 |
Encyclopaedia |
|
| |
Encyclopaedia |
|
One of the Titans a son of Uranus and Gaea. He was the only Titan who did not rise against their father.
The son of Anticleia and Lærtes, King of Ithaca, although some say his father was Sisyphus. Odysseus won his wife Penelope in a foot race, although he gave her option of staying with her father she had chosen to go with him. An oracle had warned Odysseus not to travel to Troy with the Greek forces and he pretended to be insane when the envoys came for him. However Palamedes placed Odysseus' young son Telemachus in front of his plough and he was forced to reveal his sanity. Odysseus later tricked the Greeks into believing Palamedes was a traitor and he was stoned to death.
Throughout the Trojan war Odysseus fought bravely and used his considerable wits to try and shorten the war. He sneaked into Troy as a runaway slave and spoke to Helen, gaining information. Odysseus then devised the Trojan horse and travelled into Troy inside it. During the ensuing battle he killed Deiphobus. He was given Hecuba as a prize but left her at the Thracian Chersonesus rather than taking her home with him.
Odysseus' ten year journey home is told in Homer's Odyssey. He underwent many adventures and ordeals including dealing with Polephemus, Circe, the Sirens, Scylla, Charibdis, Calypso and Nausicaa. He eventually reached Ithica where he faught and killed the many suitors pursuing Penelope. At the end of the Odyssey Odysseus again leaves home following a propehcy from Teiresias, however on his return he would live a long life and die of old age. According to another tradition Odysseus is accidentally killed by Telegonus, his son by Circe.
King of Pleuron and Calydon in Ætolia, husband of Althæa, father of Tydeus, Meleager, Gorge and Deianeira. His lands were ravaged by the Calydonian Boar and later seized by his nephews. His grandson Diomedes avenged him. He accompanied Diomedes to the Peloponese but was eventually killed by two of his nephews who had escaped Diomedes.
Son of Ares, King of Pisa in Elis. According to an oracle Oenomaus would be killed by his son-in-law, therefore he challenged any of his daughter Hippodameia's suitors to a chariot race. If the man was successful he could marry Hippodameia but if he lost Oenomaus would kill him with the his spear which was a gift from Ares. Pelops bribed Oenomaus' charioteer Myrtilus to replace a lynch pin with one made from wax. Oenomaus was thrown from the chariot and killed.
A nymph who loved Paris, but he deserted her. When he later called on her to heal him after he was shot by Philoctetes she refused. Following his death she took her own life as described in Tennyson's Death of Oenone.
Queen of Lydia, widow of Tmolus. She brought Heracles while he was serving as a slave as penance for the murder of Iphitus.
The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. After his mother murdered his father Orestes was smuggled out of Mycenae by his sister Electra. He lived with King Strophius in Phocis where he befriended the King's son Pylades. When they came of age Orestes and Pylades travelled to Mycenae and killed Clytemnestra and Ægisthus who were ruling the city. These events are described by Æschylus in The Libation Bearers, by Sophocles in Electra and by Euripides in Electra.
Orestes was persued by the Furies for committing matricide, they drove him mad and he chased him from land to land. The Pythian Priestess eventually directed him to Athens where his case was judged by Athene and the Areopagus. Apollo spoke in his defense on the grounds taht the mother is less important than the father. Athene's casting vote acquited him as described in Æschylus' Eumenides and in Euripides' Orestes.
An alternate story is told by Euripides in Iphigenia among the Taurians. Orestes and Pylades travel to the statue of Artemis in Tauris after Apollo advises that it will cure his madness. They are seized by the natives who plan to sacrifice them to Artemis, but the priestess turns out to be Iphigenia, Orestes sister who was thought to be dead. Iphigenia rescues her brother and Pylades, they return to Greece and after killing Ægisthus' son Orestes becomes King of Mycenae.
Orestes had been betrothed to his cousin Hermione however Neoptolemus claimed her and they were only married after Orestes killed Neoptolemus.
The son of Poseidon and the famous hunter. He fell in love with Merope and her father Oenopion promised her to Orion if he freed the island of Chios of wild beasts. However Oenopion broke his promise and Orion seduced Merope and was blinded by her father with the aid of Dionysus. An oracle told Orion that he would regain his site by travelling East and looking at the rising Sun. He travelled to Lemnos where Hephæstus gave him a guide to the East. There Eos fell in love with him and her brother Helios returned his site.
Orion joined Artemis as a hunter and boasted of his great skill. Apollo was worried his sister would fall in love with Orion and so arranged for the goddess to accidentally kill him. Artemis set Orion's image in the stars as a hunter with a belt and sword.