the cult of Eileithyia and she was related with the annual birth of the divine child. During the Bronze Age, a goddess of nature, dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cult, and Wanax was her companion in Mycenean cult. It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription, in Linear B inscriptions found at Pylos, E-ne-si-da-o-ne is related with Poseidon, and Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for the Two Queens, the Two Queens may be related with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. The violated Demeter was Demeter Erinys, in Arcadia, Demeters mare-form was worshiped into historical times. Her xoanon of Phigaleia shows how the local cult interpreted her, a Medusa type with a horses head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water
Poseidon
–
Poseidon from
Milos, 2nd century BC (
National Archaeological Museum of Athens)
Poseidon
–
Poseidon, Paella Museum
Poseidon
–
Poseidon in
Kadriorg Palace,
Tallinn
Poseidon
–
Poseidon holding a
trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia.
19.
Zeus
–
Zeus /ˈzjuːs/ is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter and his mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, in most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses. He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe That Zeus is king in heaven is a common to all men. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak, in addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical cloud-gatherer also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses, standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his right hand. The gods name in the nominative is Ζεύς Zeús and it is inflected as follows, vocative, Ζεῦ Zeû, accusative, Δία Día, genitive, Διός Diós, dative, Διί Dií. Diogenes Laertius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς, Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr. The god is known under this name in the Rigveda, Latin, Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek
Zeus
–
The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in
Smyrna in 1680
Zeus
–
The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church.
Zeus
–
Zeus, at the Getty Villa, A.D. 1 - 100 by unknown.
Zeus
–
"
Cave of Zeus ",
Mount Ida (Crete).
20.
Ajax (Sophocles)
–
Sophocles Ajax, or Aias, is a Greek tragedy written in the 5th century BCE. Ajax may be the earliest of Sophocles seven tragedies to have survived and it appears to belong to the same period as his Antigone, which was probably performed in 442 or 441 BCE, when he was 55 years old. The play depicts the fate of the warrior Ajax, after the events of the Iliad, the great warrior, Achilles, has been killed in battle. The man who now can be considered the greatest warrior, Ajax, should be given Achilles’ armor, Ajax becomes furious about this and decides to kill them. However, Athena steps in and deludes Ajax into killing instead the spoil of the Greek army, suddenly Ajax comes to his senses and realizes what he has done. Overwhelmed by shame, he decides to commit suicide and his concubine, Tecmessa, pleads for him not to leave her and their child, Eurysakes, unprotected. Ajax then gives his son his shield, and leaves the house saying that he is going out to purify himself, Teucer has learned from the prophet, Kalchas, that Ajax should not be allowed to leave his tent until the end of the day or he will die. Tecmessa and soldiers try to find Ajax, but they are too late. Ajax has impaled himself upon his sword, before his suicide, Ajax calls for vengeance against the sons of Atreus and the whole Greek army. Tecmessa is the first one to discover Ajax’s body, Teucer then arrives and orders that Ajax’s son be brought to him so that he will be safe from foes. Menelaus appears and orders the body not to be moved, the last part of the play is taken up with an angry dispute regarding what to do with Ajax’s body. The two kings, Agamemnon and Menelaos, want to leave the body unburied for scavengers to have, Odysseus arrives and persuades Agamemnon and Menelaos to allow Ajax a proper funeral. Odysseus points out that ones enemies deserve respect in death. The play ends with Teucer making arrangements for the burial, the original title of the play in the ancient Greek is Αἴας. Ajax is the version, and Aias is the English transliteration from the original Greek. Proper nouns in Ancient Greek have conventionally been romanized before entering the English language, the text of the play suggests the original pronunciation of Ajaxs name—in lines 430-432, Ajax, the protagonist, states that it has an onomatopoeic resemblance to a wailing cry of lament, aiai. He was considered a character to the people of ancient Athens. Numerous Homeric myths describe him coming to the rescue of his man in dire moments
Ajax (Sophocles)
–
Ajax preparing for suicide
21.
Teucer
–
This article is about Teucer, son of King Telamon of Salamis in Greek mythology. For Teucer, son of Scamander and Idaea in Greek mythology, in Greek mythology, Teucer, also Teucrus, Teucros or Teucris, was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax, in the Trojan War and is the founder of the city of Salamis on Cyprus. Through his mother, Teucer was the nephew of King Priam of Troy, during the Trojan War, Teucer was mainly a great archer, who loosed his shafts from behind the giant shield of his half-brother Ajax the Great. When Hector was driving the Achaeans back toward their ships, Teucer gave the Argives some success by killing many of the charging Trojans, including Hectors charioteer, Archeptolemus son of Iphitos. However, every time he shot an arrow at Hector, Apollo, at one point in his rage at Teucers success, Hector picked up a huge rock and flung it at him. The rock injured Teucer, so that he retired from the fighting for a period of time. He took up a spear to fight in the war after his bow was broken by Zeus and he once again challenged Hector, and narrowly avoided the path of Hectors flying javelin in the ensuing battle. He was also one of the Danaans to enter the Trojan Horse and he also wounded Glaucus, son of Hippolochus. After Ajaxs suicide, Teucer guarded the body to make sure it was buried, insulting Menelaus, finally Odysseus persuaded Agamemnon to let the burial happen. Because of his half-brothers suicide, Teucer stood trial before his father and he was disowned by his father, wasnt allowed back on Salamis Island, and set out to find a new home. This speech has been given a wider applicability in relation to the theme of voyages of discovery, Teucer eventually joined King Belus II in his campaign against Cyprus, and when the island was seized, Belus handed it over to him in reward for his assistance. Teucer founded the city of Salamis on Cyprus, which he named after his home state and he further married Eune, daughter of Cyprus or Cinyras, and had by her a daughter Asteria. The name Teucer is believed to be related to the name of the West Hittite God Tarku —the Indo-European Storm God—a role which explains his relationship to Belus, the city is sometimes poetically called The City of Teucer and its inhabitants teucrinos. A number of sporting clubs in the municipality use names related to Teucer
Teucer
–
Statue of Teucer by Sir
William Hamo Thornycroft
22.
Philoctetes (Sophocles)
–
Philoctetes is a play by Sophocles. The play was written during the Peloponnesian War and it is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, the story takes place during the Trojan War. It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, when Heracles was near his death, he wished to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light the fire, Philoctetes left with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but was bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. The bite caused him constant agony, and emitted a horrible smell, for this reason he was left by Odysseus and the Atreidai on the desert island Lemnos. Ten years pass, and the Greeks capture the Trojan seer Helenus and he foretells that they will need the master archer Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles to win the war. Odysseus sails back to Lemnos with Neoptolemus to get Philoctetes, the task is not easy, as Philoctetes bitterly hates Odysseus and the Greeks for leaving him there. Sophocles Philoctetes begins with their arrival on the island, Odysseus explains to Neoptolemus that he must perform a shameful action in order to garner future glory - to take Philoctetes by tricking him with a false story while Odysseus hides. Neoptolemus is portrayed as a boy, and so it takes some persuading to get him to play this part. To gain Philoctetes trust, Neoptolemus tricks Philoctetes into thinking he hates Odysseus as well, Neoptolemus does this by telling Philoctetes that Odysseus has his fathers armor. He tells Philoctetes that this armor was his right by birth, after gaining Philoctetes trust and offering him a ride home, Neoptolemus is allowed to look at the bow of Heracles. Neoptolemus holds the bow while Philoctetes is going into a fit of pain in his foot. Feeling ashamed, Neoptolemus debates giving it back to him, Odysseus appears, and a series of arguments ensue. Eventually Neoptolemus conscience gains the hand, and he returns the bow. After many threats made on both sides, Odysseus flees, Neoptolemus then tries to talk Philoctetes into coming to Troy by his own free will, but Philoctetes does not agree. In the end, Neoptolemus consents to take Philoctetes back to Greece and this appears to be the conclusion of the play—however, as they are leaving, Heracles appears above them and tells Philoctetes that if he goes to Troy, he will be cured and the Greeks will win. When Philoctetes later fights in Troy, his foot is healed, the concept of having a moral high ground is a key aspect in this play
Philoctetes (Sophocles)
–
Philoctetes by
Jean-Germain Drouais
23.
