#we love our unhinged hero Diomedes Tydeïdes so much

[lyculuscaelus]

Diomedes was such a perfect warrior. Find a hero who had injured two gods in a row (whether or not it was by Athena’s help didn’t matter. The point is she allowed him), find a hero who had Achilles’s strength but with a better temper and without Ajax’s arrogance, find a hero who had been fighting since he was just a child and surviving every war he had been through—and turns out he was the only one. The one and only Diomedes.

Achilles and Patroclus would stay and fight till Troy falls if the Greek army ever retreats? So would Diomedes and Sthenelus. On the battlefield he fought alongside Sthenelus—his brother-in-arms since the war of the Epigoni—but when the night had come, when the battle had ceased…

Odysseus was always the one Diomedes would hang out with.

Absolutely love the dynamics of this pair. So many shenanigans (in other words, war crimes) have they done together—

Like the time when they murdered Palamedes together for Odysseus sought his revenge (which is totally justifiable cuz we all know how Palamedes did shit).

Like the time when they killed the Thracian king Rhesus along with his troops and then stole his horses.

In some versions it’s also Odysseus and Diomedes who went to retrieve Philoctetes from Lemnos and Neoptolemus from Skyros.

And…ah yes, the Palladium… *smirks*

Pseudo-Apollodorus’s Epitome (5.13) simply has Odysseus disguised as a beggar and stolen the Palladium with the help of Helen, then fought his way to the ships with the aid of Diomedes.

Conon’s Narrations (summarized by Photius in his Bibliotheca, codex 186.34), however, provides the version where Odysseus and Diomedes sneaked into the city of Troy to steal the Palladium together but they both had their little schemes in mind, so in the end they sorta turned against each other (Odysseus wanted to kill Diomedes and bring the Palladium back by himself but Diomedes stopped him and in turns drove him along beating his back with the flat of his sword).

After the war, while Odysseus was wandering on the sea, Diomedes reached home safely but was driven out from Argos by his wife Aegialia (either by Nauplius’s scheme or by Aphrodite’s corruption…in either case she cheated on Diomedes). He wandered all the way to Italy but there Aphrodite punished him by turning his comrades into birds (for that reason there’s a family of albatrosses called Diomedeïdae). He founded several cities in Italy (the most famous of which was Argyripa) where he reigned over as a king.

Athena had once promised Tydeus—Diomedes’s father—that she would grant him immortality. But as Tydeus was wounded during the war against Thebes and dying, Athena came, and found him eating his enemy Melanippus’s brain. Feeling disgusted, Athena chose to leave him perishing, but she did grant Diomedes the apotheosis she promised to his father. So…yeah, Diomedes is a god now. Wonderful.

I feel like this may be opening a can of worms based on your page but uhh… who is Diomedes???

Was he a soldier in the Trojan War that Odysseus fought with that was gay for Ody? Lol

Ahahaha, no worries, I wasn’t aware of who he was either until I joined the EPIC Writing Server

So in short (as much as I know about him):

We need to go back until his father, Tydeus, actually. Tydeus was one of the Seven against Thebes, favored by Athena, and like many of that seven he lost his life in that war when Diomedes was (most popularly) 4 years old. Diomedes vowed revenge, and around the age of 14 he gathered the sons of the Seven against Thebes, they became the Epigoni (there is a lost epic about this story, why did it get lost…😭) and successfully conquered Thebes.

Before or after the Epigoni (don’t try to set up a timeline in Greek myth) he became the king of the city Argos. HOWEVER, he spent more time at wars then at home (with his wife Aegialia), or at least that’s thought.

Yes, he went to Troy to fight (whether because he was bound by the oath, or just because of fame and glory is unclear). He is said to be one of the youngest warriors but with the most experience, he was the third best among the Greeks, mostly because of Tydeus Athena favors Diomedes as well (she’s always so strict with him, like, c’mon Athena, he’s doing his best), which kinda connects him to Odysseus. If you read the Iliad, 95% of the time they are together. They go on a night mission together to steal horses, when the Trojans break through their defence and Diomedes gets shot in the foot, Odysseus covers him until he retreats, on another mission near the end of the war they steal the Palladium together and Odysseus betrays him and-

Ah… Too many stories for one blog… If anyone wants to share more, please feel free. (I’m looking at you @still-mourning-polites /lh 😂)

But here, this is one reason they are shipped like heck. I couldn’t decide, which translation to use, so here’s Robert Fagles’ (first pic) and Emily Wilson’s (second pic) of the Iliad, Book 10, when Diomedes has to choose who will accompany him on the mission