#the text being pausania's Descriptions of Greece

[ilions-end]

researchers will see a lacuna next to odysseus' name in an ancient text and immediately assume it said "and diomedes"

[Polygnotos's Iliupersis: A New Reconstruction]

i find the ghost of you wherever i go

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Statistics of Apollo's Lovers

I was wondering just how unfortunate of a love-life our boy Apollo had, so - as one does - I did the research, math, and writing of said love-life.

such is the life of an adhd teen :)

In total, there are 59 people on this list. I have them separated into eight groups; Immortal, Immortal & Rejected, Lived, Died, Rejected & Died, Rejected & Cursed, Rejected & Lived, and who were Rejected by Apollo

Disclaimer: I am not a historian nor an expert in Greek Mythology, I am just a very invested nerd in Mythology, and in Apollo's mythology in general, and got curious about what his rap sheet actually looks like.

Sidenote: There will be some "lovers" not on this list. Reasons being;

No actual literary sources behind them

Said literary sources are dubious at best

Not enough information is given about the nature of their relationship to make an accurate take

So if somebody isn't on this list, it's because of one of those three reasons. Although there is still a chance I missed somebody! :)

Also, no RRverse lovers include in this list. Sorry my fellow ToA fans.

*I am currently missing about 4 other lovers, and will get them on here ASAP. Their inclusion, however, will not change the overall conclusion. 👍

(Edited 08/15/24 - ALL SECTIONS SOURCED)

Let's begin! :D

Immortal Lovers

Calliope: muse of epic poetry. Mother of Hymenaios and Ialemus (Pindar's 3rd Threnos) by Apollo.

Clio: muse of history

Erato: muse of love poetry

Euterpe: muse of music

Polyhymnia: muse of hymns/sacred poetry

Melpomene: muse of tragedy

Thalia: muse of comedy. Mother of the Corybantes (The Bibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus) by Apollo.

Terpsichore: muse of dance

Urania: muse of astronomy

Boreas: the North Wind. The Boreads called Apollo "beloved of our sire" in Apollonius of Rhodes's Argonautica.

10 lovers total here.

9 Female, 1 Male

Immortal & Rejected

Hestia: goddess of the Hearth (Hymn to Aphrodite)

1 Interest. Female.

Lovers Who Lived:

Branchus: mortal shepherd, gifted prophecy (Conon's Narrations 33 & Callimachus's Iambus)

Rhoeo: mortal princess, eventually married an apprentice of Apollo (Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica 5.62 and Tzetzes on Lycophron 570)

Ourea: demigod daughter of Poseidon, dated Apollo during his punishment with Laomedon; had a son named Ileus, after the city of Troy (Hesiod's Catalogues of Women Fragment 83)

Evadne: nymph daughter of Poseidon, Apollo sent Eileithyia & (in some texts) the Fates to aid in their son's birth (Pindar's Olympian Ode 6)

Thero: great-granddaughter of Heracles, described as "beautiful as moonbeams" (Pausanias's Description of Greece 9)

Cyrene: mortal princess-turned-nymph queen, kick-ass lion wrangler, and mother of two of Apollo's sons - Aristaeus (a god) and Idmon (powerful seer) (Pindar's Pythian Ode 9.6 ff. and Nonnus's Dionysiaca and Callimachus's Hymn to Apollo 85)

Admetus: mortal king, took great care of Apollo during his second punishment, Apollo wingmanned him for Alcestis's hand - basically Apollo doted on him <3 (Callimachus's Hymn II to Apollo and Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.9.15 and Hyginus's Fabulae 50–51, and also written about by Ovid and Servius)

Hecuba: queen of Troy, together they had Troilus.

It was foretold that if Troilus lived to adulthood, Troy wouldn't fall - unfortunately, Achilles murdered Troilus in Apollo's temple. When the Achaeans burned Troy down, Apollo rescued Hecuba and brought her to safety in Lycia. (Stesichorus's Fr.108)

Hyrie/Thyrie: mortal. mothered a son by Apollo. Their son, Cycnus, attempted to kill himself after some shenanigans and his mother attempted the same. Apollo turned them into swans to save their lives. (Antoninus Liberalis's Metamorphoses 12 and Ovid's Metamorphoses 7.350)

Dryope: mortal. had a son named Amphissus with Apollo, who was a snake at the time. Later turned into a lotus flower, but it had nothing to do with Apollo so she's still on this list. (noncon; written by Ovid in Metamorphoses 8 CE/AD and later by Antoninus Liberalis in his own Metamorphoses sometime between 100-300 CE/AD)

Creusa: mortal queen. had a son named Ion with Apollo (Euripides's Ion). Please check out @my-name-is-apollo's post for more details because they make some good points about what's considered "rape" in Ancient Greece. I expand on this further at the end of the post.

Melia: Oceanid nymph. Had a son w/h Apollo named Tenerus. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.10.5–6)

Melia was said to be kidnapped, and her brother found her with Apollo. He set fire to Apollo's temple in an effort to get her back, but was killed. Melia and Apollo had two kids - but here's the interesting part. Melia was highly worshiped in Thebes, where her brother found her. She was an incredibly important figure in Thebes, especially when connected with Apollo. She and Apollo were essentially the parents of Thebes.

As I read over their story, it sounded like (to me, at least. it's okay if you think otherwise!) that Melia just absconded/eloped with Apollo.

Was kidnapping an equivalent to assault back then? Perhaps. But it's still debated on whenever or not that's true. However, one thing I've noticed reading up on these myths is that when Apollo does do something unsavory, the text says so.

It never says anything about Apollo doing anything to Melia. Her father and brother believe she was kidnapped, but, like mentioned previously, it seems far much more likely that she just ran off with her boyfriend or something.

But that's just my interpretation.

Moving on! :)

Iapis: a favorite lover. Apollo wanted to teach him prophecy, the lyre, ect. but Iapis just wanted to heal :) so Apollo taught him healing :) (Smith 1873, s.v. Iapis)

Aethusa: daughter of Poseidon & the Pleiad Alcyone. Mother of Linus and Eleuther. She is the great-great grandmother of Orpheus. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 3.10.1 and Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.20.2 and Suida, s.v. Homer's Of the Origin of Homer and Hesiod and their Contest, Fragment 1.314)

Acacallis: daughter of King Minos. there's a lot of variation on whether or not she had kids with Hermes or Apollo. Some say she had a kid with each. (Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. Kydōnia (Κυδωνία and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 4.1492)

Chrysothemis: nymph queen who won the oldest contest of the Pythian Games - the singing of a hymn to Apollo. She had three daughters, and one of them is said to be Apollo's. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 10.7.2 and Hyginus's De Astronomica 2.25)

Corycia: naiad. had a son with Apollo. the Corycian Cave north of Delphi is named after her (Hyginus's Fabulae 161)

Leuconoe (also Choine or Philonis): daughter of Eosphorus, god of the planet Venus, and mother of the bard Philammon. (Hyginus's Fabulae 161) She was killed by Diana for her hubris.

Melaena (also Thyia or Kelaino): mother of Delphos, member of prophetic Thriae of Delphi. Priestess of Dionysus. (Herodotus's Histories 7.178.1)

Othreis: mothered Phager by Apollo, and later Meliteus by Zeus. (Antoninus Liberalis's Metamorphoses 13)

Stilbe: mother of Lapithus and Aineus by Apollo. (Diodorus Siculus's Library of History 4.69.1 and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.40 and Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, 1.948)

Syllis (possible same as Hyllis, granddaughter of Heracles): mothered Zeuxippus by Apollo. (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 2.6.7)

Amphissa: Apollo seduced her in the form of a shepherd. They had a son named Agreus. (Ovid's Metamorphoses 6.103 and Hyginus's Fabulae 161)

(hey, has anybody else noticed that 'Apollo disguising himself' seems to only be a thing in Roman literature?)

Areia (or Deione): had a son named Miletus. Hid him in some smilax. Her father found him and named him. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 3.1.2)

Arsinoe: she and Apollo had a daughter named Eriopis. (Hesiod's Ehoiai 63 and Scholia ad Pindar's Pythian Ode 3.14)

Queen of Orkhomenos (no name is given): Mother of Trophonius (Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 9.37.5)

(my fellow ToA fans will recognize that name haha).

Hypermnestra: Either Apollo or her husband fathered her son Amphiaraus. (Hyginus's Fabulae 70)

(sidenote: @literallyjusttoa suggested that Apollo was dating both Hypermnestra and Oikles, and I, personally, like that headcannon)

Manto: Daughter of Tiresias. Apollo made her a priestess of Delphi. They had a son named Mopsus. When Apollo sent her to found an oracle elsewhere, he told her to marry the first man she saw outside of Delphi. That man turned out to be Rhacius, who brought her to Claros, where she founded the oracle of Apollo Clarios. (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca E6. 3)

Later, another man named Lampus attempted to assault her, but was killed by Apollo. She is also said to be a priestess who warned Niobe not to insult Leto, and to ask for forgiveness. Niobe did not. (Statius's Thebaid 7 and Ovid's Metamorphoses 6)

(Dante's Inferno places her in the eighth circle of hell, and let me just say- what the FUCK Dante! What did Manto ever do to you, huh??!! Don't do my girl dirty!!)

Parthenope: granddaughter of a river god. Mothered Lycomedes by Apollo (Pausanius's Descriptions of Greece 4.1)

Phthia: prophetess. called "beloved of Apollo". Mother three kings by him; Dorus, Laodocus, & Polypoetes (Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.7.6)

Procleia: Mother of Tenes, son of Apollo, who was killed by Achilles before the Trojan War. Daughter of King Laomedon, king of Troy. (Apollodorus's Epitome 3. 26)

Helenus: prince of Troy. Received from Apollo an ivory bow which he used to wound Achilles in the hand. (Photius's 'Bibliotheca excerpts')

Hippolytus of Sicyon: called "beloved of Apollo" in Plutarch's Life of Numa. I don't think this guy is the same as Hippolytus, son of Zeuxippus (son of Apollo), king of Sicyon Pausanias talks about in his Description of Greece. That would be a little weird taking the whole family tree into account - though it's never stopped other gods before. *shrug*

Psamathe: nereid, said to be the personification of the sand of the sea-shore. (Conon's Narrationes 19)

She and Apollo were lovers, but never had any kids. When another man assaulted her, she had a son and abandoned him.

(He was found by some shepherds dw - wait, he was then torn apart by dogs. Nevermind.)

Back to her, her father ordered for her to be executed and Apollo avenged her death by sending a plague onto Argos and refused to stop it until Psamathe and Phocus/Linus (her son) were properly given honors.

(I really like how even though Linus isn't Apollo's kid, and that Psamathe wanted nothing to do with the kid, Apollo still considered him worth avenging too <3 )

Okay, in a previous incarnation of this post, I said there was a version where she is raped by Apollo...however, I can't find any sources to back it up😅 Even her wiki page doesn't mention rape, and Theoi's excerpt of Paunasias's Descriptions of Greece about her doesn't either.

So where did I hear about this supposed version? (Don't shoot)

Youtube. A youtube video about Apollo. Yeah...

Lesson, kids! Don't trust youtube videos on mythology! Yes, even if they dedicated lots of time to it! They can still get things wrong! In fact, don't even take my word for it! Do your own research <3

Alright. 34 lovers here.

5 Male. 29 Female.

33 are 100% consensual. Creusa is questionable, depending on who's translating/which tradition you go with.

Lovers Who Died:

Hyacinthus*: mortal prince. we all know this one, right? Right? one and only true love turned into flower (okay that's my bias speaking but AM I WRONG?) (Plutarch's Life of Numa, 4.5; Philostratus the younger's Imagines; Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.3.3; Ovid's Metamorphoses 10.162–219; Bion's Poems 11; and various pieces of art)

Cyparissus: mortal. his DEER DIED and he asked Apollo to let him MOURN FOREVER so he was turned into a cypress tree (Ovid's Metamorphoses X 106ff)

Coronis: mortal princess. cheated on Apollo w/h Ischys, who in Fabulae was killed by Zeus. mother of Asclepius. killed by Artemis. (Pindar's Pythian Odes 3.5; Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 2.26.6; Hyginus's Fabulae 202; Ovid's Metamorphoses 2.536 and 2.596; Hyginus's De Astronomica 2.40; Isyllus's Hymn to Asclepius 128.37 ff.)

There is another version of Asclepius's birth given by Pausanias in Descriptions of Greece 2.26.1-7, where Coronis exposes him on a mountain and Apollo takes him in.

Adonis: yes, THAT Adonis. he's in this category because. well. he died. rip (Ptolemy Hephaestion's New History Book 5)

Phorbas: Okay so Apollo's lover Phorbas and another Phorbas sometimes get mashed together so this is what I was able to gather.

Plutarch's Life of Numa 4.5 and Hyginus's De Astronomia 2.14.5 cites Phorbas as Apollo's lover. The other Phorbas is said to be a rival to Apollo in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. Personally, I separate the two because it makes more sense with Phorbas the lover's overall story.

Here it is: The island of Rhodes fell victim to a plague of dragons or serpents, and the oracle said to summon Phorbas for help. He defeated the infestation, and after he died, Apollo asked Zeus to place him in the stars, and so Phorbas became the constellation Serpentarius, also known more widely as Ophiuchus (a man holding a serpent).

FORGET ORION AND HIS ONE-OFF MENTION OF BEING DIANA'S LOVER HERE IS A CONSTELLATION TRAGIC LOVE STORY!!!!!

(*Hyacinthus was resurrected, as celebrated in the Hyacinthia festival in Sparta. Nonnus's Dionysiaca 19.102 and Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece 3.19.4 supports this belief as well.)

5 lovers.

4 Male. 1 Female. All consensual.

Sidenote: QUIT BURYING THE GAYS GREECE!!!!

Love-Interests Who Rejected & Died:

Daphne: do i nEED to say anything? Nymph. turned into tree to escape.

Daphne and Apollo actually go back a bit. Their story was used to explain why the laurel was so sacred to Apollo. It's in Delphi, Branchus planted laurel trees around the temple he built to Apollo, the laurel was even sacred to Apollo's historical forebearer Apulu, an Etruscan god! (I have sources to back this up :3 along with an Essay.)

Apollo & Daphne first originate from Phylarchus, but we do not have any of his work :( It's been lost to history...a moment of silence RIP. He was a contemporary in the 3rd century BC/BCE (first day of 300 BC/BCE and last day of 201 BC/BCE).

He was, however, cited as a source in Parthenius's Erotica Pathemata, written sometime in the 1 century AD/CE (sometime between 66 BC/BCE and the author's death in 14 AD/CE).

Then they show up again in Pausanias's Descriptions of Greece, written between 150 AD/CE and 170 AD/CE.

Hyginus wrote his Fabulae sometime before Ovid's because it's widely criticized to be his earliest work and Ovid wrote his Metamorphoses in 8 AD/CE.

The first two versions are roughly the same, and Ovid's shares similarities with the first in only the ending. Hyginus is basically like Ovid's but without Eros.

So in publication order, it's; Erotica Pathemata, Fabulae, Metamorphoses, then Descrip. of Greece.

In Erotica Pathemata, Daphne is the daughter of Amyclas and is being courted by Leucippus. She is not interested in any sort of romance. Leucippus disguises himself as a girl to get close to her, but his ruse is revealed when Apollo nudges Daphne and her attendants into taking a bath in the river. Leucippus is consequently killed.

Apollo then becomes interested and Daphne runs away, imploring Zeus that "she might be translated away from mortal sight", and is transformed into the laurel tree.

In Fabulae, Daphne's story is a bit more familiar. She's the daughter of Peneus, the river god, and Gaea is the one who transforms her into a laurel tree.

In Metamorphoses, Eros is added to the story and is the reason why Apollo is so enamored and Daphne is so repulsed.

(I would just like to say that in this version, it was 100% nonconsensual for both of them! And I don't mean with rape- Apollo never touches Daphne in any of these version. What I mean here is that Eros maliciously makes Apollo chase down a woman and makes sure Daphne would be repulsed by him. That is noncon behavior there on both sides.)

In Descriptions of Greece 10.7.8, Daphne is the daughter of Ladon and her and Apollo are only connected by way of why the laurel crown is the victory prize of the Pythian Games. However, in Descriptions of Greece 8.20.2-8.20.4, Daphne and Leucippus make an appearance here too, but Apollo is not the reason why they stop to take a swim and his ruse is revealed, resulting in his death.

