The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics) (39 page)

believing that he was pruning a vine branch
: he was trying to eliminate the vines as a source of intoxication associated with Dionysos; it is also said that he mutilated himself (Hyg. 132, VM 1. 122; Carriere suggests a slight alteration in the text to give that meaning here).

and the whole of India . . . pillars
: marking the eastern limits of the inhabited world, corresponding to the pillars of Heracles in the west, see p. 80 and note. Some regard this phrase as an interpolation.

he arrived in Thebes
: the following is a summary of Eur.
Bacchae
, which contains much of interest on Dionysos.

When they had him on board
: see the fuller version of the following story in the first
Homeric Hymn to Dionysos;
there he frightened the sailors by causing a bear to appear and turning himself into a lion (and it is not stated that the oars and mast were changed into snakes). See also Ov.
Met
. 3. 605 ff.

Cadmos left Thebes. . . the Encheleans
: resigning the throne to Pentheus; the reason for his departure is unclear. The Encheleans, like the Illyrians, lived in the western Balkans, north of Epirus.

into a snake
: in hero-cult, a snake would often symbolize the hero or represent the form in which he supposedly manifested himself; but in late sources (e.g. Hyg. 6, cf. Ov.
Met
. 4. 562 ff.) it was suggested that the metamorphosis was a punishment for the murder of Ares’ dragon.

thought in much the same way
: with regard to the Bacchants, presumably; but there is no record of that elsewhere. Polydoros became king after Pentheus was killed in the way described above, and he was succeeded by Labdacos. According to P. 9. 5. 2, Labdacos was a child when he came to the throne, and was placed under the guardianship of Nycteus and then of Lycos, but ruled briefly in his own right when he came of age (no reason is given for his death); and Lycos then became guardian of the young Laios.

as long as Laios remained a child
: but Lycos never restored the throne to Laios, and the suggestion of a guardianship conflicts with the previous statement (confirmed below) that Lycos usurped the throne; perhaps a clumsy way of saying that Lycos initially took power as Laios’ guardian.

from Euboea . . . settled at Hyria
: a problematic passage. Ap. gives two genealogies for Lycos and Nycteus. The present story is irreconcilable with that given just above, for if they were sons of Chthonios, a ‘Sown Man’ (see p. 100), they would be native-born
Thebans and their presence in Thebes would need no explanation. But if they were sons of Hyrieus (as on p. 117, of Atlantid descent), they would have been born in Hyria (near Aulis in Boeotia) because their father was the eponymous king of the city, and would not have come there from elsewhere. Furthermore, since Phlegyas, whom they are said to have killed, was king of Orchomenos (P. 9. 36. 1), which lies on the mainland in Boeotia, and the brothers themselves had no known connection with Euboea, it is not clear why their killing of Phlegyas should have made them flee from
Euboea
. (Perhaps in the original story this explained why they left their native Hyria. There is a Euboean Lycos in Eur.
Heracles.)

from there. . . to Thebes
: following a suggestion by Heyne to fill a short gap in the text.

polemarch
: military commander.

to Epopeus
: a son of Aiolos’ daughter, Canace, p. 38, who left Thessaly for Sicyon (in the north-eastern Peloponnese near the Isthmus of Corinth), where he became king when the previous ruler died without children, see P. 2. 6. 1 ff.

killed himself
: or according to P. 2. 6. 2, he himself attacked Epopeus, but was wounded, and gave the following orders before he died.

the stones followed. . . Amphion’s lyre
: cf. AR 1. 735 ff. and P. 9. 5. 3 f. Homer tells of their fortification of Thebes,
Od
. 11. 260 ff., but not of the power of Amphion’s music; similar stories were told of Orpheus’ music, p. 30. These were the famous walls with the seven gates.

Homer
: he gives the essentials of the following story in
Il
. 24. 602 ff., although the details vary greatly within the subsequent tradition.

Amphion alone survived
: presumably the father of the children rather than a Niobid not mentioned above.

