Текст книги "The Library of Greek Mythology"

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founded Acarnania: to the west of Aetolia facing the Ionian Sea; see also P. 8. 24. 9.

Euripides: in his lost tragedy Alcmaion in Corinth.

founded Amphilochian Argos: Thucydides’ report (2. 68) that it was founded by his uncle Amphilochos, son of Amphiaraos, on his return from Troy reflects the older tradition; the present Amphilochos was apparently invented by Euripides, and his late entry into the family causes nothing but confusion, cf. p. 162 and note.

as me observed above: see p. 58 and note. Pelasgos, the Arcadian ‘first man’, becomes the father of Lycaon, the founder of the common cult of the Arcadian communities, that of Zeus Lycaios on Mount Lycaion.

fifty sons: for the most part eponymous founders of Arcadian towns. See also P. 8. 3. The list is one name short.

a child. . . into the sacrifices: according to a similar account by Nicolaus of Damascus, first century BC (see Frazer i. 390 n. 1 for a translation), the pious Lycaon warned his subjects that Zeus made constant visits to inspect their behaviour; and one day, when he offered a sacrifice saying that the god was about to visit, some of his sons performed the present action to check whether the god really did come (for if he did, he would surely recognize what they had done). There is a conflicting version of this story in which Lycaon himself (angered by Zeus’ seduction of Callisto, see below) served his grandson Areas to Zeus, who reacted by overturning the table and transforming Lycaon into a wolf (see under Hes. Cat. fr. 163, and Hyg. PA4). See also P. 8. 2. 1 ff. for the local tradition, and Ovid’s portrait of a wicked Lycaon in Met. 1. 196 ff.

Trapezous: from trapeza, a table; but the town is also said to have been named after one of Lycaon’s sons (P. 8. 3. 3).

Hesiod. . . one of the nymphs: according to Catast. 1, Hesiod called her a daughter of Lycaon; but Ap. may be reporting the Catalogue, and Catast. the Hesiodic Astronomy.

Hera persuaded Artemis. . . to shoot her: after discovering what had happened, and leaving Artemis ignorant of the bear’s identity; in a somewhat different version, Callisto sleeps willingly with Zeus and Hera herself transforms her (P. 8. 3. 6 f.; attested for Callimachus in sc. Il. 18. 487). But in the story attributed to Hesiod in Catast. 1, it is Artemis who transforms her, angered to see that her companion is pregnant when she is taking a bath. See also Ov. Met. 2. 409 ff.

naming him Areas: in Greek there is a similarity in sound between arktos, a bear (his mother’s present form), and Areas. He gave his name to Arcadia (cf. P. 8. 4. 1, formerly named Pelasgia).

Areas had two sons: for a fuller account of the sons of Areas and their descendants, see P. 8. 4. 2 ff.

Auge mas raped by Heracles: see also p. 88 and note.

lasos and Clymene . . . had a daughter, Atalante: this genealogy (cf. Theognis 1287 ff., where her father is called Iasion, and Hyg. 99) connects Atalante with Arcadia; but in the main alternative cited below (that she is a daughter of Schoineus, as in Hes. Cat. fr. 72), she is connected with Boeotia. Some details in the stories associated with her vary according to the tradition (for instance, the husband of the Boeotian Atalante is not Melanion, who is clearly an Arcadian, cf. P. 3. 12. 9, but Hippomenes, son of Megareus, a Boeotian), but the stories themselves are substantially the same, and there is no reason to assume that there were two separate Atalantes, one Arcadian and one Boeotian.

the hunt for the Calydonian boar: where her presence as the only woman had important repercussions, see p. 41.

games held in honour of Pelias: for the death of Pelias, see p. 57; the games were held by his son Acastos (see p. 127, which also explains Peleus’ presence there; and cf. Hyg. 273).

golden apples: from the Hesperides, see p. 81 and note (e.g. VM 1. 39), or according to Ovid (Met. 10. 644 ff.) from the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Tamasos in Cyprus.

the Pleiades: familiar as the cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus. According to the usual story, Orion pursued them (and their mother) through Boeotia, and the gods, or Zeus, taking pity on them, transferred them to the heavens (Hyg. PA21; the story was known to Pindar, see Nem. 2. 10 ff).

gave birth to Hermes: most of the following derives from the fuller account in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, q.v. (but the present narrative differs on certain details).

