When Heracles captured Troy and killed king Laomedon; the less famous legend of the first Trojan war in context
... at least this is the form of the story as it survives by the after-Homer mythographers; because since the 8th c. BCE big parts of this myth seem to be narrated in the Iliad, as an already known legend before the famous Trojan war. A more complete version of it can be found in Hellanicus and Pindar of the 5th c. BCE; reaching in the end to Diodorus and to Apollodorus' library. Here I'm examining the course of the writing of the story, as it appeared chronologically in the sources. And focusing more on Homer, some changes in the path of mythography were noted.
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| fig.01: a sequence of wall paintings from the House of Loreius Tiburtinus [or Octavius Quartio], Pompeii [II, 2, 2], intrepreted as parts of the story of Heracles and Laomedon. a. [left]: the man seated wearing a phrygian cap and holding a sceptre is considered to be Laomedon, on his left standing is thought to be Heracles, while Telamon is approaching Laomedon from the front. At the back of Laomedon the 3-4 men are Trojans, while on far left corner the horses' heads can be seen through a window. b. [center]: Heracles attacks the Trojan mob, while Laomedon is still there holding his sceptre c. right: the wedding of Telamon and Hesione, with Heracles is in the middle. Crop from photo by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta in wikimedia |
1. Homer in context ▲ up
There're three at least major excerpts in Homer's Iliad that though appearing independently seem constituting some big parts of the myth [texts 01, 05 & 09]. Perhaps a fourth [text 30, under 3.4.] could be counted which it will be examined further below in this post, but maybe dubiously. In this chapter they are presented mainly regarding their unity and connection, but also in comparison with few later sources. And one might say that Homer's view could create thoughts about the elements of the myth; i.e. if and in what version all these aspects were known to the poet, especially regarding the Troy's walls.
1.1. The war for the horses ▲ up
During the early encounters in the Iliad, a combat is described between Tlepolemus son of Heracles for the Achaeans, and Sarpedon son of Zeus for the Trojans. This is their short dialogue before the battle:
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τὸν καὶ Τληπόλεμος πρότερος πρὸς μῦθον ἔειπε· 'Σαρπῆδον Λυκίων βουληφόρε, τίς τοι ἀνάγκη πτώσσειν ἐνθάδ᾽ ἐόντι μάχης ἀδαήμονι φωτί; ψευδόμενοι δέ σέ φασι Διὸς γόνον αἰγιόχοιο 635 εἶναι, ἐπεὶ πολλὸν κείνων ἐπιδεύεαι ἀνδρῶν οἳ Διὸς ἐξεγένοντο ἐπὶ προτέρων ἀνθρώπων· ἀλλ᾽ οἷόν τινά φασι βίην Ἡρακληείην εἶναι, ἐμὸν πατέρα θρασυμέμνονα θυμολέοντα· ὅς ποτε δεῦρ᾽ ἐλθὼν ἕνεχ᾽ ἵππων Λαομέδοντος 640 ἓξ οἴῃς σὺν νηυσὶ καὶ ἀνδράσι παυροτέροισιν Ἰλίου ἐξαλάπαξε πόλιν, χήρωσε δ᾽ ἀγυιάς· σοὶ δὲ κακὸς μὲν θυμός, ἀποφθινύθουσι δὲ λαοί. οὐδέ τί σε Τρώεσσιν ὀΐομαι ἄλκαρ ἔσεσθαι ἐλθόντ᾽ ἐκ Λυκίης, οὐδ᾽ εἰ μάλα καρτερός ἐσσι, 645 ἀλλ᾽ ὑπ᾽ ἐμοὶ δμηθέντα πύλας Ἀΐδαο περήσειν.' τὸν δ᾽ αὖ Σαρπηδὼν Λυκίων ἀγὸς ἀντίον ηὔδα· 'Τληπόλεμ᾽ ἤτοι κεῖνος ἀπώλεσεν Ἴλιον ἱρὴν ἀνέρος ἀφραδίῃσιν ἀγαυοῦ Λαομέδοντος, ὅς ῥά μιν εὖ ἕρξαντα κακῷ ἠνίπαπε μύθῳ, 650 οὐδ᾽ ἀπέδωχ᾽ ἵππους, ὧν εἵνεκα τηλόθεν ἦλθε. σοὶ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἐνθάδε φημὶ φόνον καὶ κῆρα μέλαιναν ἐξ ἐμέθεν τεύξεσθαι, ἐμῷ δ᾽ ὑπὸ δουρὶ δαμέντα εὖχος ἐμοὶ δώσειν, ψυχὴν δ᾽ Ἄϊδι κλυτοπώλῳ.' |
and then Tlepolemus spoke first and said to him: "Sarpedon, counsellor of the Lycians! what need indeed has a man to hide here, while he's ignorant of battle? and deceiving they say that you are offspring of Zeus the aegis-bearing [635], because you are falling far short of those heroes who were born from Zeus during the old men's days. But such they say that was mighty Heracles, my father, brave in spirit and lion-hearted; who, coming here once for the horses of Laomedon [640] with only six ships and fewer warriors, he destroyed the city of Ilion and widowed the streets; but you have a coward's spirit, and the people perish. And I think neither that you will be some defense for the Trojans, coming from Lycia, nor even if you shall be very strong [645], but I think that you'll pass the gates of Hades killed by me." And Sarpedon, leader of the Lycians, in turn answered to him: "Tlepolemus! Heracles truly destroyed the sacred Ilion because of the follies of the noble man Laomedon, who reviled him with harsh words, though he had acted well [650]; and nor he gave the horses, for which he had come from far away. But I say that here death and dark fate by me will come to you, and that you, killed by my spear, will offer glory to me, and your soul to Hades the one with the noble steeds." |
By the first reading two questions may arise if we compare this Homer's excerpt with the main legend as told in the introduction.
Did Laomedon die in these combats? Homer just mentions that Heracles 'depopulated / widowed the streets', alluding to heavy Trojan losses.
And further what should this signify about the fate of the divine wall, that Poseidon and Apollo built for Laomedon? This wall seems still standing in the years of Iliad, and according to the main myth, its construction preceded all these events. However, here Heracles destroyed the city of Ilion. Homer for this action uses two verbs, 'ἐξαλαπάζω' and 'ἀπόλλυμι'; both can have the meaning of a complete destruction, though not necessarily.
But besides these questionings, that will be seen further below, three points can be easily deduced by the above passage.
Firstly, the war's reason is Laomedon's horses.
Then, Heracles is considered justified to wage war against Laomedon; and in fact by both sides, the Achaean and the Trojan. It's Laomedon's wrongdoings, follies and bad treatment that led to this conflict; while it's Heracles' right to claim the horses. Especially after offering service/benefits to Laomedon and Troy.
Finally, Homer puts Heracles coming to Troy from afar with only six ships and a small army to claim his reward. Besides the implied heroism, it seems almost clear that according to the poet his demand was already born.
Interesting is that Strabo in the 1st c. BCE, commenting on these verses [Strab. 13.1.32], wrote inter alia that the inhabitants of Ilion aren't honoring Heracles because of this war.
1.1.1. The horses' origin ▲ up
These Laomedon's horses are mentioned few lines previously in Homer.
During a dialogue that occurs between the Achaeans Diomedes and Sthenelus, while watching the Trojans Aeneas and Pandarus attacking, Diomedes said inter alia about Aeneas' horses:
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'...τῆς γάρ τοι γενεῆς ἧς Τρωΐ περ εὐρύοπα Ζεὺς 265 δῶχ᾽ υἷος ποινὴν Γανυμήδεος, οὕνεκ᾽ ἄριστοι ἵππων ὅσσοι ἔασιν ὑπ᾽ ἠῶ τ᾽ ἠέλιόν τε, τῆς γενεῆς ἔκλεψεν ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν Ἀγχίσης λάθρῃ Λαομέδοντος ὑποσχὼν θήλεας ἵππους· τῶν οἱ ἓξ ἐγένοντο ἐνὶ μεγάροισι γενέθλη. 270 τοὺς μὲν τέσσαρας αὐτὸς ἔχων ἀτίταλλ᾽ ἐπὶ φάτνῃ, τὼ δὲ δύ᾽ Αἰνείᾳ δῶκεν μήστωρε φόβοιο. εἰ τούτω κε λάβοιμεν, ἀροίμεθά κε κλέος ἐσθλόν'. |
"... for [they are] of this breed that wide-eyed Zeus gave to Tros [265] as recompense for his son Ganymedes, because they were the best of all the horses which are under the dawn and sun; from this stock the king of men Anchises stole [some] without Laomedon knowing, and put mares to them; from these a stock of six was born in the palace [270]. and keeping himself the four raised them in the stall, and he gave to Aeneas the two, advisers in flight. If we would take these two, we should gain great glory". |
And they did take them...
It's in many rhapsodies ahead where Homer is giving some more information; where their genealogical tree is described [Hom. Il. 20.215ff]. Tros inter alia was the father of Ganymedes and Ilus, the latter becoming the father of Laomedon. So in Homer Ganymedes is Laomedon's uncle; while Anchises was Aeneas' father. And all were descendants of Zeus and then of Tros. There, it's also implied the reason why Zeus gave the horses to Tros as a recompense; gods had taken Ganymedes to make him cupbearer of Zeus cause of his beauty.
The horses probably had passed into the hands of Laomedon from his father Ilus, explaining Homer's phrase that Anchises took a breed secretly from him. However the medieval scholiast is wondering for the even later years of Priam, Laomedon's son:
| λάθρῃ Λαομέδοντος] περισπούδαστοι γὰρ ἦσαν αὐτῷ. πῶς οὗν παρὰ τῷ Πριάμῳ τὸ γένος τῶν ἵππων οὐ σῴζεται; ὅτι τοὺς Λαομέδοντος Ἡρακλῆς ἀπήγαγε πορθήσας τὴν Ἴλιον | without Laomedon knowing] for they were much desired by him [= Anchises]. So how the horses' breed isn't preserved in the years of Priam? Because Heracles took away the ones of Laomedon after conquering Ilion |
As already said, Ganymedes was Laomedon's uncle. However, not all the authors reproduced this genealogy; eg. Euripides. It had been also described a different compensation by the gods for taking Ganymedes; like in the epic Little Iliad of possibly the 7th c. BCE and of uncertain authorship. The Euripides' medieval commentator writes:
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Λαομεδόντιε παῖ] τὸν Γανυμήδην καθ' Ὅμηρον Τρωὸς ὄντα παῖδα
Λαομέδοντος νῦν εἶπεν ἀκολουθήσας τῷ τὴν μικρὰν Ἰλιάδα πεποιηκότι, ὃν
οἱ μὲν Θεστορίδην Φωκαιέα φασὶν, οἱ δὲ Κιναίθωνα Λακεδαιμόνιον ὡς
Ἑλλάνικος, οἱ δὲ Διόδωρον Ἐρυθραῖον. φησὶ δὲ οὕτως ἄμπελον ἣν Κρονίδης ἔπορεν οὗ παιδὸς ἄποινα χρυσείοις φύλλοισιν ἀγανοῖσι κομόωσα βότρυσί θ᾽ οὓς Ηφαιστος ἐπασκήσας Διὶ πατρὶ δῶχ᾽, ὁ δὲ Λαομέδοντι πόρεν Γανυμήδεος ἀντί. [fr. 29, PEG] |
oh son of Laomedon] he [=Euripides] called now Ganymedes as son of
Laomedon, even if he was son of Tros according to Homer, following the
author of the Little Iliad, (who some say that this author was
Thestorides of Phocaea, others Cinaethon of Lakedaemon like
Hellanicus, and others Diodorus of Erythrae). And he says this: the vine which the son of Cronus gave as ransom for this son, was with golden gentle leaves and grape clusters, that Hephaestus completed and gave to father Zeus; and he offered it to Laomedon instead of Ganymedes [fr. 29, PEG] |
Most probably this 'golden vine' was a jewel. Here it isn't clear if this was given alone, or along with the horses. Nevertheless in the manuscripts of another play of Euripides, the Orestes, the scholiast there is giving the same excerpt of Little Iliad but explaining that in that epic this was the only ransom without the horses [schol. ad Eur. Orest. 1391 | (B)BNF Grec 2713, 11th c. CE, f.51r].
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| fig.02: Ganymedes as a cupbearer is serving Zeus. Attic kylix, 500 BCE ca. Tarquinia, Museo Nazionale, nr. RC6848, info in carc.ox.ac.uk ; photo by Sailko in wikimedia |
1.1.2. Heracles' service to the Trojans ▲ up
During combats between Achaeans and Trojans and especially between Achilles and Aeneas, Homer is describing the gods taking seats to watch and maybe interfere, as Zeus had allowed them to be involved again...
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ὣς ἄρα φωνήσας ἡγήσατο κυανοχαίτης τεῖχος ἐς ἀμφίχυτον Ἡρακλῆος θείοιο 145 ὑψηλόν, τό ῥά οἱ Τρῶες καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη ποίεον, ὄφρα τὸ κῆτος ὑπεκπροφυγὼν ἀλέαιτο, ὁππότε μιν σεύαιτο ἀπ᾽ ἠϊόνος πεδίον δέ. |
So after speaking, the dark-haired [Poseidon] led the way to the high earthen wall of divine Heracles [145], which the Trojans and Pallas Athena made, so that he would evade the sea-monster fleeing there, when it would chase him from the sea-shore to the plain. |
Here Heracles is described fighting the sea-monster near Ilion and Trojans are his allies. There's no direct connection with the Homer's aforementioned text about his war [text 01]. However it's the strongest moment in the Iliad [if not the only], where Heracles is mentioned offering service to Troy, doing good; a phrase that Sarpedon used ['εὖ ἕρξαντα', Hom. Il. 5.650] when he contrasted the behaviours of Laomedon and Heracles. The connection can easily be perceived, without the need of any later author.
Homer uses a definite article when speaking about the sea-monster, the cetus, and many medieval scholiasts had justly comprehended this as a sign that the story was already well known. Nevertheless there's no mention of Hesione yet and her rescue; these details are surviving in later accounts, that will be seen below.
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| fig.03: Attic cup - kylix, 540 BCE ca. Heracles is attacking the cetus grasping its tongue with one hand and holding a knife-harpe with the other; so probably to enter in and kill it or to cut its tongue off. Hesione is somewhere at left. Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Taranto, nr. 52155. Info in carc.ox.ac.uk |
1.1.3. The voyage, the fleet and his following adventures ▲ up
According to the Iliad's story [text 01], Heracles came to Troy from far away for these horses, with only six ships and a small army; implying that his demand was already born, i.e. that he had probably killed the cetus. The poet won't give anywhere else further details on this. And generally the context of Hercules' deeds during these events is something vague and confusing even in later authors, who however kept the element of the story's two phases.