Chloris
: see P. 2. 21. 10 (where this Chloris is identified with Meliboia below; her name was changed to Chloris, ‘pale’, because she went pale with fear and remained so ever afterwards). Ap. wrongly identifies this Chloris, the daughter of Amphion of Thebes, with the daughter of Amphion of Orchomenos who married Neleus (see
Od
. 11. 281 ff, P. 10. 29. 2).

transformed into a stone
: Homer records that she became a stone (
Il
. 24. 614 ff.) without explaining how. The rock, on Mount Sipylos (in Lydia, Asia Minor), bore no resemblance to a woman when viewed close at hand, but if the visitor drew back, he could
make out the image of a weeping woman bowed in grief (according to Pausanias, who claims to have seen it, 1. 21. 5, cf. QS 1. 299 ff.).

the death ofAmphion
: he is said to have reacted to the death of his children by killing himself (Ov.
Met
. 6. 271), or by trying to storm the temple of Apollo, provoking the god to shoot him (Hyg. 9). For the death of Zethos, see P. 9. 5. 5.

others Epicaste
: as in
Od
. 11. 271, when Odysseus meets her in Hades; but Iocaste (Jocasta) is general in later writers.

called him Oedipus
: the name Oidipous is derived from
oidein
, to swell, and
pous
, a foot (a valid etymology); but the familiar Latinized form of his name is used in the translation. For further details on all the following see Ap.’s main sources, Sophocles’
Oedipus the King
and
Oedipus at Colonos
.

supposititious child
: i.e. as one who was not the child of his supposed parents, but is passed off as being their child.

a certain narrow track
: the ‘Cleft Way’, a mountain track leading to Delphi, see P. 10. 5. 1 ff.

Creon, son of Menoiceus
: and thus the great-grandson of Pentheus, and a member of the Theban royal line. He was the brother of Iocaste and uncle of Oedipus.

Hera sent the Sphinx
: in
Theog
. 326, the daughter of Orthos and Chimaira. In the absence of a settled tradition, different sources point to various episodes in Theban history that might have caused a deity to send her. Ap. may be referring to the tradition that Hera sent her in anger at Laios’ abduction of Chrysippos, p. 104 (sc. Eur.
Phoen
. 1760); but it was also said that Ares sent her, still angry at the murder of his dragon, p. 100 (Arg. Eur.
Phoen.)
, or Dionysos (sc.
Theog
. 326), angry at his rejection by Pentheus, p. 103.

a single voice
: an obscure indication that the same being is involved in each case.

by Euryganeia
: according to Pherecydes (sc. Eur.
Phoen
. 53), he first married Iocaste, who bore him two sons, Phrastos and Leonytos, but he put her aside after his descent was revealed and married Euryganeia, who bore him the sons ascribed elsewhere to Iocaste. She was the mother of his children in the
Oedipodia
, an early epic (P. 9. 5. 5).

cursing his sons
: it was also said that he cursed them for setting the silver table and golden goblet of Cadmos before him, so reminding him of his birth (Athenaeus 465e f.), and for serving him meat
from the haunch, considered a less honourable portion, rather than the shoulder (sc. Soph.
Oed. Col
. 1375, both quoting the
Thebais
, an early epic).

Arriving. . . at Colonos
: following Sophocles’
Oedipus at Colonos
. In early sources, he continued to rule in Thebes
(Od
. 11. 274 ff., cf.
Il
. 23. 678 ff., Hes.
Cat
. fr. 192); this is also implied in the traditions from early epic mentioned in the previous two notes. Colonos (Sophocles’ birthplace) lay a mile north of Athens.

the Eumenides
: ‘the gracious ones’, a euphemism for the Erinyes (Furies). On their sanctuary, see Soph.
Oed. Col
. 36 ff.; they had another by the Areiopagos (P. 1. 28. 6).

Eteocles . . . refused to give up the throne
: cf. Eur.
Phoenissae
67 ff.; this is the dominant tradition in later sources, but the names of the brothers suggest that Polyneices, ‘the man of many quarrels’ (cf. Aesch.
Seven against Thebes
658), rather than Eteocles (‘true glory’), was originally the guilty party. Pherecydes and Hellanicos offered conflicting accounts (sc. Eur.
Phoen
. 71), the one saying that Polyneices was expelled by force, and the other that Polyneices was offered a choice between the throne and the Cadmeian treasures and chose the latter, but then tried to seize the throne as well.

Adrastos, son of Talaos
: and thus a grandson of Bias, p. 47, while Amphiaraos is a descendant of the seer Melampous (cf.
Od
. 15. 223 ff).