Cyllene. . . Pieria: Hermes’ birthplace was in Arcadia; Pieria lay north of Mount Olympos in Thessaly.

pebbles: thriai, or divining pebbles, which were used none the less in a subordinate role at Apollo’s oracle at Delphi. It is not known exactly how they were employed.

herald to the gods of the Underworld: he conducted the souls of the dead between this world and Hades (cf. Od. 24. 1 ff. and p. 152).

Lelex: the local ‘first man’, and eponym of the Leleges, the aboriginal inhabitants; comparable to Pelasgos and the Pelasgians in Arcadia, p. 58 and notes. His son Eurotas represents the main Laced-aimonian river, and his granddaughter Sparta the main Laced-aimonian town. See also P. 3. 1. 1 ff.

Hyacinthos: see p. 30 and note.

Aphareus: a Messenian king, see also P. 4. 2. 4 ff.

but rather of Coronis: as in Hes. Cat. fr. 60. This Thessalian descent is consistent with the tradition that Asclepios was reared by Cheiron (on Mount Pelion in Thessaly). We know Apollo’s own view on this matter because an Arcadian asked the Delphic oracle, and it declared in favour of Coronis (P. 2. 26. 6). For the story of Asclepios’ birth to Coronis, see also Pind. Pyth. 3. 8 ff. (where there is as yet no mention of the crow).

on the left side: as always, the side of ill omen.

Zeus. . . struck him down: the story was told in Hes. Cat. (fr. 51). In Pind. Pyth. 3. 54 ff, he raises a single man in return for a handsome bribe; a number of names are cited from early sources in an interpolation here, see Appendix, 6. The theme becomes exaggerated in the later tradition and we find Hades complaining to Zeus about a serious diminution of the dead (DS 4. 71. 2); but to raise a single man is to transgress mortal bounds, meriting this response from Zeus. Asclepios was worshipped initially as a hero, and then as a healing god with an important cult at Epidaurus.

who had forged the thunderbolt: see p. 28.

Apollo went to Admetos: see also p. 48.

there are those. . . Bateia: Perieres was first introduced to us as a Deucalionid king of Messenia, p. 44; but Tyndareus is a figure of such importance in the Laconian genealogies that it was natural that others preferred to regard him as being of purely Laconian descent, and this was the tradition followed by Ap. in the preceding genealogies. Here we are told that some tried to reconcile the conflicting traditions on his birth by claiming that there were two Perieres, one the Messenian son of Aiolos, who fathered Aphareus and Leucippos, two Messenian rulers, and the other the Laconian son of Cynortas, who became the father of Tyndareus.

Hippocoon expelled Icarios and Tyndareus: Hippocoon (and his sons) and Tyndareus disputed the throne after the death of the previous king, Oibalos (cf. P. 3. 1. 4). There are conflicting traditions on the position of the third brother, for Icarios is also said to have assisted Hippocoon in the expulsion of Tyndareus (P. 3. 1. 4, sc. Eur. Orest. 457; apparently the Lacedaimonian version). Some claim that Hippocoon was an illegitimate son (e.g. sc. Eur. Orest. 457, where his mother is a certain Nicostrate).

Thestios: an Aetolian, see p. 39, the king of Pleuron; see also P. 3. 13. 8.

Heracles had killed Hippocoon and his sons: see pp. 87 f.

