Tau; the uppercase form of the nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet; lowercase: τ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.
Letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals; the letter tau represented the number 300 and was written as a simple τ or as tau followed by an acute accent, τ'.
The Scythian goddess of the Hearth; when the historian, Herodotus, was traveling in Scythia, he was told about Tabiti and associated her with the Greek goddess of the Hearth, Histia (Hestia), because they shared the same divine attributes.
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.59
In The Histories, the historian, Herodotus, tells the story of how the Persian ruler, Kambyses (Cambyses), sent spies to Ethiopia to see if the Table of the Sun actually existed.
According to legend, the Table of the Sun was a meadow where the Ethiopians in authority would nightly bring the boiled meat of every four-legged animal and leave it for anyone who wanted to eat it; the legend also said that the food was actually renewed, not by the Ethiopians, but by the earth itself.
Herodotus, Histories, book 3.17-18
Mount Taenarum; home of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) in Spartan territory according to Aristophanes in the play The Acharnians.
Approximate East Longitude 22º 29' and North Latitude 36º 23'
The Taking of Oichalia is one of the fragmentary remains of Homerica.
There are too few surviving fragments to tell the story of The Taking of Oichalia in a poetic fashion but the plot and outcome have been pieced together from extant artwork.
There are towns in Thessaly, on the island of Euboea and in Messenia named Oichalia; the primary interest in ancient Greek history is the Oichalia where Herakles (Heracles) had his encounter with Prince Eurytos (Eurytus) but we cannot be exactly sure in which of these locations that encounter took place.
Prince Eurytos (Eurytus) of Oichalia was seeking a manly husband for his daughter Iole; Eurytos devised an archery competition in which the winner would marry the fair Iole; Herakles, as subtle with his bow as he was brutal with his club, entered the contest and won; Eurytos must have known that Herakles was presumed to have murdered his first wife, Megara, so it's difficult to blame Eurytos when he refused to allow Iole to marry Herakles; with no hesitation, Herakles killed Eurytos and his sons and, to add to Iole's dishonor and sorrow, Herakles took her as his mistress instead of his wife.
The existing fragments of The Taking of Oichalia may be summarized as follows:
Fragment 1 - Herakles sacked Oichalia for the sake of Iole, daughter of Eurytos; there are conflicting reports as to who actually wrote The Taking of Oichalia; some assert that Homer wrote the poem while he was a guest of Kreophylos (Creophylus) of Samos; others say that Kreophylos wrote the poem and Homer allowed Kreophylos to take credit for the composition;
Fragment 2 - A single line: Ragged garments, even those which now you see; a line from The Odyssey: book 14, line 343 in which the disguised Odysseus tells the swineherd Eumaios (Eumaeus) that he was taken as a slave and dressed in rags;
Fragment 3 - There are differences of opinion as to whether Eurytos had two or four sons;
Fragment 4 - While living in Corinth, Medeia (Medea) killed King Kreon (Creon) but left her children at the altar of Hera Akraea (Acraea) thinking that Jason would care for them; in their outrage, the people of Corinth killed the children and blamed Medeia.
For the complete translations of Homerica, including The Taking of Oichalia, I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
Talaos and Lysimache were the parents of the legendary king of Sikyon (Sicyon), Adrastus (Adrestos).
Adrastus had the distinction of being the only commander to survive when Polyneikes (Polyneices) and the Seven Against Thebes failed to conquer Thebes; Adrastus and his son Aigialeus (Aegialeus) were with the Epigoni, i.e. After-Born (the sons of the Seven) when they successfully took Thebes ten years after their fathers had failed.
Talaos lived two generations before the Trojan War which began circa 1250 BCE; assuming a generation to be thirty years, that would mean that Talaos lived circa 1310 BCE.
Talaos and Areios were the sons of Bias and Pero; Talaos and Areios were the half-brother of Leodokos (Leodocus); all three young men were Argonauts.
The Argonauts were a company of the greatest heroes and adventurers in ancient Greece; the Argonauts were assembled by Jason to assist him in retrieving the Golden Fleece from the land of Kolchis (Colchis); their name was derived from their ship, the Argo (Argo + nautes = Argo-seamen); the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be assumed to have occurred circa 1285 BCE.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 118-121
A unit of money, about 57 pounds (25.854 kilograms) of gold, 1 talent was worth 60 minas.
The nephew of the master-builder, Daedalus (Daidalos), who was killed because Daedalus was afraid that Talos's skill as an inventor would exceed his own; Talos was either thrown from the Acropolis or into the sea; his uncle Daedalus was condemned by the Areopagus and forced to flee Athens.
The last of the race of beings born from the ash-tree; he was placed on the island of Crete by Zeus to guard the maiden Europa.
Talos was made almost entirely of brass and would pace around the island three times a day; on the back of his ankles was a thinly covered vein which carried the fluid of life through his otherwise invulnerable brass body.
When the Argonauts came to Crete they were in desperate need of harbor but they did not dare confront Talos in battle; the priestess of Hekate (Hecate), Medeia (Medea), insisted that she could defeat Talos with her magic so she was put ashore while the sailors rowed the Argo beyond the range of the boulders that Talos was throwing at them.
Medeia called upon the Death-Spirits (which are also called the Hounds of Hades) which constantly hover in the air all around us and swoop down on living creatures at the behest of the Immortals; the spells that Medeia wove caused Talos to become confused and hallucinations clouded his vision; he stumbled onto the jagged rocks on the shore and gashed the thin skin of his ankle and the blood-like ichor began to flow from his gigantic brass body; finally he toppled like a felled tree.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 1638-1693
A town in ancient Boeotia on the plain south of the town of Delium; the site of the Spartan victory over the Athenians in 457 BCE during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
Approximate East Longitude 23º 32' and North Latitude 38º 19'
Small terra-cotta statuettes produced from the late fourth to the third century BCE in Tanagra, Boeotia; found mostly in tombs.
The son of Zeus and the father of Pelops and Niobe; his transgressions against the Olympians earned his eternal punishment by Hades (lord of the Underworld) by being placed in a pool of water from which he could never drink and under a fruit tree from which he could never eat.
Tantalos either tried to steal the food of the Immortals or he killed his son, Pelops, and served the flesh to the Olympians; another version of his punishment is given in the fragmentary remains of the Returns; he was permitted to live with the Immortals and allowed to ask for anything he desired; his pleasures were so self-indulgent that Zeus surrounded him with earthly pleasures and placed a giant stone over his head to prevent him from enjoying them.
A division of the Greeks from a non-specific location; the swineherd of Odysseus, Eumaios, owned a man named Mesaulios (Mesaulius) who was a Taphian; during the siege of Troy, the Greek captain, Mentes, was a Taphian.
Odyssey (lattimore), book 1, lines 105, 181, 417 (Taphos) and 419; book 14, line 452; book 15, line 426; book 16, line 426
Odyssey (Loeb), book 1, lines 105, 181, 417 (Taphos) and 419; book 14, line 452; book 15, line 427; book 16, line 426
Odyssey (Fagles), book 1, lines 123, 210, 476 (Taphos) and 478; book 14, line 514; book 15, line 479; book 16, line 472
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 1, lines 132, 223 (Taphos), and 471; book 14, line 534; book 15, line 519; book 16, line 518
A fortified seaport in southeastern Italy on the Gulf of Taranto on the western side of the "boot heel"; founded by the Greeks in the eighth century BCE.
The ancient Greek name for the Persian city of Sardis; an city in western Asia Minor; the capital of ancient Lydia.
TAR tah ros
One of the four original Immortals; known as The Underworld or The Pit.
Tartaros is the sunless abyss beneath the surface of the earth; Tartaros lives as far beneath the earth as the heavens are above it; Tartaros has a loathsome and dank abode and his presence is clouded with mist and gloom which makes the other Immortals abhor him; when a man enters the gates of the Underworld, he cannot begin to perceive the true size of Tartaros because the windy blasts will batter him around and it will take a full year before he reaches Tartaros's foundation.
When Tartaros mated with Gaia (Earth), the result was the enormous, snake-headed creature named Typhoeus; Typhoeus was a gigantic creature with a hundred snake-heads sprouting from his shoulders; each snake-head had eyes which glittered with fire and each of the snake-heads could create sounds which were subtle or horrible, from an echoing whistle to the bellowing of bulls; Typhoeus was strong and willful enough to have ruled the other Immortals but Zeus perceived the threat which Typhoeus posed and attacked him with unchecked fury; Tartaros felt the tremors of the final battle between Zeus and Typhoeus in his subterranean abode; Typhoeus was finally defeated and forced within the seemingly limitless confines of his father, Tartaros.
When the age of the Titans was coming to an end, the children of Kronos (Cronos) banded together with other Immortals and waged a war which threatened to destroy the heavens and earth; the Titans were defeated and then banished to the abode of Tartaros; the banishment of the Titans ushered in the age of the Olympians.
The nineteenth letter of the Greek alphabet; uppercase: Τ; lowercase: τ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.
Letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals; the letter tau represented the number 300 and was written as a simple τ or as tau followed by an acute accent, τ'.
A part of the Scythian nation but a separate and distinct tribe from the Scythians; they occupied a peninsula south of the mouth of the Ister (Danube) river.
Tauris is most famous as the sanctuary of Iphigenia after she was saved by the goddess, Artemis, and transported there from Aulis.
Iphigenia's father, Agamemnon, offended Artemis and the goddess would not let the Greeks sail from Aulis without a sacrifice; Agamemnon was advised to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia; when Iphigenia was placed on the altar, Artemis substituted a stag and saved Iphigenia from a cruel death.
Iphigenia became the priestess of Artemis in Tauris until she was found by her brother Orestes and returned to Greece.
The inhabitants of Tauris were depicted as rather barbaric by the historian Herodotus; they lived by plunder and decapitated enemies or shipwrecked sailors; they worshiped no other god or goddess other than Artemis.
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.99, 4.100 and 4.103
One of the chariot horses of the Trojan hero, Hector; his other horses were: Aithon (Aethon), Lampos (Lampus) and Podargos (Podargus).
There are several ways in which the name Xanthos is transliterated in The Iliad; Robert Fagles names him Golden; Robert Fitzgerald uses the name Tawny; the Richmond Lattimore and Loeb Classical Library translations simply use the literal name but spell it differently: Lattimore spells it as Xanthos and Loeb spells it as Xanthus.
The Liddle and Scott Greek-English Lexicon defines Xanthos as Yellow and Golden Hair (referring to bay or chestnut horses).
It is interesting to note that when we encounter Xanthos in The Iliad as one of the chariot horses of Achilles, Fitzgerald uses the literal name Xanthos instead of Tawny; inexplicably, Robert Fagles calls him Roan Beauty instead of Golden.
The names of Hector's other horses are rendered in the various translations as:
1) Aithon:
Blaze (Fagles)
Dusky (Fitzgerald)
Aithon (Lattimore)
Aethon (Loeb)
2) Lampos:
Sliver Flash (Fagles)
Dapple (Fitzgerald)
Lampos (Lattimore)
Lampus (Loeb)
3) Podargos:
Whitefoot (Fagles and Fitzgerald)
Podargos (Lattimore)
Podargus (Loeb)
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 8, line 185; book 16, line 149; book 19, lines 400, 405 and 420
Iliad (Fagles), book 8, line 210; book 16, line 178; book 19, lines 473, 478 and 497
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 8, line 211; book 16, line 173; book 19, lines 441, 448 and 467
In ancient Athens a Taxiarch was the commander of a regiment of hoplites, i.e. appropriately 1,300 men.
One of the seven daughters of Atlas known as the Pleiades.
The hunter, Orion, relentlessly pursued Taygete and her sisters until they were changed into pigeons by Zeus and eventually put into the night sky as the constellation, the Pleiades; to see the Pleiades from the northern hemisphere, the sisters are located above and to the right of the constellation of Orion in the zodiacal house of Taurus.
Taygete's sisters are: Alkyone (Alcyone), Asterope, Elektra (Electra), Kelaeno (Celaeno), Maia and Merope.
An ancient Greek city in southeastern Arkadia (Arcadia) on the Peloponnesian Peninsula north of the city of Sparta and southwest of the city of Argos.
The men from Tegea at the siege of the city of Troy were commanded by Agapenor; the soldiers from Tegea filled sixty ships for the crossing to Troy which would be approximately 1,200 men; Agamemnon supplied the ships but the men from Tegea were accomplished seamen and sailed them effortlessly.
Approximate East Longitude 22º 25' and North Latitude 37º 26'
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 607
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 700
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 718
tee reh SEE ahs
The famous blind prophet from Thebes; Teiresias played a significant role in the destinies of cursed King Oedipus of Thebes and the renowned wanderer Odysseus.
Teiresias is usually thought to have been blinded as a punishment for seeing the goddess Athene (Athena) bathing and then to have been awarded the gift of prophecy as a consolation for his blindness.
There is another version as to why Teiresias was blind and why he had prophetic powers; Teiresias was on Mount Kithaeron (Cithaeron) when he saw two snakes mating; Teiresias killed the female snake and was transformed into a woman; he then killed the male snake and became a man again; because of his newfound insight, Zeus and Hera engaged Teiresias to resolve a dispute; they asked him which of the two sexes achieved the most pleasure from intimate relations; Teiresias told them that women are ten times more stimulated by intimacy than men; at this point the story becomes counterintuitive because, for some reason, Hera was insulted by his answer and blinded Teiresias; Zeus was sympathetic and gave Teiresias prophetic powers but did not restore his vision.
Teiresias lived for at least seven generations and possibly nine; he was alive at the founding of the city of Thebes, i.e. the time of Kadmos (Cadmus) and was still alive when the sons of Oedipus, Eteokles (Eteocles) and Polyneikes (Polyneices), fought for the kingship of Thebes.
Oedipus became the king of Thebes after he had unwittingly killed his father and married his mother; because of this sacrilege and unholy alliance, Thebes and the surrounding countryside was plunged into a period of hardship and famine; after a confusing proclamation from the Oracle at Delphi, Oedipus called upon Teiresias to use his prophetic gift to find the reason for the pestilence; Teiresias told Oedipus that Thebes was being punished because he (Oedipus) had offended the Immortals and that the punishment would continue as long as Oedipus was king; this answer almost cost Teiresias his life but Oedipus spared him because of his age and blindness.
After Oedipus abdicated the throne of Thebes, a dispute erupted between his sons, Eteokles and Polyneikes; as a compromise, the two brothers agreed to share the throne by taking turns as ruler; Eteokles was first to take the throne but when he refused to step down, Polyneikes assembled an army and attacked the city; the army he assembled was known as the Seven Against Thebes because Polyneikes and six other commanders each attacked one of the seven gates of Thebes; Eteokles and Polyneike were both killed in the fighting so their uncle Kreon (Creon) became the new king; Kreon gave Eteokles a proper burial but insisted that the body of Polyneikes be left for the dogs and birds to mutilate; Teiresias tried to warn King Kreon that his dishonorable acts would bring down the wrath of the Immortals but Kreon would not heed the warning and compounded his injustice by punishing Antigone when she gave her brother Polyneikes a humble burial; Kreon sentenced Antigone to death for defying his commands but Antigone's murder only precipitated the death of Kreon's son and wife just as Teiresias had warned.
Ten years after the failure of the Seven Against Thebes, the sons of the Seven, the Epigoni (After-Born) successfully captured the city; Teiresias and his daughter Manto were taken captive and sent to Delphi as a tribute to Apollon but Teiresias died at Kolophon (Colophon) before he and Manto reached Delphi; Manto was freed by the priestesses of Apollon and told to marry the first man she met after leaving the sanctuary; she met and married a Mycenaean man named Rhakios (Rhacius); their son Mopsos (Mopsus) was also a seer of great renowned.
Even after his death, Teiresias was sought after for his prophetic insights; when Odysseus began his journey home after the Trojan War, he encountered the Cyclops son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) named Polyphemos (Polyphemus); when Polyphemos began to kill Odysseus's crew, he was blinded and humiliated in the ensuing fight; from that moment on, Poseidon was determined to punish Odysseus and consequently delayed his homecoming for ten years.
When Odysseus was stranded on the island of Aiaia (Aeaea), he was advised by the Dread Goddess Kirke (Circe) to go to the entrance of the Underworld and seek out Teiresias; Kirke insisted that speaking with the 'shade' of Teiresias was the only way that Odysseus could find a way to appease Poseidon and return to his home and family; Odysseus did as Kirke suggested and after an elaborate sacrifice, found Teiresias in the company of the "shades" of many famous and infamous characters; Teiresias told Odysseus that he would indeed see his home and best of all, there would be an end to Poseidon's bitterness.
tel ah MON
The son of Aiakos (Aeacus) and Endies; he was also the grandson of Zeus and the Nymph Aegina (Aigina).
Telamon was the father of Aias (Ajax) and Teukros (Teucer).
Telamon and his brother Peleus were complicated men because their lives were punctuated with noble as well as base deeds; Telamon and Peleus killed their half-brother Phokos (Phocus) and were forced to flee their home on the island of Aegina; Telamon settled in Attica and Peleus moved to Phthia; the two brothers did not meet again until they both answered the summons of Jason and joined the crew of the Argo to became Argonauts.
The three greatest adventures in ancient Greece were the Kalydonian (Calydonian) Hunt, the Quest for the Golden Fleece and the Trojan War; Telamon participated in the Kalydonian Hunt and the Quest for the Golden Fleece but was too old to fight in the Trojan War; regarding the Kalydonian Hunt, a savage boar had been released into the countryside around the city of Kalydon (Calydon) by the goddess Artemis in order to punish King Oineus for his failure to make a proper sacrifice to her; King Oineus's son Meleagros (Meleager) organized the hunt and Telamon was one of the heroes who helped track down the boar.
The voyage of the Argo and the Quest for the Golden Fleece came after the Kalydonian Hunt; Telamon and his brother Peleus were both chosen by Jason to become Argonauts; the crew which Jason assembled were the finest and bravest young men in ancient Greece; their quest was for the Golden Fleece which was in the Garden of Ares in the distant eastern land of Kolchis (Colchis).
When the Argonauts were on their way to Kolchis, Herakles (Heracles) and Polyphemos (Polyphemus) left the Argo to search for their lost companion Hylas who had been kidnapped by a spring-Nymph; when the three men did not return to the Argo, the ship set sail without them; Telamon denounced Jason and demanded that the Argo turn back and find their shipmates; at that moment, the half-man/half-fish seer Glaukos (Glaucus) rose from the sea and told the Argonauts to sail on; he assured them that the will of Zeus had been done and that Herakles and Polyphemos were destined for a fate other than the retrieval of the Golden Fleece; Telamon sincerely apologized to Jason and from that point on was Jason's strongest supporter and defender.
When the Argonauts arrived at Kolchis, Telamon accompanied Jason to the palace of King Aietes (Aeetes); the king told Jason that he could have the Golden Fleece if he would harness two savage bronze bulls, plow a field and plant dragon's teeth which would quickly grow into fierce warriors who would try to kill Jason; Telamon encouraged Jason and said that he would gladly help even if it meant his death; before Jason plowed the field, Telamon went to King Aietes and secured the dragon's teeth for Jason to plant.
After the Quest for the Golden Fleece was completed, Telamon became lord of the island of Salamis and married Eriboea; Aias was the son of Telamon and Eriboea but Teukros was born out of wedlock to a woman named Hesione; both brothers fought at Troy but Aias was destined to be one of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War; before the birth of Aias, Herakles was a guest of Telamon; to show his respect for Telamon, Herakles prayed to his father Zeus to send a sign indicating that Telamon would have a noble son; at that moment, an eagle flew over and it was clear that Zeus had blessed Telamon; to commemorate the occasion, Telamon named his son Aias which is a variation on the Greek word for eagle, i.e. aietos.
We can make assumptions as to the time period in which Telamon lived; the Trojan War began circa 1250 BCE and Telamon was an old man (over 50 years old) at the time of the war; that would mean the Telamon was probably born circa 1300 BCE; the final fate of Telamon is not recorded.
tel ah MON ee an EH ahs
Telamonian Aias was one of the greatest Greek heroes at the siege of the city of Troy; Telamonian Aias means Aias, the son of Telamon; the Romans rendered his name as Ajax.
Aias was the son of King Telamon and Eriboea of the island of Salamis; before Aias was born, Herakles (Heracles) was a guest of Telamon and prayed that Telamon would have a manly son; at that moment, Zeus sent an omen in the form of an eagle to signify his blessing; Telamon and Herakles both realized the import of the omen and when Telamon's son was born, he was given the name Aias as a variation on the Greek word for eagle, i.e. aetos.
When Helen was taken from her home and husband in Sparta, Aias was one of the many notable men who went to her rescue; at the siege of Troy, Aias was the commander of the twelve ship contingent from Salamis, which would have been approximately fourteen hundred men.
Aias took his troops to Troy to fulfill the oath he had made to Helen's father, King Tyndareus of Sparta; when Helen was a young girl she was kidnapped and after her brothers safely returned her to her home, she was still the focus of attention from every man who met her; Helen was the daughter of Zeus and therefore semi-divine.
When Helen was old enough to marry, her father's household was besieged with anxious young men from every part of Greece; Aias was one of Helen's suitors; Tyndareus quickly realized that no matter which man he chose to be Helen's husband, there would always be the possibility of her being kidnapped again; Tyndareus very wisely made all the suitors swear a solemn and scared oath that they would come to Helen's rescue if she was ever taken from her chosen husband; Aias took the oath but Helen was finally married to Prince Menelaos (Menelaus) of Mycenae.
When Helen deserted Menelaos for Prince Alexandros (Paris) of Troy, an armada was assembled and over one thousand ships with over sixty thousand men sailed to Troy to rescue Helen.
The war became known as the Trojan War and lasted for ten brutal years; the Trojan War began circa 1250 BCE and we might assume that Aias was in his early or mid-twenties when the war began.
The supreme commander of the Greek forces against the Trojans was King Agamemnon of Mycenae; Agamemnon knew that, second only to Achilles, Aias was the best warrior in his army; Aias was a very large man and never shirked from the most intense fighting on the battlefield; Aias had a companion who was also named Aias and was often referred to as Lesser Aias because he was somewhat smaller than Telamonian Aias; when the two fought together they were called the Aiantes which is the plural form of the name Aias.
Aias carried a shield that was almost as tall as he was; when not fighting hand-to-hand with the Trojans, he would effectively use the shield to hide an archer so that the archer could shoot an arrow and then duck behind the massive shield for protection before the Trojans could retaliate; when Patroklos (Patroclus) was killed by Prince Hector, Aias fought so fiercely that the Trojans were forced to retreat.
After the death of Patroklos, Achilles held athletic games for his fallen companion; when the wrestling competition was announced, Aias immediately stepped forward assuming that no one would dare stand to fight him; to everyone's surprise, Odysseus rose to the challenge; Odysseus was not a large man but his fighting abilities were never questioned; Odysseus was able to throw Aias to the ground but could not pin him; Achilles let the fight continue until he was sure that there could be no winner without one of the men getting seriously hurt.
Zeus decreed that the walls of Troy would eventually be toppled but he was also intent that it would be a slow and bloody process; in the tenth year of the war, the Greeks devised a clever plan whereby the Trojans would open their gates and unwittingly allow the Greeks to enter the city; a large Wooden Horse was constructed with enough room in the belly of the beast to hide some Greek warriors; the Greeks then sailed their ships to a nearby island out of sight of Troy; the Trojans assumed that the Wooden Horse was a peace offering and that the war was over; once the Wooden Horse was inside the walls of Troy, Helen became suspicious of the horse and the intentions of the Greeks; she walked around the Wooden Horse imitating the voices of different men's wives to see if any of the men she suspected to be hiding in the horse would answer; all the men hiding inside the horse remained silent; when the Trojans relaxed their guard, the Greeks emerged from the horse and the real slaughter began; in The Odyssey, we are simply told that the best Greek warriors were inside the Wooden Horse so we can assume that Aias was included in that category.
Aias's final act of supreme valor was when Achilles was killed; the Trojans wanted Achilles's armor and to mutilate his body but Aias and Odysseus successfully repelled all Trojan advances; finally, Odysseus held off the Trojans while Aias picked up Achilles's body and carried it to safety; when Odysseus and Aias argued over who deserved Achilles's armor, the wise and somewhat older King Nestor of Pylos suggested that a spy be sent to the walls of Troy to see which of the two fighters the Trojans most respected; the conclusion seemed to be that any woman could have carried the body of Achilles out of the fighting but only a real man could have held back the Trojan assault; Odysseus was awarded Achilles's armor; when Odysseus encountered the 'shade' of Aias in the Underworld, Aias would not acknowledge him because he was still angry about not being awarded Achilles's armor.
There is a popular story in which Aias is said to have killed himself out of jealously when Odysseus was awarded the armor of Achilles but in The Odyssey (book 4, lines 499-511), Aias is said to have drowned because he mocked the Immortals and Poseidon (lord of the Sea) shattered the island where Aias committed the blasphemy, sending the hero to the bottom of the sea.
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 3, line 109; book 4, lines 499, 502, 509 and 511; book 11, lines 469, 543, 550 and 553; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Fagles), book 3, line 121; book 4, lines 560 and 570; book 11, lines 531, 620, 627, 628, 632, 643; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Loeb), book 3, line 109; book 4, lines 499 and 509; book 11, lines 469, 543, 550 and 553; book 24, line 17
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 3, line 117; book 4, lines 534 and 545; book 11, lines 550, 643, 646, 654 and 658; book 24, line 17
Catalogues of Women and Eoiae, fragment 68, line 55
The Great Eoiae, fragment 3
The Little Iliad, fragments 1, 3 and 4
The nine dog-headed sea monsters who, as great artisans, crafted the sickle of Zeus and the trident of Poseidon (lord of the Sea).
Teledamos was one of the sons of Odysseus and the sea Nymph, Kalypso (Calypso); there is a slight amount of confusion as to whether his name was Teledamos or Telegonos (Telegonus).
I personally suspect that his name was Teledamos and not Telegonos because Odysseus had a son named Telegonos with the Dread Goddess, Kirke (Circe) and Telegonos is listed unambiguously as Odysseus's and Kirke's son; the same certainty is not employed when Telegonos is mentioned as the son of Kalypso and Odysseus and the alternative name of Teledamos is given; the lapse in time from Odysseus's encounter with Kalypso to the actual recording of the event was over 700 years, so we must allow for some confusion between the children of Kirke and the children of Kalypso.
After the fall of the city of Troy, Odysseus was washed ashore on Kalypso's island, Ogygia; his ship had been smashed and all his shipmates drowned; Kalypso fell in love with Odysseus but, by keeping him on her island, she caused him much sadness; Kalypso wanted Odysseus as her husband but he was determined to return to his home; she tried to charm him but, as the years passed, poor Odysseus still wept for his lovely wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachos (Telemachus); during their time together, Kalypso and Odysseus had three sons: Nausithoos (Nausithous), Nausinoos (Nausinous) and Teledamos or perhaps his name was Telegonos.
Theogony, line 1017+
Taking of Oichalia (Oechalia), fragment 2
Telegonos, Agrios (Agrius) and Latinos (Latinus) were the sons of the Dread Goddess, Kirke (Circe) and Odysseus.
After the Trojan War was over and the walls of Troy were toppled, Odysseus and his men began their arduous voyage home to Ithaka (Ithaca); one of the adventures they had on their way home took place on the island of Aiaia (Aeaea) which was the home of Kirke.
At first Kirke was hostile and tried to enchant the sailors with her potions but Odysseus, with the assistance of the god Hermes, was able to subdue Kirke and make her do his bidding; the goddess not only entertained Odysseus and his crew but gave them invaluable advice as to how to proceed on their perilous voyage home; Odysseus actually made two trips to Kirke's island and it was during those visits that the children were conceived.
Theogony, lines 1011+
Telegonos was one of the sons of Odysseus and the sea Nymph Kalypso (Calypso); there is a slight amount of confusion as to whether his name was Telegonos or Teledamos (Teledamus).
I personally suspect that his name was Teledamos and not Telegonos because Odysseus had a son named Telegonos with the Dread Goddess, Kirke (Circe) and Telegonos is listed unambiguously as Odysseus's and Kirke's son; the same certainty is not employed when Telegonos is mentioned as the son of Kalypso and Odysseus and the alternative name of Teledamos is given; the lapse in time from the end of the Trojan War to Odysseus's encounter with Kalypso is over 700 years and so we must allow for some confusion between the children of Kirke and the children of Kalypso.
After the fall of the city of Troy, Odysseus was washed ashore on Kalypso's island, Ogygia; his ship had been smashed and all his shipmates drowned; Kalypso fell in love with Odysseus but, by keeping him on her island, she caused him much sadness; Kalypso wanted Odysseus as her husband but he was determined to return to his home; she tried to charm him but, as the years passed, poor Odysseus still wept for his lovely wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachos (Telemachus); during their time together, Kalypso and Odysseus had three sons: Nausithoos (Nausithous), Nausinoos (Nausinous) and Teledamos or perhaps his name was Telegonos.
Theogony, line 1017+
Taking of Oichalia (Oechalia), fragment 2
The seventh Agiadai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 760-740 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Agis I and the other was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon (respectively known as the Agiadai and the Eurypontidai).
Very little is known about Teleklos and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
tee leh MAH hoos
Telemachos was the son of King Odysseus and Penelope of the island of Ithaka (Ithaca); he was born at the beginning of one of the most important events in ancient Greek history, the Trojan War; Telemachos was an infant when his father, Odysseus, sailed for the Trojan War and he is only mentioned twice in The Iliad; when Odysseus finally returned to Ithaka, twenty years had elapsed and Telemachos was a young man; The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus's return home and Telemachos plays an important role in that saga.
During his father's absence, Telemachos was raised by his mother, Penelope, and educated in the ways of manhood by an old man named Mentor; Mentor had also been the teacher and guardian of Odysseus when he was growing up; the admiration and trust Odysseus bestowed on Mentor made is name synonymous with role-model and inspirational-teacher.
When Odysseus had not returned home for twenty years, it became an accepted fact that Penelope would remarry and that her new husband would assume control of Odysseus's kingdom; men who presumed themselves worthy of the hand of Penelope gathered on Ithaka; some were sincere and others were simply opportunists; these men became known as The Suitors; their presence in Odysseus's palace became so self-indulgent and expensive that Penelope and Telemachos were almost overwhelmed.
Penelope devised a ploy to delay the suitors; she said that she could not possibly choose a new husband until she had completed a funeral shroud for Odysseus's aged father, Laertes; each day the suitors would see Penelope working on the shroud but each night she would secretly undo a portion of that day's work so that she could delay completion of the shroud and thus not be required to choose a new husband.
When the suitors became aware that Penelope was tricking them, the goddess Athene (Athena) assumed the guise of Mentor and advised Telemachos to go in search of news of his father; with Athene's protection, Telemachos first went to the home of King Nestor in Pylos; Nestor had no news for Telemachos but advised him to go to Sparta and see Menelaos (Menelaus); Nestor also sent his son, Peisistratos (Peisistratus), to accompany Telemachos.
At the palace of King Menelaos of Sparta, Telemachos, heard of his father's exploits during the Trojan War but Menelaos was unable to account for Odysseus's whereabouts after he left Troy; the conversation was so depressing that Helen, Menelaos's wife, administered a calming drug to the two men so that they could recover their good spirits and not be troubled by sad memories.
Without any encouraging news of his father's homecoming, Telemachos returned to Ithaka; meanwhile, the suitors were plotting evil against Telemachos; they planned to ambush him as his ship neared Ithaka; again, the goddess Athene intervened so that Telemachos could safely reach port.
Odysseus had been through many trials on his way home because he had offended Poseidon (lord of the Sea) but, by the time Telemachos returned to Ithaka, Odysseus was already on the island; Odysseus was also under the protection of Athene and was now in the guise of an old beggar; he met Telemachos but did not reveal his true identity; in his disguise, Odysseus went to his palace and observed the suitors in their indulgent and belligerent ways; he began plotting the punishment of the suitors but knew that he could not do it alone.
When Odysseus thought the time was right, he took Telemachos into his confidence and, with the help of a few loyal servants, confronted the suitors; a bloodbath ensued; Telemachos did his share of the killing and proved himself worthy of his father's trust and admiration.
As the story of The Odyssey ends, we are not told of the fate of Telemachos but later writers continued the saga of the Trojan War with a series of poems called The Epic Cycle; the poem, The Returns, states that Telemachos married the Dread Goddess, Kirke (Circe), and that Kirke's son, Telegonos (Telegonus), eventually married Penelope.
Since Telemachos was born just prior to the Trojan War, we can place his birth at circa 1250 BCE; the events related in The Odyssey took place when Telemachos was approximately 20 years old, i.e. circa 1230 BCE.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 260; book 4, line 354
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 304; book 4, line 412
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 298; book 4, line 426
Returns, fragment 4
One of the four ancient tribes of Ionia; their name means Farmers; the other tribes were known as: Aigikoreis (Aigicoreis) (Goat-Herds or Goat-Feeders); Oplites (Hoplites) (Men in Armor); and Argadeis (Workmen or Laborers).
The son of Herakles (Heracles) and Auge.
When the Achaean (Achaian) fleet left Aulis with the intention of sailing to Troy, they became lost; in their confusion, they reached the city of Teuthrania instead of Troy; the Achaeans attacked Teuthrania without realizing their mistake; Telephus was one of the many men who tried to defend Teuthrania; Telephus distinguished himself in the fighting by killing a man named Thersandros (Thersander) but before the fight was over, Telephus was wounded by Achilles; Achilles agreed to heal Telephus's wounds if he would assist the Greeks by leading them to Troy; Telephus accompanied the Greeks back to Argos and, in accordance with the advice of an oracle, led the Greeks to Troy but refused to fight against the Trojans because he was a blood relative of King Priam of Troy.
The Kypria, fragment 1
An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys.
Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
Theogony, line 358
A small island in the Mediterranean Sea northwest of the island of Rhodes.
The Aristotelian "final cause"; the end term of a goal-directed process; Telos means End; Teleios means Perfected.
An area of land which was dedicated to the Immortals and not to be used for "profane" purposes; a precinct used as the site of temples and groves because it was sacred to the Immortals; a famous example of a Temenos is the sacred grove of Zeus at Olympia.
A son of Aristomachos (Aristomachus) who was allotted the city of Argos because he was one of the descendants of Herakles (Heracles).
A valley in eastern Greece in Thessaly between Mount Olympos (Olympus) and Mount Ossa; called the Vale of Tempe.
Approximate East Longitude 22º 32' and North Latitude 39º 52'
A temple at the city of Corinth constructed in the mid-sixth century BCE in honor of Apollon.
A temple in honor of Apollon at Bassae on the Peloponnesian Peninsula attributed to Iktinus (Ictinus) during the second half of the fifth century BCE; the name Epikourios refers to Apollon as The Helper.
Pictures of the Bassae Reliefs from the Temple of Apollon Epikourios
One of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Six of the Seven Wonders of the World were constructed by the Greeks and the most amazing of the Greek structures was the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
The site on which the Temple of Artemis was built had been a center of worship for an Anatolian Mother Goddess since prehistoric times; when King Kroesus (Croesus) of Lydia conquered Karia (Caria), of which Ephesus was the primary city, he built the first Temple of Artemis on the estuary of the Cayster River (modern Kucuk Menderes) circa 560 BCE, under the supervision of the engineer/architect Chersiphron.
The temple was utterly destroyed in 356 BCE when a man named Herostratus set fire to the wooden roof; the heat from the flames was so intense that the building, although mostly constructed of marble, was ruined; Herostratus is reputed to have arrogantly boasted that the men who built the temple would be forgotten but he would always be remembered as the man who destroyed it.
The new temple was gigantic by Greek standards and was larger than the Parthenon at Athens or the Temple of Zeus at Olympia; the temple was built on the same site as the previous temples and although the proposed design was traditional, the scope and budget surpassed any previous construction project except for those in Egypt and Babylon; the new temple was a massive structure and measured 425 feet (130 meters) in length and 225 feet (78 meters) wide; the 60 foot (18 meter) columns were set on a 10 foot (3 meter) base and surmounted by a wooden roof that added another 20 feet (6 meters) to the overall height; the base of the temple had fourteen pairs of columns on each side and six pairs on each end.
A gold and ivory statue of Artemis was the centerpiece of the temple but there were numerous other statues decorating the interior and exterior; the building was surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens and glades full of wild beasts suitable for the habitat of Artemis as the Goddess of the Hunt.
The temple supported a large staff of musicians as well as a choir and was well financed by Persian and Greek benefactors; the temple was a magnet for travelers and pilgrims not only because of its grandiose beauty but also because of its location in Asia Minor rather than on the Greek mainland; Persians, Greeks and Europeans revered the goddess Artemis and found a commonality in her worship.
The city of Ephesus was devoted to the goddess and each spring there was a festival in her honor where contributions of jewels, gold, silver, silk and other valuable gifts were presented to the priests and priestesses; the city of Ephesus and the temple were plundered in 262 CE by the Goths; the temple was rebuilt but never restored to its former grandeur; finally, in 401 CE, the Patriarch of Constantinople supervised the utter destruction of the temple; the remaining temple artifacts were looted and the massive stones were used to build churches and civic buildings.
After hundreds of years of peaceful splendor, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus became relegated to the mist of legend and the once powerful symbol of Greek culture was doomed to be lost in time until the ruins were finally excavated in 1858 CE by the English engineer, John T. Wood.
A temple at Delphi dedicated to Athene (Athena); the term Pronaos indicates that the statue of the goddess stood in front of the temple instead of being inside the structure.
The Temple of Zeus at Olympia housed the famous Statue of Zeus which was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The temple was constructed circa 435 BCE and designed specifically to house the 30-40 foot (9-12 meter) chryselephantine Statue of Zeus; the temple was in the Doric style with a colonnade that led to the statue; the temple was decorated with smaller bronze statues of heroes, shields that were carried by the Olympic contestants and the symbolic victory-horses of Kyniska; there was also a winding stairway leading to the roof; the temple was deliberately designed to instill a sense of awe in the worshipers and give the enclosed statue a grandiose proportion that would reflect the grand scale and majesty of the king of the Olympians.
The temple faced the east and would have presumably allowed the morning light to illuminate the gold and ivory which encased the Statue of Zeus in the otherwise dark interior; there were also altars for Zeus on the north and south sides of the temple.
A Temple of Hera and the various treasuries were located to the north of the temple at the foot of the Hill of Kronos (Cronos); the Olympic stadium and the race course were to the front, i.e., on the eastern side of the temple; the temple was approximately 197 x 98 feet (60 x 30 meters); the entire complex covers an area approximately 1,968 x 984 feet (600 x 300 meters).
The above image is a model of what the statue of Zeus at Olympia might have looked like before it was looted and destroyed prior to 475 CE.
teh NEH dos
An island in the Aegean Sea near the entrance to the Dardanelles.
The island is now called Bozcaada; with an area of 15 square miles (39 square kilometers) it is a relatively small island approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) south of the Dardanelles and was in close proximity to the city of Troy.
Prior to the Trojan War, i.e. prior to 1250 BCE, Tenedos was uninhabited and called Leukophrys (Leucophrys); a young man named Tennes was the son of King Kyknos (Cycnus) of Kolone (Colone) on the Troad; Tennes colonized the island and portioned allotments to his followers; he also founded a city on the island which he named Tenedos after himself; Tennes'ss stepmother, the wife of King Kyknos, began to make unjust slanders against Tennes and the king put his son in a chest and cast him adrift on the sea; Tennes was brought to shore on Tenedos by what the islanders perceived as divine intervention; the people of Tenedos made Tennes their king because of his reasonable and just nature; when Tennes went to Troy to fight for the Trojans, he was killed by Achilles; after the death if their king, the islanders built a sacred precinct for Tennes and offered sacrifices as if he were a god; in honor of Tennes, a law was passed that no man should ever pronounce the name of Achilles in Tennes'ss sacred precinct.
When the Greek fleet was sailing to Troy, they stopped at Tenedos; while feasting, one of the Greek soldiers, Philoktetes (Philoktetes), was bitten by a venomous snake; Philoktetes was taken to the island of Lemnos and left until his wound could heal while the others went on to attack Troy.
When the Greeks plundered Tenedos, a woman named Hekamede (Hecamede) was taken by Achilles as a slave and given to the old warrior, Nestor;
During the Trojan War, Poseidon (lord of the Sea) hid his chariot in a cave between the islands of Tenedos and Imbros.
After ten years of bitter fighting, Troy was still un-assailed and the Greeks were in turmoil; the god, Apollon (Apollo) was punishing the Greeks for their ill treatment of his priest, Chryses, and when Chryses prayed to Apollon he referred to the god as the Lord of Tenedos.
After the Greeks had reduced Troy to ashes, they made preparations to return the their homes; the Greek commander, Agamemnon, stayed at Troy and tried, unsuccessfully, to appease the goddess Athene (Athena) with sacrifices to atone for the desecration of her temple but others left Troy as quickly as possible and made their sacrifices on Tenedos.
In historical times, while putting down the revolt of the Greek colonies in Ionia, the Persian king, Darius, sent his fleet to Tenedos and used a method called "netting" to capture and enslave the inhabitants; netting was a successful maneuver that the Persians used exclusively on islands; the Persian soldiers would join hands and march from one side of an island to the other and snare all the inhabitants regardless of where they were hiding.
Fifteen years later, when the Persians were preparing to invade Greece (circa 480 BCE), the people of Tenedos, having only one city on the island, were not threatened by the Persian King Cyrus because he did not see them as an asset or an enemy.
Approximate East Longitude 26º 04' and North Latitude 39º 50'
The Kypria, fragment 1
Herodotus, Histories, book 1.151; book 6.31
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, book 5.83.1-5
Iliad (Lattimore), book 1, lines 38 and 453; book 11 line 624; book 13, line 33
Iliad (Loeb), book 1, lines 38 and 452; book 11 line 625; book 13, line 33
Iliad (Fagles), book 1, lines 45 and 540; book 11 line 736; book 13, line 41
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 1, lines 45 and 520; book 11 line 718; book 13, line 38
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 3, line 159
Odyssey (Fagles), book 3, line 176
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 3, line 172
TEH nees
King Tennes of Tenedos (died circa 1250 BCE); Tennes established the first colony on the island of Tenedos by portioning allotments to his followers and founding a city which he named Tenedos after himself; Tennes's father, King Kyknos (Cycnus) of Kolone (Colone), was prompted by the unjust slanders of his wife to be rid of Tennes, so he placed his son in a chest and cast him into the sea; Tennes was brought to shore on Tenedos by what the islanders perceived as divine intervention; the people of Tenedos made Tennes their king because of his reasonable and just nature; when Tennes went to Troy to fight for the Trojans, he was killed by Achilles; after the death if their king, the islanders built a sacred precinct for Tennes and offered sacrifices as if he were a god; in honor of Tennes, a law was passed that no man should ever pronounce the name of Achilles in Tennes's sacred precinct.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, book 5.83.1-5
TEE nos
A small Greek island in the Kyklades (Cyclades) group in the Aegean Sea; 74 square miles (192 square kilometers) in area.
From antiquity, Tenos has been thought to be the home of the Winds because of the unpredictable and often violent winds which buffet the island; originally, Tenos was named Opheoussa (Snake Island) for seemingly obvious reasons; Poseidon (lord of the Sea) cleansed the island of snakes and thus became the primary Immortal worshiped on Tenos but the worship of Demeter (goddess of the Harvest) and the Nereid Amphitrite was also popular; the green-hued marble found on Tenos has been prized since antiquity; more recently, marble from Tenos was used in the construction of The Louvre in Paris and Buckingham Palace in London.
Tenos has been inhabited since the second millennium BCE and was settled by the Ionians circa 1000 BCE; there is a vague reference to offerings sent to Greece by the mysterious Hyperboreans which involved the Tenians; the offerings of the Hyperboreans were transported from the holy Shrine of Zeus at Dodona to the island of Euboia, then to Tenos and then on to the island of Delos to the Temple of Apollon.
When King Xerxes of Persia invaded Greece in 480 BCE, Tenos was captured by the Persians and forced to include a ship in the Persian fleet to fight against the other Greeks; however, when the Persian fleet engaged the Greeks in the Battle of Salamis, the Tenian ship, commanded by Panaetius, deserted the Persians and fought with the Greeks; the Tenians were included in the list of Greek allies inscribed on a tripod dedicated at Delphi.
Tenos eventually became a member of the Delian League which was supervised by Athens; circa 350 BCE, the Macedonians invaded Tenos and remained in control of the island until the Romans became the dominant force in the Aegean area circa 200 BCE.
Although it never achieved the status of the island of Delos, Tenos was always considered to be holy ground and is still frequented by pilgrims for the curative waters of its springs.
Approximate East Longitude 25º 10' and North Latitude 37º 64'
The Histories, 4.33, 6.97 and 8.82
A Greek city on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor in Lydia; located near site of the modern city of Seferihisar, Turkey.
Approximate East Longitude 26º 51' and North Latitude 38º 11'
The king of Thrace and the husband of Prokne (Procne).
Prokne and her sister, Philomela, were Athenian princesses and the daughters of Pandion; Prokne married Tereus but his cruelty towards Philomela caused Tereus, Prokne and Philomela to all surrender their humanity and be transformed into various birds.
Tereus attacked or offended Philomela and in order to keep his outrage a secret he cut out Philomela's tongue and hid her away in a secret place; Philomela was able to weave her sad story onto a piece of needlework and send it to her sister; Prokne found Philomela and the two of them killed Philomela's son, Itys, and served the cooked body of the child to Tereus; Tereus tried to slay the sisters but all three were transformed into birds; Tereus became a hoopoe, Philomela became a swallow and Prokne became a nightingale; Tereus is one of the main characters in the play, Birds, by Aristophanes.
ter PAN der
(fl. early seventh century BCE) A musical composer and prominent lyric poet from the island of Lesbos; lyric poets, by definition, wrote poems that were to be sung to the accompaniment of the stringed instrument known as the lyre; the four-stringed lyre is assumed to have originated in Asia Minor and imported to the island of Lesbos; Terpander's most notable accomplishment was the redesign of the lyre; he added three strings and thus made the lyre a seven-stringed instrument; this new, improved lyre was quickly adopted on the Greek mainland and became the traditional instrument of the lyric poets; Terpander quickly became famous and other lyric poets from Lesbos benefited from his widespread reputation; even after Terpander's death, when a lyric poet was needed, a poet from Lesbos was considered to be better than a poet from any other place.
Terpander is credited by many ancient sources as establishing the seven modes of a type of music called the Nome, i.e. 1) Boeotian, 2) Aeolian, 3) Trochaic, 4) High-Pitched, 5) Kepion (Cepion), 6) Terpandrean, and 7) Four-Song; the word Nome literally means Law and was adopted to describe musical compositions which were composed according to strict rules of mode and rhythm.
On several occasions, Terpander was influential in the affairs of the Spartans; the Spartans, who generally rejected the study of music, had sincere respect for Terpander and his abilities; while in exile in Sparta for the crime of murder, Terpander was asked to play and sing to help resolve political disharmony, which he did successfully; also, at the prompting of the Oracle at Delphi, Terpander was called upon by the Spartans to help cure a plague that was rampant in their city; it was a commonly accepted fact that the presence of someone inspired by the Muse could cleanse the mind and body.
Terpander is also credited with inventing the skolia (scolia) or drinking song which was sung a banquets; the banquet guests would pass a myrtle branch from one to the other and when a guest held the myrtle branch he or she would lead the singing; the name, skolia, was chosen for this type of song because the song "went around" or "zigzagged" from singer to singer; also, according to the playwright, Aristophanes in play The Acharnians, Terpander was noted for the martial song The Orthian (The Soldiers Song).
One of the nine Muses; the Dance-Enjoying; she and the river Acheloios (Achelous) were the parents of the Sirens.
For more information on Terpsichore and her sisters, I suggest that you consult the Muses page in the Immortals section of this site.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 893-895
Theogony, line 78
A Titan, i.e. one of the daughters of Ouranos (the Heavens) and Gaia (Earth); she is the wife of Okeanos (Ocean) and the mother of the three thousand Okeanids and the numerous Rivers.
Theogony, lines 136 and 337
A silver coin of ancient Greece equal to four drachmas; one drachma was the fee for a fully equipped mercenary for one day; also spelled Tetradrachm.
The illegitimate son of Telamon and Hesione; the half-brother of Aias (Ajax).
After the fall of Troy, Teukros escaped death at sea after a heroic swim to safety; he became too boastful of his assumed charmed life and was thrown into the sea by Poseidon (lord of the Sea) where he died.
Another version of his life must have been circulated in ancient Greece because in the play Helen by Euripides, we learn that Teukros survived the Trojan War and was briefly stranded in Egypt; after leaving Egypt, he went to the island of Cyprus and founded a city which he named after his home, Salamis.
A king of the region where the city of Troy was eventually built and the inhabitants called themselves Teucrians.
A son of Zeus named Dardanos (Dardanus) married Teukros's daughter Bateia and after Teukros's death, Dardanos inherited the entire kingdom and called it Dardania; the people became known as Dardanians; the Trojans were descended directly from Dardanos and indirectly from Teukros through his daughter Bateia.
A savage fox that ravaged Thebes and was hunted by Amphitryon and Kephalos (Cephalus).
The land around the city of Thebes was called Kadmeia (Cadmeia) after the founder of the city, Kadmos (Cadmus); Amphitryon and Alkmene (Alcmene), the stepfather and mother of Herakles (Heracles), went to Thebes to seek help in avenging the deaths of Alkmene's brothers at the hands of the Teleboans; King Kreon (Creon) of Thebes said that he would send his army against the Teleboans if Amphitryon would kill a savage fox which had been killing children and terrorizing the county around Thebes; the fox is now commonly referred to as the Kadmeian (Cadmeian) Fox but ancient writers used the name Teumesian Fox; despite Amphitryon's best efforts, he could not kill the fox and the brutal murders of the Theban children continued.
The Thebans decided to appease the fox by setting out one of their children each month so that the wild beast could have its blood feast and hopefully be satisfied with only the one child instead of randomly killing many; Amphitryon could not understand why no one had been able to kill the fox and disappointed that he had lost a powerful ally in his war against the Teleboans; to resolve these problems, Amphitryon enlisted the help of a banished Athenian man named Kephalos (Cephalus).
Kephalos had a fabled dog named Lailaps (Storm) that could catch anything he pursued; the dog had once belonged to King Minos of the island of Crete and was eventually given to an Athenian woman named Prokris (Procris) by the goddess Artemis; Prokris gave the dog to her husband Kephalos but he accidently killed Prokris while hunting and was an exile living in Thebes when Amphitryon sought his help to kill the murderous fox; Amphitryon promised Kephalos a portion of the plunder from the Teleboans if he would put his unstoppable dog on the trail of the savage fox; when the dog was in hot pursuit of the fox, Zeus intervened and turned the dog and the fox into stone near a hill called Teumessus and thus the name Teumesian Fox.
King Kreon of Thebes was satisfied that Amphitryon had fulfilled the obligation of ridding Kadmeia of the fox and true to his word, joined Amphitryon in his war against the Teleboans.
Apollodorus of Athens, Library, book 2.57-59
The Epigoni, fragment 2
An ancient city in Asia Minor in the district of Mysia; located approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) inland on the Kaikos (Caicus) river.
When the Greeks sailed from Aulis to capture Troy, the fleet became lost and they attacked the city of Teuthrania instead of Troy; they sacked the city and then returned to Aulis to prepare for another attempt at finding Troy.
During the battle for Teuthrania, a captive was taken named Telephus (Telephos); Achilles wounded and healed Telephus and, doing the will of an oracle, Telephus became the Greek's guide so that they could find Troy.
Two generations later, the name of the city was changed to Pergamum by Pergamus, a grandson of Achilles, after he captured the city; now known as Bergama, in western Turkey; the Kaikos river is now called the Bakir.
The husband of Auge and the step-father of Telephus (Telephos); Teuthras founded the city of Teuthrania which is located in Asia Minor on the Kaikos (Caicus) river in the district of Mysia.
An Athenian courtesan; the mistress of Ptolemy I.
Ptolemy was a general in the army of Alexander the Great and Thais accompanied Ptolemy when Alexander's army marched into Asia Minor; when Alexander reached the magnificent Persian city of Persepolis, he decided to destroy the temples and altars so that the Persians could not use them as symbols of unity or rallying places for retaliation; one of Alexander's commanders named Parmenio advised against the wanton destruction of Persepolis but his common sense advice was ignored; a good portion of the city was burned but the palace of King Xerxes was spared.
Thais was an Athenian and wanted revenge for the destruction King Xerxes had visited upon Athens when the Persians invaded Greece in 480 BCE; Thais urged Alexander to burn Xerxes's palace; the cry was echoed by the other members of the party and soon a reveling crowd marched to Xerxes's palace; Alexander is said to have thrown the first torch into the glorious structure.
The oarsmen on a trireme (warship) who occupied the lowest bench and thus had the shortest oar and the lowest pay.
A trireme was a large warship rowed with 170 oars arranged in three tiers on each side of the ship, one above the other.
The trireme had a average crew of 200 men, including the 170 oarsmen; the oarsmen were arranged with 31 on the top tiers (the Thranites) and 27 on the middle and lower tiers (the Thalamites); the length of the vessel was approximately 120 feet (37 meters) with a beam of 18 feet (5.5 meters); the average sustainable speed of the craft has been estimated to have been 7.5 knots (8.6 miles per hour).
Literally, the Sea; Homer used the word to mean the Mediterranean Sea specifically.
A well of salt water on the Acropolis at Athens; said to have been created by a stroke from the trident of Poseidon (lord of the Sea).
One of the Graces (Charities); a daughter of Zeus and Eurynome; the name Thaleia literally means the Blooming One or Abundance; her sisters are: Aglaia and Euphrosyne.
Theogony, line 907-911
One of the nine Muses; the Blooming One.
For more information on Thaleia and her sisters, I suggest that you consult the Muses page in the Immortals section of this site.
Theogony, line 77
An early sixth century BCE Greek scientist from Miletos in Asia Minor circa 640-546 BCE.
Thales is purported to have founded the first Greek school of philosophy and taught that water was the essence of all things; Thales was always included as one of the Seven Sages which were the seven wisest men in the ancient world.
In 591 BCE the Lydians and the Medes went to war over possession of Scythia; during a battle on May 28, 585 BCE an eclipse took place and both armies decided to broker a peace rather than continue the war; Thales had predicted the eclipse and became the first man in history to make such a prediction.
Herodotus, Histories, book 1.74
Death; a child of Nyx (Night).
Thanatos has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.
The Thargelia was an Athenian festival in honor of Apollon and Artemis; a man and a woman were chosen to represent Apollon and Artemis and referred to as scapegoats because they were ritualistically driven from the city by the citizens; the Thargelia was celebrated during the second week of the month of Thargelion, which would be approximately early May by our calendar.
Thargelion was the eleventh month of the year in Attica and generally corresponds to the third week of April to the third week of May of our calendar; there were two Athenian festivals held during Thargelion: the Thargelia and the Plynteria.
The Thargelia was celebrated during the second week of Thargelion; a man and a woman were chosen to represent Apollon and Artemis and referred to as scapegoats because they were ritualistically driven from the city by the citizens;
At the end of Thargelion, the sacred Plynteria was the occasion for the ritual washing of the clothes of the statue of Athene (Athena) Polias on the Acropolis.
A Greek island in the northern-most part of the Aegean Sea, south of the province of Thrace; 170 square miles (440 square kilometers) in area.
Approximate East Longitude 24º 42' and North Latitude 40º 47'
A son of Pontus (the Sea) and Gaia (Earth); the brother of Phorkys (Phorcys), Keto (Ceto) and Eurybia; the father of Iris and Arke (Arce).
Also, with Elektra (Electra) he fathered Iris and the winged-women known as the Harpies, i.e. Aello and Okypete (Ocypete).
Theogony, lines 237 and 265
The title of a goddess; when used in the plural it denoted Demeter (goddess of the Harvest) and her daughter, Persephone.
A structure built long after most of the other buildings on the Acropolis but significant because of its sponsor, Herodes Attikus (101-177 CE); he used his family fortune to restore some of the glory that time and vandals had robbed from the buildings and temples of the city of Athens.
One of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle; called The Thebaid, The Theban Cycle and The Thebais; originally a seven thousand verse poem which told the story of Oedipus which is now lost.
There are only seven surviving fragments of The Thebaid with a total of approximately 34 lines; the fragments may be summarized as follows:
Fragment 1 - Homer traveled and recited The Thebaid of seven thousand verses; the poem begins, Sing goddess of parched Argos.
Fragment 2 - When Polyneikes (Polyneices) set a silver table and golden cup before his father Oedipus, Oedipus realized that these were the treasures of Kadmos (Cadmus) and called upon the avenging Fury to curse his sons so that they would fight over his possessions and never live in peaceful brotherhood; the Fury heard Oedipus's prayer.
Fragment 3 - When Oedipus was served the haunch (an undesirable portion of meat), he prayed to Zeus and the other Immortals that his sons might die by his brother's hand and go to the House of Hades.
Fragment 4 - Adrastus (Adrestos) fled from Thebes in miserable garments on his black-maned horse, Arion (Areion).
Fragment 5 - When the Seven Against Thebes had received their last rites, the son of Talaos (Talaus), i.e. Adrastus, morned the loss of his host.
Fragment 6 - When the city of Olenos (Olenus) was stormed, Oineus (Oeneus) took Periboia (Periboea), daughter of Hipponoos (Hipponous), as a prize.
Fragment 7 - The Thebans say that Asphodikos (Asphodicus) killed Parthenopaeus, son of Talaos (Talaus), in the battle against the Argives but the Thebaid says that it was Periklymenos (Periclymenus) who killed him
For the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
One of the fragmentary remains of the Epic Cycle; called The Theban Cycle, The Thebaid and The Thebais; originally a seven thousand verse poem which told the story of Oedipus which is now lost.
There are only seven surviving fragments of The Theban Cycle with a total of approximately 34 lines; the fragments may be summarized as follows:
Fragment 1 - Homer traveled and recited The Thebaid of seven thousand verses; the poem begins, Sing goddess of parched Argos.
Fragment 2 - When Polyneikes (Polyneices) set a silver table and golden cup before his father Oedipus, Oedipus realized that these were the treasures of Kadmos (Cadmus) and called upon the avenging Fury to curse his sons so that they would fight over his possessions and never live in peaceful brotherhood; the Fury heard Oedipus's prayer.
Fragment 3 - When Oedipus was served the haunch (an undesirable portion of meat), he prayed to Zeus and the other Immortals that his sons might die by his brother's hand and go to the House of Hades.
Fragment 4 - Adrastus (Adrestos) fled from Thebes in miserable garments on his black-maned horse, Arion (Areion).
Fragment 5 - When the Seven Against Thebes had received their last rites, the son of Talaos (Talaus), i.e. Adrastus, morned the loss of his host.
Fragment 6 - When the city of Olenos (Olenus) was stormed, Oineus (Oeneus) took Periboia (Periboea), daughter of Hipponoos (Hipponous), as a prize.
Fragment 7 - The Thebans say that Asphodikos (Asphodicus) killed Parthenopaeus, son of Talaos (Talaus), in the battle against the Argives but the Thebaid says that it was Periklymenos (Periclymenus) who killed him.
For the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can sometimes find this book at the library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
The name The Theban Plays is a modern grouping of three of plays by Sophocles; the plays include: Oedipus Tyrannus, Oedipus at Kolonus (Colonus) and Antigone.
The plays deal with the life and death of Oedipus and the fate of his children: Eteokles (Eteocles), Polyneikes (Polyneices), Ismene and Antigone.
The three plays may be summarized as follows:
Oedipus Tyrannus
Cast of Characters:
Oedipus - The king of Thebes
Jocasta - The wife/mother of Oedipus
Kreon (Creon) - The brother of Jocasta
Teiresias - The blind seer
This play is the foundation of the Oedipus saga and begins after Oedipus has been king of Thebes for over a decade; he married the widow of the former king and has four children; when the play begins, the city is suffering from what seems to be a god-sent plague; an affliction has effected the crops and the citizens are suffering from an illness of the body and soul; Oedipus sent his brother-in-law, Kreon, to the oracle of Apollon to ask the god's advice; Kreon returned and reported that a stain of murder has caused the problems for Thebes and when the unpunished murderer is driven from the country, the city will recover its prosperity.
It seemed obvious that the murder in question was of the former king of Thebes, Laius, because the murderer was never caught; Oedipus summons the blind seer Teiresias for his prophetic insights; Teiresias is reluctant to talk but Oedipus berates him and commands him to speak; Teiresias reluctantly tells Oedipus that it was he, Oedipus, who killed Laius; Oedipus is furious and denies the possibility; he believes that Teiresias is lying so that he and Kreon can usurp the kingship of Thebes and drive Oedipus out.
Oedipus dismisses Teiresias and then confronts Kreon with the conspiracy allegations; Kreon is incensed by the accusation but Oedipus does not believe him either and condemns Kreon to death; the queen, Jocasta, enters the scene and convinces Oedipus to let Kreon go free because she knows for a fact that Oedipus could not have murdered Laius; she tells Oedipus of an old oracle that was once given to Laius about how he would be killed by his own son; she says that when she and Laius did have a son, they abandoned the infant in the mountains and allowed it to die so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled; Jocasta reasons that since she has no living son, Laius must have been murdered by rogues and the prophecy about being killed by his own son was false.
Oedipus is stunned by this bit of news and tells Jocasta of an incident that happened to him before he came to Thebes; he had been raised in Corinth by King Polybus and his wife, Merope, as their son; when he became a young man, a drunken lout told Oedipus that he was not really Polybus's son; Oedipus secretly went to Delphi and asked the oracle for a clear answer to the question of his parentage; the Pythia did not answer his question directly but said that Oedipus was destined to kill his father, marry his mother and beget accursed children; in an attempt to prove the oracle false, Oedipus fled Corinth and made his way to Thebes; Oedipus and Jocasta are positive that he could not have killed Laius because he was not Laius's son.
A messenger arrives from Corinth with the news that Polybus has died of old age and if Oedipus will return, the people of Corinth will make him their king; Oedipus is joyous that he had no part in his father's death but tells the messenger that he still cannot return to Corinth because he's afraid that he might still become his mother's lover; the messenger tells Oedipus that he knows for a fact that Polybus and Merope are not his parents because he was the one who had brought Oedipus to Corinth as an abandoned orphan; the messenger relates how he had been given a child with pierced ankles by a Theban shepherd and he had taken the baby to Corinth where Polybus adopted it as his own son.
The Theban shepherd is summoned and he confirms everyone's worst fears; Oedipus was the son of Jocasta and Laius and he was the abandoned baby who was left in the mountains; all the facts fit into place and prove that Oedipus did, in fact, kill his father and unwittingly marry his mother; his children by Jocasta are also his brothers and sisters; the implications of these facts where too much for Jocasta and Oedipus to bear; Jocasta retires to her bedroom and hangs herself from the rafters; when Oedipus sees Jocasta's dead body, he pulls a broach from her dress and thrusts the pins in his eyes; the four orphaned children and Kreon are left to carry the weight of the family curse as Oedipus leaves Thebes as a blind and god-cursed exile; at the end of the play, the chorus sadly intones that you cannot judge whether any man has had a happy life until that life is over.
The two plays which make up the remainder of this tragic saga are: Antigone and Oedipus at Kolonus.
Oedipus at Kolonus
Cast of Characters:
Oedipus - The former king of Thebes
Antigone - The eldest daughter of Oedipus
Ismene - The youngest daughter of Oedipus
Theseus - The king of Athens
Kreon (Creon) - The king of Thebes
Polyneikes (Polyneices) - The eldest son of Oedipus
Oedipus at Kolonus was written towards the end of Sophocles's life and was produced posthumously circa 401 BCE.
This tragedy marks the end of the Oedipus saga; Oedipus and his daughter, Antigone, have come to the Grove of the Eumenides at Kolonus near Athens; Oedipus was once given a prophecy which said that he would die at a sanctuary of the Eumenides amidst earthquakes and the thunder of Zeus.
Once the blind and old Oedipus realizes that he has finally arrived at the Grove of the Eumenides, he is certain that the prophecy has been fulfilled and that he has come to the end of his long and painful life; the elders of Athens implore Oedipus to leave the sacred grove but he refuses; Theseus, the king of Athens, is summoned because he is a man of intellect and perception; Theseus is sympathetic to Oedipus and gives the old man every courtesy.
It seems that the only one of his children for which Oedipus has any respect is Antigone; she has been his faithful companion since he was forced to leave Thebes and has forsaken all of her own personal comforts and desires so that her long suffering father will have at least one person who sincerely cares about his wellbeing; Oedipus's final meetings with his daughter, Ismene, and his son, Polyneikes (Polyneices) are fraught with mean spirited exchanges; Ismene is too young to appreciate the full scope of the situation and Polyneikes is seeking his father's blessing on the impending attack on Thebes to wrest the throne from his brother, Eteokles (Eteocles); Oedipus makes the prediction that both Polyneikes and Eteokles will die without honor and he (Oedipus) does not seem to be bothered by that eventuality.
In fulfillment of the prophecy, Theseus accompanies Oedipus deep into the Grove of the Eumenides and, amidst an earthquake and the sound of thunder, Oedipus dies without a grave marker to indicate his final resting place.
Antigone
Cast of Characters:
Antigone - Daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta
Ismene - Antigone's sister
Kreon (Creon) - King of Thebes and brother of Jocasta
Haemon (Haimon)- Son of Kreon and Antgone's fiance
Teiresias - The blind Prophet
Eurydike (Eurydice) - Kreon's wife
This is the third of three plays which are sometimes called The Theban Plays; each play deals with a different aspect of the Oedipus saga.
This particular play takes place directly after Antigone's brothers, Eteokles (Eteocles) and Polyneikes (Polyneices) have killed each other on the battlefield; Kreon has assumed the throne of Thebes and has decreed that, since Eteokles died in defense of his city, he shall be given an honorable burial but Polyneikes's body is to be left to the dogs and crows; Antigone tries to enlist the help of her sister, Ismene, to defy Kreon and bury Polyneikes but Ismene does not want to provoke Kreon and refuses to help.
Antigone sneaks onto the battlefield and, without being observed by the sentries, places a layer of dust over Polyneikes's body and performs the necessary burial rights; when the act is discovered, Kreon tells the sentries that if they don't catch the perpetrator, they will be held personally responsible for the crime; they set a trap and finally catch Antigone.
When Antigone is brought before Kreon, she makes one of the best speeches ever delivered in a Greek tragedy; she is defiant and says that she is obeying the laws of the Gods and that Kreon has no authority to overrule divine law; Kreon is unmoved and refuses to back down; Antigone is sentenced to death.
Kreon decides that he doesn't want Antigone's blood on his hands so he has her walled up inside a cave so she can either starve to death or take her own life; Kreon's son, Haemon, is very respectful of his father and tries in the most judicious way persuade Kreon to bury Polyneikes and to dissuade him from going through with Antigone's execution; Haemon and Antigone were supposed to be married and Haemon is motivated not only by his love for Antigone but also by his sincere belief that his father is acting in a manner contrary to proper moral behavior; instead of evoking his father's sympathy Haemon is assailed with accusations of cowardice.
The next character to enter the action is the blind seer, Teiresias; he tells Kreon that instead of meaningful omens from the sacrifices, slime is pouring from the altar, birds are squawking nonsense and the sacrificial animals are falling to pieces in the flames; Teiresias has deduced that the Gods are offended because of Kreon's refusal to bury Polyneikes and his unjust treatment of Antigone; Teiresias urges Kreon to change his mind before it's too late and the whole city is cursed; Kreon remains adamant and accuses Teiresias of being motivated by money and not a true prophet; Teiresias spares no words and does not attempt to lessen the severity of his prophetic visions; Teiresias tells Kreon that in order for him to understand the disgrace he has caused, the Gods will curse his family; Kreon asks the chorus of Theban elders for advice and they tell Kreon to undo the evil he has done as soon as possible.
Kreon rushes to bury the body of Polyneikes and then hurries to the cave where he has entombed Antigone; when he arrives at the cave, he finds that Antigone has hanged herself and his son, Haemon, is clutching Antigone's corpse; Haemon tries to kill Kreon but, failing, throws himself on his own sword; when Kreon's wife, Eurydike, hears the news about Haemon, she retires into the palace and takes her own life; the curse of Oedipus has claimed more victims and serves to teach us all another lesson in humility and propriety.
I recommend the Penguin Classics book The Theban Plays translated by E. F. Watling (ISBN 0140440038); you can find these plays at your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site.
A Nymph; the daughter of Asopos (Asopus) and the sister of Aegina (Aigina); Thebe was the wife of Zethos; Zethos and his brother, Amphion, built the foundations and bulwarks of the city, Thebes, that was eventually named after Thebe.
Herodotus, Histories, book 5.80
THEE bs
The city of seven gates; the principal city in the province of Boeotia; founded by the legendary Kadmos (Cadmus) when he was searching for his sister Europa.
After Zeus abducted Europa, Kadmos conducted an unsuccessful search for his sister; in desperation, Kadmos went to the Oracle at Delphi for assistance; the Pythia (priestess) told Kadmos to leave the temple and follow a cow until it laid down to rest and to build a city on that site; Kadmos did as he was told and built the city of Thebes.
Kadmos went to a nearby spring and was forced to kill the dragon which protected the spring; he took the teeth of the dragon and, on the advice of the goddess Athene (Athena) sowed them in the earth; a crop of warriors, called Sparti, sprang from the dragon's teeth; Kadmos threw a stone in their midst and the Sparti fought amongst themselves until only five remained; the remaining five warriors became the founding families of Thebes.
Thebes has had many distinctions in its long and glorious history:
1) After the city was established by Kadmos, the walls were constructed by Amphion and Zethos (Zethus); the two brothers were the sons of Zeus and Antiope; Amphion built the foundations and bulwarks of Thebes by moving the stones with the enchanting music from his kithara (lyre); Zethos married the Nymph Thebe, and the newly completed city was named after her; in the play, Antiope by Euripides the story was expanded and the twin boys, now grown to manhood, avenged the harsh treatment their mother had received at the hands of her uncle and aunt, Lykus (Lycus) and Dirke (Dirce); as punishment for their ill-treatment of Antiope, Lykus was deposed as the king of Thebes and Dirke was killed cruelly on the horns of a bull.
2) Aktaeon (Actaeon) was the grandson of Kadmos but his noble birth could not protect him from an evil fate; Aktaeon offended Artemis (goddess of the Hunt) by either seeing her naked while she was bathing or he was too boastful of his hunting skills; regardless, the goddess turned Aktaeon into a stag so that he would be chased down and killed by his own hunting dogs.
3) When Oedipus was on his way to Thebes, he encountered the deadly Sphinx; true to her ways, the Sphinx asked Oedipus a riddle which she was sure he could not answer but Oedipus was clever and gave the correct answer; the riddle was: What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon and three legs in the evening? the answer is Man ... he crawls on all-fours as an infant, walks on two legs in his prime and walks with a cane in old age.
4) One of the most notable incidents involving Thebes was the ascension of Oedipus to the throne of the city; Oedipus was the unwanted son of King Laius and Queen Iokaste (Jocasta); the infant was abandoned in the wilderness but was saved by a sympathetic servant of the king and eventually taken to Corinth; the king and queen of Corinth, Polybos (Polybus) and Polyboea (Merope), raised Oedipus as their son but when he became an adult he was told by the Oracle at Delphi that he would be the murderer of his father; Oedipus loved Polybos, who he assumed to be his natural father, and fled Corinth so that the prophecy could not be fulfilled; while traveling to Thebes, Oedipus met King Laius on the road and unwittingly killed his father when the two men had an argument; Oedipus then encountered the Sphinx and correctly answered her riddle which caused the Sphinx's death; the people of Thebes were now without a king and finally rid of the Sphinx so when Oedipus arrived, the people wanted him to marry the king's widow and become their new king; Oedipus did not realize that he was marrying his own mother; after Oedipus and Iokaste had four children, the truth was finally known and Oedipus blinded himself and fled Thebes in disgrace; the lives and deaths of his sons were the next tragic episode to befall Thebes.
5) Seven Against Thebes is the continuation of the tragic story of Oedipus; the eldest of the two sons of Oedipus, Eteokles (Eteocles), took the throne of Thebes after his father's self-imposed exile and the younger son, Polyneikes (Polyneices) was forced into exile in Argos where he formed a coalition of seven armies to reclaim the city; the seven armies Polyneikes formed were led by Amphiaraus; Kapaneus (Capaneus); Eteoklus (Eteoclus); Hippomedon; Parthenopaeus; and Tydeus; the city of Thebes was called the City of Seven Gates and thus each army was to attack one of the gates; before the attack, Polyneikes went to his exiled father and begged for his blessing but Oedipus cursed Polyneikes and predicted that Polyneikes and his brother, Eteokles, would both die without honor in the battle for the city; the attack failed and the two brothers died on each other's spear.
6) The Epigoni were the children of the Seven Against Thebes who, under the leadership of King Adrastus (Adrestos) of Sikyon (Sicyon), captured Thebes after the failure of their fathers; the name Epigoni literally means After-Born referring to the sons of the chiefs of the first siege of Thebes; the Epigoni were: Diomedes, Aigialeus, Alkmaeon (Alcmaeon), Thersandros, Promachos (Promachus), Sthenelos and Polydoros (Polydorus).
7) Thebes was the birthplace of Herakles (Heracles); his mother, Alkmene (Alcmene) lived in Thebes when he was conceived and born; when Odysseus was at the entrance to the Underworld to seek the advice of the Theban seer Teiresias, he encountered the 'shade' of Alkmene (Alcmene).
8) During a battle at the end of the Trojan War, Diomedes was fighting a Trojan ally named Glaukos (Glaucus) and each man announced their linage and the accomplishments of their ancestors; Diomedes told the story of how his father Tydeus had once gone to Thebes as a messenger for the Achaeans (Achaians); he challenged the Theban men to sports competitions and bested them all; the goddess Athene secretly accompanied Tydeus and saved his life when the disgruntled Thebans ambushed him as he was leaving the city.
9) Thebes was the home of Andromache before she married Prince Hector of Troy; Andromache was the daughter of the King Eetion of Thebes but when she married Hector, she was an orphan because Achilles had killed Eetion and Andromache's seven brothers; Achilles honored Eetion after murdering him by burning his body without stripping his armor and then piled a burial mound over his remains; the Nymphs of the mountains planted elm trees over the mound as a tribute to Eetion; Andromache's mother was captured by Achilles and returned for ransom but the goddess Artemis killed her with a shower of arrows.
10) One of the most horrific events to ever happen at Thebes was when Alexander the Great reduced the city to rubble (circa 335 BCE); after assuming the title of King of the Macedonians, Alexander tried to maintain his dominance over the other Greek cities with negotiations and threats; the leaders of Thebes unwillingly submitted to Alexander's demands but as soon as Alexander became preoccupied with his military conquests directed at the rebellious nations in northern Greece, the Thebans began to talk openly about regaining their liberty and autonomy; Alexander had left at contingent of soldiers at Thebes in the Kadmeia (Cadmeia), i.e. the citadel of Thebes, to assure its continued submission but when the Thebans allowed exiled leaders to return to the city, the rebellious atmosphere became openly hostile towards Alexander; the Thebans barricaded the Macedonian troops in the Kadmeia and rumors began to circulate that Alexander had been killed; when Alexander heard the news from Thebes, he immediately marched his army to the city and camped within sight of the city walls; Alexander sent envoys to reason with the leaders of Thebes but they were determined to fight for their independence regardless of any threats or promises Alexander made; Alexander held a meeting of his officers and asked their advice; since the Thebans had surrendered to the Persians without a fight when Greece was invaded in 480 BCE, Alexander's commanders wanted revenge; the battle lines were drawn and the siege of the city began; after hours of fierce fighting, Alexander called up his reserves; the Thebans had no reserves and began to taunt the Macedonians and their allies for their lack of courage and stamina; the taunting enraged Alexander's army and when the walls were finally breached, no mercy was shown to the defenders; the Macedonians who had been barricaded in the Kadmeia fought their way free and the Theban army was crushed between the two pincers of Alexander's soldiers; nearly all the Theban men were killed and the women and children who hadn't been killed in the attack were sold into slavery; the historian Arrian reports that Alexander allowed the descendants of the poet Pindar to keep their lives and possessions because he held the poet in such high regard; the city was reduced to rubble and when word of the slaughter reached the other Greek cities, panic and dread consumed the populations except for the Spartans, who remained opposed to Alexander and even sided with the Persians to defeat him.
Approximate East Longitude 23º 19' and North Latitude 38º 21'
Iliad (Lattimore), book 4, lines 378 and 406; book 5, line 804; book 6, line 224; book 10, line 286; book 14, lines 114 and 323; book 19, line 98; book 23, line 679
Iliad (Loeb), book 4, lines 378 and 406; book 5, line 804; book 6, line 223; book 10, line 286; book 14, lines 114 and 323; book 19, line 99; book 23, line 679
Iliad (Fagles), book 4, lines 441 and 472; book 5, line 926; book 6, line 267; book 10, line 335; book 14, lines 140 and 387; book 19, line 114; book 23, line 756
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 4, lines 458 and 490; book 5, line 916; book 6, line 265; book 10, line 318; book 14, lines 131 and 363; book 19, line 111; book 23, line 776
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 10, line 492; book 11, lines 264, 265 and 275; book 15, line 247
Odyssey (Loeb), book 10, line 492; book 11, lines 263, 265 and 275; book 15, line 247
Odyssey (Fagles), book 10, line 541; book 11, lines 299 and 312; book 15, line 276
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 10, line 547; book 11, lines 300 and 316; book 15, line 307
THEE bs
A plain in Asia Minor sometimes called Hypoplakian (Hypoplacian) Thebes; located at the foot of Mount Placius in Mysia in Asia Minor.
The Kypria, fragment 18
Herodotus, Histories, book 7.42
THEE bs
An ancient Egyptian city located approximately 450 miles (724 kilometers) south of present day Cairo in Upper Egypt, i.e. southern Egypt, on the eastern side of the Nile river across from the Valley of the Kings; known to the ancient Greeks as Diospolis, i.e. City of Zeus because the city was built in honor of the Egyptian god, Ammon; Thebes is now known as Al-Uqsur.
The Egyptians told the historian Herodotus that two priestesses had been kidnapped from the oracular shrine of Ammon at Thebes by Phoenicians and that one had been sold to the Libyans and the other had been sold to the Greeks; these two women are reputed to have founded the first centers of prophecy in Libya and Greece; the shrine in Greece was founded at the city of Dodona in Epirus in western Greece; the people of Dodona said that the priestess came to them as a black dove and, in a human voice, commanded the inhabitants to establish an oracular shrine to Zeus.
After leaving Troy, Helen and Menelaos (Menelaus) went to Thebes and were the guests of Polybos (Polybus) and Alkandre (Alcandre); as gifts, Polybos gave Menelaos two silver baths, two tripods and ten talents of gold; Alkandre gave Helen a golden distaff with finely spun violet yarn and a silver wheeled basket trimmed with gold.
Approximate East Longitude 25º 68' and North Latitude 32º 65'
Herodotus, Histories, book 2.54-58
Odyssey (Lattimore), book 4, line 127
Odyssey (Loeb), book 4, line 126
Odyssey (Fagles), book 4, line 141
A Titan, i.e. the daughter of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens); with Hyperion, she is the mother of Selene (Moon), Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn).
Theogony, lines 135 and 371
One of the Sirens; Thelxiope's name means Charming-With-Her-Voice but if her name is actually Thelxinoe, it means Charming-The-Mind.
The Sirens are part woman and part bird; they inhabit the island of Anthemoessa; they are children of the Muse Terpsichore and the river, Acheloios (Achelous); her sisters are Molpe and Aglaophonus; their names also reflect their vocally seductive prowess: Molpe means Song and Aglaophonus means Lovely-Sounding.
The Sirens lure mariners with their seductive singing to the rocky shore of Anthemoessa and the memorized sailors die in their wrecked ships; the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe) warned Odysseus about the irresistible lure of the Sirens so when he sailed near their island, he had his sailors put wax in their ears so that they could not hear the enchanted singing but he had himself lashed to the mast so he could hear the Siren's song without flinging himself into the sea and swimming to his doom.
The Argonauts passed the island of the Sirens several generations before Odysseus; the master musician Orpheus played his lyre for the sailors and all but one was able to resist the Siren's song; the Argonaut Boutes jumped into the water and swam towards Anthemoessa but before he could reach the deadly shore he was plucked from the water by Aphrodite (goddess of Love) and deposited safely in the Libyan desert.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 12, lines 39+
Odyssey (Fagles), book 12, lines 44+
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 12, lines 46+
Argonautika, book 4, lines 885-921
Catalogues of Women, fragment 47
THEH mis
One of the Titans, i.e. one of the children of Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (the Heavens); the goddess of law and order.
Theogony, lines 135 and 901
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb) book 15, line 86; book 20, line 5
Iliad (Fagles and Fitzgerald) book 15, line 107; book 20, line 5
theh mees TOW
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
Other than a passing reference to her name, the only Nereid to receive any individual attention in the ancient literature was Thetis; as the mother of Achilles and one of the few goddesses to refuse the amorous intentions of Zeus, Thetis was unique; when the Immortals needed the Nereids, they called upon Thetis to rally her sisters for whatever task was needed.
The Nereids and the Argonauts - After Jason and the Argonauts had taken the Golden Fleece from Kolchis (Colchis), Medeia (Medea), the daughter of King Aietes (Aeetes), helped Jason murder her half-brother Apsyrtos (Apsyrtus) in a rather cowardly way; Zeus swore revenge for such a dastardly act but his sister/wife Hera wanted to protect the Argonauts until Jason and Medeia could be absolved of their crime by the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe); Hera called upon Thetis to gather the Nereids so they could quiet the waters of the sea so the Argonauts could safely navigate to Kirke's island; Thetis plunged into the sea and called to her sisters; her call was answered and the Nereids helped save the Argonauts.
The Nereids at the funeral of Patroklos (Patroclus) - In the last year of the Trojan War, Achilles's companion Patroklos was killed; Achilles took Patroklos's death very hard and called out to his mother Thetis for consolation; Thetis and the Nereids rose from the sea and graced the dead body of Patroklos with their divine presence.
The Nereids at the funeral of Achilles - The death of Achilles was one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War; as the son of Thetis, his death had particular significance to the Nereids; at the funeral of Achilles, Thetis, the Nereids and the Muses all came to pay their respects.
Theogony, line 261
An Athenian statesman and military commander (527?-460? BCE).
The visionary leadership of Themistokles prior to the second Persian invasion (480 BCE) induced the Athenians to build a navy capable of withstanding the Persian fleet; his victory over the Persians near the island of Salamis was decisive and, although Athens had been burned, saved Greece from Persian occupation.
When the Persians were mounting their invasion of Greece, the Athenians asked the Oracle at Delphi for guidance; the priestess told the Athenians to retreat from Athens and make their stand on the divine island of Salamis.
The majority of the Greek commanders wanted to leave Salamis and fight the Persians nearer to the Isthmus of Corinth so they could retreat to the Peloponnesian Peninsula if the Persians won the sea battle; the Pan-Hellenic forces were commanded by the Spartan, Eurybiades; the Athenians were organized and commanded by Themistokles.
Themistokles warned Eurybiades that if the Greeks withdrew from Salamis the war would be lost for three reasons: 1) the Persians would have the advantage in open water and the seas around Salamis were confining and therefore not advantageous for the superior numbers of the Persian fleet, 2) if the Greeks moved away from Salamis, the various Greek contingents would not fight as a single force and each individual army and navy would flee to their respective homes and be conquered one by one, and 3) Themistokles warned Eurybiades that if the fleet withdrew from Salamis, the entire Athenian contingent (more than half the naval force) would remove to their colony of Siris in Italy and leave the Greeks of the Peloponnesian Peninsula to defend themselves.
Eurybiades saw the tactical logic of Themistokles's arguments but the other Greeks were not convinced and still wanted to retreat to the open waters near the Isthmus of Corinth to fight; Themistokles put a clever plan into motion that would end all debate and force the Greeks to stand and fight; he sent his servant secretly to the camp of the Persian King Xerxes and told the king that the Greeks were planning to flee Salamis and if the Persians acted quickly, they could surprise the Greeks and defeat them; Xerxes accepted the bait and deployed his navy so as to surround Salamis and block all escape routes; as dawn approached, the Greeks took to their ships and the battle was joined.
The Persians made several small conquests but the overall movements of the fleet were disorganized and lacked the discipline of the seasoned Greek sailors who soundly defeated the Persians.
Themistokles was later accused of financial mismanagement and was forced to leave Athens.
Herodotus, Histories, book 7.143-144 and 7.173; book 8.4, 8.19, 8.22, 8.75-83, 8.92, 8.108-112 and 8.123-125
The son of the master builder, Rhoikos (Rhoicos).
When the Temple of Hera (the Heraion) on the island of Samos was destroyed by the Persians during the reign of Cyrus the Great (559-529 BCE), Rhoikos rebuilt the temple but his work was soon destroyed and Theodoros enlarged and improved his father's work; when the historian Herodotus was on Samos, he remarked that the Temple of Hera was the largest building in the Greek world.
Herodotus, Histories, book 3.60
One of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy; an oligarchy is a system of government allowing a few select people or families to rule a city or region based on the assumption that their bloodline or intellect gave them a superior predisposition and right to rule.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
Hellenica, book 2.3
THEE og nees
One of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy; an oligarchy is a system of government allowing a few select people or families to rule a city or region based on the assumption that their bloodline or intellect gave them a superior predisposition and right to rule.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
Hellenica, book 2.3
THEE og nees
A lyric poet from Megara circa 540 BCE.
The term Lyric Poetry is quite literal and designates poetry written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; the lyric poets flourished from roughly 700 BCE until 400 BCE.
Theognis has quite a bit of surviving poetry for us study; one group of poems offers advice to a young man named Kyrnos (Cyrnus); Theognis seems to be trying to point out the pitfalls of public life and offers some practical as well as jaded pointers to young Kyrnos; he also takes the bold step in saying that the honors bestowed on athletes are wasted enthusiasm because a good citizen is worth more to a city than the winners of foolish games; although he praises his homeland, Theognis at times seems bitter towards the leaders of Megara and cautions Kyrnos not to surrender his principles for money or position; other surviving fragments attributed to Theognis are simple love poems; they do not seem to me like true declarations of love and passion but more like an older man wishing that he still had his youthful vigor and good looks.
There are several excellent collections of lyric poetry that I can personally recommend; if you want to read a sampling of this poetic style, I suggest 7 Greeks by Guy Davenport or Greek Lyric, an Anthology in Translation by Andrew M. Miller; however, the most complete collection is undoubtedly the three volume collection from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek Lyric, Greek Lyric II and Greek Lyric III; you can sometimes find these books at your local library or you can purchase any of these books from the Book Shop on this site; look in the Poetry section.
A 1,022 line poem attributed to the seventh century BCE poet, Hesiod.
As the title implies, Theogony is about the Origins of the Gods; Hesiod humbly states that he composed the poem at the prompting of the Muses and it is clear from his detailed accounting of the Greek Immortals that the poem was indeed divinely inspired; without this masterwork, our understanding of the complexities and interrelationships of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses would be sadly incomplete.
There are several excellent translations of Theogony and they are not difficult to find at any quality bookstore or public library; Theogony can be found as part of the Richmond Lattimore book, Hesiod, which includes Works of Days, Theogony and The Shield of Herakles, ISBN 0472081616 (paper bound) or 0472439030 (clothbound); for the complete translations of the Epic Cycle I also recommend the Loeb Classical Library volume 57, ISBN 0674990633; you can find these books at most libraries or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site.
A feast dedicated to the wine god, Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus).
(fl. 270 BCE) A Greek poet from the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily; he has several extant poems commonly called Idylls.
A festival at Delphi at which the images of Apollon and other Immortals were put on public display.
The seventh Eurypontidai king of the city of Sparta who ruled circa 720-675 BCE.
Sparta traditionally had two kings who ruled jointly; one king was required to be a descendant of King Eurypon and the other was required to be a descendant of King Agis I (respectively known as the Eurypontidai and the Agiadai).
Very little is known about Theopompos and the dates given for his rule are extrapolations and should be used only as approximations.
The general term for the sacred ships used by the Athenians to carry ambassadors to the oracles at Delphi and Delos; also used to transport athletes to the four greatest sporting competitions, i.e. the Olympian, Nemean, Pythian and Isthmian Games.
The general term for any of the ancient Greek Gods.
A name for Zeus, i.e. the Bull-God.
A Greek island in the southern Aegean Sea in the Kyklades (Cyclades) group with an area of 30 square miles (78 square kilometers).
The island was magically created from a clod of earth which was presented to the Argonaut Euphemos (Euphemus) by the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton.
Triton guided the Argonauts out of the desert wastes of Libya and gave Euphemos a clod of earth as a gift; Euphemos had a divinely inspired dream about the clod of earth and threw it into the sea; an island arose and a descendant of Euphemos, Theras, migrated to the island and named it after himself; when the island first arose from the sea it was called Kalliste (Calliste), i.e. the Most Beautiful; the island was known as Thera during the Late Minoan period (1700-1100 BCE) but was devastated by the second most violent volcanic eruption in recorded history circa 1600 BCE; the island is now called Santorini.
Approximate East Longitude 25º 42' and North Latitude 36º 41'
Histories, book 4.147 and 4.148
Argonautika, book 4, lines 1553-1563 and 1733-1764
The son of Hagnon and, most notably, one of the Thirty Tyrants elected to rule the city of Athens after the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE).
Having lost the war to the Spartans, the citizens of Athens elected thirty men to lead the new post-war government; these men became known as the Thirty Tyrants; the short lived government they comprised was an oligarchy; an oligarchy is a system of government allowing a few select people or families to rule a city or region based on the assumption that their bloodline or intellect gave them a superior predisposition and right to rule.
The tyrants immediately began to prosecute Athenians who had been Spartan informers and collaborators during the long, hard war; the punishment of the guilty seemed appropriate to the common citizens and aristocrats alike but it soon became clear that the executions and banishments were going beyond the bounds of necessity or prudence; open hostilities soon developed between members of the Thirty and their authority and rule came to an end after one year.
Theramenes and Kritias became the two most outspoken tyrants and they clashed openly over matters of public policy; Kritias clearly had the support of the other tyrants and Theramenes stood alone in his call for restraint in the punishment of citizens and aristocrats who were accused of collaborating with the Spartans during the Peloponnesian War.
The conflict between Theramenes and the other tyrants was a deciding issue in the collapse of the oligarchy; in his criticism of Theramenes, Kritias called him a political buskin, i.e. a man willing to accommodate any personally advantageous political ideas.
Hellenica, book 2.3
The son of Autesion and a descendant of the Argonaut, Euphemos (Euphemus).
When the Argonauts were stranded in the Libyan desert, they encountered the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton; as a parting gift, Triton gave Euphemos a clod of dirt which seemed worthless except for the fact that it was a gift from a god; when the Argonauts were sailing north from the island of Crete, Euphemos had a dream in which a daughter of Triton came to him and told him that the clod of dirt would became an island home for his descendants; Euphemos threw the clod of dirt into the sea and it became a beautiful island and was thus called Kalliste (Calliste), i.e. the Most Beautiful.
Theras was a direct descendant of Euphemos and appointed as regent of Sparta until his nephews were of sufficient age to claim the throne; after having tasted the sweetness of power he was no longer satisfied to be a common citizen so he took part of his family and a few other followers and settled on the island of Kalliste; the island was thus renamed Thera.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 1755-1764
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.147-148
The Summer solstice, i.e. June twenty-first.
A seaport in south-central Macedon on the Gulf of Salonika which is an inlet to the Aegean Sea.
ther mo PEE lay
A narrow pass on the east coast of ancient Thessaly between Mount Oeta and the Gulf of Lamia; the name literally means Hot-Gates; in ancient times Thermopylae was a narrow pass but in the past two thousand years, the sea has receded and now the "gates" are a level plain.
The pass at Thermopylae was an excellent place for a small contingent of soldiers to hold off a much larger force; using the natural defenses of the pass, three important military encounters took place at Thermopylae.
The most famous battle fought at Thermopylae was when the Spartans, led by King Leonidas, delayed the advance of the vastly superior numbers of the Persian army commanded by King Xerxes; the year was 480 BCE and King Xerxes had sworn revenge for the humiliating defeat his father suffered when he had invaded Greece ten years previous; the Spartans assembled an army of 300 Spartans and several hundred Phokians (Phocians) and Lokrians (Locrians); the Spartans knew that their situation was hopeless so their only objective was to delay the Persians long enough for the remainder of the Greeks to organize and field a suitable army and navy.
With no chance of winning a frontal assault, the Persians were at a loss as to how to defeat Leonidas until a Greek traitor named Ephialtes of Malis showed the Persians a mountain trail that would lead them behind the Greek defenses; Leonidas and most all of the defenders were killed in the resulting sneak attack; the Persians were eventually defeated but the damage they did to Athens was devastating.
Circa 353/352 BCE, a combined army of Athenian, Spartan and Achaean soldiers were able to thwart a Macedonian incursion into southern Greece by blocking the pass at Thermopylae; Philip of Macedon had subdued Thessaly with his army and was marching into southern Greece to confront the few cities which had not sworn allegiance to him; when he came to Thermopylae, he found the pass strongly defended and decided to retreat instead of fight; it might be assumed that Philip did not attempt to fight at Thermopylae for two reasons: 1) he knew he would suffer unnecessary casualties if he tried to force his way through the narrow pass and 2) he knew that the constant bickering between the Greek cities, especially between Athens and Sparta, would quickly nullify any temporary alliances and eventually allow him to conquer the individual cities of southern Greece with bluster instead of blood.
In 279 CE, Thermopylae was the site of an important battle; on this occasion, the invasion of Greece came from the Celts; by the time Pausanias wrote about this battle circa 160 CE, the Celts were called Gauls but when the battle took place (279 BCE) they were known as Celts.
An army marched from Athens commanded by Kallippus (Callippus) to face the Celts at Thermopylae; the army which Kallippus led was comprised mainly of Athenians but men from other cities were also present; Kallippus took up a position at the most narrow part of the pass at Thermopylae and blocked the advance of the Celts; apparently Kallippus did not learn from the Spartan defeat at Thermopylae because he allowed the Celts to use the same mountain pass the Persians had used to surround the Spartans; the Celts marched through the mountain pass and brought their troops behind the Greeks.
Fortunately for the besieged Greeks, they were supported by ships waiting in the Lamian Gulf; unable to fend off the Celts on two fronts, the army retreated to their ships and, although the ships were hindered by shallow, muddy water, managed to escape; the Celts marched through the pass at Thermopylae and turned their attention to the wealthy precincts of the Temple of Apollon at Delphi; after a resounding and supernatural defeat at Delphi, the Celts went to Asia Minor and were eventually driven into the sea.
The son of Polyneikes (Polyneices) and Argeia; the grandson of King Oedipus of Thebes.
Polyneikes and his brother Eteokles (Eteocles) were in a deadly dispute as to who should be the king of Thebes after the exile of their father, Oedipus; Eteokles tricked Polyneikes into thinking that the two of them could take turns sitting on the throne but once on the throne, Eteokles refused to honor his agreement and banished Polyneikes from Thebes; while in Argos, Polyneikes formed an army which became known as the Seven Against Thebes to attack the seven gates of Thebes and reclaim the throne; Polyneikes and Eteokles were killed in the fighting and their uncle Kreon (Creon) assumed the throne.
When Thersandros became a man, a new army was formed to attack Thebes; the commanders of the new army were the sons of the commanders who were with Polyneikes and they became known as the Epigoni, i.e. After-Born; the Epigoni successfully breached the walls and captured the city.
When the Greeks sailed from Aulis to capture Troy, the fleet became lost and they attacked the city of Teuthrania instead; Thersandros was killed in the assault by a man named Telephus.
The Kypria, fragment 1
The life and exploits of Theseus are eclipsed only by those of Herakles (Heracles); whereas Herakles was a hero for all of Greece, Theseus was more of an Athenian hero.
Theseus has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on his photo to view that page.
A sculpture accredited to Euphranor as part of the Colonnade of Zeus at the city of Athens.
A woman's festival of ancient Athens held the autumn in honor of Demeter (goddess of the Harvest); women would abandon their normal daily tasks and converge on sanctuaries of the goddess Demeter where they would sleep and commune in temporary campsites.
A comic play by Aristophanes produced in 411 BCE at Athens; usually called The Poet and the Woman but the Greek name was Thesmophoriazusae, which might be rendered as Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria, i.e. the Women's Festival of the goddess, Demeter.
This is one of Aristophanes's more ribald plays and might not be suitable for younger readers.
It seems that the women of the city of Athens have decided to kill the poet Euripides because of the demeaning way in which he portrays women in his plays; the women put Euripides in the same category as the accursed Persians and declare him an enemy of the state; Euripides persuades his father-in-law, Mnesilochos (Mnesilochus), to dress like a woman and attend the Women's Assembly in order to speak out on his (Euripides's) behalf; at first, Mnesilochos speaks well for Euripides and seems to be generating some sympathy for the doomed poet but an informant arrives and tells the women that a male spy has invaded their assembly; it doesn't take long for the women to deduce that the only woman to speak out for Euripides is the intruder.
At this point the play takes a unique turn; I have to admit that I was more than a little surprised when Mnesilochos snatched up a baby from a woman in the assembly and threatened to kill it unless he was allowed to leave the hall unharmed; I won't tell you how the situation is resolved but I will say that it's scenes like this which demonstrate Aristophanes's true comic genius.
After Mnesilochos is taken prisoner and restrained, Euripides enters the scene to save his father-in-law from the wrath of the women; the comic banter between Mnesilochos and Euripides is dialogue taken from Euripides's tragedies and turned into farcical parodies.
Although the play mocks Euripides, there is an element of respect for his work laced throughout the puns and jokes; the net result of reading this play is that I wanted to read more plays by Euripides and Aristophanes.
Aristophanes's plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet's words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don't blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy; you may find this play at your local library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
An ancient city at the foot of Mount Helikon (Helicon) where the Muse performed their contests.
When the Persian army of King Xerxes invaded Greece in 480 BCE, Thespiae and Plataea were the only two cities in Boeotia to refuse to give earth and water, i.e. surrender, to the Persians.
Herodotus, Histories, book 7.132
The legendary Greek innovative poet of the mid-fifth century BCE who is credited with the invention of tragedy; his contributions to the presentation of tragedy are perhaps exaggerated or fanciful but the subtle transformations of Greek theatrics were changed in a positive and lasting way due to his influence.
The founder of the city of Thespiae in Boeotia; Thespius and Megamede were the parents of fifty daughters, all of whom bore sons to Herakles (Heracles).
An ancient coastal district in southwestern Epirus.
A district on the Greek mainland located on the northeastern coast and bounded on the east by the Aegean Sea and on the west by the mountain range that includes Mount Olympos (Olympus); the largest independent territory in ancient Greece.
The king of Aetolia and the father of Leda (the mother of Helen) and the Argonaut, Iphiklos (Iphiclus).
The father of the seer, Kalchas (Calchas).
Kalchas was given the gift of prophecy by Apollon and was very influential in the Trojan War as an advisor to the Achaean (Achaian) commander, Agamemnon; Thestor lived one generation before the Trojan War which means that he was born circa 1300-1290 BCE.
The eight letter of the Greek alphabet; uppercase: Θ; lowercase: θ.
The ancient Greeks did not have lowercase letters in their alphabet; the lowercase letters were not invented until the ninth century CE, i.e. about eleven hundred years ago.
Letters of the Greek alphabet were also used as numerals; the letter theta represented the number 9 and was written as a simple θ or as theta followed by an acute accent, θ'.
Literally, hired farm workers.
When the noted statesman Solon reorganized the Athenian society (circa 594 BCE) he divided the citizens into four specific groups; the four classes under Solon's constitution were:
1) Pentakosiomedimnoi (the owners of large, productive tracts of land);
2) Ippeis (named for their social class as horsemen or charioteers);
3) Zeygitai (named for their social class as ox drivers); and
4) Thetes (the lowest of the four classes of Athenian citizens, literally they were hired farm workers and served as lightly-armed soldiers and common seaman).
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris; the wife of Peleus and the mother of Achilles.
Thetis has a page in the Immortals section of this site ... click on her photo to view that page.
After the end of the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE), the city of Athens renounced its democratic government and elected Thirty Tyrants to rule the city; the traditional elected leader, the Archon, was replaced by the Thirty Tyrants in the form of an oligarchy; an oligarchy is a system of government allowing a few select people or families to rule a city or region based on the assumption that their bloodline or intellect gave them a superior predisposition and right to rule.
The Tyrants appointed three thousand citizens to serve as advisors but the true democratic nature of the Athenian government was lost; to appease the Spartan victors of the war and allow Athens to govern its own affairs without too much direct interference from Sparta, the city's protective walls were torn down and the populace, with the exception of the Thirty Tyrants and their immediate supporters, were disarmed.
Citizens and aristocrats who were accused of collaborating with the Spartans during the long, hard war were rigorously sought out and severely punished, some were banished from the city but most were simply executed; the tyrants were dominated by one man, Kritias (Critias), who had the support of all but one of the other tyrants, Theramenes.
Theramenes accused the Thirty of punishing innocent men and using their authority for personal gain instead of for the good of the city; the open hostilities between these two men, Kritias and Theramenes, eventually caused the failure of the oligarchy.
The Thirty Tyrants were:
Aeschines;
Anaetius;
Aresias;
Aristoteles;
Diokles (Diocles);
Drakontides (Dracontides);
Erasistratus;
Eratosthenes;
Eukleides (Eucleides);
Eumathes;
Hieron;
Hippolochos;
Hippolochos;
Chaereloes;
Charicles;
Chremon;
Kleomedes (Cleomedes);
Kritias (Critias);
Melobios;
Mnesilochos (Mnesilochus);
Mnesitheides;
Onomakles (Onomacles);
Peison;
Phaedrias;
Pheidon;
Polychares;
Sophocles;
Theogenes;
Theognis; and
Theramenes.
Hellenica, book 2.3
THOH as
The son of Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine) and and king of the island of Lemnos.
While Thoas was king, the men of Lemnos were conducting raids on Thrace and bringing back captive women; it wasn't long before the captive women became a problem; the men "conceived a fierce passion" for the captive women and began neglecting their wives; the women of Lemnos revolted and began to kill their husbands and the captive women; to assure that there would be no retribution for their harsh justice, the women began to kill all the other men on the island.
Thoas had a daughter named Hypsipyle who refused to join the other women in their killing frenzy; Hypsipyle managed to put Thoas in a waterproof chest and set him adrift on the Aegean Sea; Thoas drifted south for 270 miles (434.5 kilometers) to the Dodecanese Island of Oinoie (Oenoe); the island was named after the water Nymph Oinoie who resided on the island.
Some fishermen found the floating chest and dragged it ashore; Thoas was still alive and subsequently became Oinoie's consort; Thoas and Oinoie had a son named Sikinos (Sicinus); after Sikinos was born, the name of the island was changed from Oinoie to Sikinos.
Thoas's ultimate fate is unknown but we can put an approximate timeframe on his life; soon after Thoas escaped from Lemnos, the Argonauts arrived on the island; the voyage of the Argo and the Quest for the Golden Fleece can be dated to circa 1285 BCE; also, Thoas's grandson Euneos fought in the Trojan War which was circa 1250 BCE.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 609-639
Catalogues of Women and Eoiae, fragment 85
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 14, line 230; book 23, line 745
Iliad (Fagles), book 14, line 276; book 23, line 829
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 14, line 258; book 23, line 856
Thoas was one of the huge monsters collectively known as the Giants; the Giants were the children of Gaia (Earth) engendered by the blood of Ouranos (the Heavens).
The Giants waged an unsuccessful war on the Olympians and were severely punished after their defeat; the poet Hesiod states that the Giants were banished to the Underworld but Apollodorus of Athens clearly describes the brutal death of the Giants.
The Giants were mostly human in form but their bodies were massive and they were invincible in their might; they had long drooping locks on their heads and chins; their feet had scales like a dragon or serpent; whether they actually had the feet of dragons or whether they were simply scaled was a point of contention among several of the ancient authors; the traveler and historian, Pausanias, disputed the fact that the Giants literally had dragon feet but ancient artwork generally represented the Giants with serpent-like feet.
The origin of the Giants was either Phlegrae or Pallene but it has been suggested that the two names represent the same place; the Immortals were given an oracle which stated that the Giants could not be killed by a god or goddess so they decided to enlist the aid of Herakles (Heracles) to do the actual killing; when Gaia learned of the oracle, she began the preparation of a drug that would protect her awful children but Zeus culled a cunning brew of his own that would make the Giants vulnerable to the wrath of the Immortals; in order to have the time necessary for the creation of the drug, Zeus forbade Eos (Dawn), Selene (Moon) and Helios (Sun) to shine until his task was complete.
The goddess Athene (Athena) summoned Herakles and the war against the Giants began:
Thoas and Agrios (Agrius) were beaten with brazen clubs by the Fates; their brothers all met a similar doom:
Alkyoneos (Alcyoneus) - Alkyoneos was one of the two most powerful of the Giants; he was brazen in his contempt for the Olympian Gods and even stole the cattle of Helios from Erythia; he was immortal as long as he remained on his home soil, i.e. he could not be killed by man, god or beast as long as he remained in the land of his birth; he was, however, the first of the Giants to die; Herakles shot Alkyoneos with an arrow and the mighty Giant fell to the ground where he was revitalized by the earth and began to recover from the wound; at the advice of Athene, Herakles dragged Alkyoneos out of Pallene where he was no longer protected by his native soil and he died.
Porphyrion - Alkyoneos and Porphyrion were the two most powerful Giants; while Alkyoneos and Herakles were fighting, Porphyrion joined the battle but was immediately distracted by an intervention from Zeus; an irresistible longing for the goddess Hera overcame Porphyrion and he began to tear at the goddesses' garments; Herakles killed Alkyoneos while Porphyrion was lustfully distracted and Zeus struck the unsuspecting Giant with a thunderbolt and rendered him helpless but not dead; Herakles shot Porphyrion with an arrow and killed him.
The other Giants also met cruel fates at the hands of Herakles and the Immortals; to list them briefly:
Ephialtes was shot with an arrow in the left eye by Apollon and then in the right eye by Herakles.
Eurytos (Eurytus) was killed by Dionysos with a thyrsus, i.e. a wand wreathed in ivy and vine leaves with a pine cone at the top.
Klytios (Clytius) was killed by the goddess Hekate (Hecate) with torches; presumably he was burned to death.
Mimas was killed when Hephaistos (Hephaestus) showered him with missiles of hot metal.
Enkelados (Enceladus) tried to run away but Athene dropped the island of Sicily on him.
Polybotes was chased by Poseidon to the island of Kos (Cos) where the god broke off a piece of the island (called Nisyrum) and hurled it at the desperate Giant.
Hippolytus (Hippolytos) was killed by Hermes who was wearing the Helm of Hades which made him invisible.
Gration was killed by Artemis; the other (unnamed) Giants were struck by thunderbolts from Zeus; Herakles shot and killed each of the Giants with arrows as they lay suffering.
Pausanaus, book vii, chapter 29
Library, book I, chapter VI
Theogony, line 185
THOH as
An Achaean (Achaian) commander in the Trojan War; Thoas commanded the soldiers from Aitolia (Aetolia) which included men from Pleuron, Olenos, Pylene, Kalydon and Chalkis (Chalcis); the Aitolians arrived at Troy with forty ships which would have been approximately 800 men.
Thoas was the son of Andraimon; he was a strong and proud man who did not hold back from the fighting but he also knew when to give ground; after he killed a Thracian named Peiros, he withdrew without taking the dead man's armor because other Thracians were drawing near and Thoas was too smart to risk his life for a war-trophy.
When the Trojan Prince Hector was inflicting terrible losses on the Achaeans, Nestor called for a hero to step forth and stop Hector's onslaught; nine men stood forth who were willing to fight Hector, Thoas was one of the nine; Thoas's gesture was brave but pointless because Hector was protected by Apollon and was not fated to die by anyone's hand but Achilles.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, lines 638 and 643; book 4, lines 527 and 529; book 7, line 168; book 13, lines 92, 216, 222 and 228; book 15, line 281; book 19, line 239
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, lines 732 and 739; book 4, lines 611 and 613; book 7, line 194; book 13, lines 110, 257, 263 and 270; book 15, line 333; book 19, line 283
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, lines 760 and 763; book 4, lines 638 and 640; book 7, line 197; book 13, lines 106, 244, 248 and 259; book 15, line 328; book 19, line 262
THOH as
A Trojan soldier killed by Menelaos (Menelaus); Menelaos stabbed Thoas in the chest which was unprotected by Thoas's shield.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 16, line 311
Iliad (Fagles), book 16, line 367
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 16, line 365
THOH ee
One of the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris collectively known as the Nereids, i.e. the daughters of the Nereus.
Other than a passing reference to her name, the only Nereid to receive any individual attention in the ancient literature was Thetis; as the mother of Achilles and one of the few goddesses to refuse the amorous intentions of Zeus, Thetis was unique; when the Immortals needed the Nereids, they called upon Thetis to rally her sisters for whatever task was needed.
The Nereids and the Argonauts - After Jason and the Argonauts had taken the Golden Fleece from Kolchis (Colchis), Medeia (Medea), the daughter of King Aietes (Aeetes), helped Jason murder her half-brother Apsyrtos (Apsyrtus) in a rather cowardly way; Zeus swore revenge for such a dastardly act but his sister/wife Hera wanted to protect the Argonauts until Jason and Medeia could be absolved of their crime by the Dread-Goddess Kirke (Circe); Hera called upon Thetis to gather the Nereids so they could quiet the waters of the sea so the Argonauts could safely navigate to Kirke's island; Thetis plunged into the sea and called to her sisters; her call was answered and the Nereids helped save the Argonauts.
The Nereids at the funeral of Patroklos (Patroclus) - In the last year of the Trojan War, Achilles's companion Patroklos was killed; Achilles took Patroklos's death very hard and called out to his mother Thetis for consolation; Thetis and the Nereids rose from the sea and graced the dead body of Patroklos with their divine presence.
The Nereids at the funeral of Achilles - The death of Achilles was one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War; as the son of Thetis, his death had particular significance to the Nereids; at the funeral of Achilles, Thetis, the Nereids and the Muses all came to pay their respects.
Theogony, line 245
An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys.
Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
Theogony, line 354
The Nymph who was a consort of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and the mother of the Cyclops, Polyphemos (Polyphemus).
Poseidon and Polyphemos both played significant roles in the exploits of Odysseus when he was trying to return to his home after the Trojan War; when Polyphemos killed and devoured several of Odysseus's crew members, Odysseus blinded the Cyclops; Poseidon swore revenge but Zeus would not let his brother kill Odysseus; Poseidon tormented Odysseus for ten years before he was allowed to return to his home.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 1, line 71
Odyssey (Fagles), book 1, line 85
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 1, line 93
An ancient region in the eastern part of what we call the Balkan Peninsula; bordering the northern-most part of the Aegean Sea and the largest province in ancient Greece.
The historian Herodotus asserts that if the Thracians were to unite, they could have easily become the most powerful nation of the ancient world.
Herodotus, Histories, book 5.3
The inhabitants of Thrace.
The oarsmen on a trireme (warship) occupying the uppermost of the three tiers of rowers; they had the longest oars and thus had the hardest job.
A trireme was a large warship rowed with 170 oars arranged in three tiers on each side of the ship, one above the other.
The trireme had a average crew of 200 men, including the 170 oarsmen; the oarsmen were arranged with 31 on the top tiers (the Thranites) and 27 on the middle and lower tiers (the Thalamites); the length of the vessel was approximately 120 feet (37 meters) with a beam of 18 feet (5.5 meters); the average sustainable speed of the craft has been estimated to have been 7.5 knots (8.6 miles per hour).
An Athenian patriot and general; died circa 389 BCE.
The prince of Miletos (Miletus) who ended the hostile, yearly invasions by the Persian ruler, Alyattes, and his army.
The Milesians were no match for the powerful army of King Alyattes of Persia and suffered year after year of deprivation; in the twelfth year of the war, the army of Alyattes accidentally set fire to the Temple of Athene (Athena) at Assesos and it was utterly destroyed; the barbarians gave little thought to the destruction of the temple until Alyattes was afflicted with a lingering illness; he sent an emissary to the Oracle at Delphi seeking a cure for his illness and was told that until he rebuilt the Temple of Athene at Assesos he would suffer ill health.
The prince of Miletos, Thrasybulus, heard what the oracle had told Alyattes and contrived a way to end the yearly invasion of his country; when Alyattes sent a herald to Miletos seeking a truce so that the temple could be rebuilt, Thrasybulus had the people of Miletos gather all their meager stores of food and wine and stage a mock celebration; the herald of Alyattes saw the display of affluence and dutifully reported the scene to his master; Alyattes was convinced that the years of war against Miletos were in vain and negotiated a truce that included the construction of two temples for Athene.
Herodotus, Histories, book 1.19-22
One of the sons of Nestor and Eurydike (Eurydice).
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 9, line 81; book 10, line 255; book 14, line 10; book 16, line 321; book 17, lines 378 and 705
Iliad (Fagles), book 9, line 95; book 10, line 298; book 14, line 11; book 16, line 379; book 17, lines 437 and 794
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 9, line 96; book 10, line 281; book 14, line 12; book 16, line 376; book 17, lines 426 and 796
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 3, lines 39, 414, 442 and 448
Odyssey (Fagles), book 3, lines 43, 463, 494 and 503
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 3, lines 44, 448, 478 and 486
A name for Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine); also the name of hymns to Bacchus.
An ancient Greek chair; highly ornamented, having a high seat and back with carved legs ending in animal feet; literally meaning Throne; Thronos was the name of the seat of the Oracle of Apollon at Delphi.
The above picture was taken at Knossos (Cnossus), Crete and is the actual thronos of King Minos.
(not the historian by the same name)
Thucydides was the son of Melesias and the son-in-law of the prominent Athenian politician, Kimon (Cimon); his political party, the Oligarchic Party, was in direct opposition to the leading politician of the day, Pericles; Thucydides wanted to impose a tribute, i.e. a tax, on the members of the Delian League that would be used exclusively by Athens; Thucydides was ostracized from Athens in 443 BCE.
A Greek historian (circa 460-400 BCE) noted for his account of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE).
The Peloponnesian War was the long, bloody dispute between Athens and Sparta which lasted for twenty seven years; although Thucydides died before the Spartan victory, his contribution to our understanding of those turbulent times is invaluable; he seemed to have insight into the importance of his work because he says quite boldly that his history of the war was a prize for all time and not just something to be read and forgotten.
Thucydides was an Athenian but was banished from Athens before the Peloponnesian War began; we can assume that his travels to other parts of Greece gave him insights which made his history more evenhanded; his account of the Peloponnesian War includes conversations and speeches which he did not personally witness but he seems to have drawn on reliable sources for those events.
Thucydides states that someone who was only superficially familiar with the Athenians and Spartans would assume that the Athenians were far superior to the Spartans because Athens was a magnificent city whereas Sparta was just a rural town; however, he did not underestimate the Spartan military or their ability to focus on the more important aspects of winning the war.
Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War is rather difficult to read even though his overall technique is concise and fast paced; you can usually find this book at your local library or you can order it from the Book Shop on this site.
The ancient Greek and Latin name for an island or region variously identified as one of the Shetland Islands, Iceland or Norway; presumed to be the most northerly region of the world.
Thuria was a Greek colony in southern Italy founded circa 443 BCE; the colony was peopled by the exiles from the destroyed Achaean (Achaian) colony of Sybaris; assistance was asked from Sparta and Athens to rebuild the colony; the Athenians, under the leadership of Pericles, invited colonists from a number of Greek cities which were friendly to them and the new colony was well organized and prosperous; when Athens and Sparta became entangled in the protracted Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE), the Thurii, i.e. the people of Thuria, showed ingratitude towards Athens and sided with the Spartans.
One of the sons of Pelops and Hippodamia; his son, Aegisthus (Aigisthos), was the result of a union with his daughter, Pelopia.
Thyestes was the brother of Atreus and when he tried to seduce Atreus's wife, Aerope, he was banished by Atreus and according to the tragic poet, Aeschylus, Atreus killed all but one of Thyestes's children and fed them to him at a feast; the only surviving child, Aegisthus, was instrumental in the murder of Atreus's son, Agamemnon.
THEE ah
The daughter of Deukalion (Deucalion) and Pyrrha; the granddaughter of Prometheus; Thyia was the sister of Hellen who became the father of all the Greek races.
Deukalion and Pyrrha built a boat at the advice of Prometheus and survived the flood which Zeus sent to destroy all humanity.
Thyia was the consort of Zeus and the mother of Macedon and Magnes; Macedonia was named after Macedon.
Catalogues of Women and Eoiae, fragments 3 and 4
A small island of Euxine (Black Sea) located near the south-eastern shore west of the modern river, Sakarya.
Thynias was the island where the blind seer Phineus was held prisoner and tormented by the winged-women known as the Harpies; the Argonauts stopped on Thynias on their way to Kolchis (Colchis) and in exchange for his prophetic insights, promised to help free Phineus from the curse of the Harpies; the winged sons of Boreas (North Wind), Kalais (Calais) and Zetes chased away the Harpies and freed Phineus from the tormenting curse.
Argonautika, book 2, lines 350, 673 and (the holy island of Dawntime Apollon) 686
thee OH nee
A daughter of Kadmos (Cadmus) and Harmonia; as the consort of Zeus, Semele was the mother of Dionysos (a.k.a. Bacchus, god of Wine).
Named by her parents as Thyone, she didn't assume the name of Semele until after her mortal body was fatally burned by Zeus and she was granted immortality.
When Zeus made Thyone pregnant, he incurred the wrath of his sister/wife, Hera; the angry goddess enchanted Thyone and induced her pray to Zeus and ask for eternal life; Zeus granted her prayer but his lightning destroyed Thyone's mortal body and she became the immortal Semele; Hermes rescued the child from the flames which consumed Thyone's mortal body and gave the babe to Makris (Macris), daughter of Aristaios, on the island of Euboia; Makris soothed the child but was soon driven from her home by Hera; Zeus took the infant and sewed it into his thigh so that it might have his protection; Dionysos was re-born on Mount Nysos (Nysa); the name, Dionysos, literally means God of Nysos, i.e. Dio = God and Nysos = Mount Nysos.
Thyone's son was destined to become one of the most revered Immortals on Mount Olympos (Olympus); the rites of Dionysos were incorporated into the rituals of all the Immortals and his impetuous followers were welcomed for their free spirited abandon and feared because of their unbridled lascivious behavior.
Thyone was the sister of Ino, Agaue, Polydoros (Polydorus) and Autonoe.
Theogony, lines 940 and 976
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 14, lines 323 and 325
Iliad (Fagles), book 14, lines 387 and 389
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 14, line 363
Hymn to Dionysos, lines 4 and 21
Hymn to Dionysos, lines 1 and 57
Herodotus, Histories, 2.145
The wand of Bacchus (a.k.a. Dionysos, god of Wine) with ivy entwined around the staff and a pine cone and vine leaves mounted on the top.
A river in southwestern Asia which flows southeastward from the Taurus Mountains for 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) until it joins the Euphrates River in what is now modern Iraq; the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers converge near Al Basrah, Iraq and then flow into the Persian Gulf.
tee MAN drah
The daughter of Leto and Tyndareus; the sister of Helen, Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra), Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux).
Timandra became the wife of King Echemos (Echemus) of Arkadia (Arcadia) but because of the curse which Aphrodite (goddess of Love) placed on the daughters of Leto and Tyndareus, she was unfaithful and eventually deserted Echemos just as her sisters, Helen and Klytemnestra, had done to their husbands.
Catalogues of Women and the Eoiae, fragments 65 and 67
A percussion instrument similar to a tambourine or small drum.
tee moh LEH on
A Greek commander from the city of Corinth who, circa 337 BCE, was sent to the city of Syracuse on the island of Sicily to depose the tyrant, Dionysius II.
Syracuse had been under the control of Dionysius II until he was forced to flee Sicily in 354 BCE because of a revolution led by his uncle, Dion; Dion was a good man and wanted freedom for the Syracusans for the sake of justice and not for personal gain; regardless of his noble ideals and efforts, Dion was assassinated; after Dion's death, Syracuse was ruled by a series of failed tyrannies until Dionysius returned from exile and resumed control of Syracuse and the eastern half of Sicily.
Sicily had been colonized by the Corinthians circa 734 BCE and control of the island had been generally divided between the colonists from Corinth and the Carthaginians from Africa; armed conflicts between the two powers was constant but the division of the island remained relatively constant; the Greeks referred to the Carthaginians as barbarians.
When Dionysius returned to Sicily, the island was in shambles; many of the formerly prosperous cities were deserted and the Carthaginians were massing for a military takeover of the entire island; there was a local tyrant named Hicetas of the city of Leontini who gave sanctuary to refugees from Syracuse when Dionysius returned and pretended to support the Greek inhabitants of Sicily while he was secretly negotiating with the Carthaginians; the Greeks hoped that the Corinthians would send military assistance to dispose of Dionysius, establish a free government in Syracuse and put the Carthaginians back on the defensive; Hicetas thought that sending envoys to Corinth was a good idea because he assumed that the Corinthians would refuse to send assistance and he would be free to join forces with the Carthaginians against Dionysius.
The plea from the Sicilians was treated with urgent consideration in Corinth; many men were recommended to command the mission to Sicily and Timoleon's nomination seemed to be an act of inspiration rather than a logical choice; Timoleon was the son of Timodemus and Demariste; he had an older brother named Timophanes and their relationship had proved to be one of the most turbulent aspects of Timoleon's life; Timophanes was headstrong and felt that he was destined for greatness; he was recklessly brave in battle and, circa 367 BCE, would have been killed if Timoleon had not saved his life; Timophanes's downfall came when the Corinthians voted to maintain four hundred mercenaries instead of a standing army of citizens; when they placed Timophanes in command of the mercenaries, he began executing people who opposed him and declared himself to be the tyrant of Corinth; Timoleon appealed to his brother's moral decency and tried to persuade him to renounce his greed for power; Timophanes mocked Timoleon and it became evident that only death would cure Timophanes of his mad ambitions; whether Timoleon actually killed his brother is not clear but he did take some sort of active role in the assassination.
The news of Timophanes murder was welcomed by freedom loving Corinthians but there were some who thought the murder of a brother, regardless of the reasons, was unforgivable; Timoleon's mother was one of the people who would not forgive him; Timoleon became withdrawn and spent most of his time in the country and very little time in Corinth; twenty years passed without Timoleon engaging in any sort of public or private enterprise; despite all his self doubts, Timoleon was still regarded as a good man who had shown his bravery and tact on the battlefield and had sacrificed his family ties and reputation to kill a tyrant; with all that in mind, Timoleon was nominated to lead a Corinthian expedition to Sicily.
As Timoleon was preparing for his voyage to Sicily, a letter arrived from Hicetas saying that he had made a deal with the Carthaginians and that their fleet would be ready to fight any Corinthian attempt to land on Sicily; this inflamed the Corinthians and transformed their tepid support into eager enthusiasm; to add to the public approval of the expedition, the priestesses of Persephone dreamed that they had seen Persephone and her mother Demeter making ready for a journey and saying that they were going to accompany Timoleon to Sicily; one of Timoleon's ships was thus named The Sacred Ship of Demeter and Persephone; Timoleon went to the Oracle at Delphi and as he entered the shrine, a fillet with images of the goddess Nike (Victory) fell onto Timoleon's head as if he was being crowned by Apollon and was assured of success.
There is an element to Timoleon's voyage to Sicily which goes beyond the normal historical telling of the event; after consulting the Oracle at Delphi, Timoleon returned to Corinth to consult the priestesses of Demeter and Persephone and seek their blessings; when he arrived at the temple, the priestesses told him that they had received favorable dreams during the night and that the goddesses would guide and protect Timoleon and his fleet; as if on cue, a blazing torch appeared in the western sky; the torch remained in the sky and led the ships all the way to Sicily; the soldiers and sailors who were with Timoleon knew that they would be outnumbered when they reached Sicily but the blazing sign from the goddesses assured them that they would be victorious; it is reasonable to assume that the blazing torch in the sky was witnessed by nearly a thousand men.
As the fleet of ten ships sailed from Corinth (344 BCE), they received word from Hicetas that he had laid siege to Syracuse and had Dionysius trapped in the acropolis on the harbor island of Ortygia; Hicetas said that he would allow Timoleon to come to Syracuse but if he tried to bring his fleet, the Carthaginians would stop him; when Timoleon arrived at Rhegium in southern Italy, he met with Carthaginian envoys from Hicetas and saw twenty Carthaginian ships anchored in the bay; the people of Rhegium were opposed to having the barbarian Carthaginians as rulers of Sicily so they helped Timoleon contrive a plan to escape the Carthaginian fleet.
Timoleon told the Carthaginians that he would agree to all their terms but wanted a public discussion with the citizens of Rhegium as witnesses to assure the Carthaginian's good faith; this stipulation was agreed to and the city was called into assembly; the gates were closed and a series of lengthy speeches were delivered; while Timoleon and the Carthaginian commanders were occupied inside the city walls, Timoleon's fleet sailed into the open sea and headed for Sicily; Timoleon waited for an opportune moment and with the help of the people of Rhegium, secretly left the assembly and took a waiting ship so he could join the rest of his fleet.
Timoleon arrived on Sicily at the small port city of Tauromenium which was ruled by a benevolent tyrant named Andromachus; when the Carthaginians learned of this, they sent an envoy to Andromachus and demanded the surrender of Timoleon; threats were made by the Carthaginians but Andromachus stood firm in his support of Timoleon and made counter threats; when Hicetas heard the news that Timoleon was on Sicily, he called for more ships from the Carthaginians to protect Syracuse; at that time Syracuse was in desperate straits because Hicetas controlled the city, the Carthaginians controlled the harbor and Dionysius controlled the acropolis on Ortygia; messages were sent to Timoleon by the Syracusans saying that they did not welcome his advance into the city; other Sicilian cities did the same except for the city of Adranum which sent invitations to both Hicetas and Timoleon.
Timoleon marched to Adranum but when he neared the city he learned that Hicetas had already arrived and was making camp; Timoleon had only twelve hundred men and Hicetas had five thousand; Timoleon insisted that his men march on Adranum with all speed and catch Hicetas off guard; the plan worked; Hicetas's men took flight when they saw the attack coming; hundreds were killed and many more were captured alive; the people of Adranum opened their gates and welcomed Timoleon; Adranum was sacred to the Sicilian god called Adranus; it was said that when Timoleon engaged Hicetas in battle, the temple doors opened of their own accord and the spear of Adranus began to tremble and sweat appeared to run down the face of Adranus's statue; with the victory at Adranum and the tacit blessing of Adranus, the other cities of Sicily sent messages of welcome and support to Timoleon.
Dionysius also sent a message to Timoleon and offered to surrender; Timoleon sent two commanders and four hundred soldiers secretly into the acropolis and took control of the citadel and the vast stores of supplies; Dionysius was conveyed out of the acropolis and taken to Timoleon; in 343 BCE Dionysius was put on a ship with a small fortune and transported to Corinth; Dionysius had been tyrant of Syracuse for a total of twenty two years and was now destined to spend his remaining days in quiet retirement.
With Dionysius banished from Sicily, Timoleon was soon able to take control of Syracuse and the harbor from Hicetas and the Carthaginians; seeing the outlying Greek colonies in disarray, the Carthaginians tried to expand their hold on Sicily; with a smaller army, Timoleon defeated the Carthaginians and reestablished the traditional boundaries which separated the Greeks and Carthaginians, that is, the Carthaginians on the western portion of the island and the Greeks on the eastern portion.
Timoleon used his military strength to banish or kill the tyrants of the other Greek cities on Sicily and became the supreme Greek commander on the island; he established a constitution but that did not restrict or inhibit his authority; over fifty thousand Greek settlers immigrated to Sicily after Timoleon had pacified the island; Timoleon eventually resigned from the government because of failing health and died in Syracuse circa 330 BCE.
Plutarch's Lives, Timoleon
Diodorus Siculus, book 16.66
Timon of Phlius; a Greek philosopher; circa 320-230 BCE; only fragments of his work survive in the form of a poem called Silloi which mocks other philosophic schools.
An Athenian from the fifth century BCE; he was noted for his distrust of all men due to the mistreatment he perceived he had endured at the hands of his so called friends.
Plutarch Lives, Antony
Referred to as the Kassiterides ((Cassiterides) by the historian Herodotus and assumed to be the British Isles.
The Kassiterides were called the Tin Islands because of the tin mines in Cornwall; Kassiterides literally means Tin-Producing; tin was essential for the manufacture of bronze which contains approximately eighty percent copper and twenty percent tin.
Herodotus, Histories, book 3.315
TEE fees
The son of Hagnias and one of the Argonauts; he was well skilled in the handling of ships and was urged by Athene (Athena) to join Jason in the Quest for the Golden Fleece.
Tiphys was an expert helmsman and was the first choice to be the pilot for the Argo; when the Argonauts had to pass between the Clashing Rocks, Tiphys skillfully avoided disaster with his masterful abilities; while in the domain of the Mariandynians (Mariandyni), Tiphys was stricken with an sudden illness and died; just before Tiphys died, the seer Idmon was attacked and killed by a savage boar; Tiphys was buried next to Idmon; the two deaths in rapid succession were a serious blow to the Argonauts and their grief was debilitating; they mourned Tiphys and Idmon for twelve days before they resumed their journey to Kolchis (Colchis) and their Quest for the Golden Fleece.
Argonautika, book 1, lines 105, 381, 401, 522, 561, 956, 1274 and 1296; book 2, lines 175, 557, 574, 584, 610, 622 and 854
An ancient city on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in Argolis; destroyed in 486 BCE by the Argives; the most ancient parts of the ruined city date back to the Bronze Age and the Palace of Tiryns still yields important archeological information.
The seer from Elis who won great respect from the Spartans and was offered citizenship in return for his oracular services with the Spartan army.
When Tisamenus consulted the Oracle at Delphi about having children, the Pythia told him that he would win the five greatest contests; he assumed that she meant that he would become a champion athlete but the Spartans correctly interpreted the oracle to mean that he would correctly predict the outcome of five great battles; we can only ask why a seer of such repute would misinterpret the Oracle at Delphi and then be honored by the Spartans with citizenship for his abilities to understand the omens from the Immortals.
Regardless of the reasoning of the Spartans, Tisamenus realized that he was in a position to bargain with the Spartans and demanded that his brother Hegias also be made a citizen; the Spartans were outraged at such temerity and withdrew their offer but after the Persian invasion of 480 BCE, Tisamenus and Hegias were granted Spartan citizenship.
Tisamenus accompanied the Spartans and the other Greek allies when they faced the Persian army near the city of Plataea and read the omens of sacrifices before the fateful battle; he advised the allied Greeks to stand in defense but not to cross the Asopos (Asopus) river to engage the Persians; the Persians, after ten days of ill omens from their sacrifices, crossed the river to attack the Greeks and were soundly defeated.
Herodotus, Histories, book 9.33-36
tee sah MEH nohs
The grandfather of Theras and the grandson of Polyneikes (Polyneices).
The linage of Tisamenus was: Polyneikes > Thersandros (Thersander) > Tisamenus > Autesion > Theras.
Theras was the Spartan who colonized the island Kalliste (Callista), which was renamed Thera in his honor.
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.147; book 6.52
One of the Erinyes (Furies) who was born of the blood of Ouranos (the Heavens); her sisters are: Alekto (Alecto) and Megaera; also called: Eumenides (The Kindly Ones) and Semnai (The Holy).
Twelve of the children of Ouranos (the Heavens) and Gaia (Earth).
Ouranos saw the outrageous behavior of his children and gave them the name Titans; the name can be translated as Strainers or Stretchers and essentially means that Ouranos thought that they would eventually pay a heavy price for their indulgences because they Strained and Stretched the bounds of propriety and abused their seemingly limitless powers.
The Titans ruled heaven and earth one generation before Zeus and the other Olympians assumed control of all mortal and Immortal affairs.
The war between the Olympians and the Titans was the decisive event which separated the old gods from the new Olympian hierarchy; the war lasted for ten years before Zeus unleashed all his fury and with the help of other faithful Immortals, drove the Titans into Tartaros (Tartarus), i.e. The Pit.
The Titans are:
Hyperion - the father of Helios (the Sun);
Iapetos (Iapetus) - the father of Prometheus;
Koios (Coeus) - the father of Leto and Asteria;
Krios (Crius) - the father of Pallas;
Kronos (Cronos) - father of the Olympians;
Mnemosyne - Memory; the mother of the Muses;
Okeanos - Ocean; the father of the Okeanids;
Phoibe (Phoebe) - the mother of Leto and Asteria;
Rheia (Rhea) - the mother of the Olympians;
Tethys - the wife of Okeanos (Ocean) and the mother of the three thousand Okeanids and the Rivers;
Theia - the mother of Selene (Moon), Helios (Sun) and Eos (Dawn); and
Themis - the goddess of law and order.
Theogony, lines 208 and 716
The son of Laomedon and the brother of Priam and Hesione; the half-brother of Boukolion.
Tithonos fell in love with Eos (Dawn) and when she asked Zeus if Tithonos could be made immortal she forgot to ask for his eternal youth; when he became old and feeble, Eos locked him in a private room and closed the shining doors forever.
Hymn to Aphrodite
A tragedy written by Xenocles.
The queen of the Massagetae who defeated the Persian army and killed the Persian king, Cyrus the Great.
When Cyrus was trying to expand his empire into eastern Asia, he encountered the Massagetae and demanded their surrender; Queen Tomyris refused to negotiate with Cyrus and urged him to leave her country in peace.
Cyrus, on the advice of his captive advisor Kroesus (Croesus), devised a subtle plan to defeat the Massagetae with little or no bloodshed; Cyrus pretended to withdraw his troops but left wagons full of food and wine for the Massagetae to capture; the Massagetae army, commanded by the queen's son Spargapises, came upon the food and wine and proceeded to eat and drink themselves into a stupor; Cyrus fell upon the befuddled Massagetae and took Spargapises as a hostage.
Cyrus again demanded Queen Tomyris to surrender; Tomyris again refused to negotiate and promised to drown Cyrus in blood if he did not withdraw; the Persians persisted in their assault on the Massagetae but when the battle was joined, the Persians suffered a devastating defeat and true to her promise, Tomyris killed Cyrus and put a bag full of blood over his head.
Herodotus, Histories, book 1.205-216
A tragedy by Sophocles produced circa 430 BCE.
Cast of Characters:
Deianeira (Deianira) - The wife of Herakles
Hyllos (Hyllus) - The son of Herakles
Lichas - The herald of Herakles
Herakles (Heracles) - Hero of Heroes
Chorus - The Women of Trachis
Messenger - A local man
Nurse - An attendant of Deianeira
An Old Man - An attendant of Herakles
The play opens with Deianeira in distress because her husband Herakles has been away from home for a year and she is afraid that he is dead; Herakles is frequently away from home but before he left this last time, he gave Deianeira specific instructions as to how his property should be divided if he is killed; Deianeira's nurse suggests that Hyllos be sent to find news of his father.
When Hyllos is asked about his father, he says that he has heard that Herakles is on the island of Euboea (Euboia) and should be returning home soon; a local messenger arrives and tells Deianeira that Herakles's herald Lichas is nearby and telling people that Herakles is on his way home.
Deianeira is overcome with joy when she hears that Herakles is safe and will be coming home soon; at that moment, Herakles's herald Lichas arrives with a group of slave women which Herakles took on his raid of the city of King Eurytos (Eurytus); Lichas tells Deianeira that Herakles had been sold into slavery by Eurytos and when Herakles was finally freed, took out his vengeance on Eurytos and took Eurytos's daughter Iole as a slave; Deianeira feels a genuine empathy for Iole because the girl looks so sad and betrayed; Iole refuses to speak but Deianeira does not blame her for her sullen silence.
When Lichas takes the slave women into the house, the local messenger tells Deianeira that Lichas has lied to her about the slave women; he tells her that Herakles fell in love with Iole and killed her father and brothers before making her his slave; as Lichas leaves the house, the local messenger denounces him as a liar and demands that he tell Deianeira the truth about Iole.
Deianeira is patient and understanding throughout the verbal battle between Lichas and the local messenger; finally Deianeira tells Lichas that he must be honest with her and that she will forgive his previous lies because she understands that he lied to spare her feelings; Lichas tells her the truth and thanks her for her noble character.
The chorus is made up of local women from Trachis; Deianeira tells the chorus of her sadness at being married to Herakles; he is constantly in danger and always traveling to foreign lands; to add to her overall sadness, Deianeira is now afraid that the young and beautiful Iole will take Herakles's affection away from her; she tells the chorus that she was given a love potion by the Centaur Nessos (Nessus) after Herakles fatally wounded him; she tells them that she intends to use the love potion on Herakles and asks the advice of the women of Trachis; they encourage Deianeira and tell her that she is acting in the best interests of her family; they assure her that since her motives are pure, the love potion should work as intended.
Deianeira dispatches Lichas to find Herakles and gives him a robe which she has anointed with the love potion; she gives Lichas very specific instructions about keeping the robe in the dark and away from heat; she insists that Herakles don the robe during a grand sacrifice in bright sunlight.
After Lichas has gone, Deianeira starts having second thoughts about the love potion; the potion was made from the blood of the Centaur mixed with the poison Herakles used to kill the Hydra; to her horror, the wool Deianeira used to anoint the robe turned to dust when it was left in the sun; the women of Trachis tell her not to worry until she knows how the potion works on Herakles.
Hyllos enters the scene in a frenzy; he was with Herakles when he put on the potion-treated robe; the effect was instantaneous and frightening; Herakles went into convulsions of pain and cried out for someone to kill him; the robe was acting like an acid and eating away his skin; Hyllos calls his mother a murderer and says that he knows that she poisoned Herakles on purpose.
Deianeira is beside herself with grief; the potion she intended to seal their love was killing her husband; she retreats into the house and starts babbling incoherently; her nurse tries to comfort her but Deianeira is beyond consolation; she secludes herself in the bedroom and uses a sword to slash her side; she bleeds to death almost instantly.
Hyllos is told the truth about the poisoned robe and realizes that he blamed his mother for a crime she did not intend; he runs to Deianeira but finds her already dead; a group of men enter with Herakles on a bier; Herakles is unconscious from the pain caused by the poison but Hyllos wakes him to tell him of Deianeira's innocence; Herakles is out of his mind with pain; he still denounces Deianeira and curses the Immortals for such a tragic end to his life.
In a final rally of strength, Herakles makes Hyllos swear that he will build a pyre and burn his body before the poison consumes his flesh completely; Hyllos reluctantly agrees to help build pyre but refuses to light the flame; as his last mortal wish, Herakles demands that Hyllos marry Iole.
I have to admit that I personally like the plays of Sophocles; his characters are tragic without being overstated or disingenuous; the players speak as if to one another and not as if they're giving speeches to the audience; in this particular play, the character of Deianeira is wonderfully genuine; I believe that you will enjoy this play even though the ultimate hero dies in the end; what could be more tragic than that?
I personally recommend the translations compiled by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene, Euripides II (ISBN 0226307654); you can find this and other plays by Euripides in the 882 section of your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site.
The Treasury of Atreus is the name given to a ruined structure near the fortress of Mycenae in Argos on the eastern side of the Peloponnesian Peninsula; the treasury is made of stone and lies several hundred yards to the west of the fortress; the interior is shaped like an inverted cone and is often referred to as a beehive; the base is circular and the walls rise in ever smaller circles of blocks to a single stone at the apex.
Whether or not this structure was an actual treasury is a matter for conjecture because robbers looted any contents long before any serious archeological investigation was conducted; the size and shape of the structure could have accommodated a variety of activities but the idea that it was once used as a storehouse for valuables seems unlikely; the location of the structure outside the walls of the fortress and its odd shape makes me believe that it was probably a tomb rather than a vault but the name, Treasury of Atreus, is commonly used by scholars and tourists alike.
The treasury is situated under a hill with the entrance generally facing west towards the fortress of Mycenae; the walkway leading to the actual entrance is lined with megalithic stones which are unadorned; the interior of the treasury is 49 feet (14.935 meters) in diameter and has a height of 43 feet (13.106 meters); from the floor to the capstone there are 33 rows of stone blocks which gradually taper inward to meet the single stone at the apex.
Inside the treasury there is only one deviation to the beehive shape; as you enter the structure, there is a small alcove built into the wall on the right, i.e. the south side; entry into the alcove is forbidden but looking through the narrow doorway only reveals small room with a few loose stone blocks on the floor; the walls of the alcove are of the same stone block construction as the main structure but, not being able to actually enter, it was difficult to guess at its size but I would estimate that it is 12 by 15 feet (3.5 by 4.5 meters).
Pictures of the Treasury of Atreus
A small warship rowed with 30 oars.
The three-pronged spear characteristic of Poseidon (lord of the Sea); fashioned by the nine dog-headed sea monsters called the Telchines.
A structural member of a Doric frieze, separating consecutive metopes and consisting typically of a rectangular block with two vertical grooves or glyphs and two chamfers or half groves at the sides, together counting as a third glyph and leaving three flat vertical bands on the face of the block.
An ancient name for the island of Sicily meaning, "having three promontories"; compounded from the words treis-ake, i.e. a trident.
A stand or base of various sizes having three legs and made of ceramics or metal; the seat of the priestess of Apollon at Delphi.
A mortal man who was the favorite of Demeter; he invented the plow and was the patron of agriculture; his name is closely associated with the Eleusinian Mysteries.
The above image shows Triptolemus sitting in his winged chair preparing to take corn as a gift to mankind; the image is from skyphos (a deep cup) made by Heiron circa 485 BCE; the artwork on the skyphos is attributed to Makron.
TRI reem
A large warship rowed with 170 oars arranged in three tiers on each side of the ship, one above the other.
The trireme had a average crew of 200 men, including the 170 oarsmen; the oarsmen were arranged with 31 on the top tiers and 27 on the middle and lower tiers; the length of the vessel was approximately 120 feet (37 meters) with a beam of 18 feet (5.5 meters); the average sustainable speed of the craft has been estimated to have been 7.5 knots (8.6 miles per hour).
The word Tri-Reme has come to mean Three-Oared but is more literally rendered as Three-Poled.
A symbolic figure with three human legs arranged symmetrically from a common center; from the Greek word Triskeles meaning Three-Legged.
A mythical lake near the Mediterranean coast of Libya.
Lake Trito was named after the half-fish, half-man shaped god, Triton, who guards the lake; the goddess Athene (Athena) is often called Tritogeneia because after she sprang from Zeus's head, she was taken to Lake Trito and nurtured by the Nymphs of the lake; in this way she is also referred to as Tritonian Athene; also called the Tritonian Lake.
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.180
A name given to Athene (Athena) because after she sprang from Zeus's head, she was taken to Lake Trito in Libya and nurtured by the Nymphs of the lake; in this way she is also referred to as Tritonian Athene.
The inhabitants of the area around the lake say that Athene was actually the daughter of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and after a dispute with her father, Athene was adopted by Zeus as his own daughter.
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.180
Shield of Herakles, line 197
A son of Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and the Nereid, Amphitrite; Triton is represented as having the head and body of a man with the tail of a fish and using a conch shell as a trumpet.
When the Argonauts were stranded in Libya on the shores of the Tritonian Lake, they set out a tripod as an offering to Apollon; Triton, in the guise of a young man, appeared to them and offered a clod of earth because he had no other gift to offer in that barren land; he then showed them the course they should take to reach the sea; the clod of earth would later prove to be the "seed" for an island that one of the Argonauts' ancestors would populate and call Thera.
The tripod which was offered to Apollon was to remain in the precincts of the Tritonian Lake until the Greeks came to reclaim it; at that time the Greeks were to establish one hundred settlements on the lake's shores; the Libyans believed this prophecy to be true and to avoid an influx of Greeks, hid the tripod so that it could never be recovered.
Argonautika, book 4, lines 1537-1585 and 1755-1764
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.179
Usually called The Troad; the region in northwestern Asia Minor surrounding ancient Troy (near modern Troia, Turkey); the Troad and Troy were named after Tros named after Tros who was the great-grandson of Zeus and the great-grandfather of the last king of Troy, Priam.
An ancient town on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in the district of Argolis near the Saronic Gulf; regarded as the birthplace of Theseus.
The cave dwellers of northern Africa mentioned by the historian Herodotus and sometimes called simply the cave-dwelling Ethiopians (Aithiopians); the term Troglodyte could literally mean, "one who creeps into holes."
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.183
One of the sons of King Priam and Hekabe (Hecabe); he was killed by Ares (god of War) during the siege of Troy.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 24, line 257
Iliad (Fagles), book 24, line 305
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 24, line 309
Pertaining to the ancient city of Troy or its inhabitants; Troy was named after Tros who was the great-grandson of Zeus and the great-grandfather of the last king of Troy, Priam.
The fall of Troy was accomplished by use of the Wooden Horse which is also called the Trojan Horse; the horse was designed by a man named Epeios (Epeius) with the inspiration of the goddess Athene (Athena).
After ten years of an unsuccessful siege on the walls of Troy, the Achaean (Achaian) Greeks devised a plan by which they would pretend to abandon the war and retreat back to their homes; the Greeks built a hollow Wooden Horse in which they could hide some of their best warriors; the horse was then left in front of the gates of Troy with the assumption that the Trojans would take it into the city as a trophy.
Some of the Trojans thought that the Wooden Horse was a symbol of peace and a tribute to the goddess Athene; others thought that the Wooden Horse was a trick and should be burned where it stood; the Trojan seer Laokoon (Laocoon) tried to warn King Priam that the Wooden Horse was a trick and not a peace offering but Poseidon (lord of the Sea), who was clearly on the side of the Greeks, sent one of his giant sea-serpents to kill Laokoon and one (or both) of his sons; Priam assumed that Laokoon was killed because he was giving false prophecy and ordered the Wooden Horse to be brought inside the walls of the city.
The Trojan War was not simply a dispute between nations or a feud over territory; the war was started and perpetuated by the Immortals with the intention of ridding the earth of a good portion of the human population; a beautiful young woman from Sparta was used as the bait to lure a handsome prince of Troy; the love affair between Helen and Alexandros (Paris) was all that was needed to set the mainland Greeks against the Trojans; the Trojans were actually Greeks even though they lived on the coast of Asia Minor but their common heritage did not prevent the war.
Zeus decreed that the walls of Troy would eventually be toppled but he was also intent that it would be a slow and bloody process; the construction of the Wooden Horse was the signal that the war was coming to an end; with the Achaean Greeks apparently gone and the Wooden Horse inside the city walls, the Trojans were ecstatic; they believed that they had survived ten years of fierce fighting and that their city would become prosperous again.
Helen had been living with the Trojans for ten years and was sympathetic to their survival even though her Spartan husband Menelaos (Menelaus) was in the Greek army fighting to free her from her supposed captivity; Helen knew the Greeks well and suspected a trick when she saw the Wooden Horse; when the horse was brought into the city, Helen walked around it imitating the voices of different men's wives to see if any of the men she suspected to be hiding in the horse would answer; with one exception, all the men hiding inside the horse remained silent; Odysseus forcefully restrained a man named Antiklos (Anticlus) when he tried to answer Helen's convincing imitation of his wife.
After a day and night of celebration, the Trojans collapsed into a state of exhaustion; the soldiers inside the Wooden Horse emerged from hiding and opened the gates of the city; the entire invading army entered the city, leveled the walls of Troy and killed or enslaved every Trojan citizen.
The first mention of the Wooden Horse is in The Odyssey and there are very few details as to the size of the horse or exactly how many men were concealed inside; we are simply told that the best of the Achaean warriors were inside the horse; Menelaos, Odysseus, Diomedes and Antiklos were listed as being inside the horse but the other warriors are not named; however, later authors seem to have had no trouble in filling in the blanks; the number of warriors inside the horse began to vary from thirty to fifty and then seemed to stabilize at forty; also, the names of the men inside the Wooden Horse were finally revealed by authors writing fifteen hundred years after the Trojan War and seven hundred years after Homer.
Modern authors have proposed that the Trojan Horse was not a hollow troop carrier in the shape of a horse but instead a battering ram, i.e. a long wooden pole with a horse head on the end; others have speculated that the Trojan Horse was an earthquake brought on by Poseidon who is credited with giving mankind the horse; Poseidon, a.k.a. the Earth Shaker, wanted Troy to fall and he created the horse, therefore the Trojan Horse was an earthquake; the correlation is strained at best; another far reaching explanation of the Trojan Horse is that it was not a wooden structure but simply the Achaean Greeks disguised as a Trojan cavalry unit which gained access to the city by just riding through the gates; the problem with all these explanations is that Homer did not use the term Trojan Horse, he consistently called it a Wooden Horse and said that there were men concealed inside.
I mention these alternate explanations because it seems that some of us have not yet learned the lesson so clearly demonstrated by Heinrich Schliemann; Mr. Schliemann (1822-1890 CE) proposed that there had been a real city named Troy in antiquity; he was promptly ridiculed by contemporary scholars who were convinced that Troy was a mythical city in a fictional story; since Homer and other ancient authors spoke of Troy as a real place and Alexander the Great and Julius Cesar both claimed to have visited the ruins of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann reasoned that Troy actually existed and that the ruins could be found by following the clues found in The Iliad and The Odyssey; Mr. Schliemann found Troy and history had to be rewritten; let's apply the same logic to the Wooden Horse and assume that the Greeks actually built a huge Wooden Horse and that Trojans unwittingly took the horse into their doomed city.
The Little Iliad, fragment 1, line 19
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 4, lines 271-280; book 8, lines 492-520; book 11, lines 522-532
Odyssey (Fagles), book 4, lines 304-324; book 8, lines 552-576; book 11, lines 596-609
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 4, lines 289-311; book 8, lines 526-550; book 11, lines 621-639
The ten year war between the Trojans and the Achaean Greeks who sought to retrieve Helen from her supposed kidnapper, Prince Alexandros (Paris) of Troy (Ilium).
The story of the Trojan War was told eloquently in The Iliad by Homer and elaborated on in The Odyssey and the surviving fragments of the Epic Cycle; the Trojan War has been tentatively placed at 1250 BCE.
The cause of the war cannot be blamed on the Trojans or the Achaean (Achaian) Greeks; the kidnapping of Helen was only the superficial reason for the war; Zeus decreed that there would be a long, bloody war for the purpose of punishing and diminishing the human race; thousands of mortal men and women would have to die in order to achieve that goal; also, many of the children of the Immortals (demigods) would have to die before Troy could be conquered; Zeus put a series of events into motion to make the war inevitable.
One of the first events to set the stage for the Trojan War was the marriage of Peleus and Thetis; the Nereid Thetis was given to Peleus (a mortal) because of his undying devotion to the gods on Mount Olympos; the marriage was also a punishment for Thetis because she had rejected Zeus's amorous advances.
In order to honor Thetis, Zeus's sister/wife Hera invited all the Immortals to the wedding; the goddess Eris was in attendance but she did not come to celebrate, she came to do what she does best, cause trouble; Eris cast down a golden apple with the inscription, 'For the most beautiful one'; Hera, Athene and Aphrodite (goddess of Love) all assumed that the golden apple was for them and when the intended conflict arose, the Trojan prince Alexandros (Paris) was asked to make the final decision as to which goddess deserved the golden apple; Aphrodite promised Paris the hand of the most beautiful mortal woman in Greece, Helen; Paris could not refuse such a prize; he chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess; Hera and Athene never forgave the insult; the walls of Troy toppled and all of Paris's family paid with their lives for his greed and desire; this event has come to be known as The Judgment of Paris although, at that time, it seemed to be just another demonstration of the rivalry between the Immortals.
Helen was the most beautiful woman to have ever been born; she was the daughter of Zeus and a mortal woman named Leda; Theseus, the future king of Athens, kidnapped Helen when she was a young girl because he could not resist her beauty when he saw her dancing at the Temple of Artemis at Sparta; Helen was finally rescued by her brothers but the incident made Helen's foster father, King Tyndareus of Sparta, wary of Helen's future; when it came time to choose a husband for Helen, King Tyndareus made a very wise and fateful decision; when his palace was besieged with suitors for Helen, he immediately realized that no matter which man he chose to be Helen's husband, there would always be the possibility of her being kidnapped again; Tyndareus made all the suitors swear a solemn and sacred oath that they would come to Helen's rescue if she was ever taken from her chosen husband; all the suitors took the oath and Helen was finally married to Prince Menelaos (Menelaus) of Mycenae.
To fulfill her promise to Alexandros, Aphrodite arranged for Prince Alexandros to visit Menelaos and Helen at Sparta; when Menelaos was called away on business, Aphrodite enchanted Alexandros and Helen and they fell hopelessly in love; they took Helen's wedding dowry and fled to Troy; Menelaos did not understand that Aphrodite was involved and assumed that Alexandros had kidnapped his wife and stolen the dowry; Menelaos called on his brother Agamemnon to help rescue Helen because King Agamemnon of Mycenae was the most powerful man in Greece; the call went out to all the rich and noble men who had once been suitors of Helen; they came willingly to fulfill the oath they had made to protect Helen; the most notable exception was Achilles; he had been too young to be a suitor of Helen but he voluntarily joined Agamemnon and Menelaos simply for the pleasure of fighting in a war.
An armada of over 1,183 ships with approximately sixty thousand men sailed for Troy; the Trojans called on their allies to help protect the city and they were waiting for the Achaeans when the first ships arrived; Protesilaus (Protesilaos) was the first Greek soldier to set foot on the beach at Troy and he was immediately killed by Prince Hector; the war continued for nine years without either side being able to achieve a decisive victory.
Several attempts were made to find a peaceful alternative to the war; Odysseus and Menelaos went to King Priam of Troy and diplomatically asked that Helen be returned; Priam refused; since the war was divinely decreed, such negotiations were doomed before they began.
In the tenth year of the war, the Immortals entered the fighting; Apollon rained arrows on the Achaean Greeks because Agamemnon offended his priest Chryses by refusing the ransom he offered for his captive daughter, Chryseis; Agamemnon appeased Apollon by returning Chryseis but enraged Achilles by taking his captive girl Briseis as a replacement for Chryseis.
Another failed attempt to end the war was initiated by Prince Alexandros; he challenged Menelaos to a one-on-one fight for Helen and her dowry; both sides agreed that the winner of the personal combat would decide the war; if Menelaos won, the Trojans would surrender their city; if Alexandros won, the Achaeans would leave Trojan territory and never return; Menelaos had knocked Alexandros to the ground and was going to win the fight when Aphrodite snatched Alexandros from the battlefield before the death blow could be delivered; a dispute immediately arose because the Achaeans believed that Menelaos had clearly won the fight but the goddess Athene decided the question with a subtle manipulation of one of the Trojan archers; she took the guise of a mortal and persuaded a soldier named Pandaros (Pandarus) to shoot an arrow into the Achaeans thus wounding Menelaos; the war began again.
Because of his anger towards Agamemnon, Achilles refused to fight and the Achaeans started suffering defeat after defeat until the Trojans were able to set fire to the Achaean ships; Achilles's companion Patroklos (Patroclus) donned Achilles's armor, mounted Achilles' chariot and rode onto the fighting to make the Trojans and Achaeans think that the most dangerous man on earth had put aside his anger towards Agamemnon and returned to the battlefield; the ruse worked until Patroklos became too bold and got too close to the walls of Troy; Apollon knocked Patroklos to the ground and Prince Hector killed him; the fight for the possession of Achilles's armor and the body of Patroklos was one of the most intense confrontations of the war; Hector was able to take Achilles's armor but the body of Patroklos was rescued and returned to Achilles.
Achilles put aside all his anger towards Agamemnon and was given new armor crafted by the god Hephaistos (Hephaestus); Achilles raged into the Trojan defenses and killed every Trojan man and beast he encountered; his intention was to fight his way to Prince Hector and exact revenge for the death of his beloved companion Patroklos; Zeus weighed the souls of Achilles and Hector and decided that it was time for Hector to die.
The death of Hector was a truly sad affair; he tried to reason with Achilles but Achilles was splattered with blood and gore and would only be satisfied when he killed Hector and disgraced his body in full view of his family; Achilles tied Hector's body to his chariot and dragged it around the city walls so that every Trojan could see the results of his heartless victory.