Castalia: Nymph. turned into spring to escape.

First things first, Castalia was used to explain the existence of the Castalian Spring in Delphi. However, in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, the spring is already there when Apollo was born. So there's that to consider first.

Anyway, to escape Apollo's advances, Castalia transforms herself into a spring. (Lactantius Placidus's On Statius's Thebaid 1.698. This was written between Lactantius's lifespan of c. 350 – c. 400 AD/CE, placing it firmly in Roman times.)

2 Interests.

2 Female.

Love-Interests Who Rejected & Cursed

Cassandra: mortal princess. Received the gift of prophecy from Apollo. Due to a broken oath, she was then cursed. (Aeschylus's Agamemnon)

It is only in Roman-era tellings where Cassandra is cursed for not sleeping with Apollo, and there was no oath made (Hyginus & Pseudo-Apollodorus). In Agamemnon, it was done so because of the broken oath- not the refusing to sleep with Apollo thing.

The version where she gains prophetic abilities by way of a snake licking her ears is not part of Greco-Roman literature, but rather by an American poet.

Nevertheless, even after the curse Cassandra still loved Apollo, and called him "god most dear to me" in Eurpides's play The Trojan Women.

1 Interests.

1 Female.

Love-Interests Who Rejected & Lived

Sinope: mortal. there are two different version of her myth.

In Diodorus Siculus's Library of History 4.72.2 and Corinna's Frag. 654, Apollo "seizes" her and they have a son named Syrus.

In Apollonius's Argonautica  2.946-951 and Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica 5.109, it is Zeus who abducts her, but she gets him to promise her anything and requests to remain a virgin. He obliges. Later, Apollo and the river Halys both try to charm her, but fall for the same trick.

Library of History was written between 60-30 BC/BCE, Apollonius's Argonautica between 300 BC/BCE and 201 BC/BCE, and Valerius Flaccus's Argonautica between 70-96 AD/CE, making Apollonius's version the oldest and Valerius Flaccus's the youngest.

Marpessa: mortal princess, granddaughter of Ares. Idas, son of Poseidon, kidnapped her and Apollo caught up to them. Zeus had Marpessa chose between them, and she chose Idas, reasoning that she would eventually grow old and Apollo would tire of her. (Homer's The Iliad, 9.557 and Apollodorus's Bibliotheca 1.7.8–9)

Bolina: mortal. Apollo approached her and she flung herself off a cliff. He turned her into a nymph to save her life. (Pausanias's Description of Greece 7.23.4)

Ocroe/Okyrrhoe: nymph and daughter of a river god. asked a boatman to take her home after Apollo approached her. Apollo ended up turning the boat to stone and the seafarer into a fish. (Athenaeus's The Deipnosophists 7.283 E [citing The Founding of Naucratis by Apollonius Rhodius]. The Deipnosophists was written in the early 3rd century AD, between 201 AD and 300 AD)

Sibyl of Cumae: mortal seer. promised to date Apollo if she was given longevity as long as the amount of sand in her hand. he did, but she refused him. (Ovid's Metamorphoses 14)

5 Interests. All female.

Okyrrhoe's story is the only one with any iffy stuff, although, when something iffy does occur, the text usually says so outright.

Rejected by Apollo:

Clytie*: Oceanid nymph. turned into a heliotrope to gaze at the sun forever after the rejection.

1 Advance. Female.

(*Clytie's story was originally about her affection for Helios. [Ovid's Metamorphoses 4.192–270; Ovid used Greek sources about the etymology of the names involved, meaning Clytie and Helios go back to Greek times] As Apollo got superimposed over Helios's myths, people have assumed it is he who is the sun god in her myth and not Helios.)

In Conclusion...

59 people total, and 33 of them have Roman-Era roots with (as far as I know!! Don't take my word as gospel truth!!) no relation to Greece except by way of shared mythology.

Here's the list:

Rhoeo

Thero

Hyrie/Thyrie

Dryope

Melia

Aethusa

Acacallis

Chrysothemis

Corycia

Choine

Thyia

Othreis

Stilbe

Syllis

Amphissa

Areia

Queen of Orkhomenos

Hypermnestra

Manto

Parthenope

Phthia

Procleia

Helenus

Hippolytus of Sicyon

Psamathe

Cyparissus

Adonis

Phorbas

Castalia

Sinope

Bolina

Ocroe/Okyrrhoe

Sibyl of Cumae

Meaning, 56%- and really, it's more like 57%, because Clytie is not Apollo's lover at all- of the lovers listed on this post are not entirely Greek in origin (AS FAR AS I KNOW-)! That does not mean ofc that you have to ignore them. I, for one, really like the story of Rhoeo, and Manto, and Psamethe- I find their myths sweet (Rhoeo & Manto) and bittersweet (Psamethe).

Let's get to the calculations now, yeah?

59 people total (Includes Clytie)

48 Women (81%). 11 Men (19%).

19% were Immortal (Including Lovers & Rejected)

68% Lived (Including Lovers & Cursed & Rejected)

14% Died (Including Lovers & Rejected)

1% were Cursed

2% were Rejected by him

58 people total (Not Including Clytie)

47 Women (81%). 11 Men (19%).

19% were Immortal

69% Lived (Lovers & Cursed & Rejected)

12% Died (Lovers & Rejected)

in that 12%, one was apotheosized - Hyacinthus.

Meaning 10% died permanently, while 2% were resurrected.

2% were Cursed

0% were Rejected by him

Additionally, I left off three male lovers and two female lovers - Atymnius, Leucates, Cinyras, Hecate, & Acantha.

Atymnius has no references to being Apollo's lover, only to Zeus's son Sarpedon. (Wikipedia why do you even have him listed? You need sources smh)

Leucates is another male "lover" left off the rack - apparently he jumped off a cliff to avoid Apollo, but I couldn't find any mythological text to account for it- and no, OSP's wiki page is not a reliable source. There is a cliff named similarly to him where Aphrodite went (by Apollo's advice) to rid herself of her longing for Adonis after his death. Also Zeus uses it to rid himself of his love for Hera before he...well, commits adultery again. 🤷

Cinyras was a priest of Aphrodite on the island of Cyprus. He was also the island's king. Pindar calls him "beloved of Apollo" in his Pythian Ode. However, looking further into Cinyras's life throws a bit of a wrench into it. He's also cited to be a challenger to Apollo's skill, and either Apollo or Mars (Ares) kills him for his hubris.

(honestly, I kinda like the idea that Mars went into Big Brother Mode)

I did consider leaving him on the list, since technically you could argue it was a romance-gone-bad, but among every other source Cinyras is mentioned in, Pindar's the only one who puts a romantic label on him and Apollo.

Plus, he’s been described as a son of Apollo too, and I personally like that more lol

Hecate, the goddess of magic and crossroads, is said to be the mother of Scylla (like, the sea-monster) by Apollo, but Scylla's parentage is one of those "no specific parents" ones, so I left her off the list.

Acantha has absolutely no classical references. There's a plant like her name, but she's made-up, so she doesn't count. *stinkeyes the guy who invented her and claimed his “sources” were reliable when they really aren’t*

(Of course, I could be wrong about any of these. Again, I'm not an expert.)

With all this in mind, this means Apollo's love life actually isn't as tragic as media portrays it, and he isn't as bad as Zeus or Poseidon in the nonconsensual area.

Does he still have those kinds of myths? Yes, with Dryope and Creusa; though, we can discount Creusa because;

1) Depends on who's translating it; and

2) Ion is given different parentage in the Bibliotheca, which yes, came much after Ion, however Xuthus was traditionally considered to be Ion's father rather than Apollo. This means there was probably a different oral tradition on Ion's parentage that just wasn't written down as early as Euripides's was- in fact, it may even just be an invention of Euripides's.

(and honestly Apollo's characterization in Ion just doesn't quite match up with the rest of his appearances in the wider myths (in my opinion, at least))

So that leaves us with just Dryope, who comes from Ovid, a Roman poet, and Antoninus Liberalis, a late Greek one.

Now I'm not saying we should throw her out because of Ovid's whole "wrote the gods even more terribly to criticize Augustus" thing, but it is something to keep in mind. Political mechanics have been used to change myths before, and this is certainly one example of it.

Additionally, I have seen many people discard Dionysus's rapes in the Dionysiaca because of how late it was written, so this one can be given similar treatment if one choses too because of just how late Ovid and Antoninus Liberalis's work was.

You can, in fact, pick and chose if you wish, especially if it'll increase your enjoyment of literature. That's certainly what I do :)

So overall, I'd say Apollo has a rather clean relationship past. He's doing pretty damn good.

Also, I think we should all take note that even if Apollo had noncon myths, that doesn't reflect on the actual god. The Ancient Greeks did not see the myths as "canon" to their gods- in fact, some were not happy with the myths showing the gods in such a light.

That's something else to keep in mind. The gods of the myths are not the gods of Greece, and are more like parables or fables for the Ancient Greeks I'd say. Lessons on morality and such, and of course, warnings against hubris and the like.

This was quite the journey, and I really hope you all enjoyed reading and learning with me! This really makes me wonder- if Apollo's love life is this good, I wonder how misinformed we are on everyone else's? I have no plans on doing Zeus or Poseidon or anyone else (not for a LONG time lol, this took a lot of effort and research!), but if anyone has any idea, or gets inspired to do something like this for any other god, please tag me!! I'd love to see it! :D

And since this was on a previous reblog, here be a meme from a while ago:

[ID: Me Explaining Me. On the left is a girl with her hands up, fingers pinched together, like she's intensely explaining something. The text over her says "Me giving a detailed diatribe about Apollo's love life and how modern media has done him and his lovers dirty". On the right is the girl's mother, wrapped up to her chin in a blanket, with a look on her face that screams "I hear this all the time". The Mother is labeled "My family". /End ID]

suffers in I'm the only mythology nerd in the family

[gotstabbedbyapen]

Hyacinthus Iceberg Meme EXPLAIN (P5)

Part 1 ✿ Part 2 ✿ Part 3 ✿ Part 4 ✿ Part 5

It's time for me to answer your questions about this Hyacinthus iceberg meme. There is a lot to tackle, so I'll divide it into 5 parts for the sake of my sanity.

Quick disclaimer: I am NOT an expert in Greek mythology, just a fan of Hyacinthus who wants to learn about him and anyone related to him. Most of the things I'm about to discuss are just theories and speculations of a passerby on the Internet, so do not take them as valid facts!

Bonus disclaimer: We are now entering the "just a theory" section of the iceberg. While the previous parts have myths and essays to back them up, most of the sections here are theories I made up (or shared with other scholars) and might not always be supported by literature texts.

What is the meaning of Hyacinthus' name?

We know is that "Hyacinthus" is a very old name, because the "-nth" suffix indicates its pre-Hellenic origin, or at least that's what Bernard C. Dietrich's "The Origins of Greek Religion" said (cited on Wikipedia). I haven't found a free PDF version of this book yet so I can't verify myself, but if any of you can, I would really appreciate your input!

Because "Hyacinthus" is very ancient, I have two questions: what is the meaning of this name and or what word/root did it derive from?

According theo Theoi.com, Hyacinthus' name was translated to "Larkspur flower" (as seen below)

However, I suspect this translation was coined much later when the god Hyacinthus had been watered down to a mortal, and the name meaning had been morphed and might not hold true for the ancient Hyacinthus. Or the ancient Hyacinthus name did mean "larkspur" and the myth was written to explain why this god share the same name as the flower.

Who knows!

Hyacinthus is the aboriginal god of Amyclae

This is just me doing some Olympic-level mental gymnastics. I can't remember where or if I've read this theory in any other research before, so you gotta endure my mindless rambling in this part.

With the many evidence indicating Hyacinthus was a pre-Hellenic god with a defined role and worship in Amyclae (Sparta), can he also be the very first god in this land? Here's how I think it's plausible:

According to Pausanias' Description of Greece, in Lacedaemonian traditions, Hyacinthus is a direct descendant of Lelex, the in-myth aboriginal king of Laconia. So what if this is a case of people from the same family line being conflated with each other? It seemed to happen with Polyboea and her great-granddaughter Phylonoe, who were often identified with one another (although this one is still questionable as I haven't found any academic articles).

And there you have it. Hyacinthus and Lelex. There could be a slim chance.

Why was Hyacinthus watered down into a mortal???

Hyacinthus was once a chthonic vegetation god worshipped in Amyclae, so why was he watered down into a mortal (or at best, a demigod) in the now-known myth? Was it because when Apollo's cult came along he was turned into a mortal and killed off to "make room" for the new god? But even then, Hyacinthus was still brought back and worshipped with Apollo as a duo, so why all the changes?

And this is not just a strange transition for Hyacinthus. Ariadne was also an ancient Great Goddess of Crete (even with the super cool epithet "Mistress of the Labyrinth") now became a princess. I wonder if the other mortal heroes, especially the ones that was made immortal later, had the same treatment as well.

Hyacinthus and Apollo are "married"

The word "married" should be put in triple quotation marks because Apollo and Hyacinthus weren't actually married like a gay couple would in the 21st century. What I mean is they are "married" in the sense of sharing a shrine together and are worshipped as a duo. Zeus and Hera, a famous married deity couple, shared a lot of shrines together.

So now we have the Apollo - Hyakinthos cult. Hyacinthus once had a wife (who could be Polyboea, as seen in the next section), but she was replaced by Apollo. What's interesting is that Apollo became Hyacinthus' shrine spouse instead of replacing him, resulting in a male-male duo, rather than the typical male-female duo, with seemingly equal respect. Some would argue they were one and the same.

As to why this happens to Apollo and Hyacinthus, I haven't found articles discussing it yet. I will try though!

Polyboea is either Hyacinthus' OG wife or daughter

I suspect the OG shrine spouse of Hyacinthus - before Apollo's worship came to Amyclae - was Polyboea.

Brother-sister sibling duos in Greek mythology are often depicted as husband and wife, e.g. Kronos-Rhea, Zeus-Hera, and even Apollo-Artemis were derived from a married couple before they became twins. Because Polyboea and Hyacinthus are siblings, were depicted to be carried to the Heavens together, and possibly worshipped in the same shrine and festival (the Hyacinthia), they could have been an ancient deity couple in Amyclae.

Are there any basis on this? Well, the website Occult World cited that "The Golden Bough" by James George Frazer was the one suggested this theory, and I'm still looking for a free PDF to fact-check it (yes, I'm a cheap one looking for free stuff)

I've mentioned the theory of Polyboea being Hyacinthus' daughter in part 4, that is was suggested in the book "Cults of Apollo at Sparta" by Michael Pettersson:

Basically, Hyacinthus the prince and Hyacinthus the father of the Hyacinthides (in part 4) could be conflated with one another, and therefore, the scene of Hyacinthus and Polyboea on the altar relief was depicting a father sacrificing his daughter. But there is also another interpretation in this book: Polyboea, the daughter, is going through a ritual where she went from a maiden to a woman.

The Hyacinthia was also seen as an initiation rite by ancient Spartan, where young boys and girls who attended the festival will leave it as official adults. The boys will become men ready to join the military and the girls will become women ready to enter marriage.

Furthermore, the presence of Demeter - Kore/Persephone - Hades trio and Artemis - Athena - Aphrodite trio might serve as allegories. We know, from part 4, that the former trio was connected to the Hyacinthia because Persephone's abduction myth symbolize the girl-to-woman the transition.

But what about the latter? Well, according to Pettersson:

Yeah, the virgin goddesses Artemis and Athena represent Polyboea's maidenhood stage and Aphrodite, goddess of love and fertility, is her entering the married life of womanhood.

As from the allegories from the gods, along with the preparation for a sacrificed maiden and a soon-to-be-wedded bride being similar, Polyboea's role as the "sacrificed daughter" and the "maiden becoming woman" could go hand in hand.

Of course, the explanation is more complicated than what I just presented, so I really recommend you guys to check out the book itself for a full view!

Who is Hyacinthus before Apollo?

Let's be real, we (admittedly, myself included) know Hyacinthus first as a lover of Apollo, and second as his own person. When we read the myth, it mostly focus on Apollo's conquest and grief, not much about the prince himself.

So it begs the question: who is Hyacinthus before Apollo?