Diodorus Siculus, writing in the 1st c. BCE, is perhaps the first whose surviving account could be considered complete; however he's presenting peculiar elements in his narrative, placing Heracles in the ship Argo with Jason. According to him Heracles joined Jason and his journey between two of his labours, after Diomedes' horses and before the belt of Amazon Hippolyta [Diod. 4.15.4]. The killing of the cetus and Hesione's rescue is an adventure on the Argonauts' way to Colchis, without receiving his rewards that would claim after return [Diod. 4.42.1ff]. But this return isn't clear when occured. At one point [Diod. 4.32.1ff] Heracles attacked Troy with 18 ships after the completion of all his labours. At another point [Diod. 4.49.3ff] Diodorus is giving a different tradition where the hero took his rewards with the Argonauts after battle while returning from Colchis. Hyginus of the 1st c. BCE is also placing Heracles in the Argo [Hyg. Fab. 89], killing the sea-monster while going to Aeetes, asking for his rewards returning, and making war after gathering a fleet. In Apollodorus' library of the 2nd c. CE ca, the things are a little similar but different. Heracles killed the cetus and saved Hesione, after gaining the belt of Hippolyte [Apollod. 2.5.9], and waged war against Laomedon after the end of all his labours [Apollod. 2.6.4].
But for the return after Troy, Homer is devoting some verses. And in fact interesting, as they're revealing an in-Olympus conflict, the Zeus' seduction by Hera, but also a small Odyssey for Heracles.
Zeus has already ordered the rest of the gods not to participate in the Trojan war, nor to help any side [Hom. Il. 8.1-27]; in order to serve Thetis' plan, so that the Achaeans, pressed by defeats, to feel and apreciate Achilles' value. Poseidon disobeys trying to help the Achaeans; and Hera watching him, while Zeus is away, conceives a plan to deceive Zeus and distract his attention. She'll try to seduce him with Aphrodite's tools and then with the help of Hypnos [Sleep] she is hoping to earn some time for the rest gods to help the Achaeans, her side. But when she's trying to persuade Hypnos to affect Zeus and lead him to sleep, the little winged deity is refusing at first, remembering a previous incident...
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' Ἥρη πρέσβα θεὰ θύγατερ μεγάλοιο Κρόνοιο ἄλλον μέν κεν ἔγωγε θεῶν αἰειγενετάων ῥεῖα κατευνήσαιμι, καὶ ἂν ποταμοῖο ῥέεθρα 245 Ὠκεανοῦ, ὅς περ γένεσις πάντεσσι τέτυκται· Ζηνὸς δ᾽ οὐκ ἂν ἔγωγε Κρονίονος ἆσσον ἱκοίμην οὐδὲ κατευνήσαιμ᾽, ὅτε μὴ αὐτός γε κελεύοι. ἤδη γάρ με καὶ ἄλλο τεὴ ἐπίνυσσεν ἐφετμὴ ἤματι τῷ ὅτε κεῖνος ὑπέρθυμος Διὸς υἱὸς 250 ἔπλεεν Ἰλιόθεν Τρώων πόλιν ἐξαλαπάξας. ἤτοι ἐγὼ μὲν ἔλεξα Διὸς νόον αἰγιόχοιο νήδυμος ἀμφιχυθείς· σὺ δέ οἱ κακὰ μήσαο θυμῷ ὄρσασ᾽ ἀργαλέων ἀνέμων ἐπὶ πόντον ἀήτας, καί μιν ἔπειτα Κόων δ᾽ εὖ ναιομένην ἀπένεικας 255 νόσφι φίλων πάντων. ὃ δ᾽ ἐπεγρόμενος χαλέπαινε ῥιπτάζων κατὰ δῶμα θεούς, ἐμὲ δ᾽ ἔξοχα πάντων ζήτει· καί κέ μ᾽ ἄϊστον ἀπ᾽ αἰθέρος ἔμβαλε πόντῳ, εἰ μὴ Νὺξ δμήτειρα θεῶν ἐσάωσε καὶ ἀνδρῶν.' |
"Hera, elder goddess, daughter of mighty Cronos! I indeed would easily make sleep any other of the everlasting gods, even if they were the streams of river Oceanus [245], who has been the source of all. But I wouldn't approach near Zeus, son of Cronos, nor I would make him sleep, unless himself had ordered me so. For already a command of yours has taught me something else, on the day when the highhearted son of Zeus [=Heracles] [250] was sailing away from Ilion, after destroying the city of the Trojans. I truly then lulled the mind of Zeus the aegis-bearing, being poured sweetly around him; and you by anger planned evil things for him [=Heracles], raising blasts of troublous winds over the open sea, and then you carried him away to the well-dwelled land of the Coans [255], away from all his beloved. But he [=Zeus], after waking up, was furious, tossing the gods all over the palace hall, and he was seeking me above all. and he would have thrown me from heaven into the deep sea to disappear, if Night, tamer of gods and men, wouldn't have saved me." |
Hera however convinced Hypnos, after promising to him that he would take the grace Pasithea, and her plan was set in motion. But when Zeus got up again next to her and saw a winning battlefield for the Achaeans with Poseidon being among them, angry and threatening remembered the same incident with Heracles and inter alia said to her:
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'ἦ οὐ μέμνῃ ὅτε τ᾽ ἐκρέμω ὑψόθεν, ἐκ δὲ ποδοῖιν ἄκμονας ἧκα δύω, περὶ χερσὶ δὲ δεσμὸν ἴηλα χρύσεον ἄρρηκτον; σὺ δ᾽ ἐν αἰθέρι καὶ νεφέλῃσιν 20 ἐκρέμω· ἠλάστεον δὲ θεοὶ κατὰ μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον, λῦσαι δ᾽ οὐκ ἐδύναντο παρασταδόν· ὃν δὲ λάβοιμι ῥίπτασκον τεταγὼν ἀπὸ βηλοῦ ὄφρ᾽ ἂν ἵκηται γῆν ὀλιγηπελέων· ἐμὲ δ᾽ οὐδ᾽ ὧς θυμὸν ἀνίει ἀζηχὴς ὀδύνη Ἡρακλῆος θείοιο, 25 τὸν σὺ ξὺν Βορέῃ ἀνέμῳ πεπιθοῦσα θυέλλας πέμψας ἐπ᾽ ἀτρύγετον πόντον κακὰ μητιόωσα, καί μιν ἔπειτα Κόων δ᾽ εὖ ναιομένην ἀπένεικας. τὸν μὲν ἐγὼν ἔνθεν ῥυσάμην καὶ ἀνήγαγον αὖτις Ἄργος ἐς ἱππόβοτον καὶ πολλά περ ἀθλήσαντα'. 30 |
"don't you remember when you were hung from above, and I had suspended two anvils from your feet; and around your hands I had put unbreakable golden bonds; and you were hung in the air and clouds [20]. and the gods became indignant along the long Olympus, but they weren't able to release you standing by. for whomever I caught, I seized and threw him from the threshold in order to reach powerless the earth. but the unceasing grief for divine Heracles didn't let my soul calm [25], whom you, controlling storms with the Northern wind, sent him over the barren deep sea with evil plans in mind. and then you carried him away to the well-dwelled land of the Coans. thence I rescued him and brought him back again to the horse-pasturing Argos, though he had labored a lot" [30]. |
Probably the horses of Laomedon, Heracles' reward, wouldn't have survived from the shipwreck. And this made me wonder if this part of the myth was standing to underline the war cause's vanity, Hera's conflict against Heracles or the importance of the lost horse breed for the Iliad. Regarding the Cos incident, Heracles in Homer seems just suffering, who needs Zeus' help to be saved. In later authors this starts transforming somehow into an occasional adventure or an expedition. For instance, a revelant fragment of the historian Pherecydes [early 5th c. BCE], preserved in the manuscripts' marginalia, says:
| Κόων] Ἡρακλῆς ἀνακομιζόμενος μετὰ τὸ πορθῆσαι Τροίαν, γενόμενος κατὰ τὸ Αἰγαῖον πέλαγος, βουλήσει Ἥρας σφοδρῷ συνεσχέθη χειμῶνι· κατασυρεὶς δὲ εἰς Κῶ τὴν Μεροπίδα ἐκωλύθη ἐπιβῆναι τῆς νήσου ὑπὸ Εὐρυπύλου τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος, βασιλεύοντος αὐτῆς. βιασάμενος δὲ ὡς λῃστὴς ἐπιβὰς ἀνεῖλε τὸν Εὐρύπυλον καὶ τοὺς παιδας αὐτοῦ· μιγεὶς δὲ τῇ θυγατρὶ αὐτοῦ Χαλκίοπη Θεσσαλὸν ἐγέννησεν. ἡ ϊστορία παρὰ Φερεκύδει [FGrHist 3 F 78] | of the Coans] Heracles, while being at the Aegean sea on his way back after destroying Troy, he had been constrained by a violent storm at Hera's will. and he was carried towards Meropida Cos. but the king of Cos, Eurypylus, son of Poseidon, prevented him to set foot on the island. and after disembarking like a pirate while he was pressed hard, he killed Eurypylus and his sons; then he had intercourse with his daughter Chalciope and gave birth to Thessalus. the story by Pherecydes [FGrHist 3 F 78] |
The fights of Heracles in Cos island are also remembered by poet Pindar in the early 5th c. BCE. He is writing twice about his companions Peleus and Telamon, who after the sack of Troy they fought against Meropes [the Cos island's tribe] and then against the giant Alcyoneus [Pind. I. 6.31-33, 484-480 BCE ca, & Pind. N. 4.25-27, 473 BCE ca; here texts 18 & 19]. Some of these legends were possibly narrated by Hesiod of the 8th c. BCE too, if the scholars' attribution for the papyrus' text is correct [Hes.fr.43(a)].
Nevertheless, stranglely enough this battle with Alcyoneus, that Pindar placed later after Cos, is often depicted with him being put to sleep by Hypnos, reminding the allusion that Hypnos uses when speaks to Hera [Hom. Il. 14.243ff]. It's a reference not attested in literature and perhaps of the few, if not the only one, where Hypnos helps Heracles; an example in fig.04.
Later Plutarch of the 1st c. CE gave a narrative too [Plut. Quaes.Gr. 304c-e (58); here text 37]; and also Apollodorus' library [Apollod. 2.7.1], where it's said that Zeus actually saved Heracles from a battle against warrior Chalcedon in Cos.
Besides Heracles' aspect, the medieval scholiasts are mentioning justly that this previous Zeus' wrath against Hera and Hypnos should be already alluded earlier in the Iliad [Hom. Il. 1.572ff, 1.586ff], where god Hephaestus is describing a similar incident to the rest of the gods and his mother Hera about Zeus' strength. Hephaestus had tried to save Hera but Zeus caught him by the foot and threw him from the threshold down to earth, while Homer is using similar phraseology. It may also be compared with the so-called Gods' rebellion against Zeus, mentioned by Homer in (A) 1.399ff; an aspect that will be seen below.
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| fig.04: Attic lekythos, 510 BCE ca: with Heracles attacking the giant Alcyoneus, who is put to sleep by Hypnos. An event that is placed by Pindar after Troy, and a scene not attested in literature. Toledo Museum of Art nr. 1952.66, in emuseum.toledomuseum.org |
1.2. The walls of Troy ▲ up
The Troy's walls are legendary. Ten years couldn't be passed by the Achaeans, and in the end a trick was needed for this; the Trojan Horse. Perhaps the fact that the wall's craftsmen were gods played some role for its endurance. The relevant excerpt that will see, was considered by later poets and mythographers as part of the Heracles' story, as the beginnings of our myth. However in the Iliad it feels disconnected, standing alone; without being able to tell if Homer was aware of this possible connection and omitted it, or had something else in mind.
Zeus had already permitted the god's interventions into the war again [Hom. Il. 20.20ff]; and in the course of the events, combats between gods have started to occur. Now Poseidon of the Achaean side is provoking Apollo for the Trojans; but perhaps in a milder way, as if it was imposed by rules of honor. And he tries to remind him that none of these two should fight for Troy. Apollo will decline the challenge in the end.
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'...οὐδέ νυ τῶν περ μέμνηαι ὅσα δὴ πάθομεν κακὰ Ἴλιον ἀμφὶ μοῦνοι νῶϊ θεῶν, ὅτ᾽ ἀγήνορι Λαομέδοντι πὰρ Διὸς ἐλθόντες θητεύσαμεν εἰς ἐνιαυτὸν μισθῷ ἔπι ῥητῷ· ὃ δὲ σημαίνων ἐπέτελλεν. 445 ἤτοι ἐγὼ Τρώεσσι πόλιν πέρι τεῖχος ἔδειμα εὐρύ τε καὶ μάλα καλόν, ἵν᾽ ἄρρηκτος πόλις εἴη· Φοῖβε σὺ δ᾽ εἰλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς βουκολέεσκες Ἴδης ἐν κνημοῖσι πολυπτύχου ὑληέσσης. ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ μισθοῖο τέλος πολυγηθέες ὧραι 450 ἐξέφερον, τότε νῶϊ βιήσατο μισθὸν ἅπαντα Λαομέδων ἔκπαγλος, ἀπειλήσας δ᾽ ἀπέπεμπε. σὺν μὲν ὅ γ᾽ ἠπείλησε πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ὕπερθε δήσειν, καὶ περάαν νήσων ἔπι τηλεδαπάων· στεῦτο δ᾽ ὅ γ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων ἀπολεψέμεν οὔατα χαλκῷ. 455 νῶϊ δὲ ἄψορροι κίομεν κεκοτηότι θυμῷ μισθοῦ χωόμενοι, τὸν ὑποστὰς οὐκ ἐτέλεσσε'. |
"... neither you remember now all the harms that the two of us, alone of all the gods, suffered around Ilion, when we were sent by Zeus and served brave Laomedon for a year at a fixed wage; and he was giving orders as a supervisor [445]. I truly built for the Trojans a wide and quite fine wall around the city, so that the city would remain unbreakable. and you Phoebus were taking care of the oxen, with the twisted horns and rolling walk, in the slopes of the much-folded wooded Ida. But when now the delightful seasons were bringing the end of our hire [450], then violent Laomedon deprived the two of us of all our wages and sent us away threatening. He did threaten that he would bind together our feet and hands from above, and sell us at the distant islands. and he boasted that he would slice off the ears of both of us with copper [455]. and both of us were going back with angry hearts, being in wrath for the wages which even if he promised didn't pay". |
The content of this passage serves as the start of the Heracles' myth according to later accounts. Due to Laomedon's denial to pay the gods, legend has it that Poseidon sent the cetus in revenge and this way Heracles was involved, who in the end destroyed Ilion. Plain reasoning would indicate that either during that siege in order to break in or during the ravage afterwards, the wall should have suffered some by Heracles. However, Homer doesn't give such information and connections; and one may wonder, as according to the Iliad this divine wall probably is still standing during the Trojan war and still protects the city.
