Diary for my daughter 31.03.2022 - Mythological Dacia Rulers

 

Hello My little penguin 🐧! Tata here!
Hope you're well and listen to your mummy!
Tata is fine today ! I've had an half of day off and was productive as I managed to film and edit your Sunday special, now is at rending :) . Today morning was snowing :) , I've admired the snow being stuck in traffic in Ware , like usual :)) . I've had 3 call in the morning and I will still have 3 more in the evening 🙃. So ... time for your today stories :)

Mythological Dacia Rulers

Haemus

In Greek mythology, King Haemus (/ˈhiːməs/; Ancient Greek: Αἷμος, Haîmos) of Thrace, was the son of Boreas, the north wind.

Mythology

Haemus was vain and haughty and compared himself and his wife, Queen Rhodope, to Zeus and Hera. The gods changed him and his wife into mountains (respectively Haemus Mons, now known as the Balkan Mountains, and the Rhodope Mountains). In ancient Greek, the Balkan Peninsula was thus known as the "Peninsula of Haemus" (Χερσόνησος τοῦ Αἵμου), a name which retains some currency in modern Greek.

Another classic etymology derives the name 'Haemos' from the myth about the fight of Zeus and the dragon Typhon:

He was again driven to Thrace and hurled entire mountains at Zeus in the battle around Mount Haemus. When these bounced back upon him under the force of the thunderbolt, blood gushed out on the mountain. From this, they say, the mountain is called haemus ("bloody").

Thrax

In Greek mythology, Thrax (Ancient Greek: Θρᾷξ; by his name simply the quintessential Thracian) was regarded as one of the reputed sons of Ares. In the Alcestis, Euripides mentions that one of the names of Ares himself was Thrax since he was regarded as the patron of Thrace (his golden or gilded shield was kept in his temple at Bistonia in Thrace).

In popular culture

Thrax makes a brief appearance in the direct-to-DVD animated movie Wonder Woman, as the son of Ares and Hippolyta. He is killed by Hippolyta during the start of the film, leading to Ares' defeat and capture. Later, he is seen serving Hades in the underworld.

Tegyrios

In Greek mythology, Tegyrios (Ancient Greek: Τεγυριος) was a King of Thrace.

Mythology

Tegyrios welcomed the exiled Eumolpus and married his daughter to Eumolpus' son Ismarus. Eumolpus then planned to overthrow him. Tegyrios banished him, but later, after the death of Ismarus, Tegyrios forgave Eumolpus and pronounced him his successor.

Eumolpus

In Greek Mythology, Eumolpus (/juˈmɒlpəs/; Ancient Greek: Εὔμολπος Eúmolpos, "good singer" or "sweet singing", derived from εὖ eu "good" and μολπή molpe "song", "singing") was a legendary king of Thrace. He was described as having come to Attica either as a bard, a warrior, or a priest of Demeter and Dionysus.

Family

Eumolpus was the son of Poseidon (Neptune in Roman tradition) and Chione. In the legend he is described as neither Greek, nor Thracian or Roman, but Libyan and a native of North Africa, though his mother Chione is said to be a Thracian princess. An alternative genealogy also stated that Eumolpus was born to the god Apollo and the nymph Astycome. He was the father of Immarados by the Oceanid Daeira.

Mythology

Early years
According to the Bibliotheca, Chione, daughter of Boreas and the heroine Oreithyia, pregnant in secret with Eumolpus by Poseidon, was frightened of her father's reaction so she threw the baby into the ocean after giving birth to him. Poseidon however, looked after him and brought him to shore in Ethiopia, where Benthesikyme, a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite, raised the child as their own. When he grew up, Eumolpus married one of Benthesikyme's two daughters by her Ethiopian husband. Eumolpus however, loved a different daughter and made an attempt upon her chastity, and was banished because of this. He went to Thrace with his son Ismarus (or Immaradus) who was married to the daughter of King Tegyrius. Later on, Eumolpus was discovered in a plot to overthrow King Tegyrios and was obliged to take flight and fled to Eleusis where he formed a friendship with the Eleusinians.

In Eleusis, Eumolpus became one of the first priests of Demeter and one of the founders of the Eleusinian Mysteries. When Ismarus died, Tegyrios sent for Eumolpus to return to Thrace, they made peace and Eumolpus inherited the Thracian kingdom. During a war between Athens and Eleusis, Eumolpus sided with Eleusis and came with a numerous band of Thracians.

War with Athens
The traditions about this Eleusinian war, however, differ very much. According to some, the Eleusinians under Eumolpus attacked the Athenians under Erechtheus, but were defeated, and Eumolpus with his two sons, Phorbas and Immaradus, were slain. Pausanias relates a tradition that in the battle between the Eleusinians and Athenians, Erechtheus and Immaradus fell, and that thereupon peace was concluded on condition that the Eleusinians should in other respects be subject to Athens, but that they alone should have the celebration of their mysteries, and that Eumolpus and the daughters of Celeus should perform the customary sacrifices. His son, Immaradus, was killed by King Erechtheus. In some sources, Erechtheus having killed Eumolpus, Poseidon asked Zeus to avenge his son's death. Zeus killed Erechtheus with a lightning bolt or Poseidon made the earth open up and swallow Erechtheus. According to Hyginus, Eumolpus came to Attica with a colony of Thracians, to claim the country as the property of his father, Poseidon.

Eleusis lost the battle with Athens but the Eumolpides and Kerykes, two families of priests to Demeter, continued the Eleusinian mysteries. Eumolpus' youngest son, Herald-Keryx who succeeded him in the priestly office, founded the lines.

Other feats
Mythology regards Eumolpus as the founder of the Eleusinian mysteries, and as the first priest of Demeter and Dionysus; the goddess herself taught him, Triptolemus, Diocles, and Celeus, the sacred rites, and he is therefore sometimes described as having himself invented the cultivation of the vine and of fruit-trees in general.

Eumolpus was an excellent musician and singer; he played the aulos and the lyre. He won a musical contest in the funereal games of Pelias. Eumolpus was regarded as an ancient priestly bard, poems and writings on the mysteries were fabricated and circulated at a later time under his name. One hexameter line of a Dionysiac hymn, ascribed to him, is preserved in Diodorus. The legends connected him also with Heracles, whom he is said to have instructed in music, or initiated into the mysteries. According to Diogenes Laërtius Eumolpus was the father of Musaeus.

The tomb of Eumolpus was shown both at Eleusis and Athens. The difference in the traditions about Eumolpus led some of the ancients to suppose that two or three persons of that name ought to be distinguished.

Tereus

In Greek mythology, Tereus (/ˈtɛriəs, ˈtɪərjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Τηρεύς) was a Thracian king, the son of Ares and the naiad Bistonis. He was the brother of Dryas. Tereus was the husband of the Athenian princess Procne and the father of Itys.

Mythology

When Tereus desired his wife's sister, Philomela, he came to Athens to his father-in-law Pandion to ask for his other daughter in marriage, stating that Procne had died. Pandion granted him the favour, and sent Philomela and guards along with her. But Tereus threw the guards into the sea, and finding Philomela on a mountain, forced himself upon her. He then cut her tongue out and held her captive so she could never tell anyone. After he returned to Thrace, Tereus gave Philomela to King Lynceus and told his wife that her sister had died. Philomela wove letters in a tapestry depicting Tereus's crime and sent it secretly to Procne. Lynceus' wife Lathusa who was a friend of Procne, at once sent the concubine (Philomela) to her.

When Procne recognized her sister and knew the impious deed of Tereus, the two planned to return the favour to the king. Meanwhile, it was revealed to Tereus by prodigies that death by a relative's hand was coming to his son Itys. When he heard this, thinking that his brother Dryas was plotting his son's death, he killed the innocent man. Procne, however, killed her son Itys by Tereus, served his flesh in a meal at his father's table in revenge, and fled with her sister.

When Tereus learned of the crime she had done, he pursued the sisters and tried to kill them but all three were changed by the Olympian Gods into birds out of pity: Tereus became a hoopoe or a hawk; Procne became the swallow whose song is a song of mourning for the loss of her child; Philomela became the nightingale. Incidentally, the female nightingale has no song. (Hyginus, Fabulae, 45).

Other usage

Tereus was also a common given name among Thracians.

The Attic playwrights Sophocles and Philocles both wrote plays entitled Tereus on the subject of the story of Tereus.

Shakespeare refers to Tereus in Titus Andronicus, after Chiron and Demetrius have raped Lavinia and cut out her tongue and also both her hands. He also makes reference to Tereus in Cymbeline, when Iachimo spies upon the sleeping Imogen to gather false evidence so he can persuade Posthumus he has seduced her.

The transformed Tereus is a character in The Birds by Aristophanes.

Phineus

In Greek mythology, Phineus (/ˈfɪniːəs, ˈfɪn.juːs/; Ancient Greek: Φινεύς, Ancient Greek: [pʰiː.neǔs]) was a king of Salmydessus in Thrace and seer, who appears in accounts of the Argonauts' voyage. Some accounts make him a king in Paphlagonia or in Arcadia.

Family

Several different versions of Phineus's parentage were presented in ancient texts. According to Apollonius of Rhodes, he was a son of Agenor, but the Bibliotheca says that other authors named his father as Poseidon (who is the father of Agenor). The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, on the other hand, reported that Phineus was the son of Phoenix and Cassiopeia.