Is he a local god the Amycleans worshipped before the arrival of Apollo's cult?

Is he a real life man with such great deeds that he was deified in the eyes of his people?

What other heroic achievements did he make?

Was he ever known by a different name?

Has he always been Hyacinthus or is this just the final form he took after millennia of changes?

We cannot know for sure, and we probably never will.

In fact, this final part of the explanation series isn't to be answered, but be used as a prompt for future studying of this prince and god of Sparta. As you can see from my iceberg meme and explain series, there is actually a lot more about Hyacinthus than meets the eye. His historical impacts, worship evolution, mythology roles, etc. aren't as well-documented as other characters, so he can be quite obscure or not analyzed as much by the general audience. He was more than just a lover who died.

This is one of the reasons why I love Hyacinthus, studying him is both a thrill and a pain because there is so much and so little to obtain. And I hope my silly brain rot over him will inspire you to learn just a bit more about my favorite Spartan prince.

THE END

[mask131]

So…I followed your advice in researching Greek Myths and learning them via the Authors. And uhm…I was curious because something bugged me.

Now I’m bad at history, but as far as I knew, Laurel Wreaths were mostly common in Rome, rather than Greece? (I could be wrong) so I had like a nagging feeling. And found out that the Daphne and Apollo myth (And probably also Hyacinthus I’m looking into that) was told in Ovid’s Metamorphosis? I could be wrong, so far I’ve only seen Ovid as the original author.

Sorry- I saw your post about Arachne and thought about what other myths were originally purely Roman then were mistaken for Greek Myths and wanted to add this into a possibility-

A LOT of stuff were invented by Ovid! Myself I learned only a month ago that Morpheus was "invented" by Ovid and I was like... wow. (There were dream-gods in Greek mythology, but they were not singularized, and the persona of Morpheus as the individual god of dreams was invented by Ovid)

Now, I don't know much about the specific use of laurel in Ancient Greece vs the Roman empire, but if you ask about the origin of the story of Daphne and Apollo, they are definitively Greek and Ovid did not invent her (though he told the story in a very, very different way).

The story of Daphne's numerous misadventures was recorded by Greek authors - and while it was quite late records, which would make us wonder if it isn't a late development or invention, they all rely on older sources attesting a presence of Daphne's legend for quite a long time. The two major records of Daphne's legend by Greeks are Pausanias' Description of Greece (2nd century CE), and Parthenius of Nicea's "Erotica Pathemata" (1st century BCE). BUT Pausanias explains that the legend he collects has been known for a very long time in the area around the Ladon river, to the point of implementing itself within the worship of Apollo, while Parthenius begins his story by pointing out he is merely retranscribing the text of older sources - a book from a 3rd century BCE historian named Phylarkhos, and an elegiac poem by Diodoros of Elaia. But given these two older texts were lost, we only have the latest record, hence this feeling of "novelty" when the story is actually at least around since the 3rd century BCE...

In fact, the existence of Daphne in Greek mythology long before Ovid's Metamorphoses is also proven by how massively different the Greek records of Daphne's life are from Ovid's tale. Everybody knows the story of Daphne through Ovid, since it was the most popular and widespread one... But both Pausanias and Parthenius report the same legend, which is very different from Ovid's rewrite.

In Ovid's tale, Daphne is said to have been Apollo's first love, and that the god's feelings were caused by Cupid as a way to take revenge after being mocked (Apollo, as a talented archer-god, mocked Cupid's own archery talents). Cupid shot a love-killing arrow in Daphne's heart so that the nymph would reject all forms of love, and she became "like Diana" - by refusing any form of marriage or romance, and fleeing the company of men and rejecting all her suitors, preferring the loneliness of the woods and the pleasure of the hunt - her father, the river-god, insisted on her giving him a son-in-law and grandchildren but she insisted she wanted to remain endlessly virgin like Diana. Meanwhile Apollo had received a love-inflamming arrow, one that not only caused a deep desire and mad love within the god for Daphne, but also made this attraction stronger and more obsessive each time the god saw the nymph. As such, Apollo tried all he could to please her and woo her and seduce her, but each time he tried the love-repelling spell on Daphne caused her to flee in fear and disgust and terror ; and the more she fled, the more Apollo found her beautiful and desirable, thanks to Cupid's curse ; and thus he followed her, but the more he pursued and insisted the more she fled. Their respective love and hate kept growing and growing until Daphne, exhausted and not wanting to flee anymore, stopped by the shore of her father the river-god and begged him to transform her so that her beauty would be gone, and she would not be loved anymore. Her father turned her into a laurel-tree, but it was no use, as Cupid's power as too strong: Apollo was still in love with the beauty and radiance of the tree, and he could feel Daphne's heart beating in the plant; and similarly Daphne's hate still lived on, as when Apollo embraced the tree and kissed its branches, the tree shivered and was repelled away from the god's body. But Apollo ultimately decided that if she could not be his bride, he would make Daphne his official tree and symbol - and to this, Daphne actually agreed as she offered her "leafy branches" to the god.

That's the Roman story of Daphne invented by Ovid. What is the difference with the Greek story he took inspiration from? (Because it is very clear that Ovid's source was the story twice told by Pausanias and Parthenius ; and told by others before whose name were lost...

1: In Ovid's story, Daphne simply admires and imitates Diana's behavior. In the Greek legend Daphne was ACTUALLY one of the huntresses of Artemis. Or to be more precise Parthenius explains that Artemis found Daphne "dear" to her because she shared the goddess' life-choices, refusing to live in cities, not hanging out with other girls, hunting in the mountains with a large pack of hounds... And Artemis loved Daphne so much she offered her a gift: she would always shoot straight at her target and never miss.

2: There's no Cupid/Eros in the Greek legend. Daphne is not Apollo's first love, she is not cursed with rejecting all love, he was not cursed to love her to insanity - this whole episode was invented by Ovid. Apollo is still in love with Daphne in the Greek legend, but it is just a regular love.

3: The Greek legend has a character that Ovid completely erased. Leucippus. Leucippus was another man who was in love with Daphne but knew that she was a lonely huntress closely linked to Artemis... Understanding he could not seduce her in a conventional way, Leucippus put up a convoluted plan to win the girl's heart. He dressed himself as a woman and created for himself a female persona. He approached Daphne and pretended to be a fellow huntress ; Daphne agreed to let her join her hunting party, and she soon grew to admire this bold, strong woman so unlike the other girls of Greece and whose strength and hunting talents far surpassed those of a common maiden... In fact she grew such affection and admiration for the fake-huntress that Daphne developed a dear and solid friendship with her: it was said she was always by Leucippus' side, refused to let Leucippus away from her, and kept embracing him/her and clinging to his/her body. However, since Apollo was also in love with Daphne he grew both jealous and angry (since, as the god of truth, he knew of Leucippus' deceit), and decided to reveal the truth. He implanted in Daphne's mind the idea that she had to bathe in a given stream: she went there with her "attendant maidens" and female servants/fellow huntresses (Daphne is never said explicitely to be part of the huntresses of Artemis, but she herself lives in a group of "wild women" very similar to Artemis' huntresses so... it is strongly implied she is one of them, especially since she literaly lives like the goddess and has been gifted by her). Leucippus of course refused to bathe, despite the other girls' insistence, and since he refused still, they tore his clothes away from him... discovering he was a man all along. And since this group of women act on a Artemis' huntress logic, they did what seemed the most reasonable thing to do... kill Leucippus by plunging in his body all of their spears.

4: The Greek legend does agree that Daphne begged a third-party god to turn her into the laurel tree to escape Apollo's love-hunt, but the details are different from Ovid's tale and the story is more lacking in explanations... All we know, from Parthenius' record is that Apollo appeared to Daphne right after Leucippus was killed. Why? We don't know, but he clearly came to profit off the fact his romantic rival had been killed in shame/crime, and that he had a part to play in the "reveal" of Leucippus' deceit... But all we know is that Daphne fled Apollo, and he pursued her, and to avoid being caught by him she begged to be hidden from his sight, and thus she was turned into a laurel tree. But in the Greek legend she doesn't beg her father the river-god... she begs Zeus, and he is the one who grants her request and protects her from his own son.

Things are even worse in Pausanias' record, since he stops after Leucippus death and there is no story of Apollo hunting down Daphne in any way... He doesn't even speak of any metamorphosis ; and yet he does mention that Daphne was associated with the laurel, and that the heavy use of laurel in Apollonian rituals and games was because of the god's love for Daphne. (But from yet other sources contemporary to Pausanias' writings, such as the "Life of Apollonius of Tyana", we know that the story of Daphne being somehow "replaced" by a laurel-tree was well-known, though it wasn't always said why such a thing happened)

In conclusion, as usual with how Ovid tweaks the Greek legends, it is interesting to see how he shift the character and what the character is supposed to be about. Thanks to Ovid the image we keep of Daphne is the one of a victim fleeing in fright and fear, and her relationship with Apollo is depicted as a frightening and cruel tragedy orchestrated by Cupid... And yet, we do know that Daphne started out as a badass huntress of Artemis, and that her original story was about a man changing his gender in hope of winning her heart - to the point the involvment of Apollo was seen as a side-detail that could be omitted (Pausanias even claims that Apollo's involvment in the legend was an addition by the priests of the god, and not present in the main folktale)

Mind you I am not at all an expert on Daphne's character or story - and I am sure others are more informed than me... But that's the few things I know

[nysus-temple]

I am very curious why Miller and Jennifer Saint wrote Ariadne as a tragic character instead of giving her a happy ending. Like even when she goes to the underworld she's resurrected and in EVERY VERSION she's an immortal goddess

Also in some sources Ariadne is the supposed snake goddess of the Minoan civilization. Like come on guys give her character more

Okay i know Miller is pro "ancient women only suffered" trope but saints book she was the protagonist and what a letdown that is, because Ariadne won in life and in love and they treated her story very disrespectfully

While I agree that Saint's Ariadne is horribly written, i'm afraid everything else you've said is wrong, anon, and I have to correct you on that. No hate to you, anon ! I just like sources.

(1) Miller has nothing to do with Ariadne. Yes, she talked about it, but she didn't write anything about Ariadne (yet). She has that trope of "women only suffered back then" yes, but she has nothing to do with Saint's book.

(2) Ariadne is not happy in every version, she's happy in most and I agree that she should be given her happy ending, but not EVERY VERSION. Plutarch, for example, explains that Theseus never abandoned her, but Dionysus kidnapped her. Or... The Odyssey, suprinsignly. Ariadne is said to be dead there, to have been killed by Artemis after Dionysus told her to do such. In Aratus', Phaenomena, she's dead; the 'crown of the stars' is something Dionysus made in memorial of a dead Ariadne. In Pausanias' Description of Greece, she's also dead, she's in the Underworld.

(3) For the last time, Ariadne is not a goddess, in any version. She is turned inmortal in various cases, Hesiod's version being the most well-known, but she's not a goddess and she never was, THAT WE KNOW. She could have been, theories like those are thousands, but there aren't any sources stating it as a fact, just theories. She's not the "supposed snake goddess" of the Minoian Civilization. We don't even know much about that 'goddess', in fact, we haven't even translated the Lineal A texts that have been found.

If according to you, there's some sources, please send them to me, I would love to see some facts regarding these theories.

[babyrdie]

Is Peleus a relevant character in the myths?

(with the exception of being Thetis' husband and Achilles' father)

PELEUS' MYTHS (PART 1)

Bro you'd be surprised how many sources Peleus has lol and I know you said except for Achilles and Thetis, but I included them here in order to make the post more complete.

Details:

This post is similar to the one about Pat, with a few differences. Firstly, Peleus has more sources than Patroclus, so he has fewer entire passages and more sources cited in paratenes. Furthermore, in the case of Patroclus I was able to include some academic interpretations of the character because I had space in the post (although I still avoided some and just gave the link to try to shorten the post), and here this was not possible. As the one about Patroclus was my first post like this, I hope that in this one about Peleus things are more organized.

Blue = source. Green = additional explanation. I tried to be as didactic as possible because I don't know how familiar you are with Greek mythology. Someone who is already familiar may find the post repetitive for this reason.

My focus is on Greek texts because I don't know much about non-Greek sources. As I'm already considering texts from the Archaic, Classical and Roman Greece, I'll consider Byzantine sources as well. So be aware that some of these texts have a considerable amount of time in between.

I'm not a classicist or anything like that. I just enjoy learning more about these characters. So be aware of this: I have no authority on the subject, it's just a hobby. Also, it's extremely likely that I'll leave something out because Peleus has a lot of information. If anyone wants to add something, feel free to comment or reblog. If I made a mistake, I'm also open to corrections.

The links go to the exact points I mentioned,so it’s easier for you to check.

Check the "References" part in the end!

My English can be broken, especially in such a long text.

Summary: family, Phocus' death and Phthia, Eurytion's death and Calydonian Boar Hunt, Acastus (part 1), marriage with Thetis, Argonauts, post-Iliad, references (part 2).

FAMILY

Father: Aeacus.

Aeacus as Peleus' father is a strong constant and therefore I'll not include every source that mentions this here. I only mention that the oldest written source on record, The Iliad, already established this relationship. This is why Achilles is sometimes referred to as the grandson of Aeacus and as Aeacid.

[...] and Peleus, Aeacus' son, lives on among his Myrmidon [...]

The Iliad, XVI, 16. Translation by Robert Fagles.

It’s also important to mention that Aeacus' parents are commonly Zeus, an Olympian god, and Aegina, a nymph (Pindar, Isthmian Ode 8; Pindar, Nemean Ode 7; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.29.2; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.5; Hyginus, Fabulae, 52; Nonnus of Panopolis, Dionysiaca, 13.201. Detail: Hyginus is Roman, but his myths are Greek).

Furthermore, he’s connected to the Underworld (Isocrates, Evagoras, 9.15), being one of the judges of the dead (Plato, Gorgias, 523e-524a; Plato, Apology, 40e-41a) and doorkeeper of Hades (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Aristophanes, The Frogs, 466 and 605. But note that The Frogs is a comedy). In Roman literature, Aeacus remained connected to the Underworld.

Mother: Endeis

Peleus' mother is constantly Endeis (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Theseus, 10; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.29.10; Hyginus, Fabulae, 14). 

Fabulae specifically offers a version in which Endeis is described as “Endeis, daughter of Chiron (Χείρων)”, which makes Chiron Peleus' grandfather on his mother's side, although she’s also described in other sources as “daughter of Sciron (Σκείρων), such as Pseudo-Apollodorus and Plutarch. I put the Greek names in parentheses just to clarify that, despite some similarity, Sciron isn’t another translation form in English of the name Chiron but another person — but there is a theory that the myth of Sciron is a different rationalization of the myth of Chiron, Plutarch even says that Endeis' mother is Chariclo, usually Chiron’s wife. Pausanias also offers a version in which she's the daughter of Pandion's daughter (Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.39.6).

Brothers:

Telamon

Telamon is very often Peleus's brother. In most sources, they both have the same parents (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Theseus, 10; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.29.10; Hyginus, Fabulae, 14, Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.6; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.90; Isocrates, Evagoras, 9.16; Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 38), but  Plutarch mentions Telamon as the son of Psamathe and not of Endeis by mentiong the myth given by Dorotheus (Plutarch, Parallela minora, 25). That's why Big Ajax and Teucer are Achilles' cousins. By Telamon, Peleus has a connection with the Trojan royal family (Telamon took as a concubine Hesione, a Trojan princess sister of Priam and mother of Teucer). However, Telamon isn’t ALWAYS Peleus' brother.

But Pherecydes says that Telamon was a friend, not a brother of Peleus, he being a son of Actaeus and Glauce, daughter of Cychreus.

Library, 3.12.6. Translation by JG Frazer.

There is also a theory that deals with the possibility that Telamon as Peleus' friend is an early version, rather than a late version.

Before the age of the Attic dramatists, the Ajax legend received some further developments which were probably unknown to the Cyclic poets. One of these was the enrolment of Ajax among the Aeacidae. The Iliad bestows the name of “Αἰακίδης” on two persons only,—Peleus, the son, and Achilles, the grandson, of Aeacus. The logographer Pherecydes1 (circ. 480 B.C.) made Telamon the son of Actaeus and Glaucè, a daughter of the Aeginetan hero Cychreus,— recognising no tie, except friendship, between Telamon and Peleus. According to another legend, however, both Peleus and Telamon were sons of Aeacus by Endeïs2 (“Ἐνδηΐς”=“ἔγγαιος” or “ἔγγειος”, from the Doric “δᾶ”=“γῆ”). The cult of Aeacus, son of Zeus, had its chief seat in the island called after his mother, the nymph Aegina. Telamon and Ajax belonged to Salamis. By making Telamon and Peleus brothers, the Aeginetans linked their local hero with the others. This engrafting of Telamon and his son on the Aeacid stock had gained general acceptance before the fifth century B.C. The sculptures of Athena's temple at Aegina date from the period of the Persian wars. On the east pediment Heracles and Telamon were the prominent figures; on the west, Ajax was seen defending the corpse of Achilles. Herodotus3 says that when the Greeks had resolved, just before the battle of Salamis, ‘to invoke the Aeacidae as allies,’ they called on Ajax and Telamon to come to them from Salamis itself, but sent a ship to Aegina to summon ‘Aeacus and the other Aeacidae’ (i.e., Peleus, and his son Achilles; Phocus, and his sons Crisus and Panopeus). The passage has an especial interest as showing that, though Ajax had now been thoroughly adopted into the Aeacid cult of Aegina, this had been done without weakening the immemorial tradition which made Salamis his home.

Commentary on Sophocles: Ajax by Richard C. Jebb, Section 4.

Phocus

Phocus is Peleus’ brother (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Hyginus, Fabulae, 14; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.6; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.90). However, he’s a half-brother on Aeacus side, as his mother isn’t Endeis, but a nymph called Psamathe (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.6; Hesiod, Theogony, 1003; Pindar, Nemean Ode 5, 5.1; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.29.9; Antoninus Liberalis, Metamorphoses, 38).

Menoetius

Peleus and Menoetius being brothers didn't seem very common in the sources I read, but it exists! Generally their kinship is because of Aegina (grandmother of Peleus, mother of Menoetius), not because they’re brothers. Thus, by Aegina, Menoetius is related to Peleus, and consequently so is Patroclus.

Eustathius, Hom. 112. 44 sq: It should be observed that the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoethius the father of Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were first cousins.

Catalogues of Women, frag 61. Translation by Evelyn-White, H G

Wifes

Antigone

Don't confuse her with Aedipus' Antigone! This one here is Eurytion’s daughter.

Peleus fled to Phthia to the court of Eurytion, son of Actor, and was purified by him, and he received from him his daughter Antigone and the third part of the country. And a daughter Polydora was born to him, who was wedded by Borus, son of Perieres.

Library, 3.13.1. Translation by J.G Frazer.

Ioannis Tzetzes, a Byzantine, made commentaries explaining Cassandra's prophecies written by Lycophron in the poem "Alexandra". In this text he said:

Peleus, according to Pherekydes, was purified by Eurytus, the son of Actor, whose daughter Antigone he took.

Ad Lycophronem, 175bis. 

Antigone died because she hanged herself (I'll explain why later), so Peleus was no longer married with her when married Thetis. Explaining this now because maybe someone thought that Peleus had two wives at the same time.

Polydora

I'll be honest and say that I genuinely think Pseudo-Apollodorus got it wrong here. He said that, after Antigone died, Peleus married Polydora who had a son named Menesthius with Sperchius. This description corresponds to Polydora mentioned by Homer in The Iliad, who was Peleus' DAUGHTER, not wife. And of the sources that mention this Polydora, this is the only time in which she’s the wife of Peleus. Also, Pseudo-Apollodorus himself had described her as the daughter of Peleus and Antigone before. So yeah, probably a mistake.

Peleus married Polydora, daughter of Perieres, by whom he had a putative son Menesthius, though in fact Menesthius was the son of the river Sperchius.

Library, 3.13.4. Translation by J.G Frazer.

Polymele

Ioannis Tzetzes, in his scholia of Lycophron, says: “Others say that Peleus had Polymele, the daughter of Actor, as a wife before Thetis” (Ad Lycophronem, 175bis). A curious detail is that Peleus has a daughter attributed to him who is also a Polymele.

Thetis

Thetis as wife of Peleus is a constant, since she’s essential to the existence of Achilles and the existence of Achilles is important to the myth of the Trojan War. I’ll talk more about this relationship later in the post. Because of Thetis, he’s the son-in-law of the god Nereus or Chiron (yes, there are versions in which Thetis is Chiron's daughter. But the most traditional and popular is that she is Nereus' daughter. I won't expand on this here because it would fit more with a post about Thetis). Their relationship was forced by divine intervention.

Children

Polydora

She’s Achilles' older half-sister, as she’s the daughter of Peleus' previous marriage with Antigone. According to Pseudo-Apollodorus she’s married to Borus.

Peleus fled to Phthia to the court of Eurytion, son of Actor, and was purified by him, and he received from him his daughter Antigone and the third part of the country. And a daughter Polydora was born to him, who was wedded by Borus, son of Perieres.

Library, 3.13.1. Translation by J.G Frazer.

Although this is largely forgotten, she actually exists in Homeric tradition, already the mother of Menesthius, with Spercheus being the father. Menesthius was one of the Myrmidons led by Achilles, who was his uncle.

The first battalion was led by Menesthius bright in bronze, son of Spercheus River swelled by the rains of Zeus and born by the lovely Polydora, Peleus' daughter, when a girl and the god of a tireless river bedded down.

The Iliad, XVI, 203-206. Translation by Robert Fagles.

A fragment attributed to Hesiod also mentioned Polydora as Peleus' daughter.

Scholiast on Homer, Il. xvi. 175: ...whereas Hesiod and the rest call her (Peleus' daughter) Polydora.

Catalogues of Women, frag 60.  Translation by Evelyn-White, H G.

Polymele

Polymele is a daughter of Peleus briefly mentioned in the Library as one of Patroclus' possible mothers. Considering she was old enough to be a possible mother of Patroclus, she’s also older than Achilles.

Achilles was also accompanied by Patroclus, son of Menoetius and Sthenele, daughter of Acastus; or the mother of Patroclus was Periopis, daughter of Pheres, or, as Philocrates says, she was Polymele, daughter of Peleus.

Library, 3.13.8. Translation by James George Frazer.

Unnamed children 

There is a bizarre version that Thetis somehow managed to burn six children she had with Peleus before he saved Achilles when she tried again, and it’s found in the Photius’ Bibliotheca. This Bibliotheca is Photius giving reviews of the books he has read, so this version isn't his, but rather the person he's evaluating. In this case, he attributed this myth to Ptolemy Hephaestion's New Histories (because of a passage in the Suda, there is a theory that this Ptolemy is Ptolemy Chennus. In this case, Ptolemy Chennus is from Roman Greece. So although Photius is Byzantine, the version isn’t from Byzantine Greece).

Thetis burned in a secret place the children she had by Peleus; six were born; when she had Achilles, Peleus noticed and tore him from the flames with only a burnt ankle-bone and confided him to Chiron.

Photius’ Bibliotheca, 190.46. Translation by John Henry Freese.

For a while, I thought the idea of children having died before Achilles was only present in this source, but look...

Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Arg. iv. 816: The author of the Aegimius says in the second book that Thetis used to throw the children she had by Peleus into a cauldron of water, because she wished to learn where they were mortal . . . And that after many had perished Peleus was annoyed, and prevented her from throwing Achilles into the cauldron.

Aegimius, frag 2. Translation by Evelyn-White, H.G.

Aegimius is a poem generally attributed to Hesiod, and it’s only possible to know part of the content from surviving fragments. Ironically, although the mythological character Aegimius gave the poem its name, this character isn’t prominent in the surviving parts. One of the fragments is known because a scholiastic of Apollonius Rhodius mentioned a version of the myth in which Thetis, wanting to know if her children were mortal or immortal, threw her children into a cauldron of water. Peleus stopped her from doing the same thing to Achilles, which is why he survived. If this poem is indeed by Hesiod, that would date it to Archaic Greece, many years before Hephaestion.

Tzetzes also mentions this version:

"From seven children"; this Lycophron either does not know where he found or is fabricating this, he says that Thetis bore seven male children from Peleus and she threw six of them into the fire and killed them as unworthy of herself, but she was watched and prevented when it came to Achilles. [...]” 

Ad Lycophronem, 178.

He was commenting on this part of Alexandra, by Lycophron:

[...] even him whom one day the exile from Oenone fathered, turning into men the six-footed host of ants,– the Pelasgian Typhon, out of seven sons consumed in the flame alone escaping the fiery ashes.

Alexandra. Translation by A. W. Mair.

 Achilles 

Son of Peleus by Thetis. It's a constant, and there's no need to list sources. By Achilles and Deidamia (daughter of Lycomedes, princess of Skyros), Neoptolemus and Oneiros are Peleus’ grandson (the first is a constant. The second is in Photius, Bibliotheca, 190.20. Both were killed by Orestes, but one was on purpose and the other was accidental.)

My take

When the level of Achilles' lineage is discussed, it’s usually only mentioned that his father is a mortal king and his mother is a goddess. But this lineage is actually even more peculiar than that because of Peleus’ lineage.

As in several cases in mythology, it’s initiated by a divine relationship (the Olympian Zeus, son of the titans Cronus and Rhea, and the Naiad-nymph Aegina — I didn't mention it before, but Zeus kidnapped her). As for Aegina, she’s daughter of the River Asopus. Asopus has more than one attributed father/mother, but it’s usually of a divine nature. In texts that attribute a mother to her, that mother is the Naiad-nymph Metope, daughter of the River Ladon (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.1). Aeacus, though mortal, had divine blood on both sides, and even after death had some position in the Underworld.

Aeacus married Endeis, which depending on the source is the daughter of the mortal king Sciron or the centaur Chiron (son of the titan Chronos and the Oceanid-nymph Philyra) and her mother is Charichlo (a nymph of Mount Pelion). They had Peleus and Telamon. Aeacus had Phocus with the Nereid Psamathe (daughter of Nereus and Oceanid Doris), who was forced. 

Telamon eventually became king of Salamis. With Periboea (a princess), Telamon had Ajax the Great. In the first attack on Troy led by Heracles, the Trojan princess Hesione was given as a concubine to Telamon, and they had Teucer (in the same myth as the first attack on Troy, Heracles gave the name Ajax). Peleus married Antigone (princess of Phthia), and had Polydora with her. Polydora had a son named Menesthius (a Myrmidon) with the River Spercheus. Peleus later married the Nereid-nymph Thetis (yes, she is Psamathe's sister) and they had Achilles, a demigod with a great prophecy. Peleus was also king of Phthia. Achilles, with the princess of Skyros Deidamia, had Neoptolemus (also with an important prophecy). Neoptolemus had children with Andromache, former wife of the Trojan crown prince Hector (she was given to him as a prize), but none were very prominent.

Although when talking about Achilles' lineage, Thetis still seems to be the one that has the greatest prominence, his other illustrious relatives through Peleus are also mentioned, after all his kinship with Zeus comes especially from his father's side. And as already said in the Aeacus part, Achilles is also often associated with Aeacus, who is from the paternal side.

"Memnon, how wast thou so distraught of wit that thou shouldst face me, and to fight defy me, who in might, in blood, in stature far surpass thee? From supremest Zeus I trace my glorious birth; and from the strong Sea-god Nereus, begetter of the Maids of the Sea, the Nereids, honoured of the Olympian Gods. And chiefest of them all is Thetis, wise with wisdom world-renowned; for in her bowers she sheltered Dionysus, chased by might of murderous Lycurgus from the earth. Yea, and the cunning God-smith welcomed she within her mansion, when from heaven he fell. Ay, and the Lightning-lord she once released from bonds. The all-seeing Dwellers in the Sky remember all these things, and reverence my mother Thetis in divine Olympus. Ay, that she is a Goddess shalt thou know when to thine heart the brazen spear shall pierce sped by my might. Patroclus' death I avenged on Hector, and Antilochus on thee will I avenge. No weakling's friend thou hast slain! But why like witless children stand we here babbling our parents' fame and our own deeds? Now is the hour when prowess shall decide."

Posthomerica, 537-562. Translation by A.S Way.

PHOCUS’ DEATH AND PHITHIA

As already established, Phocus is Peleus' half-brother on his father's side. Phocus was killed by Peleus/Telamon/Peleus and Telamon (depends on the version), which led to both having to flee and settle in other lands because of the crime (Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2.29; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.12.6; Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, 1.90; Euripides, Andromache, 642; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, 4.72.5; Antoninus Liberalis,  Metamorphoses, 38; Hyginus, Fabulae, 14.2; Ioannis Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 175bis).

The details of Phocus' death depends. Here are some versions:

Euripides (480 BC–406 BC), in Andromache, writes Menelaus accusing Peleus of having killed Phocus. He doesn’t mention Telamon, so perhaps the version here is that only Peleus killed Phocus.

Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BC) describes the situation as "when in their folly they had slain their brother Phoeus", which indicates the participation of both brothers.

In the version given by Antoninus Liberalis (but credited to Nicander of Colophon, who is from 2nd century BC), Aeacus had Phocus as his favorite, which made Telamon and Peleus jealous and led them to secretly kill Phocus (together). In other words, planned homicide with the participation of both.

According to Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Peleus accidentally killed Phocus by hitting him with a disc. In other words, accidental homicide by Peleus.

Hyginus (64 BC–17 AD) says that Telamon and Peleus had to flee because of the slaughter of Phocus, but doesn’t go into detail.

Plutarch (46 AD–119 AD) mentions a version of the myth given by Dorotheus, where Phocus and Telamon are both brothers of father and mother (Psamathe being the mother). Aeacus preferred Phocus, so Telamon killed him during a hunt. There is no Peleus in this version, and the murder is planned and executed only by Telamon.

Pausanias (110 AD–180 AD) says that Telamon and Peleus planned Phocus' death to please Endeis (their mother, who isn’t Phocus' mother). They induced Phocus to compete with them in the pentathlon, and Peleus killed him by hitting him with the stone used as a quoit. In other words, a planned homicide with the participation of both, and the person responsible for the fatal blow was Peleus.

Pseudo-Apollodorus' (1st or 2nd century AD) version is that Phocus stood out among the three because he was very atletic, which made Telamon and Peleus jealous. Telamon killed Phocus during a match by throwing a quoit at his head, and Peleus later helped carry and hide the body. In other words, a planned homicide with the participation of both, and the person responsible for the fatal blow was Telamon.

Tzetzes (1100 AD–1180 AD) explained the prophecies of “Alexandra”, written by Lycophron. When explaining the “Oenone” present in the prophecies, he offered a version of the myth of Phocus' death. According to Tzetzes, the place of death was in a gymnasium and it occurred in the following way: Peleus first hit him with a disc, and then Telamon stabbed him in the back with a sword and thus Phocus died. In this case there was active participation by both brothers, although Telamon was responsible for the fatal blow. He also gives more details: Psamathe, Phocus' mother, was angered by her son's death and sent a wolf to destroy Peleus' cattle. Thetis later intervenes and the wolf is turned to stone (either by Thetis or by Psamathe at Thetis' request).

Considering the possibility that Telamon may not have been Peleus' brother in the older versions of the myth (which I have already mentioned in the Telamon part of the family section), there is also the possibility that in the older versions regarding Phocus' death, Peleus was the only active participant. However, this is only a possibility and not a fact. Furthermore, it seems to me that in most versions the death was planned and not accidental.

In any case, regardless of how Phocus' death occurred, the versions result in this: Peleus and Telamon fled Aegina, the first went to Phithia and the second to Salamis.

Tzetzes, in a version he credits to Pherekydes (6th century BC), says that Peleus was purified by Eurytion, son of Actor, and married his daughter Antigone.

Apollonius Rhodius (3rd century BC) wrote “Telamon dwelt in the Attic island; but Peleus departed and made his home in Phthia”. Hyginus follows Apollonius's description, crediting him.

According to Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), Peleus fled to Phithia/Thessaly, where he was purified of his crime by King Actor. Peleus succeeded to the kingship because Actor had no children.

In the version given by Antoninus Liberalis (between 100 AD and 300 AD), Peleus went to Eurytion son of Irus (note that he isn’t "son of Actor”. This Eurytion son of Irus is cited by Apollonius as one of the Argonauts) and prayed for and received from him purification.