Neoptolemus
–
Achilles mother Thetis foretold many years before Achilles birth that there would be a great war. She saw that her son was to die if he fought in the war. She sought a place for him to avoid fighting in the Trojan War, disguising him as a woman in the court of Lycomedes, during that time, he had an affair with the princess, Deidamea, who then gave birth to Neoptolemos. Neoptolemos was originally called Pyrrhos, because his father had taken Pyrrha, the Greeks captured the Trojan seer, Helenos, and forced him to tell them under what conditions could they take Troy. Helenos revealed to them that they could defeat Troy if they could acquire the poisonous arrows of Heracles, steal the Palladium, in response to the prophecy, the Greeks took steps to retrieve the arrows of Heracles and bring Neoptolemos to Troy. Odysseus was sent to retrieve Neoptolemos, then a mere teenager, the two then went to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes. Years earlier, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes was bitten by a snake on Chryse Island, agamemnon had advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering and smelled bad. This retrieval is the plot of Philoctetes, a play by Sophocles, euripides, in his play Hekabe, has a moving scene which shows Neoptolemos as a compassionate young man who kills Polyxena, Hekabes daughter with ambivalent feelings and in the least painful way. Neoptolemos was held by some to be brutal and he killed six men on the field of battle. During and after the war, he killed Priam, Eurypylos, Polyxena, Polites and Astyanax among others, captured Helenos, the ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding Polyxena, the Trojan princess, be sacrificed before anybody could leave. With Andromache, Helenos and Phoenix, Neoptolemos sailed to the Epirot Islands, with the enslaved Andromache, Neoptolemos was the father of Molossos and through him, according to the myth, an ancestor of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. According to Hyginus, his son with Andromache was Amphialos, CXXIII, NEOPTOLEMUS Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, begat Amphialus by captive Andromache, daughter of Ēëtion. But after he heard that Hermione his betrothed had been given to Orestes in marriage, he went to Lacedaemon, Menelaus did not wish to go back on his word, and took Hermione from Orestes and gave her to Neoptolemus. Orestes, thus insulted, slew Neoptolemus as he was sacrificing to Delphi, the bones of Neoptolemus were scattered through the land of Ambracia, which is in the district of Epirus. Although Neoptolemus is often depicted thus, the play Philoctetes by Sophocles shows him being a kinder man. Two accounts deal with Neoptolemos death and he was either killed after he attempted to take Hermione from Orestes as her father Menelaus promised, or after he denounced Apollo, the murderer of his father. In the first case, he was killed by Orestes, in the second, revenge was taken by the Delphic priests of Apollo. After his death his kingdom was portioned out and Helenos took part of it, helenus, a son of Priam, was king over these Greek cities of Epirus, having succeeded to the throne and bed of Pyrrhus
Neoptolemus
–
Neoptolemus killing Priam.
Neoptolemus
–
Neoptolemus and Andromache, by
Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.
24.
Odysseus
–
Odysseus, also known by the Latin name Ulysses, was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homers epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homers Iliad and other works in that same epic cycle. Husband of Penelope, father of Telemachus, and son of Laërtes and Anticlea, Odysseus is renowned for his brilliance, guile, and versatility and he is most famous for the Odyssey, ten eventful years he took to return home after the decade-long Trojan War. The name has several variants, in Greek the character was called Olysseus, Oulixeus, Oulixes, hence, there may originally have been two separate figures, one called something like Odysseus, the other something like Ulixes, who were combined into one complex personality. The etymology of the name is unknown, ancient authors linked the name to the Greek verbs odussomai to be wroth against, to hate, or to oduromai to lament, bewail. Homer in references and puns, relates it to various forms of this verb and it has also been suggested that the name is of non-Greek origin, probably not even Indo-European, with an unknown etymology, R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin. In Book 19 of the Odyssey, where Odysseuss early childhood is recounted, Euryclea tries to guide him to naming the boy Polyaretos, for he has much been prayed for. Autolycus apparently in a sardonic mood, decided to give the child a name that would commemorate his own experience in life. Because I got odium upon myself before coming here, let the childs name be Odysseus to signify this. The pun was prophetic as well as commemorative, Odysseus often receives the patronymic epithet Laertiades, son of Laërtes. In the Iliad and Odyssey there are several epithets used to describe Odysseus and his name and stories were adopted into Etruscan religion under the name Uthuze. Hence, Odysseus was the great-grandson of the Olympian god Hermes, according to the Iliad and Odyssey, his father is Laertes and his mother Anticlea, although there was a non-Homeric tradition that Sisyphus was his true father. The rumor went that Laertes bought Odysseus from the conniving king, Odysseus is said to have a younger sister, Ctimene, who went to Same to be married and is mentioned by the swineherd Eumaeus, whom she grew up alongside, in Book 15 of the Odyssey. Homers Iliad and Odyssey portray Odysseus as a hero, but the Romans. In Virgils Aeneid, written between 29 and 19 BC, he is referred to as cruel Odysseus or deceitful Odysseus. Turnus, in Aeneid ix, reproaches the Trojan Ascanius with images of rugged, forthright Latin virtues, declaring, You shall not find the sons of Atreus here, nor need the frauds of sly Ulysses fear. While the Greeks admired his cunning and deceit, these qualities did not recommend themselves to the Romans, who possessed a rigid sense of honour. His attempts to avoid his sacred oath to defend Menelaus and Helen offended Roman notions of duty, the majority of sources for Odysseus pre-war exploits—principally the mythographers Pseudo-Apollodorus and Hyginus—postdate Homer by many centuries
Odysseus
–
Head of Odysseus from a
Roman period Hellenistic marble group representing Odysseus blinding
Polyphemus, found at the villa of
Tiberius at
Sperlonga
Odysseus
–
Head of Odysseus wearing
pileus depicted on a 3rd-century BC coin from
Ithaca
Odysseus
–
Greek Mythology
Odysseus
–
This is a painting of Odysseus's boat passing between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Scylla has plucked six of Odysseus's men from the boat. The painting is an Italian fresco dating to 1560 C.E.
25.
Trojan Horse
–
The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the subterfuge that the Greeks used to enter the city of Troy and win the war. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a wooden horse. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy and that night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, ending the war, metaphorically a Trojan Horse has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invite a foe into a securely protected bastion or place. A malicious computer program which tricks users into willingly running it is called a Trojan horse or simply a Trojan. The main ancient source for the story is the Aeneid of Virgil, the event is also referred to in Homers Odyssey. In the Greek tradition, the horse is called the Wooden Horse, according to Quintus Smyrnaeus, Odysseus thought of building a great wooden horse, hiding an elite force inside, and fooling the Trojans into wheeling the horse into the city as a trophy. Under the leadership of Epeius, the Greeks built the wooden horse in three days, odysseuss plan called for one man to remain outside the horse, he would act as though the Greeks had abandoned him, leaving the horse as a gift for the Trojans. An inscription was engraved on the reading, For their return home. Then they burned their tents and left to Tenedos by night, Greek soldier Sinon was abandoned, and was to signal to the Greeks by lighting a beacon. In Virgils poem, Sinon, the only volunteer for the role, successfully convinces the Trojans that he has left behind. Sinon tells the Trojans that the Horse was built to be too large for them to take it into their city, however, the god Poseidon sends two sea serpents to strangle him and his sons Antiphantes and Thymbraeus before any Trojan heeds his warning. According to Apollodorus the two serpents were sent by Apollo, whom Laocoon had insulted by sleeping with his wife in front of the divine image. King Priams daughter Cassandra, the soothsayer of Troy, insists that the horse will be the downfall of the city and she too is ignored, hence their doom and loss of the war. 8.487 ff The most detailed and most familiar version is in Virgils Aeneid and they secretly hide a picked body of men, chosen by lot, there, in the dark body, filling the belly and the huge cavernous insides with armed warriors. Then Laocoön rushes down eagerly from the heights of the citadel, to confront them all, a crowd with him. Do you think the enemys sailed away, or do you think any Greek gifts free of treachery. Whatever it is, Im afraid of Greeks even those bearing gifts, Book II includes Laocoön saying, Equo ne credite, Teucri
Trojan Horse
–
Trojan horse after the
Vergilius Vaticanus.
Trojan Horse
–
Detail from The Procession of the Trojan Horse in Troy by
Domenico Tiepolo (1773), inspired by Virgil's
Aeneid
Trojan Horse
–
Sinon is brought to Priam, from folio 101r of the
Roman Vergil
Trojan Horse
–
Achilles tending the wounded
Patroclus (
Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC)
26.
Aeneas
–
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Venus. His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy and he is a character in Greek mythology and is mentioned in Homers Iliad. Aeneas receives full treatment in Roman mythology, most extensively in Virgils Aeneid and he became the first true hero of Rome. Snorri Sturluson identifies him with the Norse Æsir Vidarr, Aeneas is the Latin spelling of Greek Αἰνείας. In the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, Aeneas is first introduced with Aphrodite naming him Αἰνείας for the αὶνóν ἄχος he caused her and it is a popular etymology for the name, apparently exploited by Homer in the Iliad. Later in the Medieval period there were writers who held that, as such, in the natural order, the meaning of Aeneas name combines Greek ennos and demas, which becomes ennaios, meaning in-dweller. However, there is no certainty regarding the origin of his name, in imitation of the Iliad, Virgil borrows epithets of Homer, including, Anchisiades, magnanimum, magnus, heros, and bonus. Though he borrows many, Virgil gives Aeneas two epithets of his own in the Aeneid, pater and pius. The epithets applied by Virgil are an example of a different from that of Homer, for whilst Odysseus is poikilios, Aeneas is described as pius. Likewise, Aeneas is called pater when acting in the interest of his men, the story of the birth of Aeneas is told in the Hymn to Aphrodite, one of the major Homeric Hymns. Aphrodite has caused the other gods Zeus, to fall in love with mortal women, in retaliation, Zeus puts desire in her heart for Anchises, who is tending his cattle among the hills near Mount Ida. When Aphrodite sees him she is smitten and she adorns herself as if for a wedding among the gods and appears before him. He is overcome by her beauty, believing that she is a goddess, after they make love, Aphrodite reveals her true identity to him and Anchises fears what might happen to him as a result of their liaison. Aphrodite assures him that he will be protected, and tells him that she bear him a son to be called Aeneas. However, she warns him that he must never tell anyone that he has lain with a goddess, when Aeneas is born, Aphrodite takes him to the nymphs of Mount Ida. She directs them to raise the child to age five, then take him to Anchises, according to other sources, Anchises later brags about his encounter with Aphrodite, and as a result is struck in the foot with a thunderbolt by Zeus. Thereafter he is lame in that foot, so that Aeneas has to carry him from the flames of Troy. Aeneas is a character in the Iliad, where he is twice saved from death by the gods as if for an as-yet-unknown destiny
Aeneas
–
Aeneas flees burning Troy,
Federico Barocci, 1598.