His first wife was Cleopatra, daughter of Boreas and Oreithyia, by whom he had a pair of sons, named Plexippus and Pandion, or Gerymbas and Aspondus, or Polydector (Polydectus) and Polydorus, or Parthenius and Crambis, or Oryithus (Oarthus) and Crambis[citation needed]. His second wife, Idaea, daughter of the Scythian king Dardanus (less commonly Dia, Eidothea, sister of Cadmus, or Eurytia), deceived him into blinding these sons, a fate Phineus himself would suffer.

By his second wife, or by a Scythian concubine, Phineus had two more sons, Mariandynus and Thynus. According to some sources, he also had two daughters, Eraseia and Harpyreia while another daughter Olizone was called the wife of Dardanus, who was the son of Zeus and Electra, and became the mother of Erichthonius.

Mythology

Apollo was said to have given the gift of prophecy to Phineus, but the latter's own blinding was variously attributed to the outrage against his sons, his giving Phrixus directions on his journey, or because he preferred long life to sight, or, as reported in the Argonautica (thus the best-known version), for revealing the future to mankind. For this reason he was also tormented by the Harpies, who stole or defiled whatever food he had at hand or, according to the Catalogue of Women, drove Phineus himself to the corners of the world. According to scholia on the Odyssey, when asked by Zeus if he preferred to die or lose sight as punishment for having his sons killed by their stepmother, Phineus chose the latter saying he would rather never see the sun, and consequently it was the scorned Helios who sent the Harpies against him. In yet another version, he blinded Phineus at the request of his son Aeëtes, who asked him to do so because Phineus offered his assistance to Aeëtes' enemies. Alternatively the agent of punishment was Poseidon. However the Harpies plagued him, deliverance from this curse motivated Phineus's involvement in the voyage of the Argo. Those accounts in which Phineus is stated to have blinded his sons, add that they had their sight restored to them by the sons of Boreas, or by Asclepius.

When the ship landed by his Thracian home, Phineus described his torment to the crew and told them that his brothers-in-law, the wing-footed Boreads, both Argonauts, were fated to deliver him from the Harpies. Zetes demurred, fearing the wrath of the gods should they deliver Phineus from divine punishment, but the old seer assured him that he and his brother Calais would face no retribution. A trap was set: Phineus sat down to a meal with the Boreads standing guard, and as soon as he touched his food the Harpies swept down, devoured the food and flew off. The Boreads gave chase, pursuing the Harpies as far as the "Floating Islands" before Iris stopped them lest they kill the Harpies against the will of the gods. She swore an oath by the Styx that the Harpies would no longer harass Phineus, and the Boreads then turned back to return to the Argonauts. It is for this reason, according to Apollonius, that the "Floating Islands" are now called the Strophades, the "Turning Islands". Phineus then revealed to the Argonauts the path their journey would take and informed them how to pass the Symplegades safely, thus partially filling the same role for Jason that Circe did for Odysseus in the Odyssey.

A now-lost play about Phineus, Phineus, was written by Aeschylus and was the first play in the trilogy that included The Persians, produced in 472 B.C.

The story of Phineus and Cleopatra is briefly mentioned in Sophocles' Antigone.

Poltys

In Greek mythology, Poltys (Ancient Greek: Πόλτυς) is a mythical king and eponym of the Thracian city of Poltyobria (or Poltymbria; also called Aenus), featured in Apollodorus's account of the story of the hero Heracles. Poltys and his brother Sarpedon are given as sons of the sea-god Poseidon.

Poltys is also a genus of spiders

Mythology

Poltys hosted Heracles when the hero came to Aenus; although Poltys welcomed Heracles, Sarpedon did not, and was slain by Heracles on the beach.

In a story related by Plutarch (Morals), Poltys ruled at the outbreak of the Trojan War, and was solicited both by the Trojan and Greek ambassadors. Poltys advised Paris to restore Helen, promising to give him two beautiful women to replace her. The advice was declined. Homer does not mention Poltys in the Iliad, and the story is obviously post-Homeric.

Pyreneus

In Greek mythology, Pyreneus was a king of Thrace.

Mythology

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, Pyreneus invites the Muses to take shelter in his palace while he secretly means to do them harm. Once the Muses are inside, he tries to trap them, but they fly away. He tries to follow them by leaping off a tower, but only falls to his death.

Harpalykos

In Greek mythology, the name Harpalycus (Ancient Greek: Ἁρπάλυκος) may refer to:

Harpalycus, an Arcadian prince as one of the 50 sons of the impious King Lycaon either by the naiad Cyllene, Nonacris or by unknown woman. He and his brothers were the most nefarious and carefree of all people. To test them, Zeus visited them in the form of a peasant. These brothers mixed the entrails of a child into the god's meal, whereupon the enraged Zeus threw the meal over the table. Harpalycus was killed, along with his brothers and their father, by a lightning bolt of the god.
Harpalycus, son of Hermes and Heracles' instructor in boxing.
Harpalycus, king of the Amymnei in Thrace, father of Harpalyce, whom he raised as a valiant warrior and his own intended successor. He was killed by the rebellious people.
Harpalycus, a soldier in Aeneas' army killed by Camilla.

Mopsus

Mopsus (/ˈmɒpsəs/; Ancient Greek: Μόψος, Mopsos) was the name of one of two famous seers in Greek mythology; his rival being Calchas. A historical or legendary Mopsos or Mukšuš may have been the founder of a house in power at widespread sites in the coastal plains of Pamphylia and Cilicia (in today's Turkey) during the early Iron Age.

Mythological figures

Mopsus, son of Manto either by Rhacius or Apollo.
Mopsus, an Argonaut and son of Ampyx by a nymph.
Mopsus, a Thracian commander who had lived long before the Trojan War. Along with Sipylus the Scythian, this Mopsus had been driven into exile from Thrace by its king Lycurgus. Sometime later, he and Sipylus defeated the Libyan Amazons in a pitched battle, in which their queen Myrine was slain, and the Thracians pursued the surviving Amazons all the way to Libya.

Historical person

The Christian chronicler Eusebius of Caesarea was as convinced of Mopsus' historicity as his pagan predecessors and contemporaries: in his parallel chronologies he entered under the year corresponding to 1184/83 Mopsus reigned in Cilicia. In the early 16th century, German chronicler Johannes Aventinus placed him in the reign of Ingaevone, in ca. 22nd century BC, along the Sava River, where, allegedly, he defeated Myrine.

Names similar to Mopsos, whether Greek or Anatolian, are also attested in Near Eastern languages. Since the discovery of a bilingual Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician inscription in Karatepe (in Cilicia) in 1946–7, it has been conjectured that Mopsos was a historical person. The inscription is dated to c. 700 BC, and the person speaking in it, ’-z-t-w-d (Phoenician) / Azatiwada (Luwian), professes to be king of the d-n-n-y-m / Hiyawa, and describes his dynasty as "the house of M-p-š / Muksa". Apparently, he is a descendant of Mopsus. The relationship between the earlier form Muksa, preserved in Luwian transmission, and the later form M-p-š / Mopsos, preserved in Phoenician transmission, is indicative of the evolution of Greek labiovelars and can hardly be explained otherwise. The Phoenician name of the people recalls one of the Homeric names of the Greeks, Danaoi with the -m plural, whereas the Luwian name Hiyawa probably goes back to Hittite Ahhiyā(wa), which is, according to most interpretations, the "Achaean", or Mycenaean Greek, settlement in Asia Minor. Ancient Greek authors ascribe a central role to Mopsus in the colonization of Pamphylia.

A 13th-century date for the historical Mopsus may be confirmed by a Hittite tablet from Boğazkale which mentions a person called Mukšuš in connection with Madduwattaš of Arzawa and Attarsiya of Ahhiyā. This text is dated to the reign of Arnuwandaš III. Therefore, some scholars associate Mopsus' activities along the coast of Asia Minor and the Levant with the Sea Peoples' attacking Egypt in the beginning of the 12th century BC, one of those peoples being the Denyen—comparable to the d-n-n-y-m of the Karatepe inscription. The Sea People identification is, however, questioned by other scholars.

The name of the king erecting the Karatepe inscription, Azatiwada, is probably related to the toponym Aspendos, the name of a city in Pamphylia founded by the Argives according to Strabo (14.4.2). The name of the city is written ΕΣΤFΕΔΙΙΥΣ (Estwediius) on coins of the 5th century BC. Presumably, it was an earlier Azatiwada, the ancestor of our king, that gave his name to the city. The name does not appear to be Greek of origin (= Luwian "Lover of the Sun God [Wa(n)da]"?, or "Sun-god (Tiwad) love (him)", according to a more recent interpretation). The ethnicity of Mopsus himself is not clear: The fragmentary Lydian historiographer Xanthus made him a Lydian campaigning in Phoenicia. If the transmission of Nicolaus of Damascus, who quotes him, is believable, Xanthus wrote the name with -ks-, like in the Hittite and Luwian texts. Given that Lydian also belongs to the Anatolian language family, it is possible that Xanthus relied on a local non-Greek tradition according to which Mukšuš was a Luwian.

The name Mopsus or Mopsos is also mentioned in the more recently discovered Çineköy inscription. This is also a Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician bilingual inscription, similar to the Karatepe inscription.