The Trojans found new strength and continued to fight valiantly; the Achaeans were forced to accept the fact that they would never win the war with their ineffective siege strategy; Odysseus proposed a clever plan whereby the Trojans would open their gates and expose the city to its ultimate doom; by all accounts, Odysseus was a clever man and it should not be surprising that he could conceive such a novel idea as constructing a Wooden Horse which could conceal a small group of warriors; Athene was clearly on the side of the Achaean Greeks and her inspiration helped a man named Epeios (Epeius) design and build the Wooden Horse Odysseus suggested; the idea was to leave the Wooden Horse in front of the gates of Troy to entice the Trojans to accept it as a peace offering declaring the end of the war; the Achaeans would complete the charade by sailing their ships to a nearby island out of sight of the Trojans; by all appearances, the Achaeans had given up the war and sailed for home.
Some of the Trojans thought the Wooden Horse was a symbol of peace and a tribute to the goddess Athene; others thought that the Wooden Horse was a trick and should be burned where it stood; the Trojan seer Laokoon (Laocoon) tried to warn King Priam that the Wooden Horse was a trick and not a peace offering but Poseidon (lord of the Sea), who was also on the side of the Greeks, sent one of his giant sea-serpents to kill Laokoon and one (or both) of his sons; Priam assumed that Laokoon was killed because he was giving false prophecy and ordered the Wooden Horse to be brought inside the walls of the city.
Helen had been living with the Trojans for ten years and was sympathetic to their survival even though her Spartan husband, Menelaos, was in the Greek army fighting to free her from her supposed captivity; Helen knew the Greeks well and suspected a trick when she saw the Wooden Horse; when the horse was brought into the city, Helen walked around it imitating the voices of different men's wives to see if any of the men she suspected to be hiding in the horse would answer; with one exception, all the men hiding inside the horse remained silent; Odysseus forcefully restrained a man named Antiklos (Anticlus) when he tried to answer Helen's convincing imitation of his wife.
After a day and night of celebration, the Trojans collapsed into a state of exhaustion; the soldiers inside the Wooden Horse emerged from hiding and opened the gates of the city; the entire invading army entered the city and the final stage of the carnage began; with the aid of Apollon, Prince Alexandros was allowed to kill Achilles but this feat only guaranteed his own death at the hands of Achilles's son, Neoptolemus (Neoptolemos); the slaughter of the Trojans went beyond casualties of war and became atrocities; Odysseus, who was an otherwise civilized and noble individual, threw Hector's infant son from the walls of Troy; King Priam was killed while seeking sanctuary in the Temple of Athene; Princess Polyxena, who was only a young girl, was butchered at the grave of Achilles as if she was an animal; the walls of Troy were finally toppled and every Trojan citizen was killed or enslaved.
But the death toll of the Trojan War was not yet complete; King Agamemnon was killed by his wife as soon as he returned to his palace in Mycenae; the valiant fighter Telamonian Aias was drowned by Poseidon and of the fifteen hundred men who went to Troy with Odysseus, all but Odysseus perished in the war or on the voyage home.
The Trojan War was one of the most glorious and savage events of Western Civilization; the will of the Immortals was accomplished with the curious side effect that some of the warriors who fought in the war are still remembered while the immortal gods and goddesses who perpetuated the war are mostly forgotten.
A tragedy by Euripides produced in 415 BCE.
If you want tragedy with a capitol T then this is the play for you; the glory and valor of the Trojan War are cast aside and the brutality of the war is exposed in a stark and heart rending way; Euripides spares no hero and makes no excuses for the Immortals on Mount Olympos (Olympus) for their heartless participation in such a senseless war and its tragic aftermath.
Cast of characters:
Chorus - The Trojan Women
Poseidon - The lord of the Sea
Athene - The goddess of Wisdom
Hekabe - The Queen of Troy
Talthybios - A messenger
Kassandra - The daughter of King Priam and Queen Hekabe
Andromache - The wife of Prince Hector
Astyanax - The son of Prince Hector and Andromache
Menelaos - The husband of Helen
Helen - The wife of Menelaos
The city of Troy has been captured by the Greeks; the Trojan warriors have been killed but the women and children have been spared so that they can be taken back to Greece as slaves.
The play centers on the captive Queen Hekabe (Hecabe) of Troy as she bemoans the destruction of Troy and the deaths of her husband and children; she lies in front of the tent where the Trojan Women are held captive awaiting their fates as slaves to the victorious Greeks; sadness is heaped upon sadness as she learns that her daughter Kassandra (Cassandra) is to become the concubine of Agamemnon and that her daughter Polyxena has been murdered at the tomb of Achilles as a sacrifice to the dead Greek hero; the final insult is inflicted on Hekabe when she is told that her infant grandson Astyanax is to be thrown from the walls of Troy because he was the son of the greatest Trojan warrior, Prince Hector.
This play has many insights into the fates of the various characters which were so vividly portrayed in The Iliad and The Odyssey; one startling revelation is the role that Odysseus played in the decision to murder the child, Astyanax; he persuaded the Greeks to kill the innocent child and sullied his otherwise noble persona.
Helen is brought before Menelaos (Menelaus) and at the insistence of Hekabe, required to justify her role as the cause of the Trojan War; Helen's arguments are convincing; she blames Aphrodite (goddess of Love) for putting desire in the heart of Prince Alexandros (Paris) of Troy and making her blind to the consequences of leaving her lawful husband in Sparta and running off to Troy with her new lover; Hekabe's rebuttal is even more convincing but as we know from reading The Odyssey, Menelaos forgives Helen and accepts her argument that she was simply the pawn of the Immortals and not responsible for her actions.
I personally recommend the translations compiled by Richmond Lattimore and David Grene or the Bantam Classic, Ten Plays by Euripides translated by Moses Hadas and John McLean; you can find this and other plays by Euripides in the 882 section of your local library or you can order them from the Book Shop on this site.
He and his brother Agamedes were the sons of Erginos; they were renowned architects and credited with building the temple of Apollon in the city of Delphi.
The two brothers were also said to have built the treasury of Hyrieus (or Augeas) and to have designed it in such a way that they could come back later and rob it; during the attempted robbery, Agamedes became ensnared in a trap inside the treasury and Trophonius was unable to free him; in a desperate attempt to conceal his brother's identity, Trophonius cut off Agamedes's head.
Afterwards, near the city of Lebadeia in Boeotia, Trophonius was swallowed by the earth and an oracular site was established in his name; supplicants would enter the cave and after receiving the prophecies and omens imparted by Trophonius, would emerge pale and shaken.
The lord of the Trojans; Tros was the great-grandson of Zeus and the great-grandfather of Priam, who was the last king of Troy; Tros's father, Erichthonius (Erichthonios), was the son of Zeus; Tros was the father of Ilos (Ilus), Assarakos (Assaracus) and Ganymede (Ganymedes); the Troad and Troy were named after Tros.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 5, line 265; book 20, lines 230 and 231
Iliad (Fagles), book 5, line 293; book 20, lines 266 and 267
Iliad (Fitzgerald, book 5, line 308; book 20, lines 263
A Trojan soldier; the son of Alastor; when Tros saw Achilles knock Laogonos (Laogonus) and Demouchos (Demuchus) from their chariot and kill them, he clasped the knees of Achilles and begged for his life; Achilles showed no mercy and brutally killed him.
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book book 20, line 463
Iliad (Fagles), book 20, line 523
Iliad (Fitzgerald, book 20, line 539
An ancient Greek city in Asia Minor in the province of Mysia between the rivers Skamandros (Scamander) and Simoeis (Simois); located near the coast of the Aegean Sea; an hours walk southwest of the Hellespont (Dardanelles Straits); according to The Iliad, Troy was founded by the grandson of Zeus, Tros, and thrived for three generations until the city was sacked under the reign of King Priam; the Troy of The Iliad was utterly destroyed circa 1240 BCE by the mainland Greeks and never re-established to its former glory or wealth.
After over a hundred years of excavation, the different layers of the ruins of ancient Troy have been divided into nine classifications designated with the Roman numerals I-IX with subdivisions of each classification indicated by lowercase letters, i.e. the original foundations of Troy are named Ia-Ik; the city we normally think of as the Troy of The Iliad is called Troy VI, i.e. Troy six, and is assumed to have been destroyed circa 1240 BCE.
The geographic location of Troy was vitally important to its continued habitation and prosperity; the fortunes of the Trojans fluctuated over the centuries but the city was continuously occupied and constantly revitalized after either natural disasters or armed conquests reduced the city to rubble and dust; the walls and buildings of the various cities were made of mud-brick and each successive city was built on the ruins of the previous foundations; the mud-brick construction made it impossible to reuse the raw materials and so the old city was simply leveled and the newest incarnation of the city was built on the ruins and therefore each new city was elevated slightly higher than the preceding city.
The original foundations of the city date to the Early Bronze Age circa 2900-2450 BCE; it was a modest city and covered an area approximately 100 yards in diameter; this phase of Troy is commonly known as Troy Ia-k.
The second incarnation of Troy, designated Troy IIa-h, also existed in the Early Bronze Age and lasted from circa 2450-2200 BCE; the size of the city increased and covered an area of approximately 900 square yards; this Troy, with towers and a megaron, also included a settlement outside the city's circuit walls; at least two phases of Troy II were destroyed by what appears to be severe natural disasters; level IIg is called the Burnt City because the condition of the rubble strongly suggests that the wooden parts of the city were not merely torn down, but burned to the ground.
Troy III existed from circa 2200-1700 BCE and is divided into the subdivisions a-d; this was during the Middle Bronze Age and the city doubled in size.
The cities of Troy IVa-e and Va-d seem to be less prosperous for the rulers and citizens of the city; these subdivisions are generally included in the time period which covers Troy III.
Homer's Troy, Troy VI, dates from the Middle and Late Bronze Age and consists of levels a-h; this was probably the city that the Greeks destroyed after their ten year siege; the city was only slightly larger than Troy III but there are indications that this phase of the city was the most prosperous incarnation yet; the circuit wall was longer and thicker than any previous city wall and the outer settlement was larger than ever before; the city supported a population of five to ten thousand permanent residents; also of significance during this phase of Troy's development is the fact that excavators found horse skeletons in the ruins of these levels which corresponds to Homer's characterization of 'the horse taming Trojans.'
Troy VII, like the previous reconstructions of the city, was built on the ruins of preceding city; Troy VII existed in the Late Bronze Age, i.e. 1250-1050 BCE; although there are those who believe that this is the Troy of The Iliad, it has been pointed out that Troy VII appears to have been hastily built and the workmanship seems inferior to the prosperous city and outer settlement of Troy VI; the final phase of Troy VII was destroyed by fire and it is assumed that this is a sign of conquest rather than natural disaster.
Troy VIII is considered to be the last Greek attempt to keep Troy as a permanent settlement and although a smaller and more humble city, might have lasted until as late as 85 BCE; Troy VIII is assumed to have been populated by settlers from Thessaly or another northern Greek state; the historian Herodotus (484?-425? BCE) (book 7, chapter 43), mentions that King Xerxes of Persia stopped at Troy on his way to conquer Greece and sacrificed one thousand cattle to the goddess Athene (Athena) of Ilion; the Magi, the priests and magicians who accompanied Xerxes, made libations to the ancient heroes of Troy; Herodotus then makes a strange statement, he says that Xerxes and his company were seized with fear during the night but he does not elaborate as to the cause of their fear; also, Herodotus does not elaborate as to the population of Troy when Xerxes arrived or comment as to the physical condition of the city; Alexander the Great is also said to have visited Troy on his way to conquer the Persian Empire; the city was finally leveled in 85 BCE by the Roman legate, Flavius Fimbria.
Troy remained a pile of rubble until Julius Caesar visited the city circa 48 BCE; he began a rebuilding project which was continued by his successor, Caesar Augustus; the Romans believed that Troy was the mother-city of Rome because after the Trojan hero Aineias (Aeneas) fled Troy, he found his way to the Italian peninsula and eventually united the tribes of Latium to form the basis of the Roman Empire.
Despite the historical references to Troy by historians such as Herodotus and Arrian, the actual existence of the city seems to have been considered a mere myth by serious scholars until the mid-eighteenth century; the most notable, and perhaps notorious, true believer in the actual existence of Troy was a wealthy businessman named Heinrich Schliemann; although Schliemann may not have been the first man to excavate the ruins of Troy, he is certainly the most famous; since his monumental and highly publicized discovery circa 1870 CE, Troy has become a well researched archeological site as well a popular tourist attraction near Troia, Turkey.
One of the finest books on the subject is Troy c. 1700-1250 BC, by Fields, Spedaliere and Spedaliere, (ISBN 0841767034); the text is engaging and the illustrations are excellent; this book can be ordered from the Book Shop on this site.
Omados or Homados; the Spirit of Tumult or Battle-Noise.
Shield of Herakles, line 155
An ancient people of the Mediterranean region variously identified with the Lydians, the Etruscans or the Trojans.
A series of municipal laws which were found inscribed on a wall in the city of Gortyn on the island of Crete.
Gortyn used to be a prosperous and busy Greek city on the southern plain of Mesara, which would be near the modern city of Ayioi Dheka; Gortyn controlled the east-west sea routes from its ports at Matalon and Leben.
The Romans took control of the city circa 79 BCE and it became Gortyna; there was an interesting archaeological find in the ruins of the Roman odium which indicated that the Romans had dismantled a Greek building and incorporated the stones in their new odium; clearly visible on the odium's exterior wall is an inscription which has come to be known as the Twelve Tables of Gortyn; the tables are assumed to be from the fourth or fifth century BCE and are a list of municipal laws which dealt with trial procedures, the rights of families, individuals and slaves.
The Twelve Tables of Gortyn are also referred to as the Code of Gortyn and the Law Code of Gortyn.
An Okeanid, i.e. one of the three thousand daughters of Okeanos (Ocean) and Tethys; she was ancient Greek goddess of Chance or Fortune; her name literally means Luck or Success.
Zeus gave the Okeanids, Apollon and the Rivers the special obligation of having the young in their keeping.
Theogony, line 360
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The one of nine children of Queen Althaia (Althea) and King Oineus (Oeneus) of Kalydon (Calydon).
Tydeus's brothers and sisters were: Pheres, Agelaos (Agelaus), Toxeus, Klymeneos (Clymeneus), Periphas, Gorga, Meleagros (Meleager) and Deianeira (Deianira).
Because Tydeus committed murder, he was forced to flee Kalydon and take refuge in Argos.
King Adrastus (Adrestos) of Sikyon (Sicyon) welcomed Tydeus and allowed him to marry his daughter Deipyle; while he was in Argos, Tydeus was introduced to Polyneikes (Polyneices) and enlisted in Polyneikes's army, which became known as the Seven Against Thebes.
Polyneikes and his brother Eteokles (Eteocles) were in a deadly dispute as to who should be the king of Thebes after the self-imposed exile of their father, Oedipus; Eteokles tricked Polyneikes into thinking that the two of them could take turns sitting on the throne but once on the throne, Eteokles refused to honor his agreement and banished Polyneikes from Thebes; while in Argos, Polyneikes formed the armies which would help him reclaim the throne; Tydeus became one of the commanders of the Seven Against Thebes.
The Seven Against Thebes lost the battle and with the exception of Adrastus, all of the commanders were killed including Polyneikes and Tydeus.
Ten years after the failure of the Seven Against Thebes, the sons of the seven commanders attacked Thebes again; they were called the Epigoni, i.e. After-Born (the children of the Seven), and included Tydeus's son Diomedes; the Epigoni successfully breached the walls and captured the city.
Tydeus lived one generation before the Trojan War which began circa 1250 BCE; assuming one generation to be thirty years, that would mean that Tydeus lived circa 1280 BCE.
Contest of Homer and Hesiod, section 325
teen dah REE us
King Tyndareus of Sparta; Tyndareus was a man of patience and resolve; he and his wife Leda had two daughters named Klytemnestra (Clytemnestra) and Timandra but Leda had three other children with the king of the Immortals, Zeus; Zeus fathered Helen, Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux) with Leda but Tyndareus raised them as if they were his own children.
The ages of Leda's children are not known with certainty but it is assumed that Kastor and Polydeukes were the oldest, followed by Klytemnestra, Helen and Timandra.
After accepting the fact that Leda had children with a god, Tyndareus was plagued with an additional burden because Helen was one of the most beautiful girls to ever walk the earth; Helen was kidnapped when she was a young girl by two otherwise respectable men, Theseus and Peirithoos (Pirithous); Kastor and Polydeukes eventually rescued Helen but not before she became pregnant by Theseus; Helen gave her child Iphigenia (Iphianassa) to her sister Klytemnestra because Klytemnestra was married to the powerful king of Mycenae, Agamemnon.
When Helen was old enough to marry, Tyndareus was besieged with offers from men of wealth and influence; kings and princes offered riches in exchange for Helen; Tyndareus knew that his daughter had a profound influence on men and that unless a way could be found to control the proud men who had assembled at his palace, there would be endless bickering and bloodshed when her husband was finally chosen; Tyndareus made all the suitors swear a solemn oath that they would accept whichever husband he chose for Helen and furthermore, they would avenge anyone who tried to take her from her chosen husband; Helen was allowed to marry a young Mycenaean prince named Menelaos (Menelaus).
After Helen's marriage, Kastor and Polydeukes became Argonauts and joined Jason in the Quest for the Golden Fleece; neither brother returned from the Quest as a mortal; Zeus made Kastor and Polydeukes immortal with the condition that while one of them lived on the surface of the earth, the other would reside in the Underworld.
When Tyndareus made Helen's suitors take the oath to protect Helen and honor her husband, he had no idea that he was setting the stage for the Trojan War but he died before the carnage began; after Tyndareus died, Menelaos became the king of Sparta.
When Helen was taken from her home by Prince Alexandros (Paris) of Troy, Menelaos and his brother Agamemnon called on the kings and princes to fulfill the oath they had given to Tyndareus; the Trojan War began circa 1250 BCE.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 11, lines 298 and 299; book 24, line 199
Odyssey (Fagles), book 11, line 341; book 24, line 219
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 11, lines 344 and 345; book 24, line 224
Catalogues of Women and Eoiae, fragment 67; fragment 68, lines 4, 7, 20, 38 and 72
XVII Hymn to the Dioskuri (Dioscuri)
XXXIII Hymn to the Dioskuri (Dioscuri)
The Kypria, fragment 1, line 17
Argonautika, book 1, line 148; book 3, line 517
Another name for the Dioskuri (Dioscuri), i.e., Kastor (Castor) and Polydeukes (Polydeuces or Pollux); the name implies that they are from the family of Tyndareus, who was the stepfather of the twins (Zeus was their actual father).
The son of Hera; a snake bodied monster associated with storms; the creature that Apollon killed when he established his shrine at Delphi.
Typhon joined in love with the Nymph-serpent, Echidna and fathered the two-headed dog, Orthos, the hound of Hades (lord of the Dead), Kerberos (Cerberus) and the Hydra.
Theogony, lines 306+
Hymn to Apollon, lines 350+
tee FOH eh us
The youngest child of Gaia (Earth) and Tartaros (Tartarus).
Typhoeus was a gigantic creature with a hundred snake-heads sprouting from his enormous shoulders; each snake-head had eyes that glittered with fire and each of the snake-heads could create sounds that were subtle or horrible, from an echoing whistle to the bellowing of bulls; Typhoeus was strong and willful enough to have ruled the other Immortals if Zeus had not perceived the threat he posed and attacked him with unchecked fury; after a fierce battle, Typhoeus was imprisoned under the earth in Kilikia (Cilicia); all ill-favored winds that plague human endeavors issue from Typhoeus.
Theogony, lines 820-880
Iliad (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 782
Iliad (Fagles), book 2, line 891
Iliad (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 936
A tyrant to the ancient Greeks was nothing more than a ruler or king; there were good tyrants and bad tyrants; a tyrant usually had absolute power but traditionally had councils and committees of citizens to advise him on political and religious decisions.
A river in Scythia; during Herodotus's travels, he was shown a footprint in a rock near the river Tyras that was said to have been left by the hero, Herakles (Heracles).
Herodotus, Histories, book 4.82
An ancient seaport of Phoenicia; the city was made famous by the renown of its navigators and traders; the city was the most difficult obstacle to Alexander the Great when he marched on Syria; the city fell to Alexander in 332 BCE.
The modern city of Sur (Sour) was built on the site of ancient Tyre.
The daughter of the king of Elis, Salmoneus; she was seduced by Poseidon (lord of the Sea) and bore him two sons, Neleus and Pelias.
Tyro married Kretheus (Cretheus) and was the mother of Aeson and thus the grandmother of Jason; she was one of the 'shades' which Odysseus evoked when he went to the entrance to the Underworld.
Odyssey (Lattimore and Loeb), book 2, line 120; book 11, line 235
Odyssey (Fagles), book 2, line 133; book 11, line 268
Odyssey (Fitzgerald), book 2, line 128; book 11, line 269
Catalogues of Women, fragment 13
The body of water that is bounded by Italy on the east, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia on the west and Sicily on the south.
teer TEH os
A lyric poet from the city of Sparta; fl. seventh century BCE.
The term Lyric Poetry is quite literal and designates poetry written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; the lyric poets flourished from roughly 700 BCE until 400 BCE.
It might be more appropriate to say that Tyrtaeus was a Spartan than to say that he was from Sparta; the difference is subtle but important; the Spartans were a different breed of Greek and their social and legal codes made them almost alien to all the other cities of Greece.
It wasn't until I read the poems of Tyrtaeus that I realized that Sparta didn't perish because the Spartans were inflexible and unwilling to change, Sparta perished because, to a true Spartan, to surrender their values was worst than death; the Spartan laws were approved, if not mandated, by the Immortals and for Spartans to abandon their beliefs would have been a sacrilege; the Spartans were not inflexible or dogmatic, they were devout and unyielding; the demise of Sparta was as predictable as the fall of any empire, culture or institution; the Spartans simply understood that concept better than anyone else and did not compromise their beliefs to prolong their eventual extinction.
Tyrtaeus sang of the virtues of bravery and honor; a younger man who would hold back in battle and let an older man take the forefront was without honor; a man who feared death in battle was already dead; a wound in the back was a mark of cowardice.
The poems of Tyrtaeus are a tribute to all that was Spartan; Tyrtaeus put into song what every Spartan felt in their hearts.
There are several excellent collections of lyric poetry that I can personally recommend; if you want to read a sampling of this poetic style, I suggest 7 Greeks by Guy Davenport or Greek Lyric, an Anthology in Translation by Andrew M. Miller; however, the most complete collection is undoubtedly the three volume collection from the Loeb Classical Library, Greek Lyric, Greek Lyric II and Greek Lyric III; you can sometimes find these books at your local library or you can purchase any of these books from the Book Shop on this site; look in the Poetry section.
