by D M Smith
Hesiod Fragments, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb Classical Library, 1914)
Homer, Iliad, translated by A. T. Murray (Loeb Classical Library, 1924)
Hyginus, Fabulae, translated by D. M. Smith (2017)
Ovid, Metamorphoses, translated by Brookes Moore (Cornhill Publishing Co., 1922)
Parthenius of Nicaea, Erotica Pathemata, translated by J. M. Edmonds and S. Gaselee (Loeb Classical Library, 1916)
Pindar, Nemean Ode X, translated by Dawson W. Turner (George Bell & Sons, 1876)
Proclus, Chrestomathy, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White (Loeb Classical Library, 1914)
Reference
Atwood, E. Bagby & Virgil K. Whitaker, Excidium Troiae (The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1944)
Burgess, Jonathan S., The Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003)
Davies, Malcolm, The Greek Epic Cycle (Bristol Classical Press, 1989)
Frazer, R. M. (Jr.), The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian (Indiana University Press, 1966)
Smith, R. Scott & Stephen M. Trzaskoma, Apollodorus’ Library and Hyginus’ Fabulae: Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology (Hackett Pub. Co., 2007)
West, Martin L., Greek Epic Fragments (Harvard University Press, 2003)
D. M. Smith is a serial procrastinator and occasional writer and editor. He was born in Hamilton, New Zealand in 1983, and studied Theatre at the University of Waikato. His interests include Greek mythology, all things vintage and antique, pre-20th century literature, the music of Jethro Tull, tea, and toilet humour. His first novel, Munley Priory: A Gothic Story was published in 2016.
He lives in Horotiu, New Zealand with one cat.
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[1] Some scholars (both ancient and modern) include the Titanomachy and the four poems of the Theban Cycle; the Oedipodia, Thebaid, Epigoni and Alcmeonis, bringing the total to thirteen. This ‘Greater Epic Cycle’ would have begun with the overthrow of Cronus and the Titans, then the story of Oedipus, the Seven Against Thebes, and their sons the Epigoni—most of whom went on to fight at Troy. This extended list remains controversial, and for the purpose of this volume I refer only to those poems pertaining to the Trojan War.
[2] Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003
[3] Titaness of law and social order. Aeschylus also made her the mother of Prometheus, although Prometheus is more commonly said to have been the son of the Titan Iapetus and the sea nymph Clymene.
[4] Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women offered another motive. Zeus had decided that gods should no longer mate with mortals, and wished to ‘destroy the race of demi-gods’, i.e. the descendants of gods and mortals.
[5] The author of the Cypria says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal. —Volumina Herculan, II. VIII. 105
[6] In Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca it is Chiron who tells Peleus how to capture Thetis.
[7] For at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the gods gathered together on Pelion to feast and brought Peleus gifts. Chiron gave him a stout ashen shaft which he had cut for a spear, and Athena, it is said, polished it, and Hephaestus fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the Cypria. —Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, XVII
[8] A lost section of the Aegimius, a fragmentary poem attributed to Hesiod, contained a slightly different version of the myth:
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. —Scholiast on Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica, Book IV
[9] A- = not/an absence of, cheilê = lips. This etymology is probably incorrect, with Achilles’ name commonly translated as ákhos = sorrow, laos = host or army.
[10] Alexô = to defend, andros = man.
[11] Paris’ first marriage to the nymph Oenone is not mentioned in the Excidium Troiae or Colluthus’ Rape of Helen. Her prophecy is realised in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica when Paris, mortally wounded by the arrow of Philoctetes, returns to her and begs that she heal him. She refuses, but after his death is overcome by remorse and commits suicide. Note that Paris was not the only son of Priam to marry a daughter of Cebren (See The Birth of Paris).
[12] Peitho or ‘Persuasion’ was an attendant goddess of Aphrodite. Hesiod made her the daughter of the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, but she was more commonly said to be a daughter of Aphrodite, with Dionysus sometimes named as her father.