Peirous

In Greek mythology, Peirous or Peiroos (Ancient Greek: Πείροος) was a Thracian war leader from the city of Aenus and an ally of King Priam during the Trojan War. Peirous was the son of Imbrasus and father of Rhygmus (who fought at Troy alongside his father). Peirous was killed by Thoas, leader of the Aetolians.

Rhesus of Thrace

Rhesus (/ˈriːsəs/; Ancient Greek: Ῥῆσος Rhêsos) is a mythical Thracian king in Iliad, Book X, who fought on the side of Trojans. Diomedes and Odysseus stole his team of fine horses during a night raid on the Trojan camp.

Etymology

His name (a Thracian anthroponym) probably derives from PIE *reg-, 'to rule', showing a satem-sound change.

Family

According to Homer, his father was Eioneus who may be connected to the historic Eion in western Thrace, at the mouth of the Strymon, and the port of the later Amphipolis. Later writers provide Rhesus with a more exotic parentage, claiming that his mother was one of the Muses (Euterpe, Calliope or Terpsichore) and his father, the river god Strymon. Stephanus of Byzantium mentions the name of Rhesus' sister Sete, who had a son Bithys with Ares.

Mythology

Rhesus was raised by fountain nymphs and died without engaging in battle. He arrived late to Troy, because his country was attacked by Scythia, right after he received word that the Greeks had attacked Troy. Dolon, who had gone out to spy on Agamemnon’s army for Hector, was caught by Diomedes and Odysseus and proceeded to tell the two Argives about the newest arrivals, Thracians under the leadership of Rhesus. Dolon explained that Rhesus had the finest horses, as well as huge, golden armor that was suitable for gods rather than mortals. Because of Dolon’s cowardice, Rhesus met his demise without ever getting the chance to defend himself or Troy. When the Thracians were sleeping, Diomedes and Odysseus attacked the camp in the dead of night, killing Rhesus in his tent and stealing his famous steeds.

The event portrayed in the Iliad also provides the action of the play Rhesus, transmitted among the plays of Euripides. The mother of Rhesus, one of the nine muses, then arrived and laid blame on all those responsible: Odysseus, Diomedes, and Athena. She also announced the imminent resurrection of Rhesus, who will become immortal but will be sent to stay in a cave. Scholia to the Iliad episode and the Rhesus agree in giving Rhesus a more heroic stature, incompatible with Homer's version.

Rhesus is also named as one of the eight rivers that Poseidon raged from Mount Ida to the sea in order to knock down the wall that the Achaeans built.

There was also a river in Bithynia named Rhesus, with Greek myth providing an attendant river god of the same name. Rhesus the Thracian king was himself associated with Bithynia through his love with the Bithynian huntress Arganthone, in the Erotika Pathemata ["Sufferings for Love"] by Parthenius of Nicaea, chapter 36.

Namesake

Rhesus Glacier on Anvers Island in Antarctica is named after Rhesus of Thrace, as is the Jovian asteroid 9142 Rhesus.

Cultural depictions

In the motion picture Hercules, Tobias Santelmann plays a character named Rhesus, who lives in the vicinity of Thrace but has little else in common with the traditional character, instead being a rebel against King Cotys.

In the videogame Total War Saga: Troy, Rhesus becomes a playable character along with Memnon. His campaign involves him unifying the Thracian tribes.

Cisseus

In Greek mythology, Cisseus (Ancient Greek: Κισσεὺς means "wreathe with ivy") may refer to the following personages:

Cisseus, an Egyptian prince as one of the sons of King Aegyptus. His mother was the naiad Caliadne and thus full brother of Eurylochus, Phantes, Peristhenes, Hermus, Potamon, Dryas, Lixus, Imbrus, Bromius, Polyctor and Chthonius. In some accounts, he could be a son of Aegyptus either by Eurryroe, daughter of the river-god Nilus, or Isaie, daughter of King Agenor of Tyre. Cisseus suffered the same fate as his other brothers, save Lynceus, when they were slain on their wedding night by their wives who obeyed the command of their father King Danaus of Libya. He married the Danaid Antheleia, daughter of Danaus and the naiad Polyxo.
Cisseus, a Thracian king and father of Theano, the wife of Antenor, as related in Homer's Iliad. His wife was Telecleia, a daughter of King Ilus of Troy. No mythographer (Homer included) provides any further details about this Cisseus, although Strabo suggests that he was associated with the town of Cissus in western Thrace (later Macedonia). Hecabe (Hecuba), the wife of Priam, is sometimes given as a daughter of Cisseus; but she is more usually described as a Phrygian, and daughter of King Dymas. Cisseus was remembered for giving Anchises a bowl engraved with figures as a memento and a pledge of their friendship.
Cisseus, son of Melampus and an ally of Turnus, the man who opposed Aeneas in Italy. He was killed by Aeneas.
Cisseus, also the name of a local king, defeated by Macedonians, Perdiccas, Caranus and Archelaus in various versions of the myth. He received Archelaus and promised to give him his kingdom and his daughter but later, going back on his word, tried to kill him. But Archelaus, who is counted among the Heraclides, killed Cisseus instead.

Diomedes of Thrace

In Greek mythology, King Diomedes of Thrace (Ancient Greek: Διομήδης) was the son of Ares and Cyrene. He lived on the shores of the Black Sea ruling the warlike tribe of Bistones. He is known for his man-eating horses, which Heracles stole in order to complete the eighth of his Twelve Labours, slaying Diomedes in the process.

Mythology

Heracles encounters King Diomedes through performing his eighth labour. Eurystheus, King of Tiryns and Heracles' cousin, had sent Heracles to capture the Mares of Diomedes after he had completed his seventh labour, capturing the Cretan Bull. Heracles travelled to the shores of the Black Sea to meet King Diomedes. He was said to have been the son of the god Ares and Cyrene, who is said to be the daughter of Hypseus, King of the Lapiths. King Diomedes was a savage; he enjoyed feeding strangers and prisoners to his mares. They did not like the taste of oats and grain; instead they feasted on human flesh, which their master gave them willingly. His mares could not be controlled; they were savage, just like the King. They could not be tethered by regular rope; instead they needed to be tethered to a bronze manger by chains, so they would not escape.

Upon arrival, Heracles, knowing how King Diomedes treats strangers, wrestles with him, trying to bring King Diomedes to the stables, where the mares live. Even though Heracles is said to have unmatched strength, it is a long and reasonably even match, since Diomedes himself is the son of the god of war. He eventually loses to Heracles, and is brought to the mares’ manger where they devour him. It is said that this cures them of their hunger for human flesh. It seems that all they longed for was their master's blood. They become calm and controllable. Heracles is able to bring them back to Tiryns to show Eurystheus his completion of his eighth labour. Eurytheus dedicates the mares to Hera, goddess of marriage, women and childbirth. Once dedicated they were released and free to roam Argos. One of their descendants is said to be the horse of Alexander the Great. In other translations it is said that the mares are freed to Mount Olympus where some were eaten by wild beasts.

Namesake

Diomedes Lake in Antarctica is named after Diomedes of Thrace.

Lycurgus of Thrace

In Greek mythology, Lycurgus (/laɪˈkɜːrɡəs/; Ancient Greek: Λυκοῦργος Lykoûrgos, Ancient Greek: [lykôrɡos]; (also Lykurgos, Lykourgos) was the king of the Edoni in Thrace, son of Dryas, the "oak", and father of a son whose name was also Dryas.

Mythology

Lycurgus banned the cult of Dionysus. When Lycurgus heard that Dionysus was in his kingdom, he imprisoned Dionysus's followers, the Maenads, or drove them and Dionysus out of Thrace with an ox-goad. Some sources state that Ambrosia, the foster mother of Dionysus, was among those imprisoned. Dionysus fled, taking refuge in the undersea grotto of Thetis the sea nymph.

The compiler of Bibliotheke (3.5.1) says that as punishment, especially for his treatment for Ambrosia, Dionysus drove Lycurgus insane. In his madness, Lycurgus mistook his son for a mature trunk of ivy, which is holy to Dionysus, and killed him, pruning away his nose and ears, fingers and toes. Consequently, the land of Thrace dried up in horror. Dionysus decreed that the land would stay dry and barren as long as Lycurgus was left unpunished for his injustice, so his people bound him and flung him to man-eating horses on Mount Pangaeüs. However, another version of the tale, transmitted in Servius's commentary on Aeneid 3.14 and Hyginus in his Fabulae 132, records that Lycurgus cut off his own foot when he meant to cut down a vine of ivy. With Lycurgus dead, Dionysus lifted the curse.

Also according to Hyginus, Lycurgus tried to rape his mother after imbibing wine. When he discovered what he had done, he attempted to cut down the grapevines, believing the wine to be a bad medicine. Dionysus drove him mad as a punishment, causing him to kill both his wife and his son, and threw him to the panthers on Mount Rhodope.

Diodorus Siculus relates that, centuries before the Trojan war, King Lycurgus of Thrace exiled one of his commanders, Mopsus, along with Sipylus the Scythian. Sometime later, when the Libyan Amazons invaded Thrace, Mopsus and Sipylus came to the rescue by defeating them in a pitched battle, in which their queen Myrine was slain; the Thracians then pursued the surviving Amazons all the way to Libya.