Aeneas
–
Painting Venus and Anchises by
William Blake Richmond (1889 or 90)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas carrying
Anchises, black-figured
oinochoe, ca. 520–510 BC,
Louvre (F 118)
Aeneas
–
Aeneas and Anchises
27.
Colophon (city)
–
Colophon was an ancient city in Ionia. Founded around the turn of the first millennium BC, it was one of the oldest of the twelve cities of the Ionian League. In ancient times it was located between Lebedos and Ephesus, today the ruins of the city can be found south of the town Değirmendere Fev in the Menderes district of Izmir Province, Turkey. The citys name comes from the word κολοφών, summit, which is also the origin of the bibliographic term colophon, in the sense of a crowning touch. The term colophony for rosin comes from the term colophonia resina, that is, resin from the trees of Colophon. According to Apollodorus and Proclus, the mythical seer Calchas died at Colophon after the end of the Trojan War, strabo names Clarus as the place of his death, which would later be a cult center in the territory of Colophon. An oracle had it that he would die when he would meet a better seer than himself, as Calchas and the other heroes on their way home from Troy came upon the seer Mopsus in Colophon, the two competed in their mantic qualities. Calchas couldnt equal Mopsus skills as a seer, being a son of Apollo and Manto, in Greek antiquity two sons of Codrus, King of Athens, established a colony there. It was the birthplace of the philosopher Xenophanes and the poets Antimachus and Mimnermus, Colophon was the strongest of the Ionian cities and renowned both for its cavalry and for the inhabitants luxurious lifestyle, until Gyges of Lydia conquered it in the 7th century BC. Colophon then went into decline and was eclipsed by neighbouring Ephesus and by the naval power of Ionia. After the death of Alexander the Great, Perdiccas expelled the Athenian settlers on Samos to Colophon, including the family of Epicurus, who joined them there after completing his military service. Notium served as the port, and in the neighbourhood was the village of Clarus, with its famous temple and oracle of Apollo Clarius, additionally, the city, as a major location on the Ionic mainland, was cited as a possible home or birthplace for Homer. In his True History, Lucian lists it as a possible birthplace along with the island of Khios, Colophon continued to be listed in Notitiae Episcopatuum as late as the 12th or 13th century, as a suffragan of Ephesus, capital of the Roman province of Asia. No longer a residential bishopric, Colophon is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Pétridès, Sophron. Works by Lucian of Samosata at Project Gutenberg Loeb Classical Library, 3/8 of Lucians works, with facing Greek text Works of Lucian of Samostata at sacred-texts. com Herodotus Project, Colophon The Rise of the Greeks - Michael Grant 1987 - pages 159,345. Colophon, an ancient city of Ionia
Colophon (city)
–
Colophon is located to the right of the center on this map of ancient Ionia.
28.
Trojan War
–
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homers Iliad. The Iliad relates four days in the year of the decade-long siege of Troy. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. Zeus sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the fairest, in exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helens husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years because of Paris insult. After the deaths of heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans and desecrated the temples, thus earning the gods wrath, few of the Achaeans returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, in 1868, however, the German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was a real city at what is now Hissarlik in Turkey. On the basis of excavations conducted by Schliemann and others, this claim is now accepted by most scholars, whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War remains an open question. The events of the Trojan War are found in works of Greek literature. There is no single, authoritative text which tells the events of the war. Instead, the story is assembled from a variety of sources, the most important literary sources are the two epic poems traditionally credited to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed sometime between the 9th and 6th centuries BC. Each poem narrates only a part of the war, the Iliad covers a short period in the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey concerns Odysseuss return to his home island of Ithaca, following the sack of Troy. Other parts of the Trojan War were told in the poems of the Epic Cycle, also known as the Cyclic Epics, the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. Though these poems survive only in fragments, their content is known from an included in Proclus Chrestomathy. The authorship of the Cyclic Epics is uncertain, both the Homeric epics and the Epic Cycle take origin from oral tradition. Even after the composition of the Iliad, Odyssey, and the Cyclic Epics, events and details of the story that are only found in later authors may have been passed on through oral tradition and could be as old as the Homeric poems
Trojan War
–
Achilles tending the wounded
Patroclus (
Attic red-figure kylix, c. 500 BC)
Trojan War
–
The Burning of Troy (1759/62),
oil painting by Johann Georg Trautmann
Trojan War
–
The Judgment of Paris (1904) by
Enrique Simonet
Trojan War
–
Thetis gives her son Achilles weapons forged by Hephaestus (detail of Attic
black-figure hydria, 575–550 BC)
29.
Strabo
–
Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus, Strabos life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus. He moved to Rome in 44 BC, and stayed there, studying and writing, in 29 BC, on his way to Corinth, he visited the island of Gyaros in the Aegean Sea. Around 25 BC, he sailed up the Nile until reaching Philae and it is not known precisely when Strabos Geography was written, though comments within the work itself place the finished version within the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Some place its first drafts around 7 BC, others around 17 or 18 AD, the latest passage to which a date can be assigned is his reference to the death in AD23 of Juba II, king of Maurousia, who is said to have died just recently. He probably worked on the Geography for many years and revised it steadily, on the presumption that recently means within a year, Strabo stopped writing that year or the next, when he died. The first of Strabos major works, Historical Sketches, written while he was in Rome, is completely lost. Strabo studied under several prominent teachers of various specialties throughout his life at different stops along his Mediterranean travels. His first chapter of education took place in Nysa under the master of rhetoric Aristodemus, Strabo was an admirer of Homers poetry, perhaps a consequence of his time spent in Nysa with Aristodemus. At around the age of 21, Strabo moved to Rome, where he studied philosophy with the Peripatetic Xenarchus, despite Xenarchuss Aristotelian leanings, Strabo later gives evidence to have formed his own Stoic inclinations. In Rome, he learned grammar under the rich and famous scholar Tyrannion of Amisus. Although Tyrannion was also a Peripatetic, he was more relevantly a respected authority on geography, the final noteworthy mentor to Strabo was Athenodorus Cananites, a philosopher who had spent his life since 44 BC in Rome forging relationships with the Roman elite. Athenodorus endowed to Strabo three important items, his philosophy, his knowledge, and his contacts, moreover, from his own first-hand experience, Athenodorus provided Strabo with information about regions of the empire which he would not otherwise have known. Strabo is most notable for his work Geographica, which presented a history of people. Although the Geographica was rarely utilized in its antiquity, a multitude of copies survived throughout the Byzantine Empire. It first appeared in Western Europe in Rome as a Latin translation issued around 1469, the first Greek edition was published in 1516 in Venice
Strabo
–
Strabo as depicted in a 16th-century engraving
Strabo
–
Title page from
Isaac Casaubon 's 1620 edition of
Geographica.
Strabo
–
Statue of Strabo in his hometown (modern-day
Amasya, Turkey), beside the
Iris (Yeşilırmak) River.
Strabo
–
Map of Europe according to Strabo.
30.
Monte Gargano
–
The high point is Monte Calvo at 1,065 m. Most of the area, about 1,200 km2, is part of the Gargano National Park. It is within the Italian Province of Foggia, the Latin poet Horace spoke of the oaks of Garganus in Ode II, ix. The coast of Gargano houses numerous beaches and tourist facilities, including such as Vieste, Peschici. The two major lakes of Lesina and Varano are located in the northern part of the peninsula. Monte Gargano is the site of the oldest shrine in Western Europe dedicated to the archangel Michael, the 10 K and the half marathon are supervised by FIDAL. Some 12 to 4 million years ago, during the Late Miocene to Early Pliocene, several of these animals were subject to island gigantism. The fossils are found in partially infilled paleokarst fissures across Monte Gargano, the Gargano Island fauna is known as Mikrotia fauna after an endemic rodent genus of the area. Initially named Microtia, this had to be corrected, because the genus name Microtia was already used for butterflies, the surface features of the ancient karst developed in Mesozoic limestone. In these, sediment accumulated together with the remains of the fauna, forming thick layers of reddish, massive or crudely stratified silty-sandy clays. Through the mid-Pliocene, some of these deposits were flooded, probably due to movement of the Apulian Plate. Others were overlaid by sediments of terrestrial or freshwater origin. In this way a buried, partially reworked paleokarst originated, later, as the ice ages cycle got underway, sea levels sank and the former island was continentalized. In the cool and semiarid conditions of the Early Pleistocene a second cycle occurred. The Gargano Island endemic mammals included, Deinogalerix -5 species of gymnures, Hoplitomeryx - some 5 species of prongdeer with five horns and sabre-like upper canine teeth. They ranged from tiny to the size of a red deer, Mikrotia -3 or more species of murine rodent. The largest species, M. magna, had a skull 10 cm long, paralutra garganensis - an endemic species of otter. Prolagus imperialis and P. apricenicus - huge endemic pika species- P. imperialis was larger than any other known Prolagus
Monte Gargano
–
Gargano typical coast
Monte Gargano
–
The coast around Mattinata
Monte Gargano
–
Monte Sant'Angelo on the slopes of Monte Gargano.
31.
Magna Graecia
–
The settlers who began arriving in the 8th century BC brought with them their Hellenic civilization, which was to leave a lasting imprint in Italy, such as in the culture of ancient Rome. Most notably the Roman poet Ovid referred to the south of Italy as Magna Graecia in his poem Fasti, according to Strabo, Magna Graecias colonization started already at the time of the Trojan War and lasted for several centuries. Also during that period, Greek colonies were established in places as widely separated as the eastern coast of the Black Sea, Eastern Libya and they included settlements in Sicily and the southern part of the Italian Peninsula. The Romans called the area of Sicily and the foot of Italy Magna Graecia since it was so densely inhabited by the Greeks, the ancient geographers differed on whether the term included Sicily or merely Apulia and Calabria, Strabo being the most prominent advocate of the wider definitions. With colonization, Greek culture was exported to Italy, in its dialects of the Ancient Greek language, its religious rites, an original Hellenic civilization soon developed, later interacting with the native Italic civilisations. Many of the new Hellenic cities became very rich and powerful, like Neapolis, Syracuse, Acragas Paestum, other cities in Magna Graecia included Tarentum, Epizephyrian Locri, Rhegium, Croton, Thurii, Elea, Nola, Ancona, Syessa, Bari and others. Following the Pyrrhic War in the 3rd century BC, Magna Graecia was absorbed into the Roman Republic, a remarkable example of the influence is the Griko-speaking minority that still exists today in the Italian regions of Calabria and Apulia. Griko is the name of a language combining ancient Doric, Byzantine Greek, there is a rich oral tradition and Griko folklore, limited now but once numerous, to around 30,000 people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Some scholars, such as Gerhard Rohlfs, argue that the origins of Griko may ultimately be traced to the colonies of Magna Graecia, one example is the Griko people, some of whom still maintain their Greek language and customs. For example, Greeks re-entered the region in the 16th and 17th century in reaction to the conquest of the Peloponnese by the Ottoman Empire, especially after the end of the Siege of Coron, large numbers of Greeks took refuge in the areas of Calabria, Salento and Sicily. Greeks from Coroni, the so-called Coronians, were nobles, who brought with them substantial movable property and they were granted special privileges and tax exemptions. Other Greeks who moved to Italy came from the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese, the Maniots were known for their proud military traditions and for their bloody vendettas, many of which still continue today. Another group of Maniot Greeks moved to Corsica, Ancient Greek dialects Greeks in Italy Italiotes Graia Graïke Graecus Griko people Griko language Hellenic civilization Names of the Greeks Cerchiai L. Jannelli L. Longo F. The Greek Cities of Magna Graecia and Sicily, in Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 21 June,2005,17,19 GMT18,19 UK, salentinian Peninsula, Greece and Greater Greece. Traditional Griko song performed by Ghetonia, traditional Griko song performed by amateur local group. Second Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Hellenic Heritage of Southern Italy, the Greeks in the West, genetic signatures of the Hellenic colonisation in southern Italy and Sicily
Magna Graecia
–
Cities of Magna Graecia and other Greek settlements in Italy (in red)
Magna Graecia
–
Northwestern
Magna Graecia
–
Greek temples of
Paestum,
Campania
Magna Graecia
–
Mosaic from
Caulonia,
Calabria
32.
Died of laughter
–
Death from laughter is a rare form of death, usually resulting from cardiac arrest or asphyxiation, caused by a fit of laughter. Instances of death by laughter have been recorded from the times of ancient Greece to the modern day, Death may result from several pathologies that deviate from benign laughter. Infarction of the pons and medulla oblongata in the brain may cause pathological laughter, Laughter can cause atonia and collapse, which in turn can cause trauma. See also laughter-induced syncope, cataplexy, and Bezold-Jarisch reflex, gelastic seizures can be due to focal lesions to the hypothalamus. Depending upon the size of the lesion, the emotional lability may be a sign of an acute condition, gelastic syncope has also been associated with the cerebellum. having laughed too much, he died. In 1410, King Martin of Aragon died from a combination of indigestion, in 1556, Pietro Aretino is said to have died of suffocation from laughing too much. In 1799, William Cushing, a pauper who lived in the parish of St Andrews, Norwich, England, died from a fit of excessive laughter, in 1893, farmer Wesley Parsons laughed to death over a joke told in Laurel, Indiana. He laughed for nearly an hour and he then died two hours after the incident. After 25 minutes of laughter, Mitchell finally slumped on the sofa. His widow later sent The Goodies a letter thanking them for making Mitchells final moments of life so pleasant, diagnosis of his granddaughter in 2012 of having the inheritable long QT syndrome suggests that Mitchell may have died of a cardiac arrest caused by the same condition. J. P. Cubish from Daffy Ducks Quackbusters, the Toon Patrol in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In The Deadly Experiments of Dr. Eeek, from the Give Yourself Goosebumps series by R. L. Stine, it is possible to get an ending where chimpanzees tickle your feet until you die of laughter. Kenny McCormick, a character on South Park, suffers said fate in the fifth-season episode Scott Tenorman Must Die while he watched a video of Cartman singing Im a Little Piggy, ana in the play The Clean House by Sarah Ruhl. Jerrys friend, Fulton, in the Seinfeld episode entitled The Stand-In, whats the name of his other leg. In the musical and film Little Shop of Horrors, a character asphyxiates on laughing gas, in the Six Feet Under episode Parallel Play, a teenage girl dies laughing after making a prank phone call. In Episode 12 of Season 1 of 1000 Ways to Die, in Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs, the heroes cross a Chasm of Death filled with gas fumes that induce uncontrollable laughter, frequently killing those who try to cross the chasm. In the story Laughter from the book Double Dare to be Scared, in Coleman Barks translation of Jelaluddin Rumis poem Dying, Laughing, from his collection of poems The Essential Rumi, He opened like a rose that drops to the ground and died laughing. Twenty-two men in a London club, and all the people in a courtroom, pecos Bill died of laughter upon seeing a city-slicker try to swagger into a bar
Died of laughter
–
Chrysippus allegedly died of laughter.
Died of laughter
–
Der Tod des Dichters Pietro Aretino by
Anselm Feuerbach.
33.
Cressida
–
Cressida is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas, a Greek seer, in later culture she becomes an archetype of a faithless lover. The characters name is derived from that of Chryseis, a character who appears in the Iliad but has no connection with Troilus, Diomedes or Calchas. Indeed, the story of Troilus and Cressida does not appear in any Greek legends but was invented by the twelfth century French poet Benoît de Sainte-Maure in the Roman de Troie. It is the Italian author and poet Boccaccio who makes the decisive shift in the name in Il Filostrato. This poem is the first work dedicated to telling the story of the love triangle rather than to the tale of the Trojan War. Geoffrey Chaucers Troilus and Criseyde is a version of the story based on Boccaccio. Several other British authors then took up the tale, for example Robert Henryson in his The Testament of Cresseid and William Shakespeare in his Troilus, Cressida has most often been depicted by writers as false Cressida, a paragon of female inconstancy. As soon as she has betrayed Troilus, she has fulfilled her purpose, such is the case in Benoît, Guido, Boccaccio, Chaucer and Shakespeare. Chaucers poem, however, at least portrays a more sympathetic Criseyde showing an awareness of her literary status, Alas. Henrysons treatment is unusual in that he looks at events after the end of the traditional tale and his poem takes up the repentant Cresseids story after she has developed leprosy and been abandoned by Diomedes. Christa Wolf provides another degraded future for the character in Cassandra by once more naming her Briseis and including the Homeric story of her slavery to Achilles and Agamemnon. Jack Lindsays novel Cressidas first lover, a tale of ancient Greece explores another area untouched in standard narratives, some authors have attempted to exonerate the character by having her choose Troilus over Diomedes. In both of these cases, Cressidas being true to Troilus is associated with her death as part of the tragic events. In Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida, we first hear of Cressida in Act 1 Scene 1, Pandarus and Troilus are discussing how the latters unspoken love for the formers niece, Cressida, is preventing him from performing on the battlefield. She first appears in person in the scene, speaking to her manservant before Pandarus enters. They commence into witty banter while a parade of Trojan soldiers heads past, when Troilus walks by Pandarus tries to convince Cressida of his merit, but she teases him, saying she has heard Achilles, a Grecian warrior, is far more impressive. Once Pandarus exits Cressida admits in a soliloquy that she does in fact love Troilus, in her own words, She next appears in Act 3 Scene 2, when Pandarus leads her on stage wearing a veil to meet with Troilus
Cressida
–
Cressida depicted by Thomas Kirk
34.
Wikisource
–
Wikisource is an online digital library of free content textual sources on a wiki, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole and the name for each instance of that project, the projects aims are to host all forms of free text, in many languages, and translations. Originally conceived as an archive to store useful or important historical texts, the project officially began in November 24,2003 under the name Project Sourceberg. The name Wikisource was adopted later that year and it received its own domain name seven months later, the project has come under criticism for lack of reliability but it is also cited by organisations such as the National Archives and Records Administration. The project holds works that are either in the domain or freely licensed, professionally published works or historical source documents, not vanity products. Verification was initially made offline, or by trusting the reliability of digital libraries. Now works are supported by online scans via the ProofreadPage extension, some individual Wikisources, each representing a specific language, now only allow works backed up with scans. While the bulk of its collection are texts, Wikisource as a whole hosts other media, some Wikisources allow user-generated annotations, subject to the specific policies of the Wikisource in question. Wikisources early history included several changes of name and location, the original concept for Wikisource was as storage for useful or important historical texts. These texts were intended to support Wikipedia articles, by providing evidence and original source texts. The collection was focused on important historical and cultural material. The project was originally called Project Sourceberg during its planning stages, in 2001, there was a dispute on Wikipedia regarding the addition of primary source material, leading to edit wars over their inclusion or deletion. Project Sourceberg was suggested as a solution to this, perhaps Project Sourceberg can mainly work as an interface for easily linking from Wikipedia to a Project Gutenberg file, and as an interface for people to easily submit new work to PG. Wed want to complement Project Gutenberg--how, exactly, and Jimmy Wales adding like Larry, Im interested that we think it over to see what we can add to Project Gutenberg. It seems unlikely that primary sources should in general be editable by anyone -- I mean, Shakespeare is Shakespeare, unlike our commentary on his work, the project began its activity at ps. wikipedia. org. The contributors understood the PS subdomain to mean either primary sources or Project Sourceberg, however, this resulted in Project Sourceberg occupying the subdomain of the Pashto Wikipedia. A vote on the name changed it to Wikisource on December 6,2003. Despite the change in name, the project did not move to its permanent URL until July 23,2004, since Wikisource was initially called Project Sourceberg, its first logo was a picture of an iceberg
Wikisource
–
The original Wikisource logo
Wikisource
–
Screenshot of wikisource.org home page
Wikisource
–
::: Original text
Wikisource
–
::: Action of the modernizing tool
35.
Homer
–
Homer is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the semi-legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of Greek literature. The Odyssey focuses on the home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Many accounts of Homers life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a bard from Ionia. The modern scholarly consensus is that these traditions do not have any historical value, the Homeric question - by whom, when, where and under what circumstances were the Iliad and Odyssey composed - continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion on the authorship question falls into two camps, one group holds that most of the Iliad and the Odyssey is the work of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the crystallization of a process of working and re-working by many contributors and it is generally accepted that the poems were composed at some point around the late eighth or early seventh century B. C. Most researchers believe that the poems were transmitted orally. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education, to Plato, the chronological period of Homer depends on the meaning to be assigned to the word Homer. Was Homer a single person, an imaginary person representing a group of poets and this information is often called the world of Homer. The Homeric period would in that cover a number of historical periods, especially the Mycenaean Age. Considered word-for-word, the texts as we know them are the product of the scholars of the last three centuries. Each edition of the Iliad or Odyssey is a different, as the editors rely on different manuscripts and fragments. The term accuracy reveals a belief in an original uniform text. The manuscripts of the work currently available date to no earlier than the 10th century. These are at the end of a missing thousand-year chain of copies made as each generation of manuscripts disintegrated or were lost or destroyed and these numerous manuscripts are so similar that a single original can be postulated. The time gap in the chain is bridged by the scholia, or notes, on the existing manuscripts, librarian of the Library of Alexandria, he had noticed a wide divergence in the works attributed to Homer, and was trying to restore a more authentic copy. He had collected several manuscripts, which he named, the Sinopic, the one he selected for correction was the koine, which Murray translates as the Vulgate. Aristarchus was known for his selection of material
Homer
–
Idealized portrayal of Homer dating to the
Hellenistic period.
British Museum.
Homer
–
Part of an 11th-century manuscript, "the Townley Homer". The writing on the top and right side are
scholia.
Homer
–
Homer and His Guide, by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905), portraying Homer on
Mount Ida, beset by dogs and guided by the goatherder Glaucus (as told in
Pseudo-Herodotus)
Homer
–
Raphael 's inspired Homer on
Mount Parnassus.
36.
Maurus Servius Honoratus
–
These works, In tria Virgilii Opera Expositio, constituted the first incunable to be printed at Florence, by Bernardo Cennini,1471. In the Saturnalia of Macrobius, Servius appears as one of the interlocutors, allusions in that work, the commentary on Virgil has survived in two distinct manuscript traditions. The first is a short commentary, which is attributed to Servius in the superscription in the manuscripts. A second class of manuscripts, all deriving from the 10th and 11th centuries, the added matter is undoubtedly ancient, dating from a time but little removed from that of Servius, and is founded to a large extent on historical and antiquarian literature which is now lost. The writer is anonymous and probably a Christian, although not if, as is often suggested, a third class of manuscripts, written for the most part in Italy, gives the core text with interpolated scholia, which demonstrate the continued usefulness of the Virgilii Opera Expositio. The authentic commentary of Maurus Servius Honoratus is in effect the only complete extant edition of a classic author written before the collapse of the Empire in the West, Servius set his face against the prevalent allegorical methods of exposition of text. For the antiquarian and the historian, the value of his work lies in his preservation of facts in Roman history, religion, antiquities and language. Not a little of the erudition of Varro and other ancient scholars has survived in his pages. The edition of Georg Thilo and Hermann Hagen, remains the only edition of the whole of Servius work. Currently in development is the Harvard Servius, of the five volumes. E. K. Rand, Is Donatuss Commentary on Virgil Lost, Donatuss authorship of the supplementary material. Servio, stratificazioni esegetiche e modelli culturali / Servius, exegetical stratifications, Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article, Maurus Servius Honoratus Commentary on the Aeneid of Virgil is at the Perseus Project in Latin. De Centum Metris at Intratext. com De Centum Metris at Forum Romanorum Servii grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii, Georius Thilo, lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1881-1902, vol. 2, vol.3 part 1, vol.3 part 2
Maurus Servius Honoratus
–
Servius commenting Virgil (France, 15th century).
Maurus Servius Honoratus
–
16th century edition of Virgil with Servius' commentary printed to the left of the text.
37.
Ajax (mythology)
–
Ajax or Aias is a mythological Greek hero, the son of King Telamon and Periboea, and the half-brother of Teucer. He plays an important role, and is portrayed as a figure and a warrior of great courage in Homers Iliad and in the Epic Cycle. He is also referred to as Telamonian Ajax, Greater Ajax, or Ajax the Great, in Etruscan mythology, he is known as Aivas Tlamunus. Ajax is the son of Telamon, who was the son of Aeacus and grandson of Zeus and he is the cousin of Achilles, and is the elder half-brother of Teucer. Many illustrious Athenians, including Cimon, Miltiades, Alcibiades and the historian Thucydides, the Italian scholar Maggiani recently showed that on an Etruscan tomb dedicated to Racvi Satlnei in Bologna there is a writing that says, aivastelmunsl = family of Telamonian Ajax. In Homers Iliad he is described as of great stature, colossal frame, known as the bulwark of the Achaeans, he was trained by the centaur Chiron, at the same time as Achilles. He was described as fearless, strong and powerful but also with a high level of combat intelligence. Ajax commands his army wielding a shield made of seven cow-hides with a layer of bronze. Unlike Diomedes and Achilles, Ajax appears as a mainly defensive warrior, instrumental in the defence of the Greek camp and ships, when the Trojans are on the offensive, he is often seen covering the retreat of the Achaeans. Significantly, while one of the deadliest heroes in the whole poem, in the Iliad, Ajax is notable for his abundant strength and courage, seen particularly in two fights with Hector. In Book 7, Ajax is chosen by lot to meet Hector in a duel which lasts most of a whole day, the second fight between Ajax and Hector occurs when the latter breaks into the Mycenaean camp, and fights with the Greeks among the ships. In Book 14, Ajax throws a giant rock at Hector which almost kills him, in Book 15, Hector is restored to his strength by Apollo and returns to attack the ships. Ajax, wielding a spear as a weapon and leaping from ship to ship. In Book 16, Hector and Ajax duel once again, Hector then disarms Ajax and Ajax is forced to retreat, seeing that Zeus is clearly favoring Hector. Hector and the Trojans succeed in burning one Greek ship, the culmination of an assault that almost finishes the war, Ajax is responsible for the death of many Trojans lords, including Phorcys. Ajax often fought in tandem with his brother Teucer, known for his skill with the bow, Ajax would wield his magnificent shield, as Teucer stood behind picking off enemy Trojans. Achilles was absent during these encounters because of his feud with Agamemnon, in Book 9, Agamemnon and the other Mycenaean chiefs send Ajax, Odysseus and Phoenix to the tent of Achilles in an attempt to reconcile with the great warrior and induce him to return to the fight. Although Ajax speaks earnestly and is received, he does not succeed in convincing Achilles
Ajax (mythology)
–
Achilles and Ajax play a board game with
knucklebones on this late 6th-century
lekythos, a type of oil-storing vessel associated with funeral rites
Ajax (mythology)
–
Sorrowful Ajax (Asmus Jacob Carstens, ca. 1791)
Ajax (mythology)
–
A Black-figure Amphora with Ajax Carrying the Dead
Achilles.
Walters Art Museum,
Baltimore.
Ajax (mythology)
–
The suicide of Ajax
38.
Ajax the Lesser
–
Ajax was a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the lesser or Locrian Ajax, to him from Ajax the Great. He was the leader of the Locrian contingent during the Trojan War and he is a significant figure in Homers Iliad and is also mentioned in the Odyssey, in Virgils Aeneid and in Euripides The Trojan Women. In Etruscan legend, he was known as Aivas Vilates, according to Strabo, he was born in Naryx in Locris, where Ovid calls him Narycius Heroes. According to the Iliad, he led his Locrians in forty ships against Troy and he is described as one of the great heroes among the Greeks. In battle, he wore a cuirass, was brave and intrepid, especially skilled in throwing the spear and, next to Achilles. On his return from Troy, his vessel was wrecked on the Whirling Rocks and he would have been saved in spite of Athena, but he said that he would escape the dangers of the sea in defiance of the immortals. In punishment for this presumption, Poseidon split the rock with his trident, in later traditions, this Ajax is called a son of Oileus and the nymph Rhene and is also mentioned among the suitors of Helen. After the taking of Troy, he rushed into the temple of Athena, where Cassandra had taken refuge, Ajax violently dragged her away to the other captives. According to some writers, he raped Cassandra inside the temple, odysseus, accused him of this crime and Ajax was to be stoned to death, but saved himself by establishing his innocence with an oath to Athena, clutching her statue in supplication. Since Ajax dragged a supplicant from her temple, Athena had cause to be indignant, despite this, Ajax managed to hide in the altar of a deity where the Greeks, fearing divine retribution should they kill him and destroy the altar, allowed him to live. When the Greeks left without killing Ajax, despite their sacrifices, when Ajax finally left Troy during the Returns from Troy, Athena hit his ship with a thunderbolt, but Ajax still survived with some of his men, managing to cling onto a rock. He boasted that even the gods could not kill him and Poseidon, upon hearing this, split the rock with his trident, thetis buried him when the corpse washed up on Myconos. Other versions depict a different death for Ajax, showing him dying when on his voyage home, after his death, his spirit dwelt in the island of Leuce. The story of Ajax was frequently made use of by ancient poets and artists, and the hero who appears on some Locrian coins with the helmet, shield, other accounts of his death are offered by Philostratus and the scholiast on Lycophron. The abduction of Cassandra by Ajax was frequently represented in Greek works of art, such as the chest of Cypselus described by Pausanias and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Smith, William, ed. article name needed. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Ajax
Ajax the Lesser
–
Ajax the Lesser raping Cassandra
Ajax the Lesser
–
Ajax and
Cassandra by Solomon J. Solomon (1886). In the collection of the
Art Gallery of Ballarat in
Victoria, Australia
39.
Antilochus
–
In Greek mythology, Antilochus /ænˈtɪləkəs/ was the son of Nestor, king of Pylos, and was one of the Acheans in the Trojan War. One of the suitors of Helen of Troy, he accompanied his father and he was distinguished for his beauty, swiftness of foot, and skill as a charioteer. Though the youngest among the Greek princes, he commanded the Pylians in the war and he was a favorite of the gods and a friend of Achilles, to whom he was commissioned to announce the death of Patroclus. When his father Nestor was attacked by Memnon, Antilochus sacrificed himself to save him, thus fulfilling an oracle which had warned to beware of an Ethiopian. Antilochus death was avenged by Achilles, in the Odyssey, the three friends are represented as united in the underworld and walking together in the Asphodel Meadows. According to Pausanias, they together on the island of Leuke. Among the Trojans he killed were Melanippus, Ablerus, Atymnius, Phalces, at the funeral games of Patroclus, Antilochus finished second in the chariot race and third in the foot race. Antilochus left behind in Messenia a son Paeon, whose descendants were among the Neleidae expelled from Messenia, cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
Antilochus
–
Antilochus on an
Attic red-figure amphora ca. 470 BC from the
Louvre
40.
Balius and Xanthus
–
Balius and Xanthus were, according to Greek mythology, two immortal horses, the offspring of the harpy Podarge and the West wind, Zephyrus, following another tradition, their father was Zeus. Note, Balius and Xanthus are the Latin forms of the Greek names Balios and Xanthos, poseidon gave the two horses to King Peleus of Phtia, as a wedding gift, when Peleus married the Ocean goddess Thetis. Peleus later gave the horses to his son Achilles who took them to draw his chariot during the Trojan War, book 16 of the Iliad tells us that Achilles had a third horse, Pedasos, which was yoked as a trace horse, along with Xanthus and Balios. Achilles had captured Pedasos when he took the city of Eetion, Pedasos was mortal, but he could keep up with the divine horses. Sarpedon, prince of Lycia and ally of Troy, killed Pedasos when his spear missed Patroclus, Achilles comrade-in-arms Patroclus used to feed and groom these horses. In the Iliad, it is told how, when Patroclus was killed in battle, Xanthus and Balius stood motionless on the field of battle, at Iliad 17. 474-8, Automedon, Achilles charioteer, states that only Patroclus was able to fully control these horses. After this, the Erinyes struck the horse dumb, another Xanthus, not to be confused with the horse mentioned above, was one of the horses of Diomedes of Thrace, who fed these animals on human flesh. The capture of these horses was the eighth of the Twelve Labors of the Great Heracles, theoi Project - Hippoi Balios Xanthos
Balius and Xanthus
–
Greek Mythology
41.
Diomedes
–
Diomedes or Diomede is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, in Homers Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all the Achaeans. Later, he founded ten or more Italian cities, after his death, Diomedes was worshipped as a divine being under various names in Italy and also in Greece. Diomedes was, on his father’s side, an Aetolian, and this is because his father Tydeus left Calydon and fled to Argos in order to avoid being persecuted by his uncle Agrius. He married King Adrastuss daughter Deipyle, Tydeus was one of the Seven Against Thebes. This expedition failed and all leaders, including Tydeus were killed, Tydeus was Athena’s favourite warrior at the time, and when he was dying she wanted to offer him a magic elixir that would make him immortal. However, she withdrew the privilege in apparent disgust when Tydeus gobbled down the brains of the hated enemy who had wounded him. According to some, Diomedes was four years old when his father was killed, at the funeral of their fathers, the sons of Seven Against Thebes met and vowed to vanquish Thebes one day. They called themselves Epigoni because they were born after everything has happened, ten years later, the Epigoni appointed Alcmaeon as their commander in chief and gathered an army. They added to their forces from Argos contingents from Messenia, Arcadia, Corinth and this army, however, was a small one compared to the forces of Thebes. The Epigoni war is remembered as the most important expedition in Greek Mythology before the Trojan War and it was a favorite topic for epics, but, unfortunately, all of these epics are now lost. The main battle took place at Glisas where the warrior Aegialeus was slain by King Laodamas, Diomedes was fifteen years old by then and was considered the mightiest of all. Vanquished by the Epigoni, the Thebans followed the counsel of Tiresias, Epigoni took the city, and most Argive commanders returned rich to their countries after having sacked Thebes, but the city they handed over to Thersander. Adrastus died of grief when he learned that his son Aegialeus had perished in the battle at Glisas, Aegialeus was married to Comaetho, daughter of Tydeus. Diomedes, in turn, married Aegialeuss daughter Aegialia when he returned from battle and he was then appointed as the King of Argos and thus became one of the most powerful rulers of Hellas at such a young age. According to some, Diomedes ruled Argos for more than five years and brought much wealth and he was a skilled politician and was greatly respected by other rulers. He still kept an eye on Calydonian politics, and when the sons of Agrius put Oeneus in jail and their own father on the throne, Diomedes attacked and ceded the kingdom, slaying all the traitors except Thersites, Onchestus and Agrius restoring his grandfather to the throne. Later, Oeneus passed the Kingdom to his son-in-law Andraemon and headed for Argos to meet Diomedes and he was assassinated on the way by Thersites and Onchestus
Diomedes
–
Diomedes, King of Argos – Roman copy of a statue by Kresilas from ca. 430 BC. Glyptothek, Munich.
Diomedes
–
Athena counseling Diomedes shortly before he enters the battle – (Schlossbrücke, Berlin).
Diomedes
–
Diomedes attacking Aeneas-Aphrodite stands behind him
Diomedes
–
Diomedes and
Athena attacking
Ares
42.
Epeius
–
There were two characters named Epeius in Greek mythology. A Greek soldier during the Trojan War and he was the son of Panopeus and had the reputation for being a coward. In the Iliad he participated in the match at the funeral games for Patroclus against Euryalus. Later during the games for Achilleus he fought Acamas the son of Theseus to a stalemate. He built the Trojan Horse, commissioned by Odysseus because Athena had told him in a dream she would be with him to build it. The horse was hollow and was enough to hold 30 Greek soldiers equipped with all their armor. The trap door of the horse was fastened with a catch that only Epeius could undo. After constructing the massive horse, he chose the other 29 soldiers that would accompany him inside the horse and he also founded Pisa and Metapontum. Son of King Endymion of Elis and he ran a race at Olympia, against his brothers Aetolus and Paeon, winning his fathers kingdom. He was married to Anaxiroe, daughter of Coronus, and had one daughter, the alternative spelling of Epeus may also be encountered. List of Greek mythological figures Pausanias, Description of Greece, cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd
Epeius
–
Agamemnon,
Talthybius and Epeius, relief from
Samothrace, ca. 560 BC,
Louvre
43.