According to Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD), Peleus fled to Phithia, where King Eurytion, son of Actor, purified Peleus of his crime and offered him his daughter Antigone as a wife and the third part of Phithia to lead.

If we consider that he ascended to the throne of Phithia through marriage with Antigone (princess of Phithia), these versions tends to have Polydora as a daughter. However, she gets married and is no longer present in Phithia (as she has moved away) in moments like The Iliad, for example.

EURYTION’S DEATH AND CALYDONIAN BOAR HUNT 

Peleus kills someone else, this time Eurytion and really accidentally. The intention was to hit a boar, but he hit him instead. (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 1.8.2 and 3.13.2; Antoninus Liberalis,  Metamorphoses, 38; Ioannis Tzetzes, Ad Lycophronem, 175bis). As to whether this boar is an ordinary animal or the divine animal of Artemis, it’s ambiguous in some versions. And if you're wondering why the hell it would be a divine animal, the answer is that Peleus, like other heroes of his time, participated in the Calydonian Boar Hunt (Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 1.8.2; Hyginus, Fabulae, 173; Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.45.6; Philostratus the Younger, Imagines, 15. Note: there was another Imagines written by another Philostratus, called Philostratus the Elder. Here I'm talking about the youngest. And this Elder isn’t the same Philostratus as Philostratus the Athenian).

Regarding the versions of the Calydonian Boar Hunt, Philostratus the Younger (3rd century AD) says that Meleager and Peleus were both responsible for the fatal blow to the boar, although the protagonism still focuses on Meleager and Peleus here functions more as a type of helper. Overall, generally the most memorable heroes of the Hunt are Atalanta, remembered for being the first to shoot the boar, and Meleager, remembered for being the one who killed it. Peleus’ participation does not seem to be a strong highlight.

In regards to Eurytion's accidental death:

Antoninus Liberalis, in a version credited to Nicander of Colophon (who is from 2nd century BC), says that Peleus accidentally killed Eurytion (son of Irus, not Actor) while hunting a wild boar. This boar isn’t specified as being the Calydonian.

Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD) says that Peleus was among the participants in the Calydonian Boar Hunt, the animal was sent by Artemis in her fury because the king had forgotten to honor her. In an attempt to hit the animal, Peleus accidentally hit Eurytion (here Actor's son and Peleus' father-in-law). He then fled Phithia and ended up in Iolcus, where he was purified by Acastus.

Tzetzes (1100 AD–1180 AD) says that the wife Peleus had before Thetis, Polymele, had a brother named Irus. This brother had a son named Eurytion (thus Peleus' nephew by marriage), whom he accidentally killed during a hunt. Again, there is no mention of the Calydonian boar.

ACASTUS 

This Acastus of the title is the same one who purified Peleus of Eurytion's death, depending on the version. He’s from Iolcus and is the son of Pelias (Pelias being the king of Iolcus who sent his nephew Jason, son of his half-brother on his mother's side Aeson, on the journey after the golden fleece). One of Acastus's recorded daughters, Sthenele, is listed as a possible mother of Patroclus.

Acastus had a wife who fell in love with Peleus, was refused by him and falsely accused him of trying to force himself on her, which made Acastus plot Peleus' death (Pindar, Nemean Odes, 4.50 and 5.25; Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library, 3.13.3; Scholia of Pindar, 4.95; Hesiod, Catalogues of Women, frag 55 and 56).

Two fragments attributed to Hesiod's Catalogues of Women (8th century BC) state that 1) Hesiod narrated the case in detail 2) Peleus had a sword made by Hephaestus, which Acastus hid because then Peleus would look for it alone in Pelion and be killed by centaurs.

Pindar (518 BC–438 BC) says that Acastus' wife Hippolyta repeatedly offered herself to Peleus. Peleus refused her each time for fear of the wrath of Zeus, god of hospitality (as he was Acastus's guest), which made Hippolyta falsely accuse him of trying to force himself on her. Acastus then planned Peleus' death, using a sword as a device. However, Chiron rescued Peleus and, as a reward for being a good guest, Zeus decided to reward him by giving him Thetis as his wife. A scholiast of this ode by Pindar, which unfortunately I only found in Greek, mentioned that Acastus' intention was for Peleus to be killed by the centaurs. He also mentions a version by Hesiod, which is the same as frag 56 that I mentioned since this fragment was taken from this scholia.

Pseudo-Apollodorus (1st or 2nd century AD) says that Acastus' wife, Astydamia, in love with Peleus, sent him a proposal. But he refused her, which left her dissatisfied. In revenge, Astydamia sent Peleus's wife at the time, Antigone, a message warning that he was going to marry Sterope, daughter of Acastus. Antigone believed it and, thinking she would be passed over, hanged herself. Not satisfied, Astydamia also falsely accused Peleus of trying to force himself on her and Acastus, believing his wife, was furious. He didn’t want to kill Peleus himself, as he had purified him, so he planned for him to die some other way. When Peleus and Acastus went hunting, Acastus hid Peleus's sword and abandoned him. When he woke up, Peleus went to look for his sword and, unarmed, was almost captured by the centaurs. However, Chiron saved him and also gave him back his sword, and he found it before Peleus.

Overall, there are the following constants: Peleus is Acastus's guest, Acastus' wife wants to lie with Peleus, Peleus rejects her, Acastus' wife falsely accuses him of trying to force himself on her, Acastus plans for Peleus to die at Pelion, Peleus is saved by Chiron.

THE CONTINUATION IS IN THE REBLOG!

[travellogforgreece]

Running into Pheidippides (490 BCE)

As my time machine crashed near Athens, I saw a middle-aged man with a maximal, muscular body. That man came to be Pheidippides, the infamous courier who had run from Marathon to Athens to inform the Athenians about the incoming battle of Marathon. As we talked about multiple things, including the great city of Athens, he told me a bit about the city’s culture. Initially, when I asked him about Marathon, he quickly told me it was a parish, not a city. I remember Pausanias stated in his “Descriptions of Greece,” where he says, “There is a parish called Marathon, equally distant from Athens…” (Pausanias).

The conversation fell short as he told me he had to go to Athens to give an important message. As I saw him shout the message to the city, he collapsed to the ground and never got up again. According to Herodotus’s stories, he died after he said his statement.

As I walk through the streets of Athens, I see, hear, smell, and taste so many things in a few minutes. When I was walking, a group of guys was joking around with one another over a bald man. In the San Diego State University author and associate professor Walter D. Penrose Jr.’s publication on the discourse of disability in ancient Greece, he mentions how baldness “was seen as a deformity of sorts in the ancient world, one which was joked about…” (Penrose 505). Aristotle was the one who associated baldness as a deformity, which shows us a particular view of how the Athenians viewed disability in the Classical Age. In his publication, he argues that while there were no specializations of a specific disability shown in ancient history, signs of “pity, charity, and categorization” were present. 

After researching his claim, I argue that they did not show signs of pity but showed signs of ignorance; by hiding it with jokes or humor. The ancient Greeks, including Athens and Sparta, did not give access to their disabled persons, mainly because of the class structure of the city-states. Either way, I saw many things on my way through Athens. I visited various monuments, including the Temple of Aphaia, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, and more. I’m still trying to see if I can see anything related to Pythagoras, as that is my last name! But wait, someone is bringing me in to see the case of Timarchus? I’m in!

In this text, author, and associate professor from San Diego State University, Walter D. Penrose Jr, talks about how Greek society treated disability in ancient Greece. Penrose specializes in the History of Gender and Sexuality in Ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and South Asian contexts. With his interest in disability studies, he put immeasurable research into his publication, “The Discourse of Disability in Ancient Greece.” He argues while there were not any specializations of a specific disability shown in ancient history, there were signs of “pity, charity, and categorization” which were present. Penrose complemented his argument with evidence from multiple primary sources included in the publication, one example being how the Greek author Plutarch described how the Greek government should not have the “disabled” in the military or politics. 

Sources:

(n.d.-b). The Academy Of Athens. Theoi Texts Library. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1C.htmlPenrose, W. D. (2015).

The Discourse of Disability in Ancient Greece. The Classical World, 108(4), 499–523. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24699780

[dandelion-turtle]

Hyakinthos

Hyakinthos was a Spartan prince, most prominently known in Amyclae with a decent cult following. there are a couple of different people listed as being his parents, but the most popular is King Amyclus and Diomedes. if Amyclus was his father, that would also make Daphne, another of Apollo’s lovers, Hyakinthos’s sister. it seems like he would be quite simple, he has a relatively small story with one of the earliest written records from Hesiod. in this version there is no love rival, just an accident. written in the 7th century BC, it was merely one, albeit long, sentence.

”. . ((lacuna)) rich-tressed Diomede; and she bare Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus), the blameless one and strong . . ((lacuna)) whom, on a time Phoibos (Phoebus) [Apollon] himself slew unwittingly with a ruthless disk.”

however, the most famous version, and one that most will know, comes from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. written somewhere between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD, this sentence long story grew to be paragraphs long. in which Ovid describes the love Apollo and Hyakinthos have for each other — which was the ultimate demise for the young prince. with parts of it coming from the perspective of a mourning Apollo, Ovid writes how Hyakinthos was turned into a flower with “ai, ai” written on the petals to express Apollo’s sadness. and the version that we all have come to know including betrayal and jealous rage from Zephyros (the West Wind), is hinted at in Pausanias’ “Description of Greece”.

”[In the temple of Apollon at Amyklai (Amyclae) Nikias (Nicias) [painter fl. c. 320 B.C.], son of Nikomedes, has painted him [Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus)] in the very prime of youthful beauty, hinting at the love of Apollon for Hyakinthos of which legend tells . . . As for Zephyros (the West Wind), how Apollon unintentionally killed Hyakinthos, and the story of the flower, we must be content with the legends, although perhaps they are not true history.”

despite this seemingly clear-cut story, there’s a lot more than meets the eye with Hyakinthos. according to many historians the -nth part of his name is pre-Hellenic and comes from the Mycenaean era. another word like that would be Corinth — a pre-Greek polis that was destroyed and rebuilt. this leads many to believe that Hyakinthos was around BEFORE Apollo. he would have been a chthonic vegetation god — almost like the male equivalent to Persephone. this leads to a few different theories, but before I get to that, let me tell you the story of Hyakinthos as told by Ovid and Lucian’s “Dialogues of the Gods”. ═══════════════════════════

⊰ The Myth ⊱

Hyakinthos was a beautiful Spartan prince. he had many lovers, but the one that had eventually won his heart was Apollo. the god taught beautiful long-haired Hyakinthos how to play the lyre, how to use a bow and arrows, a little bit on prophecies, and gave him a swan chariot. the two were incredibly in love, but sadly, there was someone who didn’t like that. Zephyros, the west wind, was jealous for he too loved Hyakinthos. he had tried to woo him but it really was no match for Apollo. he watched the two men play again and again until he had eventually had enough of it. he ultimately created one of the most tragic love stories. like most days, Apollo and Hyakinthos were together, playing around and having mild competitions throwing a discus. Apollo wanted to show off for Hyakinthos so he could see just what a god could do. he threw a discus high into the air, clearing the clouds away and it disappeared into the sky. Hyakinthos wanted to impress his lover as well, so he chased after the discus laughing. Zephyros in a fit of rage at the two men enjoying themselves changed the course of the discus. as it came to land, the force was so strong that it bounced off the ground and smashed into Hyakinthos’s face. Apollo ran to his lover and tried every kind of medicine and healing he could think of. he even placed ambrosia on his lover’s lips but blood flowed freely from the wound. there was no way for him to stop a wound of Fate. in his despair, he turned Hyakinthos into a flower, but seeing that wasn’t good enough, he wrote his grief upon the petals. ═══════════════════════════

⊰ Symbolism From The Myth ⊱

Taking A Temple as mentioned before, it’s very likely that Hyakinthos was an older deity from the pre-hellenic period. something that many Greek writers did, was create a myth of how a deity began their worship in a specific place. we know the temple that Apollo was worshipped at in Amyclae was older than when his worship would have started. one theory behind this myth then, is how Apollo came to be worshipped over Hyakinthos at the temple and area; by killing the previous deity. it sounds sad, but it’s actually happened several times, and even with Apollo specifically. the most famous example I can think of would be at Delphi. originally the temple was in honor of the titan Gaia. Apollo came in valiantly and killed the Python (which is what gives Apollo’s priestesses their name) and inevitably took the temple over with his worship. what this doesn’t account for, is the fact Hyakinthos is still worshipped at the temple heavily, his and Apollo’s worship having mingled and being near inseparable. it is even said that upon his death and burial, Apollo said to give him (Hyakinthos) all offerings first. now, if you know a thing or two about Greek worship, the first portion of the offering was incredibly important, especially considering hero worship was probably closer to chthonic sacrifices in practice; though they were not considered to be ‘dead’. within my research so far, I have yet to find this happening somewhere else, but I will update this if I ever do. now all of this is unusual with the theory that this myth symbolizes one deity taking over. if that were the case, why continue to worship Hyakinthos? Duality some of you may not know this about me, but I am a sucker when it comes to duality, specifically with lovers. this myth may be a symbol for the growing season and harvest of the crops. while it may be a common motif, especially among the Greeks, I think it’s a sweet and somber story giving personification to an important aspect of Greek life. I also believe the duality is less about the exacts of what they rule over, but the way they were worshipped. the closest example I can think of also comes from Delphi with the duality between Apollo and Dionysos (who, shockingly enough, was the only other god historians believe was present during the Hyakinthia festival besides Apollo and Hyakinthos). as a hero, or simply for his chthonic aspect, the ritual and practice would have been far different than that for Apollo. while this isn’t exactly backed by anything I can find specific to duality, I personally feel a reason both Apollo and Hyakinthos were worshipped together in Amyclae is due to that duality between them. Hyakinthos would have been a chthonic deity probably for vegetation or agriculture, whereas Apollo here is a god of light (not the sun) representing life, health, and the ultimate grief. their worship in Amyclae was always together once Apollo was introduced (to some this hinted that they were possibly the same person representing a cycle, but most disagree with this theory). the duality is clearly a theme already for Apollo, and I think what happened at Delphi with Dionysos is the same for Amyclae and Hyakinthos. together they represent loss and mourning but also happiness and life — love. ═══════════════════════════

⊰ Hyakinthos Associations ⊱

okay, now that I have bored you all to death, let’s talk about some less heavy things. due to their worship being completely together, I would say that nearly anything related to Apollo can also be associated with Hyakinthos and vice versa. however, we love individuality in this house, so let’s talk about the things either associated with him through the various, limited texts we have and some UPG. Associations ➳ larkspurs/hyacinths ➳ swans ➳ bow and arrow ➳ summer! ➳ new spring growth ➳ chiton’s (they were offered to him by the women of Sparta) ➳ death ➳ rebirth/cycles ➳ chariot’s ➳ blood ➳ blue/purple/red colors ➳ discus (sorry) ➳ lavender ➳ lyre ➳ lapis lazuli ➳ amethyst ➳ black tourmaline ═══════════════════════════ Devotional Activities ➳ keeping a garden ➳ maybe even an indoor garden ➳ go to parks and feed the swans/birds ➳ archery ➳ sports ➳ making a chiton ➳ writing poems ➳ taking care of those around you ➳ growing larkspurs/hyacinths ➳ get a devotional journal ➳ create a playlist (sad songs for the most part) ➳ fall in love deeply ═══════════════════════════

⊰ Deity Or Divine Hero? ⊱

I don’t know if this question can be answered for a fact honestly. what we do know is that he was at least worshipped as a hero, that much can be said. anything further than that comes at a later time and from the outside perspective. a lot of ancient Greek writers didn’t write down certain things because they saw them as common knowledge. this doesn’t help us looking back now. what we can say, is that some of the offerings given to him were not common with hero worship and would have been reserved for the gods. this is according to Angeliki Petropoulou, a professor in ancient greek studies/religion, and the author of “Hyakinthos and Apollo of Amyklai: Identities and Cults. A Reconsideration of the Written Evidence” pages 153-161. Within this, she makes the argument that Hyakinthos has gone through ‘apotheosis’. this is the action of a mortal, usually a hero, becoming a god. note: ‘βουθυσία’ is a traditional oxen sacrifice.

“The βουθυσία for Hyakinthos, which is indicative of his new immortal status, should be placed on the third day too. Oxen are costly victims, the bull being the most “noble” sacrificial animal. After mourning for Hyakinthos’s death and making a propitiatory sacrifice at his tomb, they honoured him with a bull sacrificed as if to a god. Yet the geographical range in which he was regarded as god was rather circumscribed and did not spread beyond the borders of Lakedaimonia. The βουθυσία for Hyakinthos would have been instituted after the construction of the altar on which Apollo received sacrifices; for the only altar excavated, in an area filled with remnants of burnt sacrifices, is attributed to Apollo.”

so there you have it. most places will probably call him a hero, and that wouldn’t be wrong. others may call him a deity, which also isn’t wrong. I’ll tell you what I’m personally going to go with, and everyone can make their own decision based on the information listed through this post and the readings I’ll link at the bottom. no matter your conclusion, the relationship you have will be completely yours, and it’s ok! if anything, I encourage that over taking my word for it. ══════════════════════════ for me, I think I consider him a deity. I know that I heavily romanticize the story, and with Apollo being so near to my heart, him having a terrible love life hurts my soul. while I don’t exactly want to rewrite any myths, I won’t claim that they are married, I will say that I believe them to be happy. their worship in Amyclae was so intertwined and based completely around each other from the history we know, that, for me, it makes sense to also honor them together. I’ll leave you all on one more incredibly sad quote from Lucien’s “Dialogue of the Gods” (that I referenced from earlier).

”Apollon : Well, my loves never prosper; Daphne and Hyakinthos (Hyacinthus) were my great passions; she so detested me that being turned to a tree was more attractive than I; and him I killed with a quoit. Nothing is left me of them but wreaths of their leaves and flowers.”

it’s ok to cry, I do nearly every time I read that.

⊰ For Further Reading ⊱

➳Hyakinthos theoi ➳Apollo theoi ➳Hyakinthos Wiki ➳My Hellenic Research Google Drive this also contains the Sparta book I reference and a few others worth a read.

[my-name-is-apollo]

(To the anons who'd asked me about Helios / Apollo being sun god)

Decided to make this a post because I've been seeing too many "Helios WAS the sun god until Apollo replaced so Apollo is the sun god now" and "Apollo was never the sun god it was always Helios! The Romans just confused the two deities" and its getting kinda tiring. Both of those statements are not right imo so here's my two cents on this.

Helios was seen as the personification of the sun. And he alone was the one who had to drive the sun chariot across the sky every day. Here are tons of evidence for that.

Apollo's domain ranged from being a light bringing deity to a deity bringing seasonal change to being called the sun itself (the last one is very rare though, but it exists) . But driving the sun chariot wasn't his duty and he never did that, at least in the greek texts. He was identified with Helios/Sol by some Roman writers, hence sometimes, you can see the name Phoebus being used for the sun (although I haven't found any that use "Phoebus" for the driver of sun chariot, Sol is used in all the cases) but majority of them did distinguish Apollo from Helios and made Helios the owner of sun chariot. I believe it was during the Renaissance that various artists started painting Apollo with the sun chariot.

Back to Apollo, take a look at these:

“The unseen land [i.e. the underworld] where Apollon [here the sun] does not walk, the sunless (analion) land that receives all men.”

- Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 858 ff

^ This is probably the earliest source putting Apollo in role of a solar deity, and Aeschylus lived from 525 BCE - 456 BCE. So no, Apollo being a solar deity was definitely not something Romans invented. Apollo was seen as sun god since antiquity. There's no doubt in that.

“That Apollon is the same as the sun and that one god is furnished with two names is made clear to us by the mystical words spoken in the secret initiation rites and by the popular refrain which can be heard everywhere : The sun is Apollon and Apollon is the sun.”

- Greek Lyric V Folk Songs, Fragment 860 (from Heraclitus, Homeric Allegories) (trans. Campbell) (Greek lyric B.C.)

“moreover that ‘E’ is the second vowel from the beginning, and the sun the second planet, after the moon, and that all Greeks, or nearly all, identify Apollo with the sun”

- Plutarch, On the E at Delphi (trans. Bernadotte) (Greek historian, C1st and early C2nd A.D.)

^ A greek historian said that nearly all the greeks identified Apollo with the sun (not necessarily equate him with it, though)

“Apollo is the sun, and most rightly is he named the father of Asclepius, because the sun, by adapting his course to the seasons, imparts to the air its healthfulness. I replied that I accepted his statements, but that the argument was as much Greek as Phoenician.”

- Pausanias, Description of Greece 7. 23. 8 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.)

^ Here, in the role of him being a sun deity, he is connected with seasonal changes too, plus once again its mentioned how worshipping Apollo as sun god was prevelant among the greeks.

“And you Helios, who strike with your bright rays the everlasting heavenly vault, send on our enemies a far-shot arrow from your bowstring, oh ie Paian [Apollon].”

- Timotheus, Fragment 800 (from Macrobius, Saturnalia) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric V) (C5th B.C.)

^ "Helios" is used as Apollo's epithet.

“You say that Sol the Sun and Luna the Moon are deities, and the Greeks identify the former with Apollo and the latter with Diana [Artemis].”

- Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.)

“Both Helios (the Sun) and Selene (the Moon) are closely associated with these [Apollon and Artemis], since they are the causes of the temperature of the air. And both pestilential diseases and sudden deaths are imputed to these gods [Apollon and Artemis].”

- Strabo, Geography 14. 1. 6 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.)

So calling Apollo the sun god is not wrong. At all. It's literally in the canonical sources, guys. We should just remember Helios as well, and also the fact that (for the most part) Apollo never drove the sun chariot. (and no, there was no dramatic fading away of Helios, or Apollo replacing Helios during the Roman times - that's just something Rick Riordan invented). So there's literally no need to argue over who was the sun god and who was not?? They both were solar deities in their own ways. Ovid acknowledges both Apollo and Helios/Sol as sun gods in his work Metamorphoses. And that wasn't a big deal or as confusing some people make it to be. There were two or sometimes more than two deities for a single domain - it's such a common occurrence in ancient greek mythology and religion, so I don't understand why we should have trouble wrapping our heads around the idea of there being two sun gods. It's not that hard. If the ancients could roll with that idea, I feel like we can too.

[struck-by-the-moon]

The Worship of Taurian Artemis and Iphigeneia

      I wanted to write this post because I worship Iphigeneia and I think it is kinda neat. There is a connection between Artemis as she was worshipped in Tauris and Iphigeneia. Iphigeneia may have been syncretized with Artemis and the goddess who was worshipped in Tauris. Artemis has a few epithets that are related to Iphigeneia.

“O′RTHIA (Orthia, Orthias, or Orthôsia) a surname of the Artemis who is also called Iphigeneia or Lygodesma, and must be regarded as the goddess of the moon. Her worship was probably brought to Sparta from Lemnos. It was at the altar of Artemis Orthia that Spartan boys had to undergo the diamastigosis (Schol. ad Pind. Ol. iii. 54 ; Herod. iv. 87; Xenoph. de Rep. Lac. ii. 10). She also had temples at Brauron, in the Cerameicus at Athens, in Elis, and on the coast of Byzantium. The ancients derived her surname from mount Orthosium or Orthium in Arcadia.” (Theoi.com-Artemis Cult titles and epithets)

“TAU′RICA (DEA) (hê Taurikê), "the Taurian goddess," commonly called Artemis. Her image was believed to have been carried from Tauris by Orestes and Iphigenia, and to have been conveyed to Brauron, Sparta, or Aricia. The worship of this Taurian goddess, who was identified with Artemis and Iphigenia, was carried on with orgiastic rites and human sacrifices, and seems to have been very ancient in Greece. (Paus. iii. 16. § 6; Herod. iv. 103.) (Theoi.com-Artemis Cult titles and epithets)

“TAURIO′NE, TAURO, TAURO′POLOS, or TAURO′POS (Tauriônê, Taurô, Tauropolo, Taurôpos), originally a designation of the Taurian goddess, but also used as a surname of Artemis or even Athena, both of whom were identified with the Taurian goddess. (Hesych. s. v. tauropolai.) The name has been explained in different ways, some supposing that it means the goddess worshipped in Tauris, going around (i. e. protecting) the country of Tauris, or the goddess to whom bulls are sacrificed; while others explain it to mean the goddess riding on bulls, drawn by bulls, or killing bulls. Both explanations seem to have one thing in common, namely, that the bull was probably the ancient symbol of the bloody and savage worship of the Taurian divinity. (Schol. ad Soph. Ajac. 172 ; Eurip. Iphig. Taur. 1457 ; Müller, Orchom. p. 305, &c. 2d ed.)”(Theoi.com-Artemis Cult titles and epithets)

Iphigenia is also mentioned alongside Artemis and the Taurian goddess in Herodotus’ Histories and Pausanias’ description of Greece. This shows that Iphigeneia was worshipped but was also syncretized with Artemis which is interesting.

“Among these, the Tauri have the following customs: all ship-wrecked men, and any Greeks whom they capture in their sea-raids, they sacrifice to the Virgin goddess1 as I will describe: after the first rites of sacrifice, they strike the victim on the head with a club; [2] according to some, they then place the head on a pole and throw the body off the cliff on which their temple stands; others agree as to the head, but say that the body is buried, not thrown off the cliff. The Tauri themselves say that this deity to whom they sacrifice is Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. [3] As for enemies whom they defeat, each cuts his enemy's head off and carries it away to his house, where he places it on a tall pole and stands it high above the dwelling, above the smoke-vent for the most part. These heads, they say, are set up to guard the whole house. The Tauri live by plundering and war.” (Herodotus Book 4 chapter 103)

“Pausanias has left us two sources that identify Artemis with Iphigenia: in one of them he mentions a temple of Artemis at Hermione in Argolis where this goddess is called Iphigenia (Paus. II, 35, 1), i.e. testifies of a cult of Artemis-Iphigenia; in the other – a temple of Artemis with a statue of Iphigenia in Aigira, Achaea, which according to the explanation of the periegetes meant that in ancient times the temple had been dedicated to Iphigenia” (Paus. VII. 26. 5).” (The Cult of Artemis-Iphigenia,Ruja Popova 59) “[7.26.5] There is also a temple of Artemis, with an image of the modern style of workmanship. The priestess is a maiden, who holds office until she reaches the age to marry. There stands here too an ancient image, which the folk of Aegeira say is Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon. If they are correct, it is plain that the temple must have been built originally for Iphigeneia.” (Pausanias 7.26.5)

“Near the latter is a temple of Dionysus of the Black Goatskin. In his honor every year they hold a competition in music, and they offer prizes for swimming-races and boat-races. There is also a sanctuary of Artemis surnamed Iphigenia, and a bronze Poseidon with one foot upon a dolphin. Passing by this into the sanctuary of Hestia, we see no image, but only an altar, and they sacrifice to Hestia upon it.” (Pausanias 2.35.1)

“They say that there is also a shrine of the heroine Iphigenia; for she too according to them died in Megara. Now I have heard another account of Iphigenia that is given by Arcadians and I know that Hesiod, in his poem A Catalogue of Women, says that Iphigenia did not die, but by the will of Artemis is Hecate. With this agrees the account of Herodotus, that the Tauri near Scythia sacrifice castaways to a maiden who they say is Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon. Adrastus also is honored among the Megarians, who say that he too died among them when he was leading back his army after taking Thebes, and that his death was caused by old age and the fate of Aegialeus. A sanctuary of Artemis was made by Agamemnon when he came to persuade Calchas, who dwelt in Megara, to accompany him to Troy.” (Pausanias 1.43.1) “Four ideas must be kept in mind when considering this conundrum. The first is that Herodotos did travel to the Crimea personally, and thus he was a first-hand observer of this aspect of Tauric religion. Second, the historian specifies that it is the Tauroi themselves who make this claim, not Greeks who attribute this identity to a foreign deity. Third, it is obvious that both the word “Parthenos” and the name Iphigeneia are Greek, meaning that the indigenous Tauroi were clearly sufficiently influenced by their Greek neighbors by the fifth century at the latest to have adopted a foreign identification for their own goddess. Fourth, we have virtually no indigenous evidence about Tauric religion, and thus we are unable to see the native divinity behind the Greek overlay.” (Gods and Heroes: Artemis, 123)

 I think that the author here raises a good question about the quotes in Herodotus’ Histories regarding Iphigeneia in Tauris, and we don’t really have an answer yet. But what is in Herodotus’ Histories combined with Iphigeneia being mentioned more than once in Pausanias’ description of Greece shows that she was worshipped even in Greece.

Bibliography

"Artemis Titles And Epithets". Theoi.Com, 2000, https://www.theoi.com/Cult/ArtemisTitles.html. Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

"Herodotus, The Histories,Book 4, Chapter 103". Perseus.Tufts.Edu, 2021, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126:book=4:chapter=103. Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

"Pausanias, Description Of Greece,Achaia, Chapter 26, Section 5". Perseus.Tufts.Edu, 2021, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+7.26.5&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160. Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

"Pausanias, Description Of Greece,Attica, Chapter 43, Section 1". Perseus.Tufts.Edu, 2021, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.43.1. Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

"Pausanias, Description Of Greece,Corinth, Chapter 35, Section 1". Perseus.Tufts.Edu, 2021, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+2.35.1&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160. Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

Budin, Stephanie. Gods And Heroes-Artemis. Routledge, 2016, p. 123.

Popova, Ruja. "The Cult Of Artemis-Iphigenia In The Tauric Chersonesus: The Movement Of An Aition". Orpheus Journal Of Indo European And Thracian Studies, vol 18, 2011, p. 59., Accessed 18 Jan 2021.

[growingwitchling]

A collection of epithets (because I can't remember them yet)

Pt. 1: HADES/AIDES

- Adamastos (ἀδάμαστος "the untamed one") - Adesius (his name in Latium; expressive of the grace) - Aidelos (ἀίδηλος "the invisible one") - Agelastu (from his melancholy countenance) - Agesander ("he who carries away all") - Agesilaus ("he who attracts all people to his empire") - Agetes/Hegetes (assigned to him by Pindar, "one who conducts") - Aidoneos (probably derived from Hades' having been sometimes confounded with a king of this name among the Molossi, whose daughter Persephone, Theseus and Pirithous attempted to carry off) - Ameilichos (ἀμείλιχος "the harsh one") - Apotropos (ἀπότροπος "the one who's turned away"/"the averted one") - Axiocersus ("the shorn god"; from the mysteries of the Cabiri where he was represented as without hair)

- Chthonius ("of the earth or underworld") - Clymenus ("notorious")

- Euboulos/Eubuleus ("good counsel"/"well-intentioned") - Euclius ("glorious" or "renowned")

- Hennichos (ἔννυχος "of the night"/"the night one") - Hesperos Theos ("god of death & darkness")

- Iao (his name at Clares, a town of Ionia) - Iphthimos (ἴφθιμος "celebrated/renowned for his power")

- Krateros (κρα��ερός "the powerful one") - Kyanochaites (κυανοχαίτης "the black-haired one"; the blackness mentioned is metallic, like raven feathers)

- Melas (μέλας "the black one") - Moiragetes (his name as guide of the Fates)

- Ophieus (his name as the blind god among the Messenians: it was derived from their dedicating certain Augurs to him, whom they deprived of sight at the moment of their birth)

- Pelorios (πελώριος "the dreadful one") - Phonios (φόνιος "the murderous one"/"the dreadful one") - Plouton (from Πλοῦτος; "the rich one") - Polydegmon ("who receives many")

- Stygeros (Stygis) (στυγερός "the Stygian", from Styx, the chthonian river; means "terrible" or "terrifying")

- Zeus Katachthonios ("subterranean Zeus")

There are more epithets of Hades, especially in Latin/Etruscan, but I personally won't be using those, so I did not look them up.

Sources under the cut!

via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades and https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hades: Homer Ilias 9, 158 Homer Ilias 9, 158 Homer Odyssee 10, 534; 11, 47 Homer Ilias 5, 395 Homer Ilias 13.415 Odyssee 11, 277 Homer Ilias 8, 368 Sophokles Aias 608 Sophokles König Ödipus 30 Homerischer Hymnus 2, 348 Sophokles Die Trachinierinnen 500 Sophokles Ödipus auf Kolonos 1688 Bailly, s.v. Πλούτων. http://go.galegroup.com/ Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound, 806, note. Translated by Smyth, Herbert Weir (1922) in Loeb Classical Library, Volume 145. Schmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Agesander (1)". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 68. Liddell, Henry; Scott, Robert (1996). A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. s.v. ISBN 0-19-864226-1. Callimachus, Hymn. in Pallad. 130, with Friedrich Spanheim's note Hesychius of Alexandria s.v. Aeschyl. ap. Athen. iii. p. 99 Nicander, ap. Athen. xv. p. 684 http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*z%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3D*zeu%2Fs in: An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon by Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott.

Brown, Robert (1844). "The Religion of Zoroaster Considered In Connection With Archaic Monotheism". Archive.org. Retrieved 3 September 2017.

Murray, John (1833). A Classical Manual, being a Mythological, Historical and Geographical Commentary on Pope's Homer, and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil with a Copious Index. Albemarle Street, London. pp. 5–6

https://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Haides.html

https://study.com/academy/lesson/hades-epithets-agesander-agesilaos.html

via https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chthonius: Pausanias, Description of Greece, 2. 2. 8 (in Corinth), 5. 14. 8 (in Olympia) Hesiod, Theogony, 767 Euripides, Alcestis, 237; Andromache, 544

[ofbloodandfaith]

Day 11 of 30 Days of Hera

Festivals, days, and times sacred to this deity

There are a few different festivals and dates that are sacred to Hera that happens throughout the year. Keep in mind that as the Hellenic (attic) calendar is lunar it can be difficult to work out when the festivals happen, as the attic calendar starts in June/July and each month starts with the new moon.

Gamelia

The month of Gamelia is a celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera

Hieros Gamos (Sacred Marriage) - Theogamia - Gamelia

The month of Gamelion is noted most for the celebration of the marriage of Zeus and Hera, the Hieros Gamos (Theogamia - Gamelia), on the 27th of Gamelion, beginning at sundown on the 22nd of January for this year.

Gamelion was the month for marriages in ancient Greece as marriage was instituted by Zeus and Hera. It is not only a time for marriage but a time to renew marriage just as the Gamelia is renewed each year. In particular, the Gamelia or Theogamia (marriage of Gods) is a pronouncement of the joint rule of Zeus and Hera as echoed in Homeric Hymn 12 to Hera where Hera is revered and honored no less than Zeus:

Of Hera I sing, the golden-throned, whom Rhea bore to be queen of the immortals, of supreme beauty, sister and wife of Zeus the loud-booming; glorious one, whom all of the blessed ones on long Olympus revere and honor no less than Zeus whose sport is the thunderbolt.

A number of early temples such as the temple to Hera at Olympia were built for Hera and Zeus with separate temples to Zeus built later. In patriarchal ancient Greece, women had powerful goddesses for protection and guidance such as Hera, Hekate and Artemis. Hera is Goddess of Beginnings, Marriages, and Light and especially Queen of the Immortals.

Daedala

Another festival for Hera and Zeus but held every four years

In Ancient Greece, the Daedala (Greek: δαίδαλα) was a festival of reconciliation that was held every few years in honor of Hera, consort of the supreme god Zeus at Plataea, in Boeotia, being one of the major cults of the city.

According to Pausanias, there was a "lesser Daedala" (Δαίδαλα μικρά), celebrated every four years or so exclusively by the Plataeans, and a "greater Daedala" (Δαίδαλα μεγάλα), celebrated by all of Boeotians every fourteen cycles (approx. 60 years).

In the lesser Daedala, the people of Plataea went to an ancient oak grove and exposed pieces of cooked meat to ravens, attentively watching upon which tree any of the birds, after taking a piece of meat, would settle. Out of this tree they carved an image, and having it dressed as a bride, they set it on a bullock cart with a bridesmaid beside it. The image seems then to have been drawn to the bank of the river Asopus and back to the town, attended by a cheering crowd.[1]

Heraean Games

A race with only young girls competing

The Heraea was an ancient Greek festival in which young girls competed in a footrace. The race was held every four years at Olympia, and probably took place around the same time as the ancient Olympic games.[1]

Not much is known about the Heraea, but most of our knowledge comes from Pausanias' Description of Greece.[2] The date that the festival began is uncertain. Pausanias says that the games are αρχαια (archaia, "old")[2] There is evidence for cult activity in Olympia as far back as the tenth century BC, but the earliest cultic activity at the site appears to centre around the cult of Zeus; the cult of Hera was certainly in place by about 600 BC, when the first temple of Hera at Olympia was built.[3] It is uncertain whether the races were an original feature of the festival, or a later addition.[3] One story in Pausanias associates the sixteen women responsible for the Heraea with the conflict between Elis and Pisa after the death of Damophon, tyrant of Pisa around 580 BC. If the festival were already established by this point, there may have been a re-organisation around this time (as there was at other Greek festivals in the late archaic period).[4]

Junonalia

A Roman festival dedicated to Hera’s Roman counterpart Juno

The Iunonalia or Junonalia is a Roman festival in honor of Juno, held on March 7 (the Nones). Among extant Roman calendars, it appears only in the Calendar of Filocalus (354 AD),[1] and was added to the festival calendar after the mid-1st century AD.[2]

The Junonalia is attested also in a fragmentary poem De Iunonalibus, attributed to Claudian.[3] In it, Juno is addressed as mistress of the celestial pole, and the spouse and sister of the king of heaven. Her function as a goddess of marital bonds is also noted. Although the text is conjectural at this point, she may be asked to grant a return.[4]

The Junonalia may have concluded a three-day festival begun March 5 with the Isidis Navigium, the "Sailing of Isis."[5] In the Metamorphoses of Apuleius, Isis is addressed as Queen of Heaven, and by the 2nd century a number of goddesses, including Juno, shared the epithet Caelestis.[6]

As for a day that could be dedicated to Hera, Thursday or Friday would be my best guess. Thursday to be honoured alongside Zeus or Friday as the day belongs to Venus or Aphrodite, and Hera and her share domain over the planet/star venus and some of their jobs and epithets.

Thursday -- Thor's day

Middle English

thur(e)sday

Old English

thursdæg

Old Norse

thorsdagr

"Thor's day"

Old English

thunresdæg

"thunder's day"

Latin

dies Jovis

"day of Jupiter"

Ancient Greek

hemera Dios

"day of Zeus".

Thor is the Norse god of thunder. He is represented as riding a chariot drawn by goats and wielding the hammer Miölnir. He is the defender of the Aesir, destined to kill and be killed by the Midgard Serpent.

Jupiter (Jove) is the supreme Roman god and patron of the Roman state. He is noted for creating thunder and lightning.

Zeus is Greek god of the heavens and the supreme Greek god.

Friday -- Freya's day

Middle English

fridai

Old English

frigedæg

"Freya's day"

composed of

Frige

(genetive singular of

Freo

) +

dæg

"day" (most likely)

or composed of

Frig

"Frigg" +

dæg

"day" (least likely)

Germanic

frije-dagaz

"Freya's (or Frigg's) day"

Latin

dies Veneris

"Venus's day"

Ancient Greek

hemera Aphrodites

"day of Aphrodite"

Freo is identical with freo, meaning free. It is from the Germanic frijaz meaning "beloved, belonging to the loved ones, not in bondage, free".

Freya (Fria) is the Teutonic goddess of love, beauty, and fecundity (prolific procreation). She is identified with the Norse god Freya. She is leader of the Valkyries and one of the Vanir. She is confused in Germany with Frigg.

Frigg (Frigga) is the Teutonic goddess of clouds, the sky, and conjugal (married) love. She is identified with Frigg, the Norse goddess of love and the heavens and the wife of Odin. She is one of the Aesir. She is confused in Germany with Freya.

Venus is the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Aphrodite (Cytherea) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

[el-smacko]

Telesilla, the “Antique Joan of Arc”

In the first volume of the Loeb Classical Library’s Description of Greece by Pausanias, the author of the notes and English translation, W.H.S. Jones, gives us “A Few Synonyms,” as they call the section. The edition is from 1928, so “synonym” is a bit broader of a term in that it means “functionally similar words with nuance.” Anyway, in the section for graven image synonyms, he notes that Pausanias uses the word ἕδος (hedos,“seated statue”) exactly once. Naturally, I had to check it out and according to Pausanias (2.20.8) it’s one of Aphrodite in Argos, looming above a stele (essentially an aesthetic, non-supporting column) featuring the lyric poetess Telesilla, who Pausanias goes on to say that, after Argos was depopulated of fighting men, armed the Argive women to successfully defend the city against the Spartans (2.20.9-10).

A lot of the literature calls her an “Antique Joan of Arc,” and for good reason—she and the women she arms:

“were not fear-struck by their war cry (ἀλαλαγμῶ, alalagmō, onomatopoeic; fun fact, Ares was called Alalaxius, “god of the war cry”) but received their attack and fought valiantly (ἐρρωμένως, errōmenōs, implies both inner and outer strength and good health, meaning that Telesilla and the Argive women were, if not winning, at least successful in repelling the siege).” Of course, male Greek author that he was, Pausanias had to hedge and say the Spartans withdrew from a lose-lose situation in which they would either ingloriously slaughter the women fighters or, inconceivably worse, lose to women.

Herodotus tells a more Spartan-friendly story in which, under the lead of Cleomenes, the Spartans killed most of the Argive fighting force, burned a very sacred grove, and went home without sacking Argos. Herodotus says he didn’t capture the city either because he was bribed or, according to Cleomenes himself, basically felt he’d done enough, but Herodotus refuses to commit to any explanation in particular.

Of issue is also the Delphic oracle that predicted the outcome of the battle, interpreted differently by Pausanias and Herodotus, even though Pausanias says he’s quoting Herodotus when he writes, “But when the woman having defeated the man drives him out and great glory is won in Argos, there will still be at that time many women of the Argives with both cheeks torn in grief.” So the women led by Telesilla are victorious, but many of them lost their husbands in the battle preceding the siege. But the text of Herodotus that we have adds “And someone from the men born afterward will say, ‘a terrible, three-coiled snake was destroyed, tamed by a spear.’” In Herodotus, it’s not that woman beats man, but that the grammatically feminine “Sparta” defeats the grammatically masculine “Argos.” As for the snake thing... it’s complicated. Pausanias himself describes the area around Argos as having a shrine to “Pythian Apollo,” that is, Apollo who killed the serpent Python, literally “Rotter.” He also says he was excited to see the tomb of Aepytus, a former sovereign of Arcadia (right next door to Argos), mentioned in the Iliad by Homer (2.604) as being right beside Mount Cyllene. Pausanias says that Aepytus was killed by a sēps, some kind of snake, and that a nearby mountain was named Sepea for it (8.4, 15, 16). Now if there’s a local shrine of Pythian Apollo, I’d say the word sēps is related to sēpō, from which we get sepsis, meaning it’s a local Argive translation and tradition of “Rotter.” It would be massively ironic to have Apollo’s Delphic oracle, named the Pythia after Python, to call Argos a “snake” in reference to their own Pythian tradition. W.W. How and J. Wells in their notes on the oracle in Herodotus explain the word for “three-coiled” as being metrically easier to work with than the intended “coil-less,” but it could refer to any three of the mountains of northern Arcadia bordering on Argolis.

We are told by W.H.S. Jones, W.W. How/J. Wells, and A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (ed. William Smith) that Telesilla, though rad as hell, is probably a later addition to the story, as Herodotus is a much earlier source than Pausanias. We also know from his later treatment of Artemisia—a Greek commander fighting for Persia and played by Eva Green in the inane second 300 movie—that although being a male Greek author he isn’t unwilling to portray women in fighting roles. Of course, the story of Telesilla is in the context of Greek-on-Greek warfare, whereas Artemisia’s being with the Persians would be a betrayal of Greece. Just as Romans thought the Greeks were effeminate, the Greeks thought the Persians were effeminate and Herodotus may have been more willing to tell of Artemisia as evidence of Persian effeminacy in contrast to Greek manliness. Either way, Telesilla appears to be a blend of the historical Argive poetess and some ancient and long-forgotten war goddess (pre-Greek or eastern), invented to account for how Sparta and Argos both technically won and thereby fulfilled the Delphic oracle—all because Sparta pulling a drive-by without capturing or at least sacking Argos sounds rather improbable. Until, of course, you consider one of the modern sources above, ADG&RB&M, which notes in the entry for Cleomenes that “we must remember the Spartan incapacity for sieges.”

An ancient mythological enigma that boils down to the simple tactical fault of an otherwise powerful force.

[scifigeneration]

The ancient origins of werewolves

by Tanika Koosmen

In Ancient Greek texts, the king Lycaon is punished for misdeeds by being turned into a wolf. Wikimedia

The werewolf is a staple of supernatural fiction, whether it be film, television, or literature. You might think this snarling creature is a creation of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, a result of the superstitions surrounding magic and witchcraft.

In reality, the werewolf is far older than that. The earliest surviving example of man-to-wolf transformation is found in The Epic of Gilgamesh from around 2,100 BC. However, the werewolf as we now know it first appeared in ancient Greece and Rome, in ethnographic, poetic and philosophical texts.

These stories of the transformed beast are usually mythological, although some have a basis in local histories, religions and cults. In 425 BC, Greek historian Herodotus described the Neuri, a nomadic tribe of magical men who changed into wolf shapes for several days of the year. The Neuri were from Scythia, land that is now part of Russia. Using wolf skins for warmth is not outside the realm of possibility for inhabitants of such a harsh climate: this is likely the reason Herodotus described their practice as “transformation”.

A werewolf in a German woodcut, circa 1512. Wikimedia

The werewolf myth became integrated with the local history of Arcadia, a region of Greece. Here, Zeus was worshipped as Lycaean Zeus (“Wolf Zeus”). In 380 BC, Greek philosopher Plato told a story in the Republic about the “protector-turned-tyrant” of the shrine of Lycaean Zeus. In this short passage, the character Socrates remarks: “The story goes that he who tastes of the one bit of human entrails minced up with those of other victims is inevitably transformed into a wolf.”

Literary evidence suggests cult members mixed human flesh into their ritual sacrifice to Zeus. Both Pliny the Elder and Pausanias discuss the participation of a young athlete, Damarchus, in the Arcadian sacrifice of an adolescent boy: when Damarchus was compelled to taste the entrails of the young boy, he was transformed into a wolf for nine years. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that human sacrifice may have been practised at this site.

Monsters and men

The most interesting aspect of Plato’s passage concerns the “protector-turned-tyrant”, also known as the mythical king, Lycaon. Expanded further in Latin texts, most notably Hyginus’s Fabulae and Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Lycaon’s story contains all the elements of a modern werewolf tale: immoral behaviour, murder and cannibalism.

An Athenian vase depicting a man in a wolf skin, circa 460 BC. Wikimedia

In Fabulae, the sons of Lycaon sacrificed their youngest brother to prove Zeus’s weakness. They served the corpse as a pseudo-feast and attempting to trick the god into eating it. A furious Zeus slayed the sons with a lightning bolt and transformed their father into a wolf. In Ovid’s version, Lycaon murdered and mutilated a protected hostage of Zeus, but suffered the same consequences.

Ovid’s passage is one of the only ancient sources that goes into detail on the act of transformation. His description of the metamorphosis uses haunting language that creates a correlation between Lycaon’s behaviour and the physical manipulation of his body:

…He tried to speak, but his voice broke into an echoing howl. His ravening soul infected his jaws; his murderous longings were turned on the cattle; he still was possessed by bloodlust. His garments were changed to a shaggy coat and his arms into legs. He was now transformed into a wolf.

Ovid’s Lycaon is the origin of the modern werewolf, as the physical manipulation of his body hinges on his prior immoral behaviour. It is this that has contributed to the establishment of the “monstrous werewolf” trope of modern fiction.

Lycaon’s character defects are physically grafted onto his body, manipulating his human form until he becomes that which his behaviour suggests. And, perhaps most importantly, Lycaon begins the idea that to transform into a werewolf you must first be a monster.

The idea that there was a link between biology (i.e. appearance) and “immoral” behaviour developed fully in the late 20th century. However, minority groups were more often the target than mythical kings. Law enforcement, scientists and the medical community joined forces to find “cures” for socially deviant behaviour such as criminality, violence and even homosexuality. Science and medicine were used as a vehicle through which bigotry and fear could be maintained, as shown by the treatment of HIV-affected men throughout the 1980s.