[13] The Loves or ‘Erotes’ were the winged love gods who formed Aphrodite’s retinue, including Eros (Cupid), Anteros, Hedylogos, Pothos, Himeros, Hermaphroditus and Hymen. Most were the children of Aphrodite and Ares, or Hermes (Hermaphroditus), or Dionysus (Hymen). Originally depicted as winged youths, in Roman and later art they were represented as cherubs.
[14] A cattle prod (archaic).
[15] The author of the Cypria, whether Hegesias or Stasinus, mentions flowers used for garlands. The poet, whoever he was, writes as follows in his first book: “She clothed herself with garments which the Graces and Hours had made for her and dyed in flowers of spring—such flowers as the Seasons wear—in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose’s lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasons. [Lacuna] Then laughter-loving Aphrodite and her handmaidens wove sweet-smelling crowns of flowers of the earth and put them upon their heads—the bright-coiffed goddesses, the Nymphs and Graces, and golden Aphrodite too, while they sang sweetly on the mount of many-fountained Ida.” —Athenaeus, XV. 682 D, F
[16] A war goddess, and sister or companion/consort of Ares. In the Iliad Homer identifies her with Eris, although most writers distinguished between the two; Eris (Strife) was not exclusively a war goddess, representing discord and general mayhem as opposed to actual combat.
[17] A quote from Herodotus contradicts this:
For it is said in the Cypria that Paris came with Helen to Ilium from Sparta in three days, enjoying a favourable wind and calm sea. —Herodotus, II. 117
[18] Hesiod and Apollodorus (likely quoting Hesiod) gave Tyndareus and Leda two other daughters: Philonoe and Timandra. Philonoe was made immortal by Artemis, and Timandra was married to King Echemus of Arcadia, whom she later deserted for Phyleus, father of Meges. According to Euripides and Ovid, Helen and Clytemnestra had only one sister; Phoebe. If there were any myths associated with her they have not survived.
[19] And after them she bare a third child, Helen, a marvel to men. Rich-tressed Nemesis once gave her birth when she had been joined in love with Zeus the king of the gods by harsh violence. For Nemesis tried to escape him and liked not to lie in love with her father Zeus the Son of Cronus; for shame and indignation vexed her heart: therefore she fled him over the land and fruitless dark water. But Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her. Now she took the form of a fish and sped over the waves of the loud-roaring sea, and now over Ocean’s stream and the furthest bounds of Earth, and now she sped over the furrowed land, always turning into such dread creatures as the dry land nurtures, that she might escape him. —Athenaeus, VIII. 334 B
[20] For Helen had been previously carried off by Theseus, and it was in consequence of this earlier rape that Aphidna, a town in Attica, was sacked and Castor was wounded in the right thigh by Aphidnus who was king at that time. Then the Dioscuri, failing to find Theseus, sacked Athens. The story is in the Cyclic writers. —Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, III
Hereas relates that Alycus was killed by Theseus himself near Aphidna, and quotes the following verses in evidence: “In spacious Aphidna Theseus slew him in battle long ago for rich-haired Helen’s sake.” —Plutarch, Theseus, 32
[21] Hyginus adds Ancaeus son of Poseidon, Blanirus, Clytius of Cyane, Idomeneus of Crete, Meriones, Nireus son o
f Charopus, Phemius, Phidippus son of Thessalus, Prothous son of Tenthredon, Thoas son of Andraemon, and Tlepolemus son of Heracles.
[22] Icarius was the brother of Tyndareus, making Helen and Penelope first cousins.
[23] Demophon was the son of Theseus, who along with his brother Acamas went to Troy to rescue their grandmother Aethra. Here Colluthus makes reference to the myth of Demophon and Phyllis; unusually, as their encounter is said to have occurred after the Trojan War, so Paris could not have seen Phyllis’ tomb:
Demophon with a few ships put in to the land of the Thracian Bisaltians, and there Phyllis, the king’s daughter, falling in love with him, was given him in marriage by her father with the kingdom for her dower. But he wished to depart to his own country, and after many entreaties and swearing to return, he did depart. And Phyllis accompanied him as far as what are called the Nine Roads, and she gave him a casket, telling him that it contained a sacrament of Mother Rhea, and that he was not to open it until he should have abandoned all hope of returning to her. And Demophon went to Cyprus and dwelt there. And when the appointed time was past, Phyllis called down curses on Demophon and killed herself; and Demophon opened the casket, and, being struck with fear, he mounted his horse and galloping wildly met his end; for, the horse stumbling, he was thrown and fell on his sword. —Apollodorus, Epitome
[24] Book X of Ovid’s Metamorphoses tells the story of Hyacinthus in greater detail. Hyacinthus was the mortal companion of Apollo, accidentally slain by the latter during a game of discus. As he died, a hyacinth flower sprouted where his blood had spilled onto the earth.