Polydeuces. . . Helen . . . Castor: that Helen was a daughter of Zeus was agreed from Homer onwards, but with regard to the Dioscuri —Polydeuces (or under his Latin name, Pollux) and Castor– there was disagreement as to whether Castor was a mortal son of Tyndareus or a son of Zeus like Polydeuces. Although Pindar agrees with the present account in Nem. 10 (see 73 ff., though not in Pyth. 4. 171 f.) and Castor was mortal in the Cypria(Clem. Al. Protr. 2. 30), there was also an early tradition that both were sons of Zeus, as the name Dioscuri implies (Hes. Cat. fr. 24, cf. HH to the Dioscuri).

and Clytemnestra: most editors favour this addition; but since Clytemnestra has been mentioned already with Timandra and Phylonoe as one of Tyndareus’ children by Leda, it cannot be assumed that Ap. must have listed her as one of the children conceived on this occasion(and Carriere remarks that she is not always included in comparable lists, e.g. VM 2. 132).

a daughter of Zeus by Nemesis: they had intercourse at Rhamnos in Attica (Catast. 25), where there was a sanctuary of Nemesis (P. 1. 33. 2); according to the local legend, Nemesis was her mother, but Leda suckled and reared her (P. 1. 33. 7). The story goes back to early epic (the Cypria, see Athenaeus 334b ff., with a quotation). Leda too is said to have laid an egg after her intercourse in bird form (it was shown to visitors in Sparta, P. 3. 16. 1).

to Aphidnai: in Attica; see also p. 143 and note.

swear an oath: if they are to be eligible. This will be important later because when Helen is abducted by Paris, all her previous suitors will be obliged to go to war to help Menelaos recover her, p. 147.

a son, Nicostratos: in Homer, Hermione is her only child (Od. 4. 12 ff., cf. Il. 3. 175). Nicostratos would have been born after the Trojan War, as his name, ‘Victorious Army’, indicates. According to P. 2. 18. 5, he was an illegitimate son of Menelaos by a slave-woman, like Megapenthes below (who is mentioned in Od. 4. 11); in any case, Menelaos was succeeded by Orestes, son of Agamemnon, which would indicate that he had no legitimate male heirs at the time of his death.

because of their valour: the name of the Dioskouroi (kourosmeans a boy, Diosis the genitive of Zeus) suggests that they are sons of Zeus, but here Castor has been described as the son of Tyndareus, so some explanation of their name is required, and it is claimed that they owed it to their personal qualities rather than their joint birth. Their part in two great adventures has already been mentioned, pp. 40 and 49; Ap. now tells of their later life, in particular the incident that leads to their death, thus explaining why they are not present at Troy, and why Menelaos, a Pelopid, is ruling in Lacedaimon at that time. Tyndareus has no other male descendants.

the daughters of Leucippos: a Messenian king (see p. 44, cf. P. 4. 2. 4). There was a tradition that Hilaeira and Phoebe were betrothed to Idas and Lynceus, the sons of his brother Aphareus, and that this abduction (rather than the following incident) was the cause of the quarrel that led to the death of the Dioscuri (e.g. Hyg. 80).

Lynceus caught sight of Castor: on the fate of the Dioscuri Ap., and Pindar in his more detailed account in Nem. 10. 55 ff, largely follow the early epic the Cypria(judging by Proclus’ summary); there Lynceus saw both brothers hiding inside a hollow oak (sc. Pind. Nem. 10. 114).

amongst mortals: strictly, amongst the dead; on their shared immortality, cf. Od. 11. 303–4. The story rests on the assumption that Castor was a son of Tyndareus, and thus of wholly mortal birth.

he wanted to violate the goddess: she is commonly said to have actually slept with him, and willingly; according to Od. 5. 125 ff. on a thrice-ploughed field, causing Zeus to strike him dead afterwards when he came to hear of it. Demeter for her part gave birth to Ploutos (Wealth, here as related to successful harvests) in Crete (Theog. 969 ff.). See also DS 5. 77. 1 f.

went to the mainland opposite: his departure from Samothrace is often associated with a great flood sent by Zeus (sometimes identified with Deucalion’s flood, p. 37), and he is said to have used inflated skins to cross the waters (e.g. Lycophron 72 ff, with scholia, and sc. Il. 20. 215).

named the country Troy: although we commonly refer to the city as Troy (as does Homer on occasion), this was strictly the name of the Trojans’ land(Troia, or Troas, the Troad). The city was Ilios or Ilion (or in its Latin form, Ilium).

Ganymede: cf. Il. 20. 232 ff., HH to Aphrodite202 ff., without as yet the eagle (general in late accounts, e.g. Verg. Aen. 5. 253) or any suggestion that he became the beloved of Zeus (first recorded in Eur. Orestes1392, cf. Plato Phdr. 255c).

aroused Aphrodite’s amorous desire: the central theme of HH to Aphrodite, cf. Il. 2. 819 ff.

found a city . . . where the cow lay down: this story, which is not in Homer, is clearly modelled on the Theban foundation myth, p. 100. Homer never expressly states that Ilos was the founder of Ilion, although he refers several times to his tomb on the plain (e.g. Il. 11. 166). In Il. 20. 231 ff., he is the son of Tros, but in the passing references in 11 (166 and 372), the son of Dardanos, which is probably the older tradition. Homer notes a movement from the mountains (for the kingdom of Dardanos lay on the slopes of Mount Ida, Il. 20. 215–18) to a more civilized and prosperous life on the rich farmland of the plains (ibid. 219 ff).

the Palladion: a talismanic image which protected the city, see p. 156.

Triton: a sea-god (p. 33, Theog. 931 f.), here as the god of the River Triton in Libya (see Hdt. 4. 179 ff.; P. 9. 33. 5 claims that Athene was reared by a small river of that name in Boeotia). The myth explains Athene’s title Tritogeneia (which is very ancient, and probably of quite different origin).

aegis: the ‘goatskin’, an attribute of Zeus depicted as a short cloak or a shield; see Il. 5. 733 ff.

Electro . . . raped: the daughter of Atlas, by Zeus (see p. 122, but it is not recorded there, or anywhere else, that she was raped byhim).

with Ate: reading met’Atesfor met’autes(‘with her’, i.e. with Electra). This explains the name of the Hill of Ate mentioned above; that she fell to earth at Ilion and the hill was named after her is confirmed by sc. Il. 19. 131. Ate is the personification of delusion; when Zeus was deceived by Hera over his plans for Heracles, p. 68, Zeus threw her down to earth (see 77. 19. 91 ff), where her actions are clear to see.

Dawn so loved Tithonos: see Theog. 984 ff. and HH to Aphrodite, 218 ff. On Emathion see p. 82 and note; Memnon will be an important ally of the Trojans, p. 154.

as we mentioned: see p. 86.

Aisacos ... was turned into a bird: the only other account, Ov. Met. 11. 749 ff., is quite different. Aisacos fell in love with the nymph Hesperia, who was bitten by a viper while he was pursuing her; and when he threw himself into the sea in grief at her death, Tethys transformed him into a bird (there a mergus, or diver, but the identification depends upon a purely Latin etymology).

Hecuba had a dream: cf. Pind. Paean8 (rather different), Eur. Troades920 ff, Cicero On Divination1.21. 42; not in Homer.

protecting: alexesas: Alexander (strictly, Alexandros) was thus the man (aner, andros)who protectedor defended.

he rediscovered his parents: Hyg. 91 gives the full story. Priam’s servant came to fetch a bull for games that were to be held in honour of Priam’s lost son (i.e. Paris himself). Paris went to the city and took part in the games, defeating his brothers; and when one of them, Deiphobos, drew his sword on him, he took refuge at the altar of Zeus Herceios. When Cassandra declared prophetically that he was her brother, Priam accepted him as his son.

Apollo . . . art of prophecy: cf. Aesch. Ag. 1202 ff.; there was another story that serpents licked the ears (cf. p. 46) of Cassandra and her brother Helenos when they were left overnight as children in the sanctuary of Thymbraean Apollo (sc. Il. 7. 44).

if he mere ever mounded: we should probably assume that she knows by her prophetic powers that he will be wounded if he abducts Helen (as explicitly stated in Parthen. 4); a pathetic tale that appealed to later sentiment (Hellanicos in the fifth century is the earliest recorded source, Parthen. 4).

learned from Sisyphos: see also p. 44 and note.

turned the ants into people: suggested by the etymological fancy that the ancestors of the Myrmidons (the people commanded by Aiacos’ grandson Achilles at Troy) were created from ants, myrmekes.

into a seal: she conceived Phocos, the eponym of the Phocians, while she was in the form of a seal, phoke.

mhen Greece mas gripped . . . delivered from its barrenness: see further DS 4. 61. 1 ff, P. 2. 29. 6.

guards the keys of Hades: see also Plato Apol. 41a, where he judges the dead, and Isocrates Evagoras15, where he is said to sit beside Pluto and Kore, and enjoy the highest honours.

Telamon . . . killed his brother: there is a varied tradition. In the earliest recorded source, the Alcmaionis, an early epic, both strike him (sc. Eur. Andr. 687). Peleus is often said to deal the deathblow (e.g. P. 2. 29. 7, where they are said to have killed him to please their mother, who would have been angry that Phocos was born to another woman). In DS 4. 72. 6 the death is accidental.

because Heracles . . . Aias: for the full story see Pind. Isth. 6. 35 ff. The appearance of an eagle, the bird of Zeus, indicates that Zeus will respond positively to the prayer; the son is called Aias after the aietos(eagle). Ajax is the Latinized form of his name. For Telamon at Troy, see p. 86.

concealing his sword: a magic sword made by Hephaistos; Acastos expects that Peleus will be killed by the Centaurs who live on Mount Helicon while he is searching for it (cf. Hes. Cat. fr. 209). But he is saved by the good Centaur Cheiron.

Polydora . . . River Spercheios: she is the mother of Menesthios by this river in Il. 16. 173; but there she is the daughterof Peleus and wife of Boros, son of Perieres, as on p. 127. This report that Peleus married Polydora is unattested elsewhere, and may be an error.

was told by Prometheus: alluded to in [Aesch.] PV907 ff.; cf. Hyg. PA15.

according to others: see Pind. Isth. 8. 27 ff., AR 4. 783 ff.

an ashwood spear . . . horses: later passed on to Achilles, see Il. 16. 140 ff. and 19. 400 ff.

When Thetis gave birth . . . went back to the Nereids: following AR 4. 869 ff. Ambrosia, the food of the gods, would foster what was immortal in the child’s nature. For the use of fire to burn away what is mortal in the body, cf. p. 33. In some sources, Thetis is said to have killed several children born before Achilles while trying to immortalize them (sc. Aristoph. Clouds1068a), or test whether they were mortal (sc. AR 4. 816). The passages in the Iliadwhere Homer refers to Thetis in her home under the sea at the time of the Trojan War (e.g. Il. 1. 358) seem to assume her departure; but in other passages there is talk of her welcoming Achilles home to the house of Peleus (e.g. 18. 441, cf. 332).

not . . . lips: privative a(implied rather than directly stated) and cheile, hence Achilles! By feeding on the flesh and marrow of powerful and courageous animals, Achilles would come to share their qualities.

slaughtering Astydameia: she had falsely accused him to her husband, p. 128.

Lycomedes: he ruled the island of Scyros, off Euboea.

Pyrrhos . . . later called Neoptolemos: because he was young, neos, when he went to war, polemos, at Troy (see p. 156), or because his father was (P. 10. 26. 1, reporting the Cypria). His previous name was explained by his red, pyrrhos, hair (Serv. on Am. 2. 469). Achilles refers to his son on Scyros in Il. 19. 326 f.

causing a trumpet to be sounded: this is explained by Hyg. 96. Odysseus placed women’s finery in the courtyard of the palace with a shield and spear amongst it. He then had a trumpet sounded, accompanied by shouts and the clashing of arms. Thinking that they were under attack, Achilles took off his women’s clothing and seized the shield and spear. Or more simply, when women’s finery with arms mixed amongst it was placed before Achilles and his female companions, he instinctively seized the arms (sc. Il. 19. 326). In Homer’s account, Il. 11. 769 ff., Achilles remained with Peleus, and was eager to go when Nestor and Odysseus came to fetch him and Patroclos; and the present story was absent from the Cypriaalso (for Achilles came to Scyros and married Deidameia after the Greek attack on Mysia, Procl., cf. sc. Il. 19. 326 on the Little Iliad). Because Achilles was too young to be one of Helen’s suitors, he was not bound by oath to join the expedition (and subsequently, when Agamemnon offended him, he could threaten to go home, Il. 1. 169 ff., etc.).