However, werewolf stories show the idea has ancient origins. For as long as authors have been changing bad men into wolves, we have been looking for the biological link between man and action.

About The Author:

Tanika Koosmen is a PhD Candidate at the University of Newcastle

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

[litcest]

Auge and Telephus

Oh, this a long one. Telephus is a super popular character in Greek Myths, being the son of Heracles and best buddies with Achilles (I think Patroclus would be jealous). His whole life story is quite interesting, but I want to talk about the bit in which he almost marries his mother, a là Oedipus style.

The oldest account of her is in Hesiod's Catalogue of Women, from c. 6th century BC, where she was raised by Teuthras in Mysia and later she is seduced by Heracles, which results in the birth Telephus. No more information on her is given.

We have mentions that around the 6th-5th century BC, a dude named Hecataeus wrote about her and Heracles. We know that because Pausanias mentions him in his Description of Greece from c. 110-180 CE. This is basically a game of telephone: Pausanias says that Hecataeus said that Auge lived in Tegea, where she had an affair with Heracles and got pregnant. Her dad, Aleus found this out and locked Auge and her child in a chest, which he threw into the sea. The chest arrived in Mysia, where the king, Teuthras, married her.

The next account of her I could find of her comes from Pseudo-Apollodorus Bibliotheca, from the 1st century CE. Here, it's said that Heracles raped Auge, who was a priestess of Athena, and that, when Aleus discovered his daughter had given birth, he left the child to die in Mount Parthenius (which failed, as the child was taken care by shepherds who found him) and sold Auge to Teuthras, who made her his wife. Later in the book, Apollodorus says that Telephus, Auge's son, found her in Mysia and became the prince.

In the book IV, chapter 33 from Diodorus Siculus Bibliotheca historica, which dates to 60-30 BC, Auge is once again said to have been raped and afterwards her father sent her to be drowned, but she gives birth to Telephus in secret and the man who was supposed to drown her takes pity on her and decides to gift her to Teuthras as a wife. The child was found and brought to King Corythus, who raises him as his own. When grown, Telephus desires to find his mother and, after learning her location through the Oracle of Delphi, sails to Mysia, where he marries Teuthras' daughter and becomes princes.

In Hyginus Fabulae, from 1 CE, Auge gives birth to Heracles' son in secret in Mount Parthenius and left baby. The child, Telephus, is then raised by shepherds along Atalanta's (the girl who runs, you know?) child, Parthenopaeus. Auge runs to Mysia, where King Teuthras adopts her as a daughter, since he had no children, which is a very different take from the previous ones, in which she became his wife.

It is within Fabulae that we finally get the Oedipus-style incest I mentioned before. You see, Teuthras had an enemy, Idas, and he offered his daughter's hand in marriage to the hero who managed to kill him. Telephus, along with his foster brother, Parthenopaeus, were in Mysia following the Oracle's advice to help Telephus find his birth mom and decide to take King Teuthras up on his offer. However, Auge wants nothing to do with this marriage and plans to kill Telephus.

The king fulfilled his promise, and gave him his kingdom and Auge as wife, unaware of the relationship. Since she [faithful to Hercules] wished no mortal to violate her body, she intended to kill Telephus, not realizing he was her son.

But before Auge can kill her new husband, a serpent sent by the gods stopped her. Telephus then is about to kill her for having tried to kill him when she begs Heracles (here called Hercules because it's a Roman text) for help and this causes Telephus to realize she's his mother. IDK how, but it does. Anyway, they go back to their home country happily ever after as mother and son, at least until Telephus goes to fight in the Trojan War side to side with his buddy Achilles.

This almost marriage between mother and son seem to be a later addiction to the myth of Telephus, as (at least from what I could find) it only appears in a Roman text. A later Roman dude, Aelian, blames the "tragic dramatists and their predecessors, the inventors of fables" for the invention of the incest in Telephus story. Indeed, there are lost plays about Auge and Telephus, and they may be from where this part of the myth originated, in a attempt to remake the success of Oedipus. But we may never know.

[butteryscience]

A Day in the Life of an Athenian

Journal of Euthicles, Athens

Entry 1: ACL 5 Hekatombaion, Ol. Praxiergus

Arrived at the agora early, hauling wine and olives to trade for some copper and tin. There is some talk about war between the poleis, which poleis are involved I do not know. I have heard Sparta to Thebes to any and all, made no matter who. I needed to purchase copper and tin to get a new helmet. My friend, Saphoraion, took a blow in the last battle against the Persians and his helmet is the reason he is still making pottery, teaching his son the ways of Athens, and pestering his wife. There has been peace since then, so I assumed I would not have to fight again, but that does not seem to be the case.

The metals I looked for usually came from Phoenician traders out of the west, so I headed to the barbarian section of the agora.  Along the way, I traded for some wheat, and I stopped in front of the Altar of the 12 Gods and made a quick offering to Hermes, may he grant me skill in negotiation. Reached the Phoenician metal traders before midday. The long skirts of the Phoenicians in front of me were laced with gold, accenting their dark hair and eyes tastefully (9).

Entry 2: ACL 5 Hekatombaion, Ol. Praxiergus

The copper merchants were friendly but negotiated fiercely, they seemed to place a high value on trading and commerce over more noble pursuits.  We Hellenes value art, philosophy, politics, and notably warfare as well as trade. Such is my goal in acquiring the materials for my new helm. I held my own over the commercial battlefield, eventually haggling down to a crate of olives for the copper I need. After the deal was done and my copper packed into the cart I asked the two copper sellers about the goings-on from around the Great Sea (Mediterranean Sea).  Apparently, Naxos is threatening to leave the Delian League (1.) and some more Hellenic colonies are being founded in Southern Italia.  I do not understand why anyone would want to leave one of the polis, they are the most excellent civilizations on Earth. Or why Naxos would leave the Delian League, the most noble alliance since Zeus’s pantheon, the Spartans are brutes with little appreciation for the virtues of freedom.  Wonder what will come of these developments (14).

I thanked the Phoenician merchants for the information and they said that another Phoenician ship from far away would be arriving tomorrow.  I left the agora, stopped by the Altar again on the way back home, thanking Hermes and asking for wisdom from Athena for the Archon in dealing with Naxos.

Entry 3: ACL 6 Hekatombaion, Ol. Praxiergus

Woke up this morning eager to deliver the materials for my helmet to the smith, the news about Naxos has been troubling me, better get my armor ready as soon as I can. First, I spend some time with my son, training him on the doru, before his lessons at the palaestra (13 and 15).

I arrived at the agora early and caught sight of the Phoenicians goods traveling to the market. The tin traders were even more richly dressed and bearded than their copper trader counterparts (2). They wore elegant collars and simple bracelets.  Their fashion actually reminded me of some Egyptian traders that I saw in the agora a few archons past (3 and 4).  The tin trade must be lucrative.

I had save my good wine to trade for the tin today, so the traders and I found an agreement fairly quickly.  They tried to get more wine for the price by bringing out a slave of theirs with fair hair and skin. He looked strange and out of place among the brown Phoenicians, but the tin merchants told me that he was from the island where they acquired the tin.  I asked them afterwards where that was.  They smiled cleverly and merely said “far west and north, where the sun is dimmer” (comes from the idea that winter is harsher and overcast and rain is common on the British Isles), I could tell they were being purposefully vague, so  I asked what this place was called. They called them the Tin Islands or Cassiterides (Herodotus), the slave perked up when he heard this name, but stayed silent (5).

I thanked the Phoenicians, packed up my purchases, and headed to the smith.  I delivered the materials and the payment to the smith and approved the standard design of the helmet. I went home and spoke to my wife about the day.  I shall sleep well tonight.

Entry 4: ACL 28 Hekatombaion, Ol. Praxiergus

The Athenian fleet has set sail for Naxos, carrying the fate of Naxos with it. I took my son to see the naútēs (sailors) off (14).  I told him that these were brave men upholding the might and virtue of Athens, he must know this if he is to be a citizen of Athens one day. Next, I took him to the Parthenon atop the Acropolis to visit the goddess of Athena and ask for the fleet to have wisdom in strategy and battle. On the way up I told my son to always honor the gods when making a decision or engaging in big events and the gods will see that he is successful.

Inside the temple, I could see my son perk up and grow a little taller.  We walked to the magnificent statue of Athena. My son looked in awe at the stunning white and gold statue of the goddess of wisdom. He was silent for a moment before asking why Athena did not look like a normal Greek, “why is she so pale?”.  I thought for a moment and answered: “Because she is a goddess, why would she look like a normal human?”.  My son looked disappointed at this answer, so I leaned close to him and whispered, “and probably she looks that way because the artist liked these colors on his statue over other colors.”  My son smiled a little, like he was in on the secret with the artist, looked at Athena one last time and turned away. I think my son will remember today (12).

Commentary

The preceding entries all focus on an Athenian citizen who believes in Athenian greatness and in the values and qualities of his society. Each entry covers a particular aspect of the ancient world that a person in the Mediterranean or Aegean Seas would encounter.  The man is more well off than most Athenians. However, this financial security means nothing in the heat of battle when a stray javelin or spear may find your flesh, so he is investing in the materials for an armor upgrade.  Greek hoplites had to provide their own equipment for battle and it was seen as a civic duty to battle for your city-states glory. The battle where the man’s friend took a blow is the Battle of Plataea, the final land battle of the Persian invasion of Greece in 479 BCE, only about 6 years from the time of the entries.  The sources for these entries include websites referencing trade in Ancient Greece and Greek warfare.

The man goes to Phoenician merchants for the raw materials that the blacksmith would use to create bronze: copper and tin. Tin specifically was found in the British Isles, or what Herodotus called the Cassiterides or the Tin Islands, even though he believed the islands to be a myth.  The Phoenician's trade network spanned most of the Mediterranean, and they may have also travelled to the British Isles and Ireland. The  information about their voyages to Northern Europe  comes from late, and not necessarlily reliable, Roman sources(https://phoenicia.org/himilco.html; https://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/high-north-carthaginian-exploration-of-ireland/) It is, however, a well-established fact that tin came to the Mediterranean from the British Isles.  I used dramatic license to allow the Phoenician traders to havea slave from Northern Europe. Herodotus describes the people that he calls Budini who live somewhere in Eastern Europe. He explains that the Budini have blue eyes and ruddish hair, and thus they look different from the Greek colonists living in the same area (Book IV, 108-9, see http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=budini-geo) Recent research of the ancient Greek DNA suggests that Ancient Greeks looked similar to modern Greek, who are generally dark-eyed and dark-haired (http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/08/greeks-really-do-have-near-mythical-origins-ancient-dna-reveals ) The description of the dress Phoenicians traders is sourced from a late nineteenth century French classicist and archaeologist, so this information is dated.

In the year of Praxiergus, or 470-471 BCE the island of Naxos attempted to leave the Delian League, causing the Athenians to respond with naval force. The source for this was a book by Peter Brand on Sparta and Athens.  I set this as the backdrop of the scene where the man visits the Parthenon even though the Parthenon was not finished until 432 BCE. The statue of Athena in the Parthenon is a magnificent gold and ivory statue that showed off the god's splendour to the Athenians. The statue’s surface is much lighter than traditional Greek skin tones, and I wanted the son to question his father on the reason for this. The source for the statue is the ancient Greek historian Pausanias circa 200 AD.

Each entry represented a part of Athenian or Greek life that a citizen might experience and shows the attitude of the Greeks to their surroundings.

Journal of Olorus, Olympia

After travelling to Olympia, we have finally arrived at the festival. My son and I were at the events all day taking in all the sights.  At one point a crowd begin gathering in the amphitheater and a man came on stage.  My son pulled me into one of the seats and the man began to speak.  He told of the war with the Persians and our great triumph (my son especially loved this part), he told of the many peoples of the world from the Scythians in the north and their eyes the color of the sky and the lessons of the slave war, to the black (chroma de melanas) Ethiopians  in the south. A rather embarrassing moment came when the man told of far off lands and  my son burst into tears in front of the whole assembly.  My son was rather proud though, when the man responded to my son’s tears by telling me that “your son’s soul yearns for knowledge” (6).  Afterward my son told me he wants to become a scholar like the man. My son, Thucydides, will make a great scholar if he refrains from sudden bouts of emotion.

Commentary

This is an actual story told in Byzantine tales of the Ancient Greece called the Photius Bibliothec about how Thucydides went to a telling by Herodotus of his histories, where a young Thucydides broke down and Herodotus responded in the manner told in the entry.  However, the original Byzantine story is not very reliableand is not sourced well. Olorus is supposedly the name of the father of Thucydides as well as the name of a famous Thracian king (6). “Ethiopia” was the Greek name for the area south of Egypt, and they often used it for the kingdom of Nubia (also known as Kush). For  Herodotus's account of the Ethiopians, or Nubians, see http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/nebrowser?id=tgn,7000489&query=Perseus:text:1999.01.0126

For the Scythian war with their slaves, see, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Hdt.%204.1&lang=original Herodotus and other ancient authors described the way different peoples looked, but they did not have the concept of race (http://maximum-cat-entropy.tumblr.com/post/168023302098/ancient-greeks-and-race-herodotus)

Journal of Male, Farmer, Wartime

The war forced me from my daily life of tending to my fields; for in fearing for my life, I had to take refuge in the crowded city with those who are defenseless like me. Disappointment flooded my being as when I returned home from the safety of the city, for everything in my name was destroyed by Spartan hands. However, I must thank the gods for my good fortune compared to others; those who do not have homes are forced to live in god-forsaken places within the city, where privacy and cleanliness have come to naught. If time continues this way, I fear for my ruin, as my fields are my source of survival. War has not only disrupted my life, but other families as well. Women whose husbands have died at war are now forced to find lowly jobs, as opposed to the lives used to consist of solely weaving and bearing children. Those who once supervised slaves have almost becomes slaves themselves.

Source: The History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides, Book 5

Athenian Soldier present at the Melian Dialogue

Entry 1: Wartime has caused Athens to consider making the strategic takeover of the Melos. Their island is a crucial location for the triremes to resupply and reorganize, for they do not have the capability of carrying long-term supplies that the men need to stay strong and steadfast. We were instructed to accompany ambassadors to speak with the Melian councilmen, for they were steadfast in their convictions that they would like peace. They pleaded with the Athenian men sent that they were too descendants of the Lacedaemonians, and to consider them equals, but this was to no avail, for our men stated they would only consider those who were equal in power their equals. As this discussion ended in a stalemate, we returned to our camp and await further instructions.

Winter After:

Entry 2: I am saddened by the turn of events that has occurred. At first the Melians were adamant in their ways that the Lacedaemonians would come to save them from their fate of takeover by our men. However, as time closed in, and our armies came back to besiege the Melians, some broke in their steadfastness, and surrendered. However, I do not believe that anyone could have anticipated the only other ending that would occur today would be of their lives.We were instructed to have no mercy upon them, and no Melian walked away free. Melian men were left with not a measure of life left in them, and I can still hear the screams of the women and children as they watched their men as they were subjected to this horror. I pray to the gods that I will always be spared a life of hardship these women and children will to be subjected to.

Commentary

The preceding entries reflect that of an individual who is a soldier, and ends at Thucydides’ dramatization of the Siege of Melos, reflecting his Melian Dialogue. Thucydides played a large role in documenting the history of the Peloponnesian War; these entries are an alternative means of presenting his information.

Sources

Brand, Peter J. Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship.

Perrot et Chipiez, pp. 519, 523, &c.

Ibid. pp. 531, 533; Di Cesnola, pp. 129, 131, &c.

Perrot et Chipiez, pp. 527, 533, 539; Di Cesnola, pp. 129, 145, 154.

https://gatesofnineveh.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/high-north-carthaginian-exploration-of-ireland/

Photius Bibliothec. Cod. lx p 59, cited by Rawlinson (1859), p. 15

https://www.ancient.eu/article/833/the-athenian-calendar/

socrates.clarke.edu

https://www.ancient.eu/article/115/trade-in-ancient-greece/

http://www.phoenician.org/phoenicians.htm

http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html

https://www.ancient.eu/article/785/athena-parthenos-by-phidias/

https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2015/08/06/armament-and-fighting-style-greek-vs-persian/

Brand, Peter J. Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/education/Athens