When the Achaeans started to build defensive structures to protect their ships and camp near the beach, Poseidon complained to Zeus about the fame and glory of their own wall, that himself and Apollo had made for Laomedon.
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'οὐχ ὁράᾳς ὅτι δ᾽ αὖτε κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοὶ τεῖχος ἐτειχίσσαντο νεῶν ὕπερ, ἀμφὶ δὲ τάφρον ἤλασαν, οὐδὲ θεοῖσι δόσαν κλειτὰς ἑκατόμβας; 450 τοῦ δ᾽ ἤτοι κλέος ἔσται ὅσον τ᾽ ἐπικίδναται ἠώς· τοῦ δ᾽ ἐπιλήσονται τὸ ἐγὼ καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων ἥρῳ Λαομέδοντι πολίσσαμεν ἀθλήσαντε.' |
"Don't you see that now again the long-haired Achaeans built wall for their ships, and drew a thrench on both sides? but they didn't offer to the gods the renowned sacrifices [450]. and truly its fame will reach as far as the dawn spreads over. and they'll forget the one that I and Phoebus Apollo built with toil for hero Laomedon." |
And Zeus advised Poseidon to destroy the Achaean wall after the war. This advise underlines, by comparison with the temporality of these human structures, the strength and endurance of the gods' work, which the poet is implying further in the epic [text 09: ἄρρηκτος πόλις = unbreakable city]. The destruction of the Achaean wall by the gods is given by Homer further in the epic [Hom. Il. 12.1ff], as a vision from the future.
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| fig.05: Troy VI east tower and wall, 1300 BCE ca. The wall is about 6m high. Crop from photo by David Spender in flickr |
1.2.1. The destiny of the Trojan walls ▲ up
Nevertheless there're some instances in the Iliad, where the wall's strength and endurance seem emphasized; as its safety is connected with destiny.
While Achilles had returned in the battles, Zeus was giving permission to the gods to participate again in the war; and he expressed a fear:
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'εἰ γὰρ Ἀχιλλεὺς οἶος ἐπὶ Τρώεσσι μαχεῖται οὐδὲ μίνυνθ᾽ ἕξουσι ποδώκεα Πηλεΐωνα. καὶ δέ τί μιν καὶ πρόσθεν ὑποτρομέεσκον ὁρῶντες· νῦν δ᾽ ὅτε δὴ καὶ θυμὸν ἑταίρου χώεται αἰνῶς δείδω μὴ καὶ τεῖχος ὑπέρμορον ἐξαλαπάξῃ'. 30 |
"For if Achilles will fight alone against the Trojans, not even for a while they'll hold back swift-footed son of Peleus. Even before they trembled when they were seeing him; and now as he's truly angry about his comrade, I fear he might destroy the wall beyond destiny" [30]. |
And when Apollo rushed to protect the city from the Achaean attack:
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αὐτὰρ Ἀπόλλων Φοῖβος ἐδύσετο Ἴλιον ἱρήν· 515 μέμβλετο γάρ οἱ τεῖχος ἐϋδμήτοιο πόληος μὴ Δαναοὶ πέρσειαν ὑπὲρ μόρον ἤματι κείνῳ. |
but Phoebus Apollo entered into the sacred Ilion [515]; for he was concerned with the wall of the well-built city, with the fear that the Danaans might destroy it on that day beyond destiny |
In the first excerpt [text 11] it would be against fate if the wall was destroyed. In the second [text 12] the syntax doesn't help and remains unclear. It could be either the wall or the city, that destiny wants to keep safe, though the wall has the lead. An allusion is also made regarding time. Things are becoming plainer in an earlier passage...
when Patroclus was attacking the walls of Troy, wearing the Achilles' armor.
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ἔνθά κεν ὑψίπυλον Τροίην ἕλον υἷες Ἀχαιῶν Πατρόκλου ὑπὸ χερσί, περὶ πρὸ γὰρ ἔγχεϊ θῦεν, εἰ μὴ Ἀπόλλων Φοῖβος ἐϋδμήτου ἐπὶ πύργου 700 ἔστη τῷ ὀλοὰ φρονέων, Τρώεσσι δ᾽ ἀρήγων. τρὶς μὲν ἐπ᾽ ἀγκῶνος βῆ τείχεος ὑψηλοῖο Πάτροκλος, τρὶς δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀπεστυφέλιξεν Ἀπόλλων χείρεσσ᾽ ἀθανάτῃσι φαεινὴν ἀσπίδα νύσσων. ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ τὸ τέταρτον ἐπέσσυτο δαίμονι ἶσος, 705 δεινὰ δ᾽ ὁμοκλήσας ἔπεα πτερόεντα προσηύδα· 'χάζεο διογενὲς Πατρόκλεες· οὔ νύ τοι αἶσα σῷ ὑπὸ δουρὶ πόλιν πέρθαι Τρώων ἀγερώχων, οὐδ᾽ ὑπ᾽ Ἀχιλλῆος, ὅς περ σέο πολλὸν ἀμείνων.' |
then the sons of the Achaeans would have captured the high-gated Troy with the hands of Patroclus - for he was raging with his spear in hand around and behind him -, if Apollo Phoebus hadn't stood upon the well-built tower [700] intending to destroy him, aiding the Trojans. three times Patroclus stepped onto an angle of the high wall, and three times Apollo pushed him back thrusting the bright shield with his immortal hands. but when [Patroclus] rushed in for the fourth time like a daemon [705], [Apollo] addressed to him with winged words shouting fearfully: "Draw back Patroclus, sprung from Zeus. it's not now your destiny to destroy the city of the mighty Trojans by your spear, nor by Achiles, who is far better than you" |
It's clearer here that destiny was concerned more with the fall of the city of Troy. The walls serve as a means that shouldn't be used, in order fate to complete what has been foreseen; i.e. the Trojan horse.
Nevertheless the lost epic Little Iliad of the 7th c. BCE is giving an interesting aspect that could underline with some irony the connection of the walls' endurance with Troy's fate. According to its argument, as given by Proclus' Chrestomathy [PEG Ar. 1 | (A)Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822), f.6v], the epic ends with the acceptance of the Trojan horse in the city by its inhabitants, who themselves 'took down a part of the wall' [='διελόντες μέρος τι τοῦ τείχους'].
But even this way, the walls remain a gods' work. And further it feels inelegant and contradictory the same walls that should be kept standing for that long against Achaeans, so at least to serve Troy's destiny and its final doom, the same ones to have been already beaten by Heracles with a considerably smaller army, one - two generations before. Even if he was a demigod, he wasn't the only of a divine family.
Did Homer or the earlier anonymous mythographers received an already shaped legend about Heracles and stole elements for the content of his own poems? For other cases they have been noted similarities between Homer's poetry and possible earlier myths; like between the Odyssey compared with the adventures of Jason, which already since the 1st c. BCE Strabo had recorded [cf. Strab. 1.2.10 & 1.2.40]. If that's the case then the poet certainly had to omit the elements that would weaken his own story; like the fact that Heracles had already taken the divine walls.
Or this part of the myth hadn't been born yet?
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| fig.06: Under the walls of Troy, Achilles drags Hector's dead body, while people fighting and mourning on the walls. Scenes around a Silver oinochoe, Roman 1st c. CE, from the Berthouville treasure. Medailles et Antiques, Paris, inv.56.5 in medaillesetantiques.bnf.fr |
1.2.2. Just reading Homer about the Trojan walls ▲ up
The building of the walls of Troy by the gods as the introductory part of our myth, but combined with scenes of the following walls' destruction by Heracles and his comrades, can be seen since Hellanicus' fragments of the 5th c. BCE, that will be examined below. Suffice it to say here that in his narrative the two gods built the wall on the highest hill of Ilion, that was called Pergamos [FGrHist 4 F 26a]. Pergamos was Troy's citadel, mentioned already by Homer as sacred, where Apollo had its temple [eg. Hom. Il. 5.446].
This made me look at the Iliad's text for references, so to figure out how the poet was perceiving these walls:
Troy is considered well-walled ['εὐτείχεος']; an adjective that 6 out of 7 times in the Iliad is referring to this city. Its walls are famous [21.295], tall-long [4.34, 22.507 & 16.702, 21.540], steep [6.327, 11.181], wide and fair [21.446]. They have beautiful battlements [22.3]. They have gates [22.9, cf. 4.34, 22.507], and towers [eg. 3.153-154, 18.274-278, 22.447].
The gates seem to be many [2.809, 8.58], lofty [18.275], controlled by gate-keepers [21.530], supported by long well-made wooden boards that are removable [18.275, 21.535]; and these gates are guarding the city along with the towers [18.274-276]. They have names, like the Dardanian gates [5.789, 22.194] or the Scaean gates. The latter are the most mentioned in the epic, serving at least apparently as the main ones, that were leading to the Priam's palace [6.237ff], giving the sense that these walls were truly around the citadel. These gates are mentioned three times near a certain oak-tree [eg. 6.237, 9.354], which was a spot in the battlefield in front and was recited as beautiful and tall, belonging to Zeus [5.693, 7.60].
The towers in Homer's narrative might sometimes confuse regarding translation, as they could be perceived with a similar meaning of ramparts or walls themselves; but not necessarily. There're at least two instances where they are expressly differentiated from walls [21.529-530, 22.462-463]. In any case in Iliad the Trojan towers could be: divine [21.526] or god-built [8.519], great-big [6.386], tall [3.384] & well-built [16.700, 22.195]; while Troy was well-towered [7.71: 'εὔπυργος']. There was a tower near or above the aforementioned Scaean gates, that served as an observation post for the Trojan elders towards the battlefield [3.145ff]. This concept of a tower near-above gates can be met once more at least [21.526ff].
As seen, Homer is narrating about really strong fortifications. This connotation of safety can be easily perceived at two more excerpts:
When Achilles is talking with Odysseus and the delegation about his return to battles, he's commenting:
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'ὄφρα δ᾽ ἐγὼ μετ᾽ Ἀχαιοῖσιν πολέμιζον οὐκ ἐθέλεσκε μάχην ἀπὸ τείχεος ὀρνύμεν Ἕκτωρ, ἀλλ᾽ ὅσον ἐς Σκαιάς τε πύλας καὶ φηγὸν ἵκανεν· ἔνθά ποτ᾽ οἶον ἔμιμνε, μόγις δέ μευ ἔκφυγεν ὁρμήν'. 355 |
"But as long as I was fighting together with the Achaeans, Hector didn't desire to raise battle far from the wall, but he was reaching as far as the Scaean gates and the oak-tree; there once he awaited me alone for battle, but he hardly escaped my assault" [355] |
While Achilles has returned to combats, Priam is watching the battlefield from the tower...
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ἑστήκει δ᾽ ὃ γέρων Πρίαμος θείου ἐπὶ πύργου, ἐς δ᾽ ἐνόησ᾽ Ἀχιλῆα πελώριον· αὐτὰρ ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ Τρῶες ἄφαρ κλονέοντο πεφυζότες, οὐδέ τις ἀλκὴ γίγνεθ᾽· ὃ δ᾽ οἰμώξας ἀπὸ πύργου βαῖνε χαμᾶζε ὀτρύνων παρὰ τεῖχος ἀγακλειτοὺς πυλαωρούς· 530 'πεπταμένας ἐν χερσὶ πύλας ἔχετ᾽ εἰς ὅ κε λαοὶ ἔλθωσι προτὶ ἄστυ πεφυζότες· ἦ γὰρ Ἀχιλλεὺς ἐγγὺς ὅδε κλονέων· νῦν οἴω λοίγι᾽ ἔσεσθαι. αὐτὰρ ἐπεί κ᾽ ἐς τεῖχος ἀναπνεύσωσιν ἀλέντες, αὖτις ἐπανθέμεναι σανίδας πυκινῶς ἀραρυίας· 535 δείδια γὰρ μὴ οὖλος ἀνὴρ ἐς τεῖχος ἅληται.' |
And old Priam was standing upon the divine tower and was looking
towards huge Achilles; but the Trojans were truly fleeing in panic
before him, and there was no defense; and from the tower Priam stepped
to the ground with lament, urging the glorious gate-keepers along the
wall [530]: "keep the gates wide open with your hands, until the people will enter into the city fleeing; for truly Achilles is near here striking them with panic; now I think there will be sorrow. but when they will take a breath getting inside the wall, put back again the [wooden] boards fitting closely [535]. for I'm afraid that the baneful man will leap over the wall" |
Not even Achilles can beat the divine Troy's fortifications; and generally these defensive structures and their endurance seem to be crucial all over the Iliad, determining the course of the battles and of the plot.
Of course there's one instance where a weak spot at the walls is implied, or at least a preferable one by the Achaeans for attack. While Andromache tries to persuade Hector not to join the battle and stay home, she urges him to send his men near a fig-tree, where 'the city can be scaled and the wall have become suitable for attack'. According to her, three times there the Achaean heroes tried to attack, moved either by an oracle or by choice [6.433-439]. However these 7 lyrics have been critisized as spurious in the manuscripts' marginalia scholia, which are attributed by modern scholars to Aristarchus [3rd c. BCE] or Aristonicus [1st c. BCE] [in: (A)Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822), f.89r]. Specifically these seven lyrics were considered as inappropriate words for Andromache and also as a false meaning, because there's no other mention of such vulnerability of the walls, nor of such assaults. Nevertheless this passage easily reminds some Pindar's verses about Aeacus, that will see below.
And after all these I'm still wondering: How would Heracles have already beaten these divine walls? By siege it would eliminate the glory of the Achaean struggle; by some trick it would undermine the uniqueness of the Trojan horse. I don't know if Homer already knew the myth and just omitted parts, so to emphasize the difficulty of the siege and the importance of the Trojan horse, or if these elements of the legend haven't been born yet.
The elements that are missing could be considered crucial. When these divine walls were built? Before or after Heracles? Because Laomedon's death isn't mentioned yet; and this would take some centuries for the mythographers to narrate. By any approach, had Heracles and Achilles faced the same walls at Troy?
If Homer did already know about the version that appeared in the later surviving sources, then he made a great job regarding omissions and rewordings.
2. In Pindar ▲ up
Next stop is Pindar's poetry of the early 5th c. BCE. He has devoted many verses for parts of our myth; more are on Heracles' war along with his companion Telamon [eg. Pind. N. 3.36ff, Pind. N. 4.25ff, Pind. I. 5.35ff, Pind. I. 6.27ff], but also around the wall's building [Pind. O. 8.31ff], while there're just allusions of the story about the sea-monster [Pind. N. 1.63, Pind. N. 3.23].
By plain reading one can see that our legend starts to take some shape; i.e. the Heracles' comrades are named and the divine walls are built before the war. However there's no mention of Hesione yet.
2.1. The building of the walls ▲ up
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... ἐξ Αἰακοῦ· τὸν παῖς ὁ Λατοῦς εὐρυμέδων τε Ποσειδᾶν, Ἰλίῳ μέλλοντες ἐπὶ στέφανον τεῦξαι, καλέσαντο συνεργὸν τείχεος, ἦν ὅτι νιν πεπρωμένον ὀρνυμένων πολέμων πτολιπόρθοις ἐν μάχαις 35 λάβρον ἀμπνεῦσαι καπνόν. γλαυκοὶ δὲ δράκοντες, ἐπεὶ κτίσθη νέον, πύργον ἐσαλλόμενοι τρεῖς, οἱ δύο μὲν κάπετον, αὖθι δ᾽ ἀτυζόμενοι ψυχὰς βάλον· εἷς δ᾽ ἀνόρουσε βοάσαις. 40 ἔννεπε δ᾽ ἀντίον ὁρμαίνων τέρας εὐθὺς, Ἀπόλλων· 'Πέργαμος ἀμφὶ τεαῖς, ἥρως, χερὸς ἐργασίαι ἁλίσκεται· ὣς ἐμοὶ φάσμα λέγει Κρονίδα πεμφθὲν βαρυγδούπου Διός· οὐκ ἄτερ παίδων σέθεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἅμα πρώτοις ἄρξεται 45 καὶ τετράτοις.' |
... from Aeacus, whom the son of Leto and the widely ruling Poseidon
called to be co-worker, when they were about to built the wall-circle
for Ilion; because it was fated that when wars would begin, it would
breathe out ravening smoke during the city destroying battles [35].
and when it was newly built, three blue-gray dragons leaped onto the
tower; the two fell down, and terrified lost their lives immediately,
and the third leapt up shouting [40]. and Apollo thinking on the
adverse omen said at once: "Pergamos is captured, hero, cause of your hand-works, as a vision says to me that was sent from the loud-thundering Zeus, son of Cronus. but not without your sons, it will begin with the first [generation] and the third [generation]" |
Pindar is connecting clearly the walls as preceding the Heracles' war. He's also offering here some more parts around their building; perhaps new at his time. He involves Aeacus, king of Aegina and father of Telemon and Peleus. He's also reciting an Apollo's vision. Nevertheless, in this ode the two destructions of Troy are treated as similar, equivalent; the two stories are coming together. But says nothing about Laomedon here.
A unique ms scholion is reproducing some interesting relevant excerpts; one by Didymus Chalcenterus, an ancient homeric commentator of the 1st c. BCE, and one by Euphorion of Chalcis, poet of the 3rd c. BCE.
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τὸν παῖς ὁ Λατοῦς] ἰδίως φησὶν ὁ Δίδυμος καὶ τούτοις χρήσασθαι τὸν
Πίνδαρον· τὸν γὰρ Ποσειδῶνα καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα εἰς τὴν τοῦ τείχους
κατασκευήν φησι τὸν Αἰακὸν προσλαβεῖν. Kαὶ τὸν λόγον ἀποδίδωσί, φησιν,
ἵνα διὰ τούτου τοῦ μέρους [τοῦ] ὑπὸ Αἰακοῦ οἰκοδομηθέντος ἁλώσιμος
γένηται ἡ Ἴλιος. Παρ' οὐδενὶ δὲ πρεσβυτέρῳ Πινδάρου ἡ ἱστορία· ὁ δὲ
Εὐφορίων φησίν· [fr. 58 Mein. = fr. 54, Powell] ἦ γὰρ δὴ Φοῖβός τε Ποσειδάων τ᾽ ἐκάλεσσαν Αἰακὸν, οὐκ ἀβοήθητα περὶ κρήδεμνα δέμοντες |
the son of Leto] Didymus says that Pindar especially used these; and
he recounts that Aeacus helped Poseidon and Apollo with the
construction of the wall. and he's giving the story, he says, so that
it would be possible to conquer Ilion through this part, which was
built by Aeacus. the story [is said] by nobody else older than Pindar;
and Euphorion says [fr. 58 Mein. = fr. 54, Powell]: for truly Phoebus and Poseidon called Aeacus, so to build with some help around the battlements |
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| fig.07: Flask [terra sigillata vase] from Roman Necropolis of Salo in N. Italy, 2nd c. CE ca. Scene with Heracles killing Laomedon while Hesione is at left. Inscriptions are writing: on left ESIONE - HERCULES, and down (LAO)MEDON. Now in Museo Archeologico della Valle Sabbia, nr. St 33955. Photo by Jastrow in wikimedia |
2.2. Telamon, Troy and the death of Laomedon ▲ up
The story of Heracles' war is briefly mentioned in few of Pindar's odes; mainly around Telamon and Peleus, sons of Aeacus and friends of Heracles. Here're just three examples:
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... σὺν ᾧ ποτε Τρωΐαν κραταιὸς Τελαμὼν πόρθησε καὶ Μέροπας καὶ τὸν μέγαν πολεμιστὰν ἔκπαγλον Ἀλκυονῆ, |
... once powerful Telamon along with him [=Heracles] destroyed Troy and the Meropes and the great and terrible warrior Alcyoneus |
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τὸν χαλκοχάρμαν ἐς πόλεμον ἆγε σὺν Τιρυνθίοισι πρόφρονα σύμμαχον ἐς Τρωΐαν, ἥρωσι μόχθον, Λαομεδοντίαν ὑπὲρ ἀμπλακίαν ἐν ναυσὶν Ἀλκμήνας τέκος. 30 εἷλε δὲ Περγαμίαν, πέφνεν δὲ σὺν κείνῳ Μερόπων ἔθνεα καὶ τὸν βουβόταν οὔρεϊ ἴσον Φλέγραισιν εὑρὼν Ἀλκυονῆ |
The son of Alcmene [=Heracles] led him [=Telamon], who delights in bronze, for war with ships to Troy, the toil of heroes, as a willing ally along with the Tiryntheans, because of Laomedon's fault [30]. He captured Pergamia, he killed with him the nations of Meropes and the herdsman Alcyoneus, equal with a mountain, whom he found at Phlegrae |
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... Αἰακοῦ παίδων τε· τοὶ καὶ σὺν μάχαις δὶς πόλιν Τρώων πράθον ἑσπόμενοι Ἡρακλῆϊ πρότερον, καὶ σὺν Ἀτρείδαις |
... of Aeacus and his descendants. and they destroyed twice the city of the Trojans in battles, following at first Heracles, then with the sons of Atreus |
In these verses Heracles' adventures look like more as an expedition with his friend Telamon; first Troy, then Cos-Meropes, finally Alcyoneus. Telamon probably was a companion of Heracles since the writings of Hesiod of the 8th c. BCE [Hes. fr. [140] 250 | scholion ad Pind. Isth. 4.37 (53a)]. Here in Pindar inter alia he's accompanying Heracles at Troy. But it's an aspect already known. In a fragment of Peisander of Camirus, epic poet of the 7th c. BCE, was said:
| Πείσανδρος δέ φησιν Ἡρακλέα Τελαμῶνι τῆς ἐπὶ Ἴλιον στρατείας ἀριστεῖον ἄλεισον δοῦναι. | And Peisander says that Heracles gave to Telamon a goblet as a prize of valour for the expedition to Ilion |
Nevertheless there's one more excerpt in Pindar, which isn't totally clear regarding an element of our legend; the death of Laomedon.
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Λαομέδοντα δ᾽ εὐρυσθενὴς Τελαμὼν Ἰόλᾳ παραστάτας ἐὼν ἔπερσεν |
and powerful Telamon, Iolas' comrade, destroyed Laomedon |
And it's the meaning of the phrase 'Λαομέδοντα... ἔπερσεν' that could be possibly given with two ways; both found in fact in modern Pindar's translations. Literally it means 'destroying Laomedon'; thus probably 'killing'. If that's the case, it would be the earliest surviving reference of Laomedon's death; and in fact by Telamon not Heracles. However, it could be also given figuratively as 'destroying/ravaging Laomedon's city'.
This verb 'πέθρω' is used in Pindar mainly with cities-places as objects, having the meaning of 'destroy', 'ravage' [eg. P. 1.54, N. 7.35, I. 5.36, Pae. 6.91, cf. Pae. 6.104]. However not exclusively: in O. 10.32 means 'destroying an army', in P. 3.50 'suffering by summer's heat and winter's cold', in P. 9.81 'cutting off/taking one's head'. It seems having more generally the sense of 'taking violently'. Earlier in Homer the verb more possibly was used only with places as objects.
The medieval scholiast understands it mainly as a figurative phrase.
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b. Λαομέδοντα δ εὐρυσθενὴς] ἀπὸ μὲν τοῦ Λαομέδοντος τὴν πόρθησιν τῆς
Ἰλίου σημαίνει, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ Ἰόλα, ὃς ἦν Ἰφικλέους υἱός, τὴν Ἡρακλέους
στρατηγίαν · τῷ δὲ Ἡρακλεῖ συγκαθεῖλε Τελαμὼν τὴν Ἴλιον. d. ἄλλως. Ἰόλαος Ἡρακλέους ἦν ἡνίοχος · ἐκ συσσήμου οὖν λέγει Ἰόλᾳ, τουτέστι τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ. φησὶν οὖν, ὅτι καὶ ὁ Τελαμὼν παραστάτης ὢν τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἅμα τῷ Ἰόλᾳ ἐπόρθησε τὸν Λαομέδοντα. |
b. Laomedon...] and by Laomedon it signifies the sack of Ilion, and
by Iolas who was son of Iphicles, [it signifies] the command of
Heracles; and Telamon took down Ilion with Heracles. d. otherwise. Iolaus was charioteer of Heracles; so he says 'Iolas' as a sign, meaning 'Heracles'. and he means that Telamon being comrade of Heracles along with Iolas destroyed Laomedon. |
Towards this interpretation, one could add in parallel the Pindar's verses where Telamaon 'destroyed/captured Troy/Ilion/Pergamia' [texts 18, 19, 20]; here possibly transforming into 'destroying Laomedon['s city]'. Additionally, Laomedon's death by Telamon is contradicting later sources, where Heracles was the killer; some centuries ahead however.
Isocrates in 346 BCE ca is making a vague reference about Heracles' war, that could include Laomedon's death but with no certainty.
| [111] Ποιησάμενος γὰρ στρατείαν ἐπὶ Τροίαν, ἥπερ εἶχεν τότε μεγίστην δύναμιν τῶν περὶ τὴν Ἀσίαν, τοσοῦτον διήνεγκε τῇ στρατηγίᾳ τῶν πρὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ταύτην ὕστερον πολεμησάντων, [112] ὅσον οἱ μὲν μετὰ τῆς τῶν Ἑλλήνων δυνάμεως ἐν ἔτεσι δέκα μόλις αὐτὴν ἐξεπολιόρκησαν, ὁ δ᾽ ἐν ἡμέραις ἐλάττοσιν ἢ τοσαύταις καὶ μετ᾽ ὀλίγων στρατεύσας ῥᾳδίως αὐτὴν κατὰ κράτος εἷλεν. Καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τοὺς βασιλέας τῶν ἐθνῶν τῶν ἐφ᾽ ἑκατέρας τῆς ἠπείρου τὴν παραλίαν κατοικούντων ἅπαντας ἀπέκτεινεν· οὓς οὐδέποτ᾽ ἂν διέφθειρεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτῶν ἐκράτησεν. | [111] For he, by making an expedition against Troy, which at the time had the biggest power around Asia, so much he surpassed as a general those who fought afterwards against this same [city]; [112] so much that they [=Achaeans] along with the Greeks' forces captured hardly the city by siege after 10 years, while he, waging war for fewer days than so many and with less army, easily took the city by storm. and after these he killed all the kings of the nations that were inhabiting along the shores of both continents, whom he could never have destroyed, unless he had prevailed over their forces. |
According to Isocrates, this Heracles' expedition against Troy was during the reign of Laomedon, as said in another of his writings [Isoc. Evag. 9.16]. So by killing all the kings along the shores, wouldn't be Laomedon included? Not clear, but the most probable.
Laomedon's death will be explicitly narrated in Diodorus of the 1st c. BCE, though by a confusing way, as it appears in two versions. According to the first version Heracles returned to Troy to ask for his rewards after the completion of all his labors; and Laomedon 'fell in battle' by the Heracles' army. The killer isn't named though [Diod. 4.32.4: 'Λαομέδων δ᾽ ἐπανελθὼν... αὐτός τε ἔπεσε']. According to the second one, Heracles claimed his rights returning from Colchis along with the Argonauts. And during/after a battle outside the walls Heracles himself killed Laomedon [Diod. 4.49.6: 'μυθολογοῦσι τὸν Ἡρακλέα... τόν τε γὰρ Λαομέδοντα φονεῦσαι'].
In Apollodorus' library of the 2nd c. CE, Heracles 'shot down' Laomedon with a bow and arrows during/after the siege of Troy [Apollod. 2.6.4: 'κατατοξεύσας Λαομέδοντα']. A tradition already given by Hyginus of the 1st c. BCE [Hyg.Fab. 31.4: 'Laomedonta... sagittis interfecit']
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| fig.08: Heracles next to Hesione who is bound. Detail from the Sarcophagus of Gaius Severinius Vitalis. 2nd-3rd c. CE. Römisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne. Crop from photo by AncientDigitalMaps in flickr |
3. In Hellanicus ▲ up
Hellanicus of Lesbos, historiographer of the 5th c. BCE, is giving perhaps the first complete aspect of this war, though via few fragments preserved in shcolia.
| Τρῶες καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη] Ποσειδῶν καὶ Ἀπόλλων, προστάξαντος Διὸς Λαομέδοντι θητεῦσαι, ἐπὶ μισθῷ τεταγμένῳ τὸ τεῖχος κατασκευάζουσι. Λαομέδων δὲ παραβὰς τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τὰς συνθήκας, μὴ δοὺς τὸν μισθὸν, ἀπήλασεν αὐτούς· ἀγανακτήσας δὲ Ποσειδῶν, ἔπεμψε τῇ χώρᾳ κῆτος, ὃ τούς τε παρατυγχάνοντας ἀνθρώπους καὶ τοὺς γιγνομένους καρποὺς διέφθειρε. Μαντευομένῳ δὲ τῷ Λαομέδοντι χρησμὸς ἐδόθη, Ἡσιόνην τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ βορὰν ἐκθεῖναι τῷ κήτει, καὶ οὕτως ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι τοῦ δεινοῦ. Προθεὶς δὲ ἐκεῖνος τὴν θυγατέρα, μισθὸν ἐκήρυξε τῷ τὸ κῆτος ἀνελόντι, τοὺς ἀθανάτους ἵππους δώσειν, οὓς Τρωὶ Ζεὺς ἀντὶ Γανυμήδους ἔδωκεν. Ἡρακλῆς δὲ παραγενόμενος, ὑπέσχετο τὸν ἆθλον κατορθώσειν, καὶ Ἀθηνᾶς αὐτῷ πρόβλημα ποιησάσης τὸ καλούμενον ἀμφίχυτον τεῖχος, εἰσδὺς διὰ τοῦ στόματος εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τοῦ κήτους, αὐτοῦ τὰς λαγόνας διέφθειρεν. Ὁ δὲ Λαομέδων ὑπαλλάξας, θνητοὺς δίδωσιν ἵππους. Μαθὼν δὲ Ἡρακλῆς, ἐπεστράτευσε, καὶ Ἴλιον ἐπόρθησε, καὶ οὕτως ἔλαβε τοὺς ἵππους. Ἡ ἱστορία παρὰ Ἑλλανίκῳ [FGrHist 4 F 26b] | Trojans and Pallas Athena] after Zeus had ordered Poseidon and Apollo to serve Laomedon, they built the wall for fixed wages. but Laomedon, violating the oaths and the agreements, sent them away without giving the wage. and Poseidon indignant sent a cetus to the country, which was destroying whoever happened to be present and the produced fruit. an oracle was given to Laomedon after request, to expose his daughter Hesione to the sea-monster as a prey and this way to be released from the calamity. but he, after exposing his daughter, announced as reward for the one who would kill the cetus, the immortal horses, which Zeus had given to Tros instead of Ganymedes. Heracles passing by promised to accomplish the task, and when Athena made for him the so-called earthen wall as a defense, he destroyed the flanks of the cetus entering into its abdomen by its mouth. but Laomedon gave instead mortal horses. when Heracles understood it, he marched against Ilion and destroyed it, and this way he received the horses. the story by Hellanicus [FGrHist 4 F 26b] |
The building of the walls and the following Laomedon's cheat towards the gods, are becoming here the necessary reason of the cetus' arrival. This explanation is also given by Diodorus [Diod. 4.42.2]; by Ovid too who adds more disasters [Ov. Met. 11.194ff]. And it was followed by Apollodorus' library [Apollod. 2.5.9], where along with Poseidon, Apollo is said that sent a plague.
We also have a more picturesque description of Heracles' fight against the sea-monster; while Hesione is mentioned perhaps for the first time as the girl to be saved. Nevertheless the Laomedon's death isn't narrated.
3.1. Troy's walls: building and siege ▲ up
About Poseidon and Apollo constructing the wall, a rare ms scholion of the 13th century is explaining...
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θητεύσαμεν] ἐπί μισθῷ ἐδουλεύσαμεν. ζητεῖται διὰ τί ἐθήτευσαν,
Ἑλλάνικός φησὶ πειράζοντες Λαομέδοντα. γράφει δὲ ἐν α' τῶν Τρωικῶν: 'μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα λέγεται Ποσειδῶ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα δουλεῦσαι Λαομέδοντι, ὅτι ὑβριστὴς ἦν, πειρωµέν(ους αὐτοῦ. λέγονται μέν) οὖν ἀνδράσιν εἰδόμενοι ἐπὶ μισϑῷ, εἴτε ἄρα ἀποδώσει εἴτε καὶ οὔ, τεῖχος λάινον ἐν τῷ Ἰλίῳ ἐπ᾽ ἀκροτάτῳ τῶν κολωνῶν τειχίσαι, ὅτι νῦν Πέργαμος καλεῖται'. [FGrHist 4 F 26a] |
we served] we offered service for wages. It's asked why they served;
Hellanicus says in order to tempt Laomedon. and he's writing in the
first [book] of the Troica: "and it's said that after these, Poseidon and Apollo have worked for Laomedon, since he was unrighteous, so to tempt him. and they are said that, looking for hire with human appearance [to see] whether he'll give it or not, they built a stone wall in Ilion on the highest of the hills, that now is called Pergamos". [FGrHist 4 F 26a] |
* there're slightly different readings of the ms, but with no actual difference in the meaning and translation. I follow Erbse & Jacoby, Fowler too [citing Brinkmann 1905]. However I see no reason for the additions by the scholars; the meaning won't change. We will just have a direct short phrase within indirect speech; like the same scholiast is doing two lines ahead in the Metrodorus' fragment that follows [here text 27]. And it would explain better the circumflex accent of 'πειρῶμεν' in the manuscript.
The myth starts to have body, details. The gods tried to tempt Laomedon by offering service, who of course failed as he was unrighteous. A questionning is if this Laomedon's injustice, that seems preceding, is an unknown reason for the temptation; or is it implied as synchronous?. There could be also a slight difference with Homer, as in Iliad it was Zeus who sent them [Text 09]. However this doesn't exclude temptation, it just signifies by combination a general plan. Later versions are giving other reasons for this gods' offer, that will see below.
Continuing the medieval scholiast in the same paragraph is reproducing an excerpt of similar content by Metrodorus of Chios of the 4th century BCE.
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Μητρόδωρος ἐν Τρωικοῖς· 'μετὰ ταῦτα λέγουσι παρ᾽ αὐτὸν ἀφικέσϑαι δύο ἄνδρας, ὁπόθεν μὲν καὶ οἵτινες οὐδεὶς ἔχει εἰπεῖν ἀτρεκέως. ἐλϑόντας δὲ εἰπεῖν ὅτι Λαομέδοντι χρὴ ἀνδρὶ βασιλεῖ εἶναι ἀκρόπολιν ἐν τῇ πόλει, ἐν ᾗ αὐτὸν οἰκεῖν πρέποι. "ἡμεῖς οὖν σοι ϑέλομεν τειχίον κτίσαι καὶ ἐπιστατῆσαι"' |
Metrodorus in Troica: "after these they say that two men arrived near him, that nobody was able to say exactly from where. and they came to say that it is necessary for Laomedon as a king to have a citadel in the city, in which it would be proper for him to live. 'so we want to build for you a wall and supervise'" [FGrHist 43 F 2] |
Nevertheless, a really important excerpt is coming from Tzetzes' scholia [12th c. CE] on Lycophron's Alexandra, a poem of the 3rd c. BCE where many elements of the Trojan stories are narrated. At an instance of the poem [Lycophr. 469] there's the term 'πυργοσκάφος', meaning literally 'tower-digger', thus 'tower-destroyer'. It's referring to Telamon; and Tzetzes writes:
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Πυργοσκάφῳ] τῷ Τελαµῶνι. Ἱστορεῖ γὰρ Ἑλλάνικος ὅτι καὶ πρὸ τοῦ
Ἡρακλέα εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὴν Τροίαν ὁ Τελαµὼν καὶ µέρος τι τοῦ τείχους
καταβαλών, εἰσῆλθε. (i) ... σπωμένου δὲ ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν Ἡρακλέος τὸ ξίφος, Τελαμὼν παρατηρήσας τούτου ἕνεκα δυσχεράναντα τὸν Ἡρακλέα, λίθους περὶ αὐτὸν ἐσώρευεν. Τοῦ δὲ φαμένου, Τί τοῦτο; Τελαμὼν ἔφη, ἐγείρειν μέλλω βωμὸν Ἡρακλέους Ἀλεξικάκου. Καὶ οὕτως τῆς ὀργῆς Ἡρακλῆς παύεται, καὶ γέρας αὐτῷ τὴν Ἡσιόνην, τὴν καὶ Θεάνειραν, δωρεῖται. (ii) ... εἶτα παρατηρήσας καὶ µαθὼν δυσχεράναντα τούτου ἕνεκα τὸν Ἡρακλέα, Ἀλεξικάκου Ἡρακλέος βωµὸν ἱδρύσατο καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πεπραγµένῳ αὐτοῦ ὀργὴν ἐθεράπευσε. [FGrHist 4 F 109] |
tower-destroyer] for Telamon. for Hellanicus narrates that Telamon
entered into Troy even before Heracles and threw down a wall's part (i) ... and after Heracles had drawn his sword against him, Telamon noticed that Heracles was annoyed by this and he piled stones around him. and when Heracles asked 'what's this?' Telamon said 'I'm about to raise an altar for Heracles Alexikakos [=keeping off evil]'. and this way Heracles ceased his rage and gave to him [=Telamon] as a present of honour Hesione, aka Theaneira. (ii) ... and then noticing and understanding that Heracles was annoyed by this, he established an altar for Heracles Alexikakos, and healed Heracles' rage for his actions |
* there're two different ms traditions of the 2nd part of the excerpt in text 28, both given by Scheer's editon. (i) of which I've found the relevant mss, (ii) which Jacoby and Fowler follow, but I couldn't track these fewer manuscripts online. Here they are translated both.
In Hellanicus the god-built walls are destroyed during the siege, at least partially. They were beaten. How could this be combined with their destiny as narrated in Homer's Iliad? This is something that I can't explain easily. Unless they weren't the same walls exactly. In any case the same story is recited later in Apollodorus' library [Apollod. 2.6.4], where Telamon again broke first the wall ['ῥήξας τὸ τεῖχος'], Heracles was displeased and Telamon made for him an altar, but this time it was called for 'Kallinikos' ['καλλίνικος' = 'of noble victory'], not 'for Heracles Alexikakos'.
3.2. Hesione as Telamon's reward ▲ up
Hellanicus is possibly the first who is giving the name of Hesione, Laomedon's daughter; not only as the girl to be saved [text 25 & 29], which seems a new part of the myth, but also as a reward for Telamon [text 28(i)].
Her presence is implied already since Homer, as the mother of Teucer. The epic poet is describing him as an illegitimate son of Telamon and as brother to Ajax the Great by another mother [eg. Hom. Il. 8.281ff, cf. 12.371]; however the name of Hesione isn't mentioned there, nor that her father was Laomedon.
Besides the aforementioned Hellanicus' excerpt [in text 28(i)], the contemporary tragic poet Sophocles in 440 BCE ca [Soph. Aj. 1299-1303] is placing Teucer declaring clearly that he's the son of Telamon and of Laomedon's daughter, whom Heracles gave to Telamon as a gift; but with no mention of the name Hesione. However a little later Xenophon [Xen. Hunt. 1.9] is writing that Telamon took Hesione as a prize of valour for the Troy expedition, as Hellanicus did.
This almost sudden appearance of Hesione in the relevant legends in the 5th c. BCE made me look again at the fragment by Peisander of Camirus, epic poet of the 7th c. BCE [Peis. PEG fr. 11, in Ath. 11.24, here text 21], where Heracles gave to Telamon a goblet as a prize for Troy, not Hesione. This doesn't necessarily exclude Hesione as a gift, however it could be an indication that this part of the myth had a different form at the beginnings.
3.3. Hesione as the girl to be rescued; Andromeda's equivalentt ▲ up
Hellanicus' narrative should have been possibly colorful; with details eg. about the Hesione's sacrifice...
| Ἀγάμμεια, ἄκρα καὶ λιμὴν περὶ τὴν Τροίαν, ὡς Ἑλλάνικος ἐν δευτέρῳ. ἐκλήθη δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄγαμον τὴν Ἡσιόνην ὑπ´ αὐτοῦ παραδοθῆναι τῷ κήτει | Agammeia, cape and port around Troy, as Hellanicus [says] in the 2nd [book]. and it was called [like this] from delivering [there] Hesione, being single, for the cetus |
Nevertheless, Hesione's tale justly reminds the more famous one of Andromeda and Perseus; and the latter prevailed regarding popularity even in the ancient minds, if we could judge only by the number of the cited tragedies under her name. So let's compare the two stories by the surviving accounts and artifacts.
Heracles is fighting against the cetus since Homer of the 8th c. BCE [Hom.Il.20.144-148, here text 05], and there're allusions in Pindar [Pind. N. 1.63, Pind. N. 3.23]; however not yet to save any princess, but just for Laomedon's horses. Hesione will appear in Hellanicus of the 5th c. BCE [Hell. FGrHist 4 F 26b, here text 25, & FGrHist 4 F 109, here text 28].
Perseus along with Andromeda can be seen together as a couple in Hesiod of the late 8th c. BCE [Hes.fr.135, P.Cair.45624], in Pherecydes of the early 5th c. BCE [Pher. FGrHist 3 F 12], in Herodotus of the 5th c. BCE [Hdt. 7.61.3]. And though Pherecydes is giving some details, creating the impression of an already complete myth, the earliest accounts with Perseus fighting against the cetus so to save Andromeda, seem to be of the 2nd half of the 5th c. BCE. These were the relevant tragic plays of Sophocles and Euripides, both under the title 'Andromeda' but surviving only in fragments [information of their plots in Eratosth. Cat. 15, 16, 17, 36, cf. Eur.Andr.Fr. 145 & 115a]. There's also Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae of 411 BCE that alludes the theme [eg. Aristoph. Thes. 1033].
By these, Heracles is probably having the lead, at least regarding the fight against the monster singly. Nevertheless looking at art depictions, the earliest possilbe examples of them have similar elements, though not easy to interpret; and they seem coming from the same place and age [figs. 09 & 10].
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| fig.09: Corinthian crater, 550 BCE ca. A man is shooting a volley of arrows against a monster, while a woman is throwing stones from a stack down. The fighter has been interpreted as Heracles, mainly based on his typical bow and his clothes, so the woman should be Hesione. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, nr. 63.420. Crop from photo by Mark Landon in wikimedia |
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| fig.10: Corinthian amphora, 550 BCE ca. Here the inscriptions don't leave any doubt: they are Perseus and Andromeda against the Cetus, while Perseus is throwing stones at it. There's also a stack of rocks down at their feet. Altes Museum, Berlin, nr. F 1652. Photo in smb.museum |
The Corinthian crater with Heracles [fig.09] isn't totally certain that depicts the hero. However the bow and a possible lion-skin are indicative, typical elements of Heracles. Another point that has concerned the scholars is the pile of stones at the feet of the heroes, common in both images, that can't be easily explained by the sources. Perseus is using them as a weapon [fig.10], while in the other vase it's the woman who's holding them. Ogden [2013, p. 124] is examining a connection with some Neo-Assyrian depictions of Marduk attacking the sea-serpent Tiamat; interesting but not totally convincing. Nonetheless it's noteworthy the fact that this element is appearing on both images. If on figure 09 we truly have Heracles, then also a common origin of the idea may be implied.
So how is narrated the killing of the cetus in the sources? Though we have many references of the incident for both heroes, in really few it's actually described.
For Heracles, the earliest source is Hellanicus of the 5th c. BCE, where hero entered into the beast's abdomen by its mouth and slew it from inside [FGrHist 4 F 26b, here text 25]. Similar version can be found in Lycophron's Alexandra of the 3rd c. BCE [v.31-36, 470-478]. Heracles there was consumed by the cetus and carved its entrails but not without suffering.; in a poetic way he was a scorpion instead of a bird [=Hesione], that the monster devoured. The most extensive narration comes from Valerius Flaccus, a Roman poet of the 1st c. CE [Flac.Arg. 2.497ff]. He's placing the event on the Argonauts' way to Colchis. Heracles is there with Telamon and in order to kill the beast he uses a bow ['arcum', v. 521], a rock ['saxo', v. 533], a club ['roboris', v. 534], during a direct battle. Heracles while stretching the bow is also described by Philostratus the Younger of the 3rd c. CE [Philostr. Jun. Im. 12].
For Perseus the approach has some difficulties. Though we are aware of the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, the earliest relevant details seem coming from Lycophron [v. 834-46]. There Perseus used a 'razor as a harvester'. However the description is somehow problematic cause of the possible poetic resemblance with the Heracles' case. It has been interpreted as the beast devouring Perseus while he killed it from inside; but I don't feel sure. These similarities in the two descriptions of Heracles and Perseus made the medieval scholiast Tzetzes to call the poet Lycophron a 'wine-drunken' [οἰνοβαρῶν'] who writes nonsense, taking elements from the Heracles' story to add them to the Perseus' one.
A point at Lycophron is the use of this rare adjective 'ἡπατουργόν' [v. 839], literally meaning 'liver-worker', that easily can be understood as 'liver-destroyer' or 'entrails-destroyer'. There're similarities with Heracles but not binding. The cetus snatched Perseus with its jaws [if not just intended to], it didn't devour yet. And even if Perseus destroyed the beast's liver this doesn't mean that it was done from the inside. Further, Perseus' flying attribute is implied as 'eagle' and 'with winged boots', and all these next to his description as 'liver-destroyer'; facts that are making things difficult.
The next possible texts with Perseus' battle could be two latin tragedy's fragments of late 3rd - early 2nd c. BCE, from Ennius' play 'Andromeda'. The first [Enn.TrRF 38 (121)] is probably referring to Perseus and says 'he's observing its body, from where he will make it a dead body by wounds' [='corpus contemplatur unde corporaret vulnere']; a reference of a straight fight I think. The second [Enn.TrRF 37 (119)] seems a little unclear; it says approximately 'he/it ploughs the head around it/-self, about 400 feet from the ground' [='circum sese urvat ad pedes a terra quadringentos caput']. In whatever way we'll interpret this last one, the fact is that the action occurs 400 feet from the ground; the battle is possiblly in the air at least for a while. Ennius seems placing Perseus fighting directly. And interestingly enough there's the strong assumption that Ennius' play was modeled after the one of Euripides; based mainly on the identification of a common fragment [see Nervegna in Csapo et al., 2014, p. 177]. If all these are correct, then also Euripides could have presented a clear battle for Perseus, without some trick like the Heracles' one.
In any case, then followed clear references about Perseus' battle against the cetus. In Roman Ovid of the 1st c. BCE [Ov.Met. 4.706ff] he is flying and uses a 'curved sword' to kill it ['ferrum curvo', v. 720, 'falcato... ense', v. 727]. Things are similar in the Roman poet Marcus Manilius of the 1st c. CE [Man.Astr. 5.586ff]. And Greek writer Achilles Tatius [2nd c. CE], describes Perseus flying again with winged sandals, holding a double iron weapon, sickle and sword in one [Ach. Tat. 3.7]. Perseus is a flying daemon.
With some reservations because the aforementioned lists may not be exclusive, one can see that the Roman era liked to see both heroes at a direct battle, while there was a previous greek tradition at least for Heracles killing the monster from the inside. The latter maybe it's depicted on the previous Attic kylix of 540 BCE ca [fig.03], but also on the following Etruscan [fig.11].
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| fig.11: Etruscan vase, 350-330 BCE ca [name vase of the Hesione Painter]. On one side Heracles is entering the cetus' mouth covered - disguised, possibly pretending to be Hesione; on the other he's next to the rescued woman, while his typical club can be seen touching the ground. In the Antiquarium of Palazzone, Perugia. Comp. from photos by Sailko in wikimedia & in wikimedia |
After all these I could say that Heracles possibly killed the cetus first, but regarding the princess' rescue maybe Perseus has the lead. In any case the two stories seem to interact in artists' minds regarding details for some time.
3.4. Why Poseidon and Apollo built the walls of Troy ▲ up
As seen, Hellanicus wrote [text 26] that the two gods Poseidon and Apollo wanted to tempt Laomedon, and that's why they offered themselves to build the walls. Except Metrodorus [text 27], later Apollodorus [2nd c. CE] also favored this reasoning [Apollod. 2.5.9]. Ovid [Ov. Met. 11.194ff] recited that Apollo just saw the hopeless efforts of Laomedon to build the walls and came to his aid along with Poseidon. However an ancient scholiast of Homer of the 1st c. BCE, Didymus Chalcenterus, explained it as a Zeus' punishment for some in-Olympus conflict.
But firstly the Homer's verses that were commented in such way.
Achilles is urging his mother Thetis to talk to Zeus, so to persuade him to support the Trojans; with ultimate goal Agamemnon and the Achaeans to be pressed and appreciate Achilles' absence from the battles. In order to do so, Achilles talks about an incident where Thetis helped Zeus in the past and which she could use to achieve her purpose.
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'πολλάκι γάρ σεο πατρὸς ἐνὶ μεγάροισιν ἄκουσα εὐχομένης ὅτ᾽ ἔφησθα κελαινεφέϊ Κρονίωνι οἴη ἐν ἀθανάτοισιν ἀεικέα λοιγὸν ἀμῦναι, ὁππότε μιν ξυνδῆσαι Ὀλύμπιοι ἤθελον ἄλλοι Ἥρη τ᾽ ἠδὲ Ποσειδάων καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη· 400 ἀλλὰ σὺ τόν γ᾽ ἐλθοῦσα θεὰ ὑπελύσαο δεσμῶν, ὦχ᾽ ἑκατόγχειρον καλέσασ᾽ ἐς μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον, ὃν Βριάρεων καλέουσι θεοί, ἄνδρες δέ τε πάντες Αἰγαίων᾽, ὃ γὰρ αὖτε βίην οὗ πατρὸς ἀμείνων· ὅς ῥα παρὰ Κρονίωνι καθέζετο κύδεϊ γαίων· 405 τὸν καὶ ὑπέδεισαν μάκαρες θεοὶ οὐδ᾽ ἔτ᾽ ἔδησαν.' |
"for many times I have heard you boasting in the palace-halls of my father, claiming that you alone among the immortals defended the son of Cronus, the god of the black clouds, from shameful bane, when the rest Olympians wanted to bind him; even Hera, Poseidon and Pallas Athena [400]. but you goddess came and released him from his bonds, and you summoned with no delay to high Olympus the hundred-handed one, whom the gods are calling Briareus, but all men Aegaeon; for he is stronger than his father. and he sat down near the son of Cronus much glorious [405]. and the blessed gods were terrified by him and didn't bind him again." |
And for this rebellion of the Olympians against Zeus, the medieval scholiast writes...
| Ζεὺς παραλαβὼν τὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ διοίκησιν περισσῶς τῇ παρρησίᾳ ἐχρῆτο, πολλὰ αὐθάδη διαπρασσόμενος. Ποσειδῶν δὲ καὶ Ἥρα καὶ Ἀπόλλων καὶ Ἀθηνᾶ ἐβούλοντο αὐτὸν δήσαντες ὑποτάξαι. Θέτις δὲ ἀκούσασα παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς Νηρέως, ἦν γὰρ μάντίς, τὴν Διὸς ἐπιβουλὴν, ἔσπευσε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπαγομένη Αἰγαίωνα φόβητρον τῶν ἐπιβουλευόντων θεῶν. ἦν δὲ θαλάσσιος δαίμων οὗτος, καὶ τὸν πατέρα Ποσειδῶνα κατεβράβευεν. ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ζεὺς Θέτιδος, τὴν μὲν Ἥραν καὶ τὴν ᾿Αθηνᾶν ἐν δεσμοῖς ἐδάμασε, Ποσειδῶνι δὲ καὶ Ἀπόλλωνι τὴν παρὰ Λαομέδοντι θητείαν ἐψηφίσατο, τῇ δὲ Θέτιδι, τὴν ᾿Αχιλλέως τιμὴν εἰς τὰ μεταταῦτα ἐταμιεύσατο. ἱστορεῖ Δίδυμος. | Zeus after receiving the administration in heaven, was acting freely beyond measure, showing much disrespect. Poseidon, Hera, Apollo and Athena wanted to subdue him with bonds. And Thetis hearing by her father Nereus about the conspiracy against Zeus, for he was seer, she rushed to him bringing Aegaeon as terror for the plotting gods. and he was a sea-daemon, superior of his father Poseidon. and when Zeus heared Thetis, he subdued with bonds Hera and Athena, and for Poseidon and Apollo decided their service near Laomedon. and for Thetis he held for later the satisfaction of Achilles. Didymus says the story |
Didymus connected the building of the Troy's walls with this rebellion against Zeus, as a penalty for Poseidon and Apollo. This view had been repeated by other medieval scholiasts too, though uncredited; even later by Tzetzes of the 12th c. CE [schol.ad.Lyc.34]. Nevertheless the Homer's text had concerned the scholars since ancient times with multiple ways. Zenodotus, earlier scholiast of the 3rd c. BCE, considered these verses spurious [of text 30]; but he was also adding the name of Phoebus Apollo along with the three plotting gods, Hera, Poseidon & Athena [(A)Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822), f.19v]. Medieval scholiasts on other mss perceived it as an allegorical aspect by Homer, i.e. as a battle of the four elements of the world, including Apollo [eg. (T)BL Burney MS 86, f.8r + (B)Marc.Gr.Z.453 (=821), f.13v]. This latter approach is possibly based on Heraclitus, homeric commentator of the 1st c. CE, in his Allegoriae.
The incident itself and the comment that Hera and Athena were punished with bonds, reminded me some other instances in the Iliad, when Hera had plotted against Zeus, she was then tied up by him and the rest of the gods tried to rescue her unsuccessfully. We've seen these narratives around Heracles' adventures at Cos after Troy [here texts 06 & 07]; but perhaps I am exaggerating.
The Homer's excerpts of 14.243-259 [text 06], 15.18-30 [text 07], 1.572ff & 1.586ff, have been all connected as a narration of the same incident. But, there's no direct connection of all these with our text 30 here [(Α) 1.396-406]. However the homeric scholiasts may have felt the way I did, I think, as they're treating similarly the relevant excerpts. Eg. as already said, Zenodotus athetizes the passage of 1.396-406 [text 30], but also ommits with no claimed reason the one of 15.18-30 [text 07, see in (A)Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822), f.191v]. Perhaps the in-Olympus conflicts, or better the clash between Zeus and Hera, were annoying him. Further, as said, the text 30 [1.396-406] was understood as an Homer's allegory on some marginalia. The same approach but in other mss can be read about text 07 [15.18-30] [in mss (Z2)Madrid, Bibl.Nac.4626, f.91r + (A)Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822), f.191v]; probably all were based on Heraclitus' Allegoriae [1st c. CE] who examined many of these excerpts.
4. Later tales and incidents ▲ up
Even after Hellanicus, more elements and aspects were appearing around Heracles' expedition against Troy.
4.1. The origins of cremation ▲ up
On the opening of the Iliad, dead bodies are being burnt, and the scholiast explains...
| αἰεὶ δὲ πυραὶ νεκύων] τὸ (γαρ) παλαιὸν τὰ σώματα τῶν θνησκόντων πρότερον ἐκαίετο διὰ τὸ ἀπέριττα γίνεσθαι, εἶθʼ οὕτως ἐθάπτετο ὑπὸ γῆν. ἡ δὲ αἰτία τοῦ καίεσθαι τὰ σώματα παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησιν αὕτη· πρῶτος, φασὶν, οὕτως ἐτάφη Ἀργεῖος ὁ Λικυμνίου διʼ ἀνάγκην ὑπὸ Ἡρακλέους. συναγαγόντος γὰρ, φασὶ, στρατιὰν ἐπὶ Ἴλιον Ἡρακλέους, διὰ τὸ τὸν Λαομέδοντα παρὰ σύνταξιν ποιῆσαι Ἡρακλεῖ σώσαντι τοῦ κήτους τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτοῦ Ἡσιόνην, καὶ μὴ δοῦναι τοὺς ἵππους οὓς ὑποσχόμενος ἦν αὐτῷ ὑπὲρ τῆς τοιαύτης εὐεργεσίας, ἐπεζήτει καὶ τὸν Ἀργεῖον ὡσανεὶ οἰκεῖον. Λικύμνιον δέ φασι τὸν πατέρα Ἀργείου, φοβούμενον ὅτι καὶ τὸν πρότερον αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ὀνόματι Οἰωνὸν ἀποστείλας εἰς Λακεδαίμονα μεθʼ Ἡρακλέους ἀπέβαλεν, οὐ βούλεσθαι προίεσθαι τοῦτον, ἕως Ἡρακλῆς ὤμοσεν ἀπάξειν πάλιν αὐτόν. τότε δʼ οὖν συμπεσούσης τῷ Ἀργείῳ τῆς τοῦ βίου τελευτῆς, διαπορηθεὶς ὁ Ἡρακλῆς πῶς ἂν ἐπιτελέσοι τὸν ὅρκον, ἔκαυσεν αὐτὸν, καὶ πρῶτόν φασι τοῦτον τοιαύτης ἐπιμελείας τυχεῖν. ἡ ἱστορία παρὰ Ἄνδρωνι [FGrHist 10 F 10] | and continuously the fires of the dead] for in the old days the bodies of the dead were firstly burnt so to become plain, and then like this were buried under the ground. and the reason of burning the bodies by the Greeks is this: first Argeus of Licymnius, they say, was buried this way by Heracles cause of a need. for Heracles, they say, asked for Argeus cause he was friend [family] when he was gathering army against Ilion - because Laomedon had acted beyond the agreement with Heracles, even if he had saved his daughter Hesione from the cetus, and he didn't give the horses to Heracles, which he had promised him for such a good service. and they say that Licymnius, Argeus' father, was terrified because he had lost his previous son Oeonus by name, whom had sent in Lacedaemon with Heracles. and he didn't want to send Argeus, until Heracles sweared him to bring him back again. so then, when death fell upon Argeus, Heracles wondering how he would fulfill the oath, he burnt him, and they say that he was the first to have such treatment. the story by Andron [FGrHist 10 F 10] |
* In (A) Marc.Gr.Z.454 (=822) manuscript, the last phrase 'ἡ ἱστορία παρὰ Ἄνδρωνι' [='the story by Andron'] is omitted.
Fowler writes [2013, II p. 632] that Andron of Halicarnassus should have flourished shortly after Hellanicus [5th c. BCE]; in any case surely before 2nd c. BCE.
4.2. Priam succeeds Laomedon ▲ up
Since at least the 3rd c. BCE, the story goes that Hesione paid ransom to free her brother Priam after the capture of Troy by Heracles.
Towards the end of the Iliad, Priam goes to Achilles asking for Hector's dead body; and starts his short speech with a claim that himself and Achilles' father, Peleus, were of the same age ['τηλίκου': Hom.Il. 24.487]. On this Zenodotus [3rd c. BCE] commented:
| Ζηνόδοτος πρεσβύτερον Πηλέα φησίν, εἴγε συστρατεύσας Πηλεῖ Ἡρακλῆς ἀπέδοτο Ἡσιόνῃ μικρὸν ὄντα τὸν Πρίαμον. | Zenodotus says that Peleus was older [than Priam], since Heracles, who fought next to Peleus, sold Priam to Hesione, when he was a child |
Lycophron again [3rd c. BCE] was reciting that the price was a veil [Lycophr. 337-338].
Hyginus in the 1st c. BCE [Hyg.Fab. 89] was writing that Heracles killed Laomedon and gave the Troy's throne to his infant son Podarces, who changed his name to Priam; from πρίασθαι [=buy], but without details on the ransom by Hesione. Seneca in the 1st c. CE [Sen.Troj. 718ff] was describing Priam as a boy whom Heracles pitied and made king.
In Apollodorus' library of the 2nd c. CE the relevant passage is more extensive [Apollod. 2.6.4 & 3.12.5]. After Laomedon's defeat, Heracles killed him but spared his son Podarces. He then allowed Hesione to free anyone of the prisoners; and she chose her brother, for whom she gave her veil as a ransom. He changed his name for this, from Podarces to Priam; and then became king of Troy, without being clarified by what means [cf. also Tzetzes' schol. ad Lyc. 34 & 337, Eustath. schol. ad Hom. Il. (Α) 1.18].
Diodorus is giving perhaps a more unique narrative. In both of his versions, where Heracles marched against Troy [Diod. 4.32.4-5 & 4.49.3-6], Priam was old enough to oppose his father Laomedon for Heracles' rights and to help him. And for this sense of justice Heracles made him king.
4.3. Trojan refugees in Sicily since Laomedon's years ▲ up
Diogenes Laertius was writing in the 3rd c. CE [D. L. 8.4] about philosopher Archytas [5th-4th c. BCE] and reproduced a short correspondence that Archyas had with Plato around some treatises. Inter alia Plato there referred to the legend about the Trojan immigrants at the time of Laomedon, calling them 'good men' and connected them with the city of Myria. No further information were given.
But perhaps Dionysius of Halicarnassus of the 1st c. BCE would seem more enlightening, where he narrates about Aeneas' journey to Italy and the stop he had at Sicily. The place there, near the so called Drepana, was already inhabited by Trojans...
| [2] τῶν προγόνων αὐτοῦ τις ἀνὴρ ἐπιφανὴς ἐκ τοῦ Τρωικοῦ γένους ὢν Λαομέδοντι διάφορος γίνεται, καὶ αὐτὸν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐπ᾽ αἰτίᾳ δή τινι λαβὼν κτείνει καὶ γένος αὐτοῦ τὸ ἄρρεν ἅπαν, ὑπὸ δέους μή τι πρὸς αὐτῶν πάθῃ · τὰς δὲ θυγατέρας παρθένους ἔτι οὔσας ἀποκτεῖναι μὲν οὐκ εὐπρεπὲς ἐνόμισε, Τρωσὶ δὲ συνοικούσας περιιδεῖν οὐκ ἀσφαλές, δίδωσι δ᾽ αὐτὰς ἐμπόροις ὡς προσωτάτω κελεύσας [3] ἀπάγειν. ταύταις ἀπιούσαις συνεκπλεῖ μειράκιόν τι τῶν ἐπιφανῶν κρατούμενον ἔρωτι τῆς ἑτέρας καὶ γαμεῖ τὴν παιδίσκην ἀχθεῖσαν εἰς Σικελίαν, καὶ γίνεται αὐτοῖς παῖς ἐν Σικελοῖς διατρίβουσιν Αἴγεστος ὄνομα · ὃς ἤθη καὶ γλῶσσαν τῶν ἐπιχωρίων ἐκμαθών, ἐπειδὴ τοὺς γονεῖς αὐτῷ τελευτῆσαι συνέβη, βασιλεύοντος ἐν Τροίᾳ Πριάμου κάθοδον αὑτῷ δοθῆναι διαπράττεται, καὶ συνδιενέγκας τὸν πρὸς τοὺς Ἀχαιοὺς πόλεμον ἁλισκομένης τῆς πόλεως ἀπέπλει πάλιν εἰς Σικελίαν σὺν Ἐλύμῳ ποιησάμενος τὴν φυγὴν ἐν τρισὶ ναυσὶν, ἃς Ἀχιλλεὺς ἔχων ὅτε τὰς Τρωάδας ἐλῄζετο πόλεις ἕρμασιν ὑφάλοις περιπεσούσας ἀπέβαλεν. | [2] One of the [Aegestus'] ancestors, who was a distinguished man of the Trojan nation, had disagreements with Laomedon; and the king arrested him for some reason and killed him along with all his male kin, fearing that he would suffer some evil near them. but he didn't consider it decent to kill his daughters as they were still maidens, nor safe to allow them to live together with Trojans; so he gave them to merchants ordering to be carried as far away as possible. [3] a young man of a distinguished family sailed along with them departing, who was seized by love for one of them, and he married the girl when she arrived in Sicily. and while they were dwelling with the Sicilians a son was born by them, Aegestus by name, who learned well the customs and the language of the natives; but when his parents died, while Priam was king in Troy, he managed to be granted a return journey to him. and after helping with the war against the Achaeans, when the city was being captured, he sailed back again to Sicily fleeing with Elymus with three ships. Achilles had these ships when he was plundering the Trojan cities and lost them when they fell on under-water rocks |
This reminded me somehow the possible insolence that is implied for Laomedon when the two gods, Poseidon and Apollo, decided to tempt him with the building of the walls, as narrated by Hellanicus [FGrHist 4 F 26a, here text 26].
In any case Aegestes can be found as Acestes in the Roman mythology, and he is again a stop along the Aeneas' journey to Italy. In Virgil's Aeneid of about 25 BCE, Acestes is the offspring of river Crimisus and a Trojan woman; and he's a king in Sicily [Verg. A. 5.38-39 & 1.558]. Servius the Grammarian in about 400 CE commented on the Aeneid...
| Troianoque a sanguine clarus Acestes] cum Laomedon promissam murorum mercedem Neptuno et Apollini denegasset, Neptunus iratus Troiae inmisit cetos quod eam vastaret. unde Apollo consultus, cum et ipse irasceretur, contraria respondit dicens, obiciendas puellas nobiles beluae. quod cum fieret timens Hippotes quidam nobilis filiae Egestae, cum Laomedontis regis Hesiona iam esset orta seditione religata, inpositam eam navi misit quo fors tulisset. haec ad Siciliam delata a Crimisso fluvio, quem Crinisum Vergilius poetica licentia vocat, converso in ursum vel canem conpressa edidit Acesten, qui ex matris nomine civitatem Troianis condidit, quae hodie Segesta nominatur | glorious Acestes of Trojan blood] when Laomedon denied the promised wages to Neptune and Apollo for the walls, Neptune angry sent to Troy a cetus, so to destroy the city. when Apollo was then consulted, he replied unfavorably, since himself was in rage, saying that noble girls should be offered to the beast. now when this occured, Hippotes, a certain noble, feeling afraid for his daughter Egesta - since Hesione the daughter of king Laomedon had been already bound after a rebellion had broken out - he embarked her on a ship and sent her wherever luck would carry her. after she was brought to Sicily, Crimisus river caught her and turned Egesta into a bear or a dog - Virgil calls the river Crinisus by poetic licence - and she gave birth to Acestes. Acestes founded a city for the Trojans under the name of his mother, that today is called Segesta |
Servius connected the flight from Troy with the cetus' legend, while he's mentioning some outbreak/rebellion. And while Hesione seems tied up as a prey, Heracles isn't there. In any case the above belongs to Servius' comments, appearing almost in all mss. However, there're some manuscripts that were enriched probably by later scholiasts. On a following verse, where the seemingly original comment was just citing the aforementioned one [of text 35], in few copies of the 9th c. more elements were added:
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Dardanium Acesten] ut et supra diximus, Hippotes filiam suam Egestam
ne ad cetos religaretur, superposuit naviculae et misit quo fors
tulisset. qua delata ad Siciliam, Crinisus fluvius concubuit cum ea
conversus in canem, unde Acestes est natus: vel, ut quibusdam videtur, Agestes. huius rei ut esset indicium aes cum effigie canis percussum Siculi habuerunt. alii dicunt Laomedontem regem Troianorum, cum graviter cives sui ab ceto, id est belua marina, infestarentur propterea quod mercedem Neptuno ob fabricatos muros negasset, ad templum Iovis Ammonis scitatum misisse de mali remedio vel fine. cui cum esset responsum, ut filiam suam Hesionam beluae offerret, et hoc a civibus facere cogeretur, fore respondit si ante eorum filias beluae obiecisset: quo facto cum plures puellae a ceto absumptae essent, plerique parentes filias in longinqua miserunt, ex quibus una troia nomine silvae aegesta delata in Siciliam est, et a Criniso, sicut dictum est, conpressa edidit Acestem. alii dicunt Laomedontem, cum, sicut narratum est, propter filiam suam seditionem a civibus pertulisset, unum de Troianis, auctorem seditionis, occidisse filiasque eius mercatoribus exponendas dedisse, a quibus illae in Sicilia prope Crinisum amnem relictae sunt, quarum ille unam in canem conversus compressit. quidam dicunt Egestam reversam in matrimonium a Capye ductam, ex quibus Anchisen natum. |
Dardanian Acestes] as we have said above, Hippotes, so not to bind
his daughter Egesta for the cetus, put her on a small ship and sent
her wherever luck would carry her. and after reaching to Sicily, the
river Crimisus slept with Egesta and turned her into a dog; and this
way Acestes is born. [:till here almost all mss are the same, the rest
text appears only in few ones] ... or Agestes, as he's known by some. as an evidence of this event, the Sicelians had bronze coins stamped with an image of a dog. others say that Laomedon the king of the Trojans, when his citizens were heavily destroyed by the cetus - which is a sea-monster - since he had denied the wages to Neptune for the constructed walls, he sent [delegation] to the temple of Ammon Jove to ask for remedy or for an end of this evil. when he received the reply that he should offer his daughter Hesione, and was urged by the citizens to do this, he answered that he will do so if they firstly would offer their own daughters to the monster. by this event, many girls were consumed by the cetus, and even more parents had sent their daughters at distant places; from those a Trojan girl named Aegesta of the forest, was brought to Sicily and after she was caught by Crisinus [river], as they say, gave birth to Acestes. others say that Laomedon when, as the story goes, suffered a rebellion by the citizens because of his daughter, he killed one of the Trojans, the author of the rebellion, and gave his daughters to the merchants to be exposed. from these some were left at Sicily near Crinisus river, of which the river caught one turning her to a dog. some say that Egesta returned and was led to marriage by Capys, by which Anchises was born |
I don't know since when these stories were told, however in the late 5th c. BCE the coins of Segesta did have a dog stamped on them [fig.12].
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| fig.12: Silver didrachm from Segesta, Sicily. 410-400 BCE. In Berlin, Münzkabinett der Staatlichen Museen [in https://ikmk.smb.museum/object?id=18226459]. Photo by ArchaiOptix in wikimedia |
4.4. Oicles, Heracles' companion ▲ up
Diodorus, in his 1st version of Heracles' expedition to Troy [where the hero attacked the city coming with 18 ships from Greece: Diod. 4.32, not while returning with the Argonauts: Diod. 4.49], he mentions Oicles as part of the crew. After they had disembarked at Troy's shores, Heracles and his men marched towards Troy, leaving behind Oicles in charge so to watch the ships. Laomedon made a counter-attack at the Heracles' camp, where the ships were; and during this first battle Oicles was killed.
Similar narration is given in Apollodorus' library [Apollod. 2.6.4], while the incident was probably known to Pausanias too [Paus. 8.36.6].
The fact is that it reminded me somehow the rhapsodies 12(M) & 13(N) of the Iliad, where the Trojans attacked to the Achaean camp at the shores, and to their ships. And as this seems to be a later addition to Heracles' story, it made me think that here it was Homer who was lending elements to the legend of the 1st Trojan war and not the opposite.
4.5. Heracles' priest at Cos ▲ up
Plutarch is giving a side story of Heracles' adventures at Cos after Troy [see above under 1.1.3.].
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Διὰ τί παρὰ Κῴοις ὁ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἱερεὺς ἐν Ἀντιμαχείᾳ γυναικείαν
ἐνδεδυμένος ἐσθῆτα καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀναδούμενος μίτρᾳ κατάρχεται τῆς
θυσίας; Ἡρακλῆς ταῖς ἓξ ναυσὶν ἀπὸ Τροίας ἀναχθεὶς ἐχειμάσθη, καὶ τῶν νεῶν διαφθαρεισῶν μιᾷ μόνῃ πρὸς τὴν Κῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐλαυνόμενος ἐξέπεσε κατὰ τὸν Λακητῆρα καλούμενον, οὐδὲν ἄλλο περισώσας ἢ τὰ ὅπλα καὶ τοὺς [d] ἄνδρας. ἐντυχὼν δὲ προβάτοις ᾔτει κριὸν ἕνα παρὰ τοῦ νέμοντος· ὁ δ᾽ ἄνθρωπος ἐκαλεῖτο μὲν Ἀνταγόρας, ἀκμάζων δὲ τῇ ῥώμῃ τοῦ σώματος ἐκέλευσεν αὑτῷ διαπαλαῖσαι τὸν Ἡερακλέα, κἂν καταβάλῃ, τὸν κριὸν φέρεσθαι. καὶ συμπεσόντος αὐτῷ τοῦ Ἡρακλέους ἐς χεῖρας οἱ Μέροπες τῷ Ἀνταγόρᾳ παραβοηθοῦντες, οἱ δ᾽ Ἕλληνες τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ μάχην καρτερὰν συνῆψαν. ἐν ᾗ λέγεται τῷ πλήθει καταπονούμεος ὁ Ἡρακλῆς καταφυγεῖν πρὸς γυναῖκα Θρᾷτταν καὶ διαλαθεῖν ἐσθῆτι γυναικείᾳ κατακρύψας ἑαυτόν. ἐπεὶ δὲ τῶν Μερόπων αὖθις κρατήσας [e] καὶ καθαρθεὶς ἐγάμει τὴν Χαλκιοπήν, ἀνέλαβε στολὴν ἀνθίνην. διὸ θύει μὲν ὁ ἱερεὺς ὅπου τὴν μάχην συνέβη γενέσθαι, τὰς δὲ νύμφας οἱ γαμοῦντες δεξιοῦνται γυναικείαν στολὴν περιθέμενοι. |
[c] Why at Cos the priest of Heracles at Antimacheia begins the
sacrifice, wearing woman's clothes and with a headdress tied up upon
his head? Heracles leaving Troy with his six ships encountered a tempest, and after the ships were destroyed all but one, with this one he was driven to Cos by the winds; he was thrown ashore at the so-called Laceter, saving nothing else but the weapons and his men. [d] now he came across sheep and asked for a ram from the shepherd. This man, named Antagoras, being at the height of his strength, urged Heracles to wrestle with him; and if he would throw him down, he would take the ram. and when Heracles fell upon him with his hands, Meropes came to the aid of Antanagoras and the Greeks were engaged in a strong battle for Heracles; during which it's said that Heracles, exhausted by the great number [of the enemies], fled at [the house of] a Thracian woman, and that he escaped notice concealing himself with woman's clothes. but then when he prevailed over Meropes [e] and had been purified, he married Chalciope and wore a blossomed dress. that's why the priest sacrifices where this battle occurred, and the grooms welcome their brides wearing a woman's dress. |
This reminded me the scene on the vase of fig.11.
5. Instead of epilogue: demystification since antiquity ▲ up
The legend of Heracles had started to inspire parallel versions and explanations since the ancient times. Already in the late 5th c. BCE the Hesione's story seems to be embraced by the comedy poets.
| Ἰστέον δὲ ὅτι παίζων ὁ ποιητὴς Ἄρχιππος εἰς τὸν κατὰ τὴν Ἡσιόνην μῦθον, ὃς αὐτὴν βορὰν τῷ κήτει ἐκτίθεται, πλάττει Μελάνθιον τὸν Τραγῳδὸν ἔν τινι αὐτοῦ δράματι δεθῆναι, καὶ οὕτω παραδίδωσιν αὐτὸν τοῖς ἰχθύσιν ἀντιβρωθησόμενον. ἦν γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὀψοφάγος, κατὰ ἰχθυοφαγίαν δηλαδή. | and one should know that poet Archippus, toying with the Hesione's legend, which it places her as prey for the cetus, he imagines Melanthius, the tragic poet, to be bound with some of his plays; and like this he hands him over to the fishes to be eaten instead. for the man was a gourmet, that is a fish-eater |
Archippus was a comedy poet of the 2nd half of the 5th c. BCE. Nevertheless, I can't know why Eustathius in the 12th c. CE was considering this as a parody of Hesione's myth and not of the Andromeda's one. Perhaps he had some information.
But regarding the Heracles' legend itself, some more critical approaches started to appear in the 5th c. BCE.
| Κρώμνης]... Ἡρόδωρος δὲ οὔ φησι τειχίσαι τὴν πόλιν Ποσειδῶνα καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα, ἀλλὰ Λαομέδοντα χρήματα καταθέμενον ἐκ τῆς θυσίας αὐτῶν, ἀναλῶσαι ταῦτα εἰς τὴν τοῦ τείχους κατασκευήν [FGrHist 31 F 28] | of Cromne]... and Herodorus doesn't say that Poseidon and Apollo fortified the city [Troy], but that Laomedon deposited money as a sacrifice to them and he spent them for the construction of the wall [FGrHist 31 F 28] |
It sould be noted that in the mss it's written Herodotus [Ἡρόδοτος'], and not Herodorus that I'm giving here; it was rejected and replaced by modern scholars [Fowler, 2000, I, p. 242]. Herodorus of Heraclea was a historian who flourished in 400 BCE ca. Besides this, the story of the 'sacred' money that Laomedon used for the walls of Troy, is also told as an option by the medieval scholiast of Homer; though uncredited [schol. ad 21.444 | (Τ) BL Burney MS 86, 11th c. CE, f. 237v].
Palaephatus was an author, mentioned in Suida lexicon. The period that he lived is unclear, however scholars are giving the 4th c. BCE as most possible. Inter alia he wrote a treatise under the title 'On Unbelievable Things' ['Περὶ ἀπίστων'], in which he examines the possible rationalized versions of some myths. It isn't certain to what degree the text is genuine. Nevertheless, he wrote a paragraph on Cetus.
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37. Περὶ τοῦ Κήτους Περὶ τοῦ Κήτους τάδε λέγεται, ὡς τοῖς Τρωσὶν ἐκ τῆς θαλάσσης ἐπεφοίτα καί, εἰ μὲν αὐτῷ δοῖεν κόρας εἰς βοράν, ἀπῄει, εἰ δὲ μή, ἐλυμαίνετο τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν. ὡς δὲ μάταιόν ἐστιν ἄνδρας ἰχθύσι συνθήκας τίθεσθαι, τίς οὐκ οἶδεν; ἀλλ᾽ ἦν τοῦτο. ἀνὴρ βασιλεὺς μέγας καὶ πολλὴν ἔχων δύναμιν εἶχε ναυτικὸν πολύ, ὃς κατεστρέψατο ἅπαν τῆς Ἀσίας τὸ παραθαλάσσιον, οἵτινες καὶ φόρον, ὃν καὶ δασμὸν καλοῦσιν, ἐτέλουν. ἀργυρίῳ μὲν οὖν οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι οὐκ ἐχρῶντο, ἀλλὰ σκεύεσι· προσετέτακτο δὲ τῶν πόλεων αἷς μὲν ἵππους διδόναι, αἷς δὲ βόας, αἷς δὲ κόρας. τούτῳ τῷ βασιλεῖ ὄνομα ἦν Κήτων, οἱ δὲ βάρβαροι αὐτὸν ἐκάλουν Κῆτος. περιέπλει οὖν κατὰ τὸν δέοντα χρόνον ἀπαιτῶν τὸν δασμόν· ὅσοι δὲ μὴ ἀπεδίδοσαν ἐκακοῦντο τὰς χώρας. ἔρχεται δὲ εἰς Τροίαν καθ᾽ ὃν χρόνον ἧκε καὶ Ἡρακλῆς ἔχων στρατιὰν Ἑλλήνων. μισθοῦται δὲ αὐτὸν Λαομέδων ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀρῆξαι τοῖς Τρωσίν. ἀποβιβάσας δὲ τὴν στρατιὰν ὁ Κήτων ὡδοιπόρει· ὑπαντήσαντες δὲ αὐτῷ Ἡρακλῆς τε καὶ Λαομέδων ἑκάτεροι ἔχοντες | τὴν ἑαυτῶν στρατιάν, ἀναιροῦσιν αὐτόν. οὗ γενομένου προσανεπλάσθη ὁ μῦθος. |
37. On Cetus Around the cetus these are said; that it was coming frequently from the sea to visit the Trojans, and if they gave to it young girls as a prey, it was leaving, or else, it was ruining their country. who doesn't know that it's pointless to make treaties with the fishes? But this was [the true story]. a great and powerful king had a big naval force and destroyed all the coastal cities of Asia; and then the people were paying tax, which they called tribute. however the people at that time didn't use silver [coins], but implements; so some of the cities were ordered to give horses, others cattle, and others young girls. and this king was named Ceton, whom the barbarians were calling Cetus. he used to sail around at the appropriate time so to demand the tribute. and for those who didn't give it, their countries were ruined. now he came to Troy, at the time when Heracles was there with a Greek army. and king Laomedon hired Heracles to aid the Trojans. Ceton after he had disembarked his army, he started to march; but when Heracles and Laomedon met him, each with his own army, killed him. by this event the myth was invented. |
Geographer Strabo of the 1st c. BCE is also giving some information and thoughts on our story.
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Ἡρακλέα δ᾽ οὐ τιμῶσιν αἰτιώμενοι τὴν ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ πόρθησιν. ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνος
μέν, φαίη τις ἄν, οὕτως ἐπόρθησεν ὥστ᾽ ἀπολιπεῖν τοῖς ὕστερον
ἐκπορθήσουσι κεκακωμένην μέν, πόλιν δέ· διὸ καὶ οὕτως εἴρηκεν ὁ
ποιητής 'Ἰλίου ἐξαλάπαξε πόλιν, χήρωσε δ᾽ ἀγυιάς'. ἡ γὰρ χηρεία
λιπανδρία τίς ἐστιν, οὐκ ἀφανισμὸς τέλειος· οὗτοι δ᾽ ἠφάνισαν τελέως,
οἷς ἐναγίζειν ἀξιοῦσι καὶ τιμᾶν ὡς θεούς· εἰ μὴ τοῦτ᾽ αἰτιάσαιντο
διότι οὗτοι μὲν δίκαιον πόλεμον ἐξήνεγκαν, ἐκεῖνος δὲ ἄδικον 'ἕνεχ᾽
ἵππων Λαομέδοντος'. πρὸς τοῦτο δὲ πάλιν ἀντιτίθεται μῦθος· οὐ γὰρ
ἕνεκα ἵππων, ἀλλὰ μισθοῦ ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἡσιόνης καὶ τοῦ κήτους....
ἔοικε δὲ ὁ ποιητὴς μικρὰν ἀποφαίνειν τὴν πόλιν ἐν τῷ περὶ Ἡρακλέους λόγῳ, εἴπερ 'ἓξ οἴῃς σὺν νηυσὶ καὶ ἀνδράσι παυροτέροισιν Ἰλίου ἐξαλάπαξε πόλιν'. καὶ φαίνεται ὁ Πρίαμος τῷ τοιούτῳ λόγῳ μέγας ἐκ μικροῦ γεγονὼς καὶ βασιλεὺς βασιλέων, ὡς ἔφαμεν. |
and [the inhabitants of Ilion] do not honor Heracles, giving as
reason the sack of the city by him. but one would say that he sacked
Troy in such way so to leave it ruined, but still a city, for the
following plunderers [=Achaeans]; that's why the poet said so, 'he
destroyed the city of Ilion and widowed the streets'. for 'widowing'
is some loss of men, not complete annihilation. but those who had
annihilated completely the city [=Achaeans] are considered by them
[=Trojans] worthy for sacrifices and for honors as gods. Unless they
would justify this by the fact that [the Achaeans] waged a just war,
while [Heracles] an unjust one, 'for the horses of Laomedon'. but a
legend is set against this again; for [Heracles waged war] not cause
of the horses, but cause of the rewards for Hesione and the cetus...
and it seems that the poet represents the city as small in the verses around Heracles, if indeed 'with only six ships and fewer warriors, he destroyed the city of Ilion'. and by these words Priam seems that became great and king of kings beginning from small, as we said. |
The scepticism about Heracles' expedition agaisnt Troy, finally gets even higher I think in Menecles.
| Μενεκλῆς δέ φησιν ἐψεῦσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ Ἴλιον στρατείαν | Menecles says that the expedition against Ilion is false |
References ▲ up
- Csapo E., Goette H. R., Green J. R., Wilson P. (eds.): Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC, 2014
- Fowler, Robert Louis (ed.): Early Greek Mythography, 2 vols, Texts - Commentary, 2000-2013
- Kirk, Geoffrey Stephen (ed.): The Iliad: A Commentary, 6 vols, 1985-1994
- Garcia, Lorenzo F., Jr.: Homeric Durability. Telling Time in the Iliad, 2013, Hellenic Studies Series 58. chap.3 in chs.harvard.edu
- Maitland, Judith: Poseidon, Walls, and Narrative Complexity in the Homeric Iliad, in The Classical Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 1 (1999), pp. 1-13
- Ogden, Daniel: Drakon; Dragon Myth and Serpent Cult in the Greek and Roman Worlds, 2013
- Papadopoulos, John K. & Ruscillo, Deborah: A Ketos in Early Athens. An Archaeology of Whales and Sea Monsters in the Greek World, in the American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 106, No. 2 (Apr., 2002), pp. 187-227
- Yasumura, Noriko: Challenges to the Power of Zeus in Early Greek Poetry, 2013
sources ▲ up
- for the main corpus of ancient texts the websites:
-
for Homer's Iliad scholia:
the editions of Hartmut Erbse, 7 vols, 1969-1977 & of Karl Wilhelm Dindorf, 3 vols, 1875-1877;
and the mss: A = Venetus A, Marc. Gr. Z. 454 (=822), 10th c. CE [in Marciana library Venice] | Z1 = Rome Ms.Gr.6, 9th c. CE [in Rome library] | Z2 = Madrid, Bibl. Nac. 4626, 9th c. CE [in Madrid library] | B = Venetus B, Marc. Gr. Z. 453 (=821), 11th c. CE [in Marciana library Venice] | T = BL Burney MS 86, 11th c. CE [in British library London] | Ge = Gen. ms. gr. 44, 13th c. CE [in Geneve library] -
for Euripides' scholia:
the editions of Eduard Schwartz, 2 vols, 1887-1891;
and the mss: A = Vat.gr.909, 13th c. CE [in Vatican library] | B = BNF Grec 2713, 11th c. CE [in Gallica library Paris] -
for Pindar's scholia:
the editions of A. B. Drachmann, 3 vols, 1903-1927;
and the mss: A = Ambr. C 222 inf. (gr. 886), 12th c. CE [in Ambrosiana library Milan] | C = BNF Grec 2774, 13th c. CE [in Gallica library Paris] | D = Laur. Plut.32.52, 14th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] | E = Laur. Plut.32.37, 14th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] | Q = Laur. Plut.32.35, 14th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] -
for Eustathius' Thessalonicensis Iliad sholia:
the Leipzig editions of 1825-1829, 3 vols;
and the mss: Laur. Plut.59.02, 12th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] | Laur. Plut.59.03, 12th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] -
for Tzetzes scholia on Lycophron [Alexandra]:
the editions of Eduardus Scheer, 2 vols, 1881-1908;
and the mss: a = BNF Grec 2723, 13th c. CE [in Gallica library Paris] | c-γ1 = Ambr. C 222 inf. (gr. 886), 12th c. CE [in Ambrosiana library Milan] | Laur. Plut.32.17, 13th c. CE [in Laurentian library Florence] -
for Servius' Commentary on Virgil's Aeneid:
the editions of Georgius Thilo & Hermannus Hagen, 2 vols, 1881-1884;
and the mss: Leipzig, Rep. I 36b, 10th c. CE, [in Leipzig library] | BNF Latin 16236, 11th c. CE, [in Gallica library Paris] | Bern, Cod. 172, 9th c. CE [in Bern library] - for historians' fragments: Fragmente der griechischen Historiker [FGrHist], by Felix Jacoby and some from Fowler's editions
- for Hesiod's fragments: the editions Fragmenta Hesiodea, by R. Merkelbach, R. West (eds.), 1967 & Hesiodi carmina, by Aloisius Rzach, 1908
- for Epic greek fragments: the editions Poetae epici Graeci [PEG], by Alberto Bernabé, 4vols, 1996-2007
- for Latin tragedy fragments: the editions TrRF: Tragicorum Romanorum Fragmenta, vol.1 by Markus Schauer, 2012, vol.2 by Gesine Manuwald, 2012 & Remains of old Latin, by Warmington, E. H., 3 vols, 1935-1938
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