In some versions the story of Lycurgus and his punishment by Dionysus is placed in Arabia rather than in Thrace. The tragedian Aeschylus, in a lost play, depicted Lycurgus as a beer-drinker and hence a natural opponent of the wine god. There is a further reference to Lycurgus in Sophocles' Antigone in the Chorus's ode after Antigone is taken away (960 in the Greek text).

In Homer's Iliad, an older source than Aeschylus, Lycurgus's punishment for his disrespect towards the gods, particularly Dionysus, is blindness inflicted by Zeus followed not long after by death.

According to Sophocles, the frenzied Lycurgus mocked at Dionysus and as punishment was shut in "a prison of stone" until his madness went away.

Oceagrus

In Greek mythology, Oeagrus (Greek: Οἴαγρος, translit. Oíagros, lit. "of the wild sorb-apple") was a king of Thrace.

Biography

Kingdom
There are various versions as to where Oeagrus' domain was actually situated. In one version, he ruled over the Edonian kingdom in the region of Mygdonia. He is also connected with Pieria, further west, or to the vicinity of the River Hebrus to the east, the latter was said to be called 'Oeagria', in his honor.

Family
In the version that places Oeagrus in Pieria, his father is given as King Pierus and the nymph Methone. He was described as "a Thracian wine-god, who was himself descended from Atlas." According to Suda, Oiagros was in the fifth generation after Atlas, by Alkyone, one of his daughters. This can be explained by the following genealogy: (1) Atlas by Pleione — (2) Alcyone by Poseidon — (3) Aethusa by Apollo — (4) Linus or Eleuther — (5) Pierus by Methone — Oeager. This was supported by the order of genealogy according to the historian Charax which as follows: Aethuse the Thracian was the mother of Linus, the father of Pierus, the father of Oeagrus.

In the account that places him in Edonia he is said to be the son of Charops, an adherent of the god Dionysus; Charops was invited by Dionysus to rule over the Edones after the violent death of their king Lycurgus. Oeagrus has also sometimes been called the son of the god Ares, who was associated with Thrace.

Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope or Clio[citation needed] or Polymnia were the parents of Orpheus and Linus. He married Calliope close to Pimpleia, Olympus. The sisters of Orpheus are called Oeagrides, in the sense of the Muses. The father of Orpheus was sometimes given as Apollo. Oeagrus was also mentioned as the father of Marsyas.

Mythology

In Nonnus' Dionysiaca, the author states that Oeagrus quitted his city of Pimpleia on the Bistonian plain and followed the enterprise of Dionysos against the Indian people. He left his newly-born son Orpheus in the charge of his consort Calliopeia.

"The bold son of Ares, Oiagros, quitted his city of Pimpleia on the Bistonian plain, and joined the rout. He left Orpheus on Calliopeia's knees, a little one interested in his mother's milk, still a new thing. "

Oeagrus was also described as a singer and harpist, and a skilled warrior during this adventures.

"When Bromios had spoken, up sprang a harper, Oiagros, a man of the cold Bistonian land,' with the quill hanging to his harp."
"Second, my lord Oiagros wove a winding lay, as the father of Orpheus who has the Muse his boon companion. Only a couple of verses he sang, a ditty of Phoibos, clear spoken in few words after some Amyclaian style: Apollo brought to life again his longhaired Hyacinthos: Staphylos will be made to live for aye by Dionysos."
"The Lord crowned Oiagros's head with ivy, and the father of Orpheus stamped his foot on the ground, as he accepted with joy the untamed bull, the prize of the singing, while his companions danced round him in a row."
"Oiagros also beat back the swarthy fighting, insatiable, reaping the ranks of men in swathes, as he cut the harvest of flashing helms with Bistonian blade."
"He (i.e. Oiagros) bent his bow, fitted a shaft to the string, and drew it right back to the tip of the iron and let fly at the mark, trusting all hopes of victory to his bride Calliopeia, mother of a noble son. Nine longbarbed arrows he shot, nine men he slew — one number for the arrows let fly and the warriors killed. One flying shaft pierced a forehead, one cut the round of a hairy breast, another fell on a flank, another upon a belly and dug deep into the hollow middle. Again one went through a side, another caught a running man on the sole of his storming foot and nailed the foot close fastened to the earth. Again he drew back a windswift shaft: and from that quiver another flew, and a shower of arrows went one after another hurtling through the air. As when a man hammers metal on a smith's anvil, and rings the fiery clinks with unwearied sledge beating the mass below, the sparks leap out in showers, spurting when the iron is struck, and heat the air; under blow after blow first one goes up then another, one leaps after another and catches it leaping in its fiery course: so he shooting at the Indian host before him scattered the warriors with arrows without respite, slaying on all sides with the incessant shafts. The centre of the line gave way before this cloud of arrows and a space was left clear, like the crescent moon when it shines dim at either horn and fills the two ends with new-lighted sheen, marking off the middle of the orb with receding beams, and the two horns apart gleaming softly, but the middle orb of the moon marked off is yet seen to be bare.

Honours

Oeagrus Beach in Antarctica is named after the mythical king.

Orpheus

Orpheus (/ˈɔːrfiːəs, ˈɔːrfjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: [or.pʰeú̯s]) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and even descended into the Underworld of Hades to recover his lost wife Eurydice.

Ancient Greek authors as Strabo and Plutarch note Orpheus's Thracian origins. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music (the usual scene in Orpheus mosaics), his attempt to retrieve his wife Eurydice from the underworld, and his death at the hands of the maenads of Dionysus, who tired of his mourning for his late wife Eurydice. As an archetype of the inspired singer, Orpheus is one of the most significant figures in the reception of classical mythology in Western culture, portrayed or alluded to in countless forms of art and popular culture including poetry, film, opera, music, and painting.

For the Greeks, Orpheus was a founder and prophet of the so-called "Orphic" mysteries. He was credited with the composition of the Orphic Hymns and the Orphic Argonautica. Shrines containing purported relics of Orpheus were regarded as oracles.

Etymology

Several etymologies for the name Orpheus have been proposed. A probable suggestion is that it is derived from a hypothetical PIE root *h₃órbʰos 'orphan, servant, slave' and ultimately the verb root *h₃erbʰ- 'to change allegiance, status, ownership.' Cognates could include Greek: ὄρφνη (órphnē; 'darkness') and ὀρφανός (orphanós; 'fatherless, orphan') from which comes English 'orphan' by way of Latin.

Fulgentius, a mythographer of the late 5th to early 6th century AD, gave the unlikely etymology meaning "best voice," "Oraia-phonos".

Background

It was believed by Aristotle that Orpheus never existed, but to all other ancient writers he was a real person, though living in remote antiquity. Most of them believed that he lived several generations before Homer. The earliest literary reference to Orpheus is a two-word fragment of the 6th century BC lyric poet Ibycus: onomaklyton Orphēn ('Orpheus famous-of-name'). He is not mentioned in Homer or Hesiod. Most ancient sources accept his historical existence; Aristotle is an exception. Pindar calls Orpheus 'the father of songs' and identifies him as a son of the Thracian king Oeagrus and the Muse Calliope.

Greeks of the Classical age venerated Orpheus as the greatest of all poets and musicians; it was said that while Hermes had invented the lyre, Orpheus had perfected it. Poets such as Simonides of Ceos said that Orpheus's music and singing could charm the birds, fish and wild beasts, coax the trees and rocks into dance, and divert the course of rivers.

Orpheus was one of the handful of Greek heroes to visit the Underworld and return; his music and song even had power over Hades. The earliest known reference to this descent to the underworld is the painting by Polygnotus (5th century BC) described by Pausanias (2nd century AD), where no mention is made of Eurydice. Euripides and Plato both refer to the story of his descent to recover his wife, but do not mention her name; a contemporary relief (about 400 BC) shows Orpheus and his wife with Hermes. The elegiac poet Hermesianax called her Agriope; and the first mention of her name in literature is in the Lament for Bion (1st century BC)

Some sources credit Orpheus with further gifts to mankind: medicine, which is more usually under the auspices of Asclepius (Aesculapius) or Apollo; writing, which is usually credited to Cadmus; and agriculture, where Orpheus assumes the Eleusinian role of Triptolemus as giver of Demeter's knowledge to mankind. Orpheus was an augur and seer; he practiced magical arts and astrology, founded cults to Apollo and Dionysus and prescribed the mystery rites preserved in Orphic texts. Pindar and Apollonius of Rhodes place Orpheus as the harpist and companion of Jason and the Argonauts. Orpheus had a brother named Linus, who went to Thebes and became a Theban. He is claimed by Aristophanes and Horace to have taught cannibals to subsist on fruit, and to have made lions and tigers obedient to him. Horace believed, however, that Orpheus had only introduced order and civilization to savages.

Strabo (64 BC – c. AD 24) presents Orpheus as a mortal, who lived and died in a village close to Olympus. "Some, of course, received him willingly, but others, since they suspected a plot and violence, combined against him and killed him." He made money as a musician and "wizard" – Strabo uses αγυρτεύοντα (agurteúonta), also used by Sophocles in Oedipus Tyrannus to characterize Tiresias as a trickster with an excessive desire for possessions. Αγύρτης (agúrtēs) most often meant charlatan and always had a negative connotation. Pausanias writes of an unnamed Egyptian who considered Orpheus a μάγευσε (mágeuse), i. e., magician.[non-primary source needed]

"Orpheus...is repeatedly referred to by Euripides, in whom we find the first allusion to the connection of Orpheus with Dionysus and the infernal regions: he speaks of him as related to the Muses (Rhesus 944, 946); mentions the power of his song over rocks, trees, and wild beasts (Medea 543, Iphigenia in Aulis 1211, Bacchae 561, and a jocular allusion in Cyclops 646); refers to his charming the infernal powers (Alcestis 357); connects him with Bacchanalian orgies (Hippolytus 953); ascribes to him the origin of sacred mysteries (Rhesus 943), and places the scene of his activity among the forests of Olympus (Bacchae 561.)" "Euripides [also] brought Orpheus into his play Hypsipyle, which dealt with the Lemnian episode of the Argonautic voyage; Orpheus there acts as coxswain, and later as guardian in Thrace of Jason's children by Hypsipyle."

"He is mentioned once only, but in an important passage, by Aristophanes (Frogs 1032), who enumerates, as the oldest poets, Orpheus, Musaeus, Hesiod, and Homer, and makes Orpheus the teacher of religious initiations and of abstinence from murder..."

"Plato (Apology, Protagoras),...frequently refers to Orpheus, his followers, and his works. He calls him the son of Oeagrus (Symposium), mentions him as a musician and inventor (Ion and Laws bk 3.), refers to the miraculous power of his lyre (Protagoras), and gives a singular version of the story of his descent into Hades: the gods, he says, imposed upon the poet, by showing him only a phantasm of his lost wife, because he had not the courage to die, like Alcestis, but contrived to enter Hades alive, and, as a further punishment for his cowardice, he met his death at the hands of women (Symposium.)"

"Earlier than the literary references is a sculptured representation of Orpheus with the ship Argo, found at Delphi, said to be of the sixth century BC."

Four other people are traditionally called Orpheus: "The second Orpheus was an Arcadian, or, according to others, a Ciconian, from the Thracian Bisaltia, and is said to be more ancient than Homer and the Trojan War. He composed fabulous figments called mythpoeai and epigrams. The third Orpheus was of Odrysius, a city of Thrace, near the river Hebrus; but Dionysius in Suidas denies his existence. The fourth Orpheus was of Crotonia; flourished in the time of Pisistratus, about the fiftieth Olympiad, and is, I have no doubt, the same with Onomacritus, who changed the dialect of these hymns. He wrote Decennalia, and in the opinion of Gyraldlus the Argonautics, which are now extant under the name of Orpheus, with other writings called Orphical, but which according to Cicero some ascribe to Cecrops the Pythagorean. But the last Orpheus [the fifth] was Camarinseus, a most excellent versifier; and the same, according to Gyraldus, whose descent into Hades is so universally known."

Writings

On the writings of Orpheus, Freeman, in the 1946 edition of The Pre- Socratic Philosophers pp. 4–8, writes:

"In the fifth and fourth centuries BC, there existed a collection of hexametric poems known as Orphic, which were the accepted authority of those who followed the Orphic way of life, and were by them attributed to Orpheus himself. Plato several times quotes lines from this collection; he refers in the Republic to a "mass of books of Musaeus and Orpheus", and in the Laws to the hymns of Thamyris and Orpheus, while in the Ion he groups Orpheus with Musaeus and Homer as the source of inspiration of epic poets and elocutionists. Euripides in the Hippolytus makes Theseus speak of the "turgid outpourings of many treatises", which have led his son to follow Orpheus and adopt the Bacchic religion. Alexis, the fourth century comic poet, depicting Linus offering a choice of books to Heracles, mentions "Orpheus, Hesiod, tragedies, Choerilus, Homer, Epicharmus". Aristotle did not believe that the poems were by Orpheus; he speaks of the "so-called Orphic epic", and Philoponus (seventh century AD) commenting on this expression, says that in the De Philosophia (now lost) Aristotle directly stated his opinion that the poems were not by Orpheus. Philoponus adds his own view that the doctrines were put into epic verse by Onomacritus. Aristotle when quoting the Orphic cosmological doctrines attributes them to "the theologoi", "the ancient poets", "those who first theorized about the gods".

Nothing is known of any ancient Orphic writings except a reference in the Alcestis of Euripides to certain Thracian tablets which "the voice of Orpheus had inscribed" with pharmaceutical lore. The Scholiast, commenting on the passage, says that there exist on Mt. Haemus certain writings of Orpheus on tablets. There is also a reference, not mentioning Orpheus by name, in the pseudo-Platonic Axiochus, where it is said that the fate of the soul in Hades is described on certain bronze tablets which two seers had brought to Delos from the land of the Hyperboreans. This is the only evidence for any ancient Orphic writings. Aelian (second century AD) gave the chief reason against believing in them: at the time when Orpheus is said to have lived, the Thracians knew nothing about writing.

It came therefore to be believed that Orpheus taught, but left no writings, and that the epic poetry attributed to him was written in the sixth century BC by Onomacritus. Onomacritus was banished from Athens by Hipparchus for inserting something of his own into an oracle of Musaeus when entrusted with the editing of his poems. It may have been Aristotle who first suggested, in the lost De Philosophia, that Onomacritus also wrote the so-called Orphic epic poems. By the time when the Orphic writings began to be freely quoted by Christian and Neo-Platonist writers, the theory of the authorship of Onomacritus was accepted by many.

It is believed, however, that the Orphic literature current in the time of the Neo-Platonists (third century AD), and quoted by them as the authority for Orphic doctrines, was a collection of writings of different periods and varying outlook, something like that of the Bible. The earliest of these were composed in the sixth century by Onomacritus from genuine Orphic tradition; the latest which have survived, namely the Voyage of the Argonauts, and the Hymns to various deities, cannot have been put together in their present form until the beginning of the Christian era, and are probably to be dated some time between the second and fourth centuries AD.

The Neo-Platonists quote the Orphic poems in their defence against Christianity, because Plato used poems which he believed to be Orphic. It is believed that in the collection of writings which they used there were several versions, each of which gave a slightly different account of the origin of the universe, of gods and men, and perhaps of the correct way of life, with the rewards and punishments attached thereto. Three principal versions are recognized by modern scholars; all three are mentioned by the Neo-Platonist Damascius (fifth to sixth centuries AD).

These are:

Rhapsodiae, epic lays, said by Damascius to give the usual Orphic theology. These are mentioned also in Suidas' list, as "sacred discourses in twenty-four lays", though he attributes this work to Theognetus the Thessalian (unknown) or Cercops the Pythagorean. This is now referred to as the Rhapsodic Theogony. It is the version usually quoted by ancient authorities, but was not the one used by Plato, and is therefore some-times thought to have been composed after he wrote; this question cannot at present be decided.
An Orphic Theogony given by Aristotle's pupil Eudemus.
An Orphic Theogony "according to Hieronymus and Hellanicus". Other versions were: a Theogony put into the mouth of Orpheus by Apollonius Rhodius in his Argonautica an Orphic Theogony quoted by Alexander of Aphrodisias; and a Theogony in Clement of Rome, not specified as Orphic, but belonging to the same school of thought.
A long list of Orphic works is given in Suidas (tenth century AD); but most of these are there attributed to other authors.

They are:

Triagmoi, attributed to the tragic poet Ion, in which there was said to be a chapter called Sacred Vestments, or Cosmic Invocations. The title Triagmoi apparently referred to "the Orphic tripod of three elements, earth, water, fire", referred to by Ausonius and Galen; the latter said that this doctrine was given by Onomacritus in his Orphic poems.
The Sacred Discourses, already discussed, usually identified with the Rhapsodiae.
Oracles and Rites, attributed to Onomacritus.
Aids to Salvation, ascribed to Timocles of Syracuse or Persinus of Miletus; both the work and these writers are otherwise unknown.
Mixing-bowls, ascribed to Zopyrus of Heracleia; and The Robe and The Net, also ascribed to Zopyrus, or to Brontinus the Pythagorean. The Net referred to is the net of the body, so called in Orphic literature. To Brontinus was also ascribed a Physica, otherwise unknown.
Enthronement of the Mother, and Bacchic Rites, ascribed to Nicias of Elea, of whom nothing else is known. "Enthronement" was part of the rite of initiation practised by the Corybantes, the worshippers of Rhea or Cybele; the person to be initiated was seated on a high chair, and the celebrants danced round him in a ring. The title therefore apparently means "the enthronement-ceremonies as practised by the worshippers of the Great Mother". Connected, perhaps identical with, this was a treatise on Corybantic Rites, quoted by the late Orphic poem Argonautica.
A Descent into Hades, ascribed to Herodicus of Perinthus, or to Cercops the Pythagorean, or to the unknown Prodicus of Samos.
Other treatises were: an Astronomy or Astrology, otherwise unknown; Sacrificial Rites, doubtless giving rules for bloodless sacrifices; Divination by means of sand, Divination by means of eggs; on Temple-building (otherwise unknown); On the girding on of Sacred Robes; and On Stones, said to contain a chapter on the carving of precious stones entitled The Eighty Stones; a version of this work, of late date, survives. It treats of the properties of stones, precious and ordinary, and their uses in divination. The Orphic Hymns are also mentioned in Suidas' list, and a Theogony in 1200 verses, perhaps one of those versions which differed from the Rhapsodiae. There was also an Orphic Word-book, doubtless a glossary of the special terms used in the cult, some of which were strange because of their allegorical usage, others because of their antiquity; this also was said to have been in verse.
Such was the list of works finally classed as Orphic writings, though it was known in early times that many of them were the works of Pythagoreans and other writers. Herodotus said of the so-called "Orphic and Bacchic rites" that they were actually "Egyptian and Pythagorean"; and Ion of Chios said that Pythagoras himself attributed some of his writings to Orpheus. Others, as has been said, regarded the earliest epics as the work of Onomacritus. The original Hymns were thought to have been composed by Orpheus, and written down, with emendations, by Musaeus. There were also other writers named Orpheus: to one, of Croton, said to be a contemporary and associate of Peisistratus, were attributed two epic poems: an Argonautica, and The Twelve-year Cycle (probably astrological); to another, Orpheus of Camarina, an epic Descent into Hades. These namesakes are probably inventions."

Mythology

Early life
According to Apollodorus and a fragment of Pindar, Orpheus's father was Oeagrus, a Thracian king, or, according to another version of the story, the god Apollo. His mother was (1) the muse Calliope, (2) her sister Polymnia, (3) a daughter of Pierus, son of Makednos or (4) lastly of Menippe, daughter of Thamyris. According to Tzetzes, he was from Bisaltia. His birthplace and place of residence was Pimpleia close to the Olympus. Strabo mentions that he lived in Pimpleia. According to the epic poem Argonautica, Pimpleia was the location of Oeagrus's and Calliope's wedding. While living with his mother and her eight beautiful sisters in Parnassus, he met Apollo, who was courting the laughing muse Thalia. Apollo, as the god of music, gave Orpheus a golden lyre and taught him to play it. Orpheus's mother taught him to make verses for singing. He is also said to have studied in Egypt.

Orpheus is said to have established the worship of Hecate in Aegina. In Laconia Orpheus is said to have brought the worship of Demeter Chthonia and that of the Κόρες Σωτείρας (Kóres Sōteíras; 'Saviour Maidens').[clarification needed] Also in Taygetos a wooden image of Orpheus was said to have been kept by Pelasgians in the sanctuary of the Eleusinian Demeter.

According to Diodorus Siculus, Musaeus of Athens was the son of Orpheus.

Adventure as an Argonaut
The Argonautica (Ἀργοναυτικά) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. Orpheus took part in this adventure and used his skills to aid his companions. Chiron told Jason that without the aid of Orpheus, the Argonauts would never be able to pass the Sirens—the same Sirens encountered by Odysseus in Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. The Sirens lived on three small, rocky islands called Sirenum scopuli and sang beautiful songs that enticed sailors to come to them, which resulted in the crashing of their ships into the islands. When Orpheus heard their voices, he drew his lyre and played music that was louder and more beautiful, drowning out the Sirens' bewitching songs. According to 3rd century BC Hellenistic elegiac poet Phanocles, Orpheus loved the young Argonaut Calais, "the son of Boreas, with all his heart, and went often in shaded groves still singing of his desire, nor was his heart at rest. But always, sleepless cares wasted his spirits as he looked at fresh Calais."

Death of Eurydice
The most famous story in which Orpheus figures is that of his wife Eurydice (sometimes referred to as Euridice and also known as Argiope). While walking among her people, the Cicones, in tall grass at her wedding, Eurydice was set upon by a satyr. In her efforts to escape the satyr, Eurydice fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite on her heel. Her body was discovered by Orpheus who, overcome with grief, played such sad and mournful songs that all the nymphs and gods wept. On their advice, Orpheus traveled to the underworld. His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus set off with Eurydice following; however, as soon as he had reached the upper world, he immediately turned to look at her, forgetting in his eagerness that both of them needed to be in the upper world for the condition to be met. As Eurydice had not yet crossed into the upper world, she vanished for the second time, this time forever.

The story in this form belongs to the time of Virgil, who first introduces the name of Aristaeus (by the time of Virgil's Georgics, the myth has Aristaeus chasing Eurydice when she was bitten by a serpent) and the tragic outcome. Other ancient writers, however, speak of Orpheus's visit to the underworld in a more negative light; according to Phaedrus in Plato's Symposium, the infernal gods only "presented an apparition" of Eurydice to him. In fact, Plato's representation of Orpheus is that of a coward, as instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he instead mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not "true"—he did not want to die for love—he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women. In Ovid's account, however, Eurydice's death by a snake bite is incurred while she was dancing with naiads on her wedding day.

Virgil wrote in his poem that Dryads wept from Epirus and Hebrus up to the land of the Getae (north east Danube valley) and even describes him wandering into Hyperborea and Tanais (ancient Greek city in the Don river delta) due to his grief.

The story of Eurydice may actually be a late addition to the Orpheus myths. In particular, the name Eurudike ("she whose justice extends widely") recalls cult-titles attached to Persephone. According to the theories of poet Robert Graves, the myth may have been derived from another Orpheus legend, in which he travels to Tartarus and charms the goddess Hecate.

The myth theme of not looking back, an essential precaution in Jason's raising of chthonic Brimo Hekate under Medea's guidance, is reflected in the Biblical story of Lot's wife when escaping from Sodom. More directly, the story of Orpheus is similar to the ancient Greek tales of Persephone captured by Hades and similar stories of Adonis captive in the underworld. However, the developed form of the Orpheus myth was entwined with the Orphic mystery cults and, later in Rome, with the development of Mithraism and the cult of Sol Invictus.

Death
According to a Late Antique summary of Aeschylus' lost play Bassarids, Orpheus, towards the end of his life, disdained the worship of all gods except the sun, whom he called Apollo. One early morning he went to the oracle of Dionysus at Mount Pangaion to salute his god at dawn, but was ripped to shreds by Thracian Maenads for not honoring his previous patron (Dionysus) and was buried in Pieria. Here his death is analogous with that of Pentheus, who was also torn to pieces by Maenads; and it has been speculated that the Orphic mystery cult regarded Orpheus as a parallel figure to or even an incarnation of Dionysus. Both made similar journeys into Hades, and Dionysus-Zagreus suffered an identical death. Pausanias writes that Orpheus was buried in Dion and that he met his death there. He writes that the river Helicon sank underground when the women that killed Orpheus tried to wash off their blood-stained hands in its waters. Other legends claim that Orpheus became a follower of Dionysus and spread his cult across the land. In this version of the legend, it is said that Orpheus was torn to shreds by the women of Thrace for his inattention.

Ovid recounts that Orpheus ...
had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so. Yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection. Indeed, he was the first of the Thracian people to transfer his affection to young boys and enjoy their brief springtime, and early flowering this side of manhood.

— Ovid. trans. A. S. Kline, Ovid: The Metamorphoses, Book X

Feeling spurned by Orpheus for taking only male lovers (eromenoi), the Ciconian women, followers of Dionysus, first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies. In Albrecht Dürer's drawing of Orpheus's death, based on an original, now lost, by Andrea Mantegna, a ribbon high in the tree above him is lettered Orfeus der erst puseran ("Orpheus, the first pederast").

His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the River Hebrus into the sea, after which the winds and waves carried them to the island of Lesbos, at the city of Methymna; there, the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honour near Antissa; there his oracle prophesied, until it was silenced by Apollo. In addition to the people of Lesbos, Greeks from Ionia and Aetolia consulted the oracle, and his reputation spread as far as Babylon.

Orpheus's lyre was carried to heaven by the Muses, and was placed among the stars. The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. After the river Sys flooded Leibethra, the Macedonians took his bones to Dion. Orpheus's soul returned to the underworld, to the fields of the Blessed, where he was reunited at last with his beloved Eurydice.

Another legend places his tomb at Dion, near Pydna in Macedon. In another version of the myth, Orpheus travels to Aornum in Thesprotia, Epirus to an old oracle for the dead. In the end Orpheus commits suicide from his grief unable to find Eurydice.

"Others said that he was the victim of a thunderbolt."

Orphic poems and rites

A number of Greek religious poems in hexameters were attributed to Orpheus, as they were to similar miracle-working figures, like Bakis, Musaeus, Abaris, Aristeas, Epimenides, and the Sibyl. Of this vast literature, only two works survived whole: the Orphic Hymns, a set of 87 poems, possibly composed at some point in the second or third century, and the epic Orphic Argonautica, composed somewhere between the fourth and sixth centuries. Earlier Orphic literature, which may date back as far as the sixth century BC, survives only in papyrus fragments or in quotations. Some of the earliest fragments may have been composed by Onomacritus.

In addition to serving as a storehouse of mythological data along the lines of Hesiod's Theogony, Orphic poetry was recited in mystery-rites and purification rituals. Plato in particular tells of a class of vagrant beggar-priests who would go about offering purifications to the rich, a clatter of books by Orpheus and Musaeus in tow. Those who were especially devoted to these rituals and poems often practiced vegetarianism and abstention from sex, and refrained from eating eggs and beans—which came to be known as the Orphikos bios, or "Orphic way of life".

The Derveni papyrus, found in Derveni, Macedonia (Greece) in 1962, contains a philosophical treatise that is an allegorical commentary on an Orphic poem in hexameters, a theogony concerning the birth of the gods, produced in the circle of the philosopher Anaxagoras, written in the second half of the fifth century BC. Fragments of the poem are quoted making it "the most important new piece of evidence about Greek philosophy and religion to come to light since the Renaissance". The papyrus dates to around 340 BC, during the reign of Philip II of Macedon, making it Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.

The historian William Mitford wrote in 1784 that the very earliest form of a higher and more cohesive ancient Greek religion was manifest in the Orphic poems. W. K. C. Guthrie wrote that Orpheus was the founder of mystery religions and the first to reveal to men the meanings of the initiation rites.

Post-Classical interpretations

Classical music
The Orpheus motif has permeated Western culture and has been used as a theme in all art forms. Early examples include the Breton lai Sir Orfeo from the early 13th century and musical interpretations like Jacopo Peri's Euridice (1600, though titled with his wife's name, the libretto is based entirely upon books X and XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses and therefore Orpheus's viewpoint is predominant).

Subsequent operatic interpretations include:

Claudio Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (1607)
Luigi Rossi's Orfeo (1647)
Marc-Antoine Charpentier's La descente d'Orphée aux enfers H.488 (1686). Charpentier also composed a cantata, Orphée descendant aux enfers H.471, (1683)
Christoph Willibald Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (1762)
Joseph Haydn's last opera L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice (1791)
Franz Liszt's symphonic poem Orpheus (1854)
Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orphée aux Enfers (1858)
Igor Stravinsky's ballet Orpheus (1948)
David Maslanka's work for two bassoons and marimba Orpheus (1977)
Two operas by Harrison Birtwistle: The Mask of Orpheus (1973–1984) and The Corridor (2009)
The Bulgarian Rousse State Opera commissioned and performed Orpheus: A Masque by John Robertson (2015).

Literature

Rainer Maria Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus (1922) are based on the Orpheus myth. Poul Anderson's Hugo Award-winning novelette "Goat Song", published in 1972, is a retelling of the story of Orpheus in a science fiction setting. Some feminist interpretations of the myth give Eurydice greater weight. Margaret Atwood's Orpheus and Eurydice Cycle (1976–86) deals with the myth, and gives Eurydice a more prominent voice. Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice likewise presents the story of Orpheus's descent to the underworld from Eurydice's perspective. Ruhl removes Orpheus from the center of the story by pairing their romantic love with the paternal love of Eurydice's dead father. David Almond's 2014 novel, A Song for Ella Grey, was inspired by the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize in 2015. The 2014 novel Orfeo by Richard Powers is based on Orpheus.[citation needed][clarification needed] The 2020 novel Orpheus' Temptation by Stefan Calin is based on an allegory between the main character and Orpheus's descent into the Underworld and subsequent temptation to look at Eurydice.

Dino Buzzati adapted the Orpheus motif in his graphic novel Poem Strip (1969). Neil Gaiman depicts his version of Orpheus in The Sandman comics series (1989–2015). Gaiman's Orpheus is the son of Oneiros (the Dream Lord Morpheus) and the muse Calliope.

The poet Gabriele Tinti has composed a series of poems inspired by the myth of Orpheus, read by Robert Davi at the J. Paul Getty Museum

Film and stage
Vinicius de Moraes' play Orfeu da Conceição (1956), later adapted by Marcel Camus in the 1959 film Black Orpheus, tells the story in the modern context of a favela in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Jean Cocteau's Orphic Trilogy – The Blood of a Poet (1930), Orpheus (1950) and Testament of Orpheus (1959) – was filmed over thirty years, and is based in many ways on the story. Philip Glass adapted the second film into the chamber opera Orphée (1991), part of an homage triptych to Cocteau. Nikos Nikolaidis' 1975 film Evrydiki BA 2O37 is an innovative perspective on the classic Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. Baz Luhrmann's 2001 jukebox musical film Moulin Rouge! is also inspired by the myth. Anaïs Mitchell's 2010 folk opera musical Hadestown retells the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice with a soundtrack inspired by American blues and jazz, portraying Hades as the brutal work-boss of an underground mining city. Mitchell, together with director Rachel Chavkin, later adapted her album into a multiple Tony award-winning stage musical. Sarah Ruhl's play Eurydice examines the myth from the perspective of Eurydice, and the myth features as one of the tales told in Mary Zimmerman's play Metamorphoses.

Polymestor

In Greek mythology, Polymestor or Polymnestor (Ancient Greek: Πολυμ(ν)ήστωρ) was a king of the Bistonians in Thrace. Polymestor appears in Euripides' play Hecuba and in the Ovidian myth "Hecuba, Polyxena and Polydorus". Polymestor was also the name of a Greek king of Arcadia.

Family

Polymestor was the husband of Ilione, the eldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. The couple had only one son, Deipylus.

Mythology

During the Trojan War, King Priam was frightened for his youngest son Polydorus's safety since Polydorus could not fight for himself. Priam sent the child, along with gifts of jewelry and gold, to the court of King Polymestor to keep him away from the fighting. After Troy fell, Polymestor betrayed Priam and threw Polydorus into the ocean in order to keep the treasure for himself.

Hecuba, Polydorus' mother, found the body and discovered the treachery. She asked Agamemnon to bring Polymestor to her. Agamemnon complied, motivated by the love of Cassandra, another of Hecuba's children. Hecuba baits Polymestor by drawing him in with treasure. Hecuba has the other Trojan women kill Polymestor's sons, and blinds Polymestor by scratching his eyes out. Polymestor is humiliated at having been blinded and made childless at the hands of slave women. Polymestor is given a trial against Hecuba by Agamemnon. Polymestor claims to be working in the Greek's interest by killing Polydorus before he avenges his brothers and father. Hecuba refutes this claim by stating that Greece has no interest in allying with barbarians. Agamemnon sides with Hecuba and declares Polymestor's actions to be murder. Agamemnon has his soldiers seize Polymestor. As he is being taken away, Polymestor prophecies the deaths of Cassandra, the daughter of Hecuba, and Agamemnon.

Zalmoxis

Zalmoxis (Greek: Ζάλμοξις) is a divinity of the Getae and Dacians (a people of the lower Danube), mentioned by Herodotus in his Histories Book IV, 93–96, written before 425 BC.

According to Jordanes's Getica, he was a learned philosopher, before whom two other learned men existed, by the names of Zeuta and Deceneus.

In modern times, theories and debate on Zalmoxis's religion by such scholars as Mircea Eliade are influenced by considerations of Romanian nationalism as well by pure historical interest.

Herodotus

Herodotus writes about Zalmoxis in book 4 of his Histories:

93. ... the Getae are the bravest of the Thracians and the most just. 94. They believe they are immortal forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being; some call this same divine being Gebeleizis. Every four years, they send a messenger to Zalmoxis, who is chosen by chance. They ask him to tell Zalmoxis what they want on that occasion. The mission is performed in the following way: men standing there for that purpose hold three spears; other people take the one who is sent to Zalmoxis by his hands and feet and fling him in the air on the spears. If he dies pierced, they think that the divinity is going to help them; if he does not die, it is he who is accused and they declare that he is a bad person. And, after he has been charged, they send another one. The messenger is told the requests while he is still alive. The same Thracians, on other occasions, when he thunders and lightens, shoot with arrows up in the air against the sky and menace the divinity because they think there is no god other than their own.

Herodotus asserts that Zalmoxis was originally a human being, a slave who converted the Thracians to his beliefs. The Greeks of the Hellespont and the Black Sea tell that Zalmoxis was a slave of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos, on the island of Samos. After being liberated, he gathered huge wealth and, once rich, went back to his homeland. Thracians lived simple hard lives. Zalmoxis had lived among the wisest of Greeks, such as Pythagoras, and had been initiated into Ionian life and the Eleusinian Mysteries. He built a banquet hall, and received the chiefs and his fellow countrymen at a banquet. He taught that neither his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead would go to a place where they would live forever in complete happiness. He then dug an underground residence. When it was finished, he disappeared from Thrace, living for three years in his underground residence. The Thracians missed him and wept fearing him dead. The fourth year, he came back among them and thus they believed what Zalmoxis had told them.

Zalmoxis may have lived much earlier than Pythagoras and was rumored either to be a divine being or from the country of the Getae.

"Now I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the tale about Salmoxis and his underground chamber; but I think that he lived many years before Pythagoras; [2] and as to whether there was a man called Salmoxis or this is some deity native to the Getae, let the question be dismissed." — Herodotus: IV 96 

Scholars have several different theories about this account by Herodotus the disappearance and return of Zalmoxis:

Herodotus is mocking the barbarian beliefs of the Getae.
Zalmoxis created a ritual of passage. This theory is mainly supported by Mircea Eliade, who wrote the first coherent interpretation of the myth about Zalmoxis.
Zalmoxis is related to Pythagoras, stating that he founded a mystical cult. This theory may be found in Eliade's work.
Zalmoxis is a Christ-like figure who dies and is resurrected. This position was defended by Jean (Ioan) Coman, a professor of patristics and Orthodox priest, who was a friend of Mircea Eliade and published in Eliade's journal Zalmoxis, which appeared in the 1930s.[citation needed]
This last theory precisely parallels the legend of the universal king Frode, given in both Ynglingsaga and Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus, particularly Ynglingsaga 12 and Gesta Danorum, in which Frode disappears into the earth for three years after his death.