[25] Here Menelaus is apparently already in Crete when Paris arrives. From Proclus, we know that in the Cypria Menelaus entertained Paris before his departure. Colluthus also omits Paris’ sojourn with Castor and Pollux.
[26] Some sources (but not Homer) also gave Menelaus and Helen at least one son, Nicostratus, although in the Cypria they evidently had two:
The writer of the Cyprian Histories says that [Helen’s third child was] Pleisthenes and that she took him with her to Cyprus, and that the child she bore Paris was Aganus. —Scholiast on Euripides, Andromache
[27] This version of events, which does not appear in the Epic Cycle, forms the subject of Euripides’ Helen.
[28] Diós = Zeus, Kouros = youth or boy. Sir James George Frazer, whose translation of the Bibliotheca I have quoted, interpreted Dioscuri as ‘striplings of Zeus’.
[29] Straightway Lynceus, trusting in his swift feet, made for Taygetus. He climbed its highest peak and looked throughout the whole isle of Pelops, son of Tantalus; and soon the glorious hero with his dread eyes saw horse-taming Castor and athlete Pollux both hidden within a hollow oak. —Scholiast on Pindar, Nemean Ode X
[Stasinus?] writes that Castor was killed with a spear shot by Idas the son of Aphareus. —Philodemus, On Piety.
[30] Here it is Zeus, and not Pollux (as per the Chrestomathy) who kills Idas.
[31] Castor was mortal, and the fate of death was destined for him; but Pollux, scion of Ares, was immortal. —Clement of Alexandria, Protrept
‘Scion of Ares’ is meant figuratively, alluding to his martial prowess. Interestingly, the Iliad seems to treat both Castor and Pollux as dead: in Book III, when Helen looks down upon the Greek armies from the walls of Troy, she wonders why she cannot see her brothers, not knowing that they ‘were fast holden of the life-giving earth there in Lacedaemon, in their dear native land.’ The Odyssey on the other hand acknowledges their partial immortality; this is sometimes held up as evidence that it was the work of a different poet.
[32] Dictys has here confused Atreus son of Pelops with Catreus son of Minos—it is in fact Catreus who has died. This possibly arose due to Agamemnon and Menelaus’ descent from both men; Catreus was their maternal grandfather.
[33] Deucalion was a son of Minos; Molus was the illegitimate son of Deucalion, and thus half-brother to Idomeneus.
[34] Clymene, mother of Palamedes, was the daughter of Catreus.
[35] In Homer’s Odyssey the wife of Nestor is Eurydice, daughter of Clymenus. Other sources record Anaxibia as the wife of Strophius, king of Phocis; their son was Pylades, cousin and companion to Orestes in Aeschylus’ Oresteia.
[36] Pleisthenes was the son of Atreus; thus, Agamemnon and Menelaus were fostered by their grandfather. This detail appears in a fragment of Hesiod’s Catalogue of Women, but is not present in Homer, where they are only ever referred to as the sons of Atreus.
[37] Europa was the mother of King Minos, seduced by Zeus when he took the form of a white bull.
[38] According to Pausanias’ Descriptions of Greece, the wife of Aeneas in the Cypria was named Eurydice; in the Aeneid his wife is Creusa, a daughter of Priam.
[39] Dictys seems to be unaware that although Aethra and her daughter Clymene were indeed Menelaus’ kinswomen (Aethra’s father Pittheus was the brother of Atreus), they were also his slaves, captured by the Dioscuri when they recovered Helen from Athens.