Eurypylus
–
In Greek mythology, Eurypylus /jᵿˈrɪpᵻləs/ was the name of several different people. Of them the best known are two participants in the Trojan War, one on the side of the Achaeans, and the other on the side of the Trojans, Eurypylus was a Thessalian king, son of Euaemon and Ops. Another source gives his mothers name as either Deipyle or Deityche, alternate genealogies made him a son of Hyperochus and father of Ormenus. Eurypylus led the Thessalians during the Trojan War being a former suitor of Helen and he led one of the larger contingents of ships,40. He fought valiantly and is listed amongst the first rank of Greek heroes such as Idomeneus, Diomedes, Ajax. In the Iliad he was one of several to accept Hectors challenge to single combat and this happened in the same book that all the other major Achaean warriors were wounded and put out of action. When he withdrew from battle, his wounds were tended by Patroclus and he was also one of the Greeks to enter the Trojan Horse. Eurypylus survived the Trojan War, his destiny as described by Pausanias was as follows. After the war, Eurypylus got a chest as part of his victory spoils, the chest was abandoned by Aeneas when he fled from Troy, or was intentionally left behind by Cassandra who placed a curse on it to whichever Greek would open the chest. Inside the chest was an image of Dionysus, made by Hephaestus, when Eurypylus opened the chest he went mad. During a period of sanity he went to Delphi to seek a cure for his malady, the priestess told him to find a people making an unusual sacrifice and settle there. Eventually he came to Aroe, where he found people sacrificing a youth and a maiden to Artemis, to propitiate the goddess for the crime of Comaetho and Melanippus, who had polluted her shrine. The people of the town recognised him as a leader an oracle had said would come to them and bring about an image and cult of a foreign deity, after this Eurypylus regained his sanity and the people of Patrae no longer needed to make human sacrifices. His tomb was in the city, and after the events the people of the area sacrificed to him as a hero at the festival of Dionysus, Eurypylus was son of Telephus and Astyoche. Some write of Astyoche as his rather than mother. At the request of Priam, Astyoche bribed him with a vine to fight on the side of the Trojans during the end of the Trojan War in command of a group of Mysians and Ceteians. Priam himself was encouraging Eurypylus to assist Troy in the war by sending him various precious gifts, Eurypylus was noted both for being one of the most handsome men ever and for fighting valiantly. He killed a number of opponents, including Machaon and Nireus and was killed by Neoptolemus
Eurypylus
–
Neoptolemus killing Eurypylus,
attic black-figure
amphora by the
Antimenes Painter, ca. 510 BC, Martin von Wagner Museum (L 309).
44.
Helen of Troy
–
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, or simply Helen, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and was a sister of Castor, Pollux, and Clytemnestra. In Greek myths, she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world, by marriage she was Queen of Laconia, a province within Homeric Greece, the wife of King Menelaus. Her abduction by Prince Paris of Troy brought about the Trojan War, elements of her putative biography come from classical authors such as Aristophanes, Cicero, Euripides and Homer. In her youth, she was abducted by Theseus, a competition between her suitors for her hand in marriage sees Menelaus emerge victorious. An oath sworn beforehand by all the suitors requires them to military assistance in the case of her abduction. When she marries Menelaus she is very young, whether her subsequent involvement with Paris is an abduction or a seduction is ambiguous. The legends recounting Helens fate in Troy are contradictory, Homer depicts her as a wistful figure, even a sorrowful one, who comes to regret her choice and wishes to be reunited with Menelaus. Other accounts have a treacherous Helen who simulates Bacchic rites and rejoices in the carnage, ultimately, Paris was killed in action, and in Homers account Helen was reunited with Menelaus, though other versions of the legend recount her ascending to Olympus instead. A cult associated with her developed in Hellenistic Laconia, both at Sparta and elsewhere, at Therapne she shared a shrine with Menelaus and she was also worshiped in Attica and on Rhodes. Her beauty inspired artists of all time to represent her, frequently as the personification of ideal beauty, Christopher Marlowes lines from his tragedy Doctor Faustus are frequently cited, Was this the face that launchd a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium. However, in the play this meeting and the ensuing temptation are not unambiguously positive, closely preceding death, images of her start appearing in the 7th century BC. In classical Greece, her abduction by—or elopement with—Paris was a popular motif, in medieval illustrations, this event was frequently portrayed as a seduction, whereas in Renaissance painting it is usually depicted as a rape by Paris. The fact that rape and kidnapping were interchangeable terms lends additional ambiguity to the story, the etymology of Helens name continues to be a problem for scholars. Georg Curtius related Helen to the moon, Émile Boisacq considered Ἑλένη to derive from the noun ἑλένη meaning torch. It has also suggested that the λ of Ἑλένη arose from an original ν. Linda Lee Clader, however, says none of the above suggestions offers much satisfaction. Inversely, others have connected this etymology to a hypothetical proto-indo-european sun goddess, in particular, her marriage myth may be connected to a broader indo-european marriage drama of the sun goddess, and she is related to the divine twins, just as many of these goddesses are. The origins of Helens myth date back to the Mycenaean age, the first record of her name appears in the poems of Homer, but scholars assume that such myths invented or received by the Mycenaean Greeks made their way to Homer
Helen of Troy
–
Helen and Menelaus: Menelaus intends to strike Helen; captivated by her beauty, he drops his sword. A flying
Eros and
Aphrodite (on the left) watch the scene. Detail of an Attic
red-figure krater, c. 450–440 BC (
Paris,
Louvre)
Helen of Troy
–
Leda and the Swan by
Cesare da Sesto (c. 1506–1510,
Wilton). The artist has been intrigued by the idea of Helen's unconventional birth; she and Clytemnestra are shown emerging from one egg; Castor and Pollux from another.
Helen of Troy
–
Theseus pursuing a woman, probably Helen. Side A from an Attic red-figure bell-krater, c. 440–430 BC (
Louvre, Paris).
Helen of Troy
–
In this painting by
Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of Troy in Asian Minor. The Walters Art Museum.
45.
Idomeneus
–
In Greek mythology, Idomeneus was a Cretan commander, father of Orsilochus, Cleisithyra, Leucus and Iphiclus, son of Deucalion and Cleopatra, grandson of Minos and king of Crete. He led the Cretan armies to the Trojan War and was one of Helens suitors as well as a comrade of the Telamonian Ajax. Meriones was his charioteer and brother-in-arms, in Homers Iliad, he is found among the first rank of the Greek generals, leading his troops and engaging the enemy head-on, and escaping serious injury. Idomeneus was one of Agamemnons trusted advisors and he was one of the primary defenders when most of the other Achaean heroes were injured, and even fought Hector briefly and repulsed his attack. Like most of the leaders of the Greeks, he is alive. He was one of the Achaeans to enter the Trojan Horse, Idomeneus killed twenty men and at least 3 Amazon woman, including Bremusa, at Troy. A later tradition, preserved by the mythographer Apollodorus of Athens, continues the story as follows, after the war and he promised Poseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw when he returned home if Poseidon would save his ship and crew. The first living thing was his son, whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed, the gods were angry at the murder of his own son and sent a plague to Crete. The Cretans sent him into exile in Calabria, Italy and then Colophon in Asia Minor where he died, alternatively, Idomeneus was driven out of Crete by Leucus, who had seduced and then killed Idomeneus wife Meda and usurped the throne of Crete. The tale is also covered by the fourth-century Italian writer Maurus Servius Honoratus, according to the hypothetical reading of Achterberg et al. Idomeneus may be mentioned on the Phaistos Disk as the governor of Mesara, Idomeneo, a 1781 opera seria by Mozart, is based on the story of Idomeneuss return to Crete. In this version, Poseidon spares Idomeneos son Idamante, on condition that Idomeneo relinquish his throne to the new generation, media related to Idomeneus at Wikimedia Commons
Idomeneus
–
Idomeneus coming back, Palais Niel, France
Idomeneus
–
Italian and German title pages of the original libretto of Mozart's opera, Idomeneo
46.
Lycomedes
–
The name Lycomedes /ˌlaɪkəˈmiːdiːz/ may refer to several characters in Greek mythology, of whom the most prominent was the king of Scyros during the Trojan War. Lycomedes was a king of the Dolopians in the island of Scyros near Euboea, father of a number of daughters including Deidameia, at the request of Thetis, Lycomedes concealed Achilles in female disguise among his own daughters. At Lycomedes court Achilles had an affair with Deidamia, which resulted in the birth of Neoptolemus, as Odysseus drew Achilles out of his disguise and took him to Troy, Neoptolemus stayed with his grandfather until he too was summoned during the later stages of the war. Some related that the cause of violence was that Lycomedes would not give up the estates which Theseus had in Scyros. The asteroid 9694 Lycomedes is named for him - being a Jupiter Trojan, a group of asteroids which are by convention named for characters associated with the Trojan War. Lycomedes, a son of Creon, one of the Greek warriors at Troy, he was represented by Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi as wounded in the wrist, in the arm, Lycomedes, son of Apollo and Parthenope. Lycomedes, a Cretan suitor of Helen
Lycomedes
–
Achilles at the court of King Lycomedes, panel of an Attic sarcophagus, ca. 240 AD,
Louvre
Lycomedes
–
"Achilles at the Court of Lycomedes" by
Pompeo Batoni, 1745, oil on canvas, Uffizi, Florence
47.