It is difficult to define the time when a cult to Zalmoxis may have existed. It is only certain that it antecedes Herodotus. Some scholars have suggested that the archaic doctrine of Zalmoxis points to a heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans, but this is difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate.

Plato claims that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and soul (psyche), being thus used by Plato for his own philosophical conceptions.

Religion of the Getae

Strabo in his Geography mentions a certain Deceneus (Dékainéos) whom he calls a γόητα "magician". According to Strabo, king Burebista (82–44 BC) hired Deceneus, who had been in Egypt, to "tame" his people. As a sign of the people's obedience, they consented to destroy all their wines as ordered by Deceneus. The "reform of Deceneus" is the interpretation by the 6th-century bishop and historian Jordanes, who includes the Getae in his history of the Goths (as assumed ancestors of the Goths). Jordanes describes how Deceneus taught the Getae philosophy and physics. Even if it is more probable that Jordanes interjected his own philosophical knowledge into the text, many modern Romanian authors consider that Deceneus was a priest who reformed the religion of the Getae, changing the worship of Zalmoxis into a popular religion and imposing strict religious rules, such as the restriction of wine consumption. Jean Coman deems this prohibition as the origin of the dietary restrictions followed by the modern Orthodox Church during Lent.

According to Iamblichus (280-333 AD), "for instructing the Getae in these things, and for having written laws for them, Zalmoxis was by them considered as the greatest of the gods."

Aristotle is said, in the brief epitome of his Magicus given by Diogenes Laertes, to have compared Zalmoxis with the Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. Some authors[who?] assume Zalmoxis was another name of Sabazius, the Thracian Dionysus, or Zeus. Sabazius appears in Jordanes as Gebelezis. Leaving aside the suffixes -zius/-zis, the root Saba- = Gebele-, suggesting a relationship of the name of the goddess Cybele, as "Cybele's Zeus". Mnaseas of Patrae identified Zalmoxis with Cronos, as does Hesychius, who has "Σάλμοξις ὁ Κρόνος".

In Plato's writings, Zalmoxis is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation. Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesych). His realm as a god is not very clear, as some considered him to be a sky-god, a god of the dead, or a god of the Mysteries.

Lactantius (an early Christian author, c. 240–320 AD), referring to the religion of the Getae, provides an approximate translation of Julian the Apostate's purported quotation of Trajan:

"We have conquered even these Getai (Dacians), the most warlike of all people that have ever existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zalmoxis who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change their location and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey."

Zalmoxian religion

The "Zalmoxian religion" is the subject of a scholarly debate that has continued since the beginning of the 20th century. According to some scholars, such as Vasile Pârvan, Jean Coman, R. Pettazzon, E. Rohde and Sorin Paliga, since ancient sources do not mention any god of the Getae other than Zalmoxis, the Getae were monotheistic. However, Herodotus is the only ancient author who explicitly states that the Getae had only one divinity. The sending of a messenger to Zalmoxis and the fact that Getae shot arrows towards the sky have prompted some authors to believe Zalmoxis was a sky god, but his journey into a cavern has led others to suggest that he was a chthonic divinity.

A third group of scholars believe that the Getae, like other Indo-European peoples, were polytheistic. They draw on ancient authors such as Diodorus Siculus, who states that the Getae worshipped Hestia as well as Zalmoxis.

Etymology

A number of etymologies have been given for the name. In his Vita Pythagorae, Porphyrius (3rd century) says that he was so named because he had been wrapped in a bearskin at birth, and zalmon is the Thracian word for "hide" (τὴν γὰρ δορὰν οἱ Θρᾷκες ζαλμὸν καλοῦσιν). Hesychius (ca. 5th century) has zemelen (ζέμελεν) as a Phrygian word for "foreign slave".

The correct spelling of the name is also uncertain. Manuscripts of Herodotus' Historiae have all four spellings, viz. Zalmoxis, Salmoxis, Zamolxis, Samolxis, with a majority of manuscripts favouring Salmoxis. Later authors show a preference for Zamolxis. Hesychius quotes Herodotus, using Zalmoxis.

The -m-l- variant (Zamolxis) is favoured by those wishing to derive the name from a conjectured Thracian word for "earth", *zamol. Comparisons have also been made with the name of Zemelo and Žemelė, the Phrygian and Lithuanian goddess of the earth, and with the Lithuanian chthonic god Žemeliūkštis. The Lithuanian word Žalmuo means "corn shoot" or "fresh grass". Žalmokšnis is another possible form of it.

The -l-m- variant is admitted to be the older form and the correct form by the majority of Thracologists, as this is the form found in the older Herodotus manuscripts and other ancient sources. The -l-m- form is further attested in Daco-Thracian in Zalmodegikos, the name of a Getic King; and in Thracian zalmon, 'hide', and zelmis, 'hide' (PIE *kel-, 'to cover'; cf. English helm).

The other name for Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, is also spelled Belaizis and Belaixis in Herodotus manuscripts.

According to Mircea Eliade:

The fact that Romanian folk mythology around their prophet Elijah contains many elements of a god of the storm proves at least that Gebeleizis was still active in the moment when Dacia was christianised, whatever his name was in this era. It can also be admitted that subsequently a religious syncretism, encouraged by the high priest and the priestly class, ended up on confusing Gebeleizis with Zalmoxis.

In popular culture

The Romanian rock band Sfinx worked from around 1975 through 1978 on Zalmoxe, a progressive rock LP, with lyrics by poet Alexandru Basarab (actually a pen name for Adrian Hoajă), which retold the story of Zalmoxis.

The dinosaur Zalmoxes is named after the deity.

Charnabon

In Greek mythology, Charnabon (Ancient Greek "Χαρναβών", gen. "Χαρναβώντος") was a king of the Getae, mentioned in Sophocles' tragedy Triptolemos as ruling the Getae, without a precise geographical location of his kingdom.

Mythology

Although the play survived only in brief fragments, the myth of Charnabon and Triptolemus is preserved in the Poetical Astronomy by Hyginus (who refers to the king as "Carnabon"), and runs as follows:

When Triptolemus, while on his mission to introduce agriculture in various parts of the world, came to Thrace, he was at first hospitably received by Carnabon; but then the king treacherously seized his guest and was about to kill him. Triptolemus could not escape, as Carnabon had killed one of the dragons that pulled his chariot. He was rescued by Demeter, who restored the chariot to him and substituted another dragon. She punished Carnabon for having mistreated Triptolemus so harshly that the rest of his life was made unbearable. After his death, he was placed among the stars as the constellation Ophiuchus, which reminds the observer of a man holding a serpent as if to kill it, in remembrance of his crime and punishment.

Pyraechmes

In Greek mythology, Pyraechmes (/pəˈrɛkmiːz/; Ancient Greek: Πυραίχμης Puraíkhmēs) was, along with Asteropaeus, a leader of the Paeonians in the Trojan War.

Mythology

Pyraechmes came from the city of Amydon. Although Homer mentions Pyraechmes as the leader of the Paeonians early on in the Iliad, in the Trojan Catalogue, Pyraechmes plays a minor role compared to the more illustrious Asteropaeus, a later arrival to the front. Unlike Asteropaeus, Homer does not provide a pedigree for Pyraechmes (although Dictys Cretensis says his father was Axius - also the name of a river in Paeonia). Pyraechmes was killed in battle by Patroclus: dressed in Achilles' armor, Patroclus routed the panicked Trojans, and the first person he killed was Pyraechmes.

Asteropaios

In the Iliad, Asteropaios (/ˌæstərəˈpiːəs/; Greek: Ἀστεροπαῖος; Latin: Asteropaeus) was a leader of the Trojan-allied Paeonians along with fellow warrior Pyraechmes.

Family

Asteropaios was the son of Pelagon, who was the son of the river god Axios and the mortal woman Periboia, daughter of Akessamenos.

Mythology

Asteropaios was a newcomer to the war at the start of the Iliad; he had only been in Troy for less than two weeks.

Asteropaios had the distinction in combat of being ambidextrous and would on occasion throw two spears at once. In Book XII of the Iliad as the Trojans attacked the Achaean wall, Asteropaios was a leader of the same division as the Lycian warriors Sarpedon and Glaucus, the division which pressed hard enough to allow Hector and his division to breach the wall.

In Book XXI, as Achilles is mercilessly slaughtering Trojan warriors alongside the river god Scamander and polluting the waters with dead bodies (including one of Priam's sons, Lycaon). With the river god pondering how he might stop Achilles, Achilles in turn attacks Asteropaios (himself the grandson of a river god) whom Scamander instills with courage to make a stand against Achilles.

Achilles and Asteropaios thus engage in one-on-one combat, Asteropaios throwing two spears at the same time at Achilles. One spear hit Achilles' shield, while the other reached his right forearm and drew blood. Asteropaios was the only Trojan in the Iliad who was able to draw blood from Achilles. However, he fails to kill Achilles, and is slain. And Achilles boasts that though Asteropaios may be descended from a river-god, that he, Achilles, is descended from a mightier god, Zeus. Later, in the funeral games for the slain Patroclus, the bronze and tin corslet and the silver-studded sword of Asteropaios are awarded as prizes.

The asteroid 4805 Asteropaios is named after the hero.

And that's was your stories for today. Tomorrow we will learn about Persian Kings who was ruled Dacia. Until tomorrow...

Be nice and listen to your mummy!
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