Tydeus. . . had fled there from Calydon
: see p. 42 and note.

a boar. . . a lion
: the emblem on Tydeus’ shield refers to the Calydonian boar, and that on Polyneices’ to the lion-faced Sphinx expelled by his father Oedipus (according to sc. Eur.
Phoen
. 409). On this episode see also Eur.
Phoenissae
408 ff. and
Suppliants
132 ff.

went to Iphis
: an Argive king descended from Proitos. Polyneices may have wanted the benefit of his local knowledge; or perhaps this is connected with the tradition that Eriphyle was the daughter of Iphis (sc.
Il
. 11. 326).

conflict. . . between Amphiaraos and Adrastos
: they had quarrelled over the kingship, and Adrastos had been expelled for a time (see DS 4. 65. 6, with Pind.
Nem
. 9. 13 f.); he went to Sicyon, and ruled there after the previous king had died (P. 2. 6. 3).

allow Eriphyle to decide
: as the sister of Adrastos and wife of Amphiaraos, she might be expected to be even-handed. Homer
alludes to her betrayal of her husband
(Od
. 11. 326 f.) without telling the story.

seven leaders
: corresponding to the seven gates in the walls of Thebes, see below.

Lycourgos
: son of Pheres, see p. 48; Nemea was on the northern border of the Argolid.

Thoas had been spared
: when the Lemnian women killed their menfolk, Hypsipyle, their queen, spared her father, see p. 50.

Archemoros
: meaning the beginning of death, or first to die; cf. Bacch. 9. 14, ‘an omen of the coming slaughter’.

sent Tydeus ahead. . . to the camp
: cf.
Il
. 4. 382 ff.; portents from the gods caused him to release Maion (ibid. 398).

advanced towards the walls
: the attack on Thebes was recounted in an early epic, the
Thehais
, and became a favourite theme in tragedy, see Aesch.
Seven against Thebes
, and Eur.
Phoenissae
.

seven gates
: see P. 9. 8. 4 ff. (who offers some explanation of the names). Hypsistan means ‘highest’; the name of the Crenidian suggests that it was by a spring.

saw the goddess completely naked
: preceded by a short gap in the text. For the story, see Callimachus
Hymn
5. 57 ff. (probably following Pherecydes). While Athene and Chariclo, the mother of Amphiaraos, were bathing at noon in the Hippocrene, a spring on Mount Helicon in Boeotia, Teiresias, who was out with his dogs, happened to approach the waters, and caught sight of them.

purified his ears. . , the language of birds
: compare the story of Melampous on p. 46 and see notes.

Hesiod says
: in the
Melampodeia
(Hes. fr. 275), see also Appendix, 4 and note. The following story is reported somewhat differently in sc.
Od
. 10. 494. There he kills the female snake on the first occasion, and becomes a man again when he kills the male snake on the second; this has a certain logic, but we cannot tell whether it is closer to the version in the
Melampodeia
in the absence of any relevant quotation. It should be noted, however, that in all other versions, he is said to have wounded or killed one snake or both on the second occasion also (e.g. AL 17, Ov.
Met
. 3. 316 ff, Hyg. 75). Cyllene lay in Arcadia.

one part. . . nine parts
: apparently a misinterpretation of the
Melampodeia
, see Appendix, 5 and note.

to a considerable age
: on the same occasion Zeus granted him the privilege of living for seven generations (Phlegon under Hes. fr. 275).

Menoiceus. . . as a sacrifice to Ares
: see Eur.
Phoenissae
930 ff.; to gain the favour of Ares, a descendant of one of the Sown Men must offer his life to atone for the murder of Ares’ dragon (see p. 100).

Zeus struck him down
: as retribution for his impious arrogance, for Capaneus boasted that he would sack the town whether Zeus wished it or not, and said that the thunder and lightning of Zeus were no worse than the midday sun (Aesch.
Seven against Thebes All
ff., cf. Eur.
Suppl
. 496 ff.). Or he climbed the ladder with two torches, saying that one was thunder and the other lightning (sc. Eur.
Phoen
. 1173), behaving rather like Salmoneus on p. 45. A descendant of Proitos, Capaneus was a member of the native royal line in Argos.

for Tydeus. . . killed Melanippos
: in all other sources, Amphiaraos himself killed him (e.g. sc.
Il
. 5. 126, referring to Pherecydes). This may well be an interpolation.

Zeus made him immortal
: he was worshipped as a healer god and had an oracle at Oropos (latterly in Attica, but previously in Boeotia). See P. 1. 34. 2 (and, for the site of his disappearance, 9. 8. 2).