Menelaus
–
In Greek mythology, Menelaus was a king of Mycenaean Sparta, the husband of Helen of Troy, and a central figure in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and Aerope, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and, according to the Iliad, although early authors such as Aeschylus refer in passing to Menelaus’ early life, detailed sources are quite late, post-dating 5th-century BC Greek tragedy. According to these sources, Menelaus father, Atreus, had been feuding with his brother Thyestes over the throne of Mycenae, after a back-and-forth struggle that featured adultery, incest and cannibalism, Thyestes gained the throne after his son Aegisthus murdered Atreus. As a result, Atreus’ sons, Menelaus and Agamemnon, went into exile and they first stayed with King Polyphides of Sicyon, and later with King Oeneus of Calydon. But when they thought the time was ripe to dethrone Mycenae’s hostile ruler, assisted by King Tyndareus of Sparta, they drove Thyestes away, and Agamemnon took the throne for himself. When it was time for Tyndareus’ step-daughter Helen to marry, many kings, among the contenders were Odysseus, Menestheus, Ajax the Great, Patroclus, and Idomeneus. Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of the suitors away for fear of offending them, Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting of Tyndareus’s niece Penelope, the daughter of Icarius. Tyndareus readily agreed, and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, then it was decreed that straws were to be drawn for Helen’s hand. The suitor who won was Menelaus, the rest of the suitors swore their oaths, and Helen and Menelaus were married, Menelaus becoming a ruler of Sparta with Helen after Tyndareus and Leda abdicated the thrones. Menelaus and Helen had a daughter Hermione as supported, for example, by Sappho and their palace has been discovered in Pellana, Laconia, to the north-west of modern Sparta. Other archaeologists consider that Pellana is too far away from other Mycenaean centres to have been the capital of Menelaus, in a return for awarding her a golden apple inscribed to the fairest, Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in all the world. Homers Iliad is the most expansive source for Menelaus’s exploits during the Trojan War, in Book 3, Menelaus challenges Paris to a duel for Helen’s return. Menelaus soundly beats Paris, but before he can kill him and claim victory, in Book 4, while the Greeks and Trojans squabble over the duel’s winner, Athena inspires the Trojan Pandarus to shoot Menelaus with his bow and arrow. However, Athena never intended for Menelaus to die and she protects him from the arrow of Pandarus, Menelaus is wounded in the abdomen, and the fighting resumes. Later, in Book 17, Homer gives Menelaus an extended aristeia as the hero retrieves the corpse of Patroclus from the battlefield, according to Hyginus, Menelaus killed eight men in the war, and was one of the Greeks hidden inside the Trojan Horse. During the sack of Troy, Menelaus killed Deiphobus, who had married Helen after the death of Paris, there are four versions of Menelaus’ and Helen’s reunion on the night of the sack of Troy, Angry at Helen, Menelaus looked for and found her. In a fit of rage, he decided to kill her for leaving him for Paris, in a split second, Menelaus wrath went away instantly. He took pity on her, and decided to take her back as wife, Menelaus resolved to kill Helen but her striking beauty prompted him to drop his sword and take her back to his ship “to punish her at Sparta”, as he claimed
Menelaus
–
Marble bust of Menelaus
Menelaus
–
Menelaus regains Helen, detail of an Attic red-figure crater, c. 450–440 BC, found in
Gnathia (now Egnazia,
Italy).
Menelaus
–
Lelegids
48.
Meriones (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Meriones was a son of Molus and Melphis or Euippe. Molus was a half-brother of Idomeneus, like other heroes of mythology, Meriones was said to be a descendant of gods. As a grandson of Deucalion, Merioness ancestors include Zeus, Europa, Helios, Meriones possessed the helmet of Amyntor, which Autolycus had stolen. He inherited the helmet from his father Molus and later gave it to Odysseus, Meriones killed seven men at Troy. Hyginus lists Meriones as one of the suitors of Helen and this would have made him oath bound to participate in the Trojan War. Other ancient authorities, however, do not include him in the list, among these are the Bibliotheca and Hesiod. Though not usually numbered among the characters, Meriones is a prominent character in Homers Iliad. Meriones is mentioned in Books II, IV, V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, the first reference to Meriones in the Iliad is in the Catalog of Ships in Book II. There he is listed alongside Idomeneus as one of the leaders of the eighty ships from Crete and he is described here and in Books VIII and XIII as a peer of murderous Ares. Meriones is among those who volunteered to fight Hector in single combat, the others were Agamemnon, Diomedes, Telamonian Ajax, Ajax the Lesser, Idomeneus, Eurypylus, Thoas, and Odysseus. Lots were cast to determine who among these would fight and Telamonian Ajax was chosen, Meriones, along with Nestors son Thrasymedes, were charged to serve as sentinels for the Achaean army during a period of Trojan advance. Later that night, Nestor called for a spy among the captains. A volunteer was then requested to join Diomedes and Meriones was among the volunteers, the two Ajaxes, Thrasymedes, Menelaus, and Odysseus also volunteered. As Odysseus was inadequately armed, Meriones acquired a bow and arrows for him, after casting his spear at Deiphobus, but failing to pierce his shield, Meriones returned to his tent to get a new spear. The two battled against the Trojans, particularly Deiphobus and Aeneas, in retaliation for the death of Ascalaphus, Meriones pierced Deiphobus in the shoulder with his spear. Gravely injured, Deiphobus was carried from the battlefield by his brother Polites, Meriones then killed Adamas son of Asius and Harpalion son of King Pylaemenes. After the death of Patroclus, Menelaus called on Meriones and the two Ajaxes to defend the body while he sought Antilochus to act as a messenger of the news to Achilles. Upon returning, Menelaus and Meriones carried Patrocluss body off the battlefield while the Ajaxes guarded them against further attack, when the funeral pyre for Patroclus was built, Meriones was given charge over the men sent by Agamemnon to all parts of the camp to get wood
Meriones (mythology)
–
Greek Mythology
Meriones (mythology)
–
Menelaus and Meriones lift the body of Patroclus (Etruscan urn, 2nd century BC)
49.
Nestor (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Nestor of Gerenia was the son of Neleus and Chloris. He became the King of Pylos after Heracles killed Neleus and all of Nestors siblings and his wife was either Eurydice or Anaxibia, their children included Peisistratus, Thrasymedes, Pisidice, Polycaste, Perseus, Stratichus, Aretus, Echephron, and Antilochus. Nestor was an Argonaut, helped fight the centaurs, and participated in the hunt for the Calydonian Boar and he and his sons, Antilochus and Thrasymedes, fought on the side of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. Though Nestor was already old when the war began, he was noted for his bravery. In the Iliad, he gives advice to the younger warriors and advises Agamemnon. He is too old to engage in combat himself, but he leads the Pylian troops, riding his chariot and he also had a solid gold shield. Homer frequently calls him by the epithet the Gerenian horseman, at the funeral games of Patroclus, Nestor advises Antilochus on how to win the chariot race. Antilochus was later killed in battle by Memnon, in the Odyssey, Nestor and those who were part of his army had safely returned to Pylos since they did not take part in the looting of Troy upon the Greeks victory in the Trojan War. Odysseuss son Telemachus travels to Pylos to inquire about the fate of his father, Nestor receives Telemachus kindly and entertains him lavishly but is unable to furnish any information on his fathers fate. Also appearing in the Odyssey are Nestors wife Eurydice and their remaining living sons, Echephron, Stratius, Aretus, Thrasymedes, Nestor also had two daughters named Pisidice and Polycaste. Peisistratus readily agrees, although stating that his father is bound to be furious when he learns of Telemachuss departure. Nestors advice in the Iliad has also interpreted to have sinister undertones. For example, when Patroclus comes to Nestor for advice in Book 11, karl Reinhardt argues that this is contrary to what Patroclus really originally wanted – in fact, he is only there to receive information on behalf of Achilles about the wounded Machaon. Reinhardt notes that an unimportant errand left behind by an all-important one, Patroclus role as messenger is crucial and an ironic purpose permeates the encounter. Homer offers contradictory portrayals of Nestor as a source of advice, yet at the same time Nestors advice is frequently ineffective. Yet Nestor is never questioned and instead is frequently praised, heroes are not necessarily viewed as responsible when things go awry. In the Iliad, people are judged not necessarily in the view of results. These are elements that make up Nestor, and they parallel the elements that Homer describes as part of a counselor at Iliad 3. 150–152
Nestor (mythology)
–
According to some, this cup shows
Hecamede mixing
kykeon for Nestor. Tondo of an Attic red-figure cup, c. 490 BC. From
Vulci.
Nestor (mythology)
–
Nestor and his sons sacrifice to
Poseidon on the beach at
Pylos (Attic red-figure calyx-krater, 400–380 BC).
50.
Palamedes (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Palamedes was the son of Nauplius and Clymene. He joined the Greeks in the expedition against Troy, pausanias in his Description of Greece says that in Corinth is a Temple of Fortune in which Palamedes dedicated the dice that he had invented. Agamemnon sent Palamedes to Ithaca to retrieve Odysseus, who had promised to defend the marriage of Helen, paris had kidnapped Helen, but Odysseus did not want to honor his oath. He pretended to be insane and plowed his fields with salt, Palamedes guessed what was happening and put Odysseus son, Telemachus, in front of the plow. Odysseus stopped working and revealed his sanity, the ancient sources show differences in regards to the details of how Palamedes was caused to die and also the actual way in which his death was brought about. Odysseus never forgave Palamedes for ruining his attempt to out of the Trojan War. When Palamedes advised the Greeks to return home, Odysseus hid gold in his tent, the letter was found and the Greeks accused him of being a traitor. Palamedes was stoned to death by Odysseus and Diomedes, according to other accounts the two warriors drowned him during a fishing expedition. Still another version relates that he was lured into a well in search of treasure, although he is a major character in some accounts of the Trojan War, Palamedes is not mentioned in Homers Iliad. Ovid discusses Palamedes role in the Trojan War in the Metamorphoses, Palamedes fate is described in Virgils Aeneid. In the Apology, Plato describes Socrates as looking forward to speaking with Palamedes after death, euripides and many other dramatists have written dramas about his fate. The major Dutch playwright Joost van den Vondel wrote in 1625 the play Palamedes, authorities in Amsterdam found no difficulty in deciphering the political meanings behind Vondels Classical allusions, and imposed a heavy fine on the playwright. D. R. Reinsch, Die Palamedes-Episode in der Synopsis Chronike des Konstantinos Manasses und ihre Inspirationsquelle, studien zur byzantinischen Literatur gewidmet Wolfram Hoerandner zum 65. Hg. v. Martin Hinterberger und Elisabeth Schiffer, berlin-New York, Walter de Gruyter,2007, 266-276
Palamedes (mythology)
–
Palamedes before
Agamemnon in a 1626 painting by
Rembrandt