[40] The Chrestomathy has Nestor tell the story of Epopeus ‘seducing the daughter of Lycus’, but Antiope is usually said to have been the daughter of Nycetus, brother of Lycus. It is conceivable that this represents an error on Proclus’ part, rather than an alternate parentage (as interpreted by some scholars).
[41] Cowherd (archaic).
[42] Oideo = to swell, pous = foot.
[43] It is unlikely that Nestor spoke of Heracles without mentioning the fact that he killed his father and eleven brothers:
[Heracles] I recall once overthrew Messene’s walls and with no cause destroyed Elis and Pylos and with fire and sword ruined my own loved home. I cannot name all whom he killed. But there were twelve of us, the sons of Neleus and all warrior youths, and all those twelve but me alone he killed. —Ovid, Metamorphoses, XII
[44] The ‘clue’ was a ball of thread.
[45] The horse and ox would move at different speeds; hence one would be mad to yoke them together. Some later sources add that Odysseus sowed the field with salt.
[46] Eustathius of Thessalonica (c. 1115 - 1195/6AD) writes that Cinyras was cursed by Agamemnon, and later slain by Apollo after losing a contest to see who was the more skilled at playing the lyre. Upon his death, Cinyras’ fifty daughters threw themselves into the sea and were transformed into sea birds. Ovid tells a different version of the myth, where his daughter Myrrha conceives an unnatural lust for her father and tricks him into having intercourse. Upon discovering her identity Cinyras attempts to kill her, but she flees from him and is transformed into a myrrh tree by the gods. The myrrh tree later gives birth to Adonis, although in Greek versions of the Adonis myth Myrrha was the daughter of Theias of Assyria.
[47] According to Hyginus, Achilles was known as ‘Pyrrha’ to the women of Lycomedes’ court due to his red hair, pyrrhos meaning red in Greek. This physical trait he shared with his son, Pyrrhus being the masculine form. Pausanias, in his Description of Greece, writes that in the Cypria Lycomedes gave his grandson the name Pyrrhus, and Phoenix named him Neoptolemus because Achilles was young when he went to war (neo = new, pólemos = war).
[48] According to a scholiast on the Iliad, the ‘Cyclic writers’ gave a slightly different account of Achilles at Skyros. He was hidden there by Peleus at the outbreak of the war, and Odysseus, Phoenix and Nestor were sent to recruit him. Suspecting that Achilles was disguised among the girls, Odysseus had them spread a quantity of weapons along with some baskets and weaving implements in front of the girls’ chambers. When Achilles showed interest in the weapons, he was discovered. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Odysseus describes it similarly during the contest for Achilles’ arms, although he adds that Telamonian Ajax was also present:
Achilles’ Nereid mother, who foresaw his death, concealed her son by change of dress. By that disguise Ajax, among the rest, was well-deceived. I showed with women’s wares arms that might win the spirit of a man. The hero still wore clothing of a girl, when, as he held a shield and spear, I said “S
on of a goddess! Pergama but waits to fall by you, why do you hesitate to assure the overthrow of mighty Troy?” —Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIII
[49] It should be observed that the ancient narrative hands down the account that Patroclus was even a kinsman of Achilles; for Hesiod says that Menoetius the father of Patroclus, was a brother of Peleus, so that in that case they were first cousins. —Eustathius, commentary on Homer’s Iliad
[50] Daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, and goddess of marriage.
[51] Presumably the heir of the Sidonian king lately murdered by Paris.
[52] This catalogue largely agrees with the one found in Book II of the Iliad, although Homer arrives at 1,186 ships. Hyginus lists 1,154, and divides the army into 46 contingents.
[53] If we assume that Achilles was born in the year after the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, then some thirteen years must have elapsed between Paris’ judgement of the goddesses and his abduction of Helen (according to Apollodorus, the first mustering of the Greeks took two years).
[54] Here there is no mention of the Greeks mistaking the city of Teuthrania for Troy as in the Chrestomathy.
[55] Polynices and Tydeus, the fathers of Thersander and Diomedes, were two of the Seven Against Thebes. A decade later Thersander and Diomedes joined the Epigoni (‘offspring’) who returned to Thebes to avenge their fathers: