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"Aphrodite, be off from this battle and leave
war alone. Is it not enough for you to set your
traps for feeble women?" [Diomedes 2 to
Aphrodite
after having wounded her. Homer,
Iliad
5.348]
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Diomedes 2 fought in the war of the
EPIGONI, and later led
the Argives against Troy.
He was a brave man, whose temerity defied even the
gods; but on his return home he was, as other
ACHAEAN LEADERS,
defeated by his own wife, and had to settle in
Italy.
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Resident in Argos
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Diomedes 2 was, on his father side, an Aetolian,
and on his mother's, an Argive. This is so because
his father Tydeus 2, in
order to avoid being prosecuted by his uncle Agrius
3, left Calydon and came
to Argos, where he married
King Adrastus 1's
daughter Deipyle.
The king, besides marrying his daughter to him,
promised to help him to return to his country by
means of war. But before that, he wished to restore
his other son-in-law Polynices to the throne of
Thebes. With this purpose
in mind, Adrastus 1
formed a military alliance, in order to attempt the
conquest of Oedipus'
throne and give it to Polynices.
This expedition, remembered as that of the
SEVEN AGAINST
THEBES, failed; and since all leaders perished
(with the exception of
Adrastus 1), there was
never occasion for Tydeus
2 to return, either to
Argos or
Calydon, and therefore
Diomedes 2 became a permanent resident in
Argos.
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Among the EPIGONI
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Ten years after these events, the sons of the
SEVEN, known as the
EPIGONI (one of which
was Diomedes 2), attacked
Thebes, and being
successful where their fathers had failed, they put
Polynices' son Thersander 1 on the throne.
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Restores his grandfather
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Although Diomedes 2 married an Argive woman,
daughter or granddaughter of
Adrastus 1, he still
kept an eye on Calydonian politics, punishing the
usurpers that deposed his grandfather Oeneus 2,
king of Calydon. Behind
this conspiracy were the sons of Agrius 3 (brother
of Oeneus 2 and the man who had banished
Tydeus 2), who put their
own father on the throne and Oeneus 2 in jail.
Diomedes 2 then, being helped by Alcmaeon 1 (one
of the EPIGONI),
attacked Calydon and
punished the plotters by slaying most of them,
except perhaps Onchestus 1 and
Thersites, who escaped
to Peloponnesus, and Agrius 3, who killed himself.
Now Diomedes 2 did not restore Oeneus 2 to power
to, since he was too old, but gave the government
to the latter's son-in-law, Andraemon 1 (married to
Gorge 2). Diomedes 2 then took Oeneus 2 to
Argos; but when they were
in Arcadia, Onchestus 1
and Thersites lay in
wait for the old man and killed him. Apparently all
what Diomedes 2 could do was to bring the corpse to
Argos, where Oeneus 2 was
buried in a place called Oenoe after him.
Some have said that these events took place
after the fall of Troy. But
others believe that this happened before the war of
the EPIGONI, which
preceded the Trojan
War; and they could argue that Alcmaeon 1 was
too busy after the war of the
EPIGONI (murdering his
mother, marrying several woman, and being himself
murdered by the brothers of one of them), or that
Thersites died at
Troy.
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Among the SUITORS OF
HELEN
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In any case, after these episodes Diomedes 2
became one of the
SUITORS OF HELEN
and, as such, he was bound by The Oath of
Tyndareus, which
established that all the
SUITORS would
defend and protect him who was chosen as
Helen's husband against
any wrong done against him in regard to his
marriage. Accordingly, when
Menelaus was robbed of
his wife, all those who had sworn the oath were
summoned by the latter's brother
Agamemnon, so that
they would join the coalition that was to sail from
Aulis to Troy in order to
demand, by persuasion or by force, the restoration
of Helen and the Spartan
property that the seducer
Paris had stolen.
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Instrument of treachery
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In Aulis, where all
ACHAEAN LEADERS
gathered, Diomedes 2 met his brother in arms
Odysseus, with whom he
shared several adventures. They began to combine
their efforts and actions already when being in
Aulis. For it is said that
Odysseus and Diomedes 2
were among the few Achaean officers who were
acquainted with
Agamemnon's
manipulations concerning the betrayal of
Iphigenia. And some
have said that the two unscrupulous friends were
those charged by
Agamemnon of luring
Iphigenia from
Mycenae to Aulis, where
murder, disguised as wedding, awaited her.
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Commander
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According to some, Diomedes 2 contributed with
as many as 80 ships to the Achaean fleet. He shared
the command of the Argives from
Argos,
Tiryns,
Troezen, and other
cities, with Sthenelus 2 and Euryalus 1 (both of
them former EPIGONI),
but he kept the highest authority among them.
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Palamedes
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Once in Troy,
Odysseus and Diomedes
2, say some, murdered
Palamedes (the
commander who outwitted
Odysseus in Ithaca,
forcing him to stand by his oath and join the
alliance), drowning him while he was fishing. Yet
others keep Diomedes 2 blameless, and do not
mention him when describing the plot through which
Odysseus ended
Palamedes' days at
Troy.
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Those killed by Diomedes 2
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Diomedes 2 is counted among the bravest, and
being an excellent fighter, he slew many Trojans,
among which:
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Some killed by Diomedes
2
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Chromius 1.
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Son of Priam
1.
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Echemmon 1.
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Son of Priam
1.
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Pandarus 1.
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Pandarus 1 is remembered for having
broken a truce by shooting an arrow at
Menelaus. He
later wounded Diomedes 2, but the latter
hurled a spear at him that hit upon his
nose beside the eye, killing him.
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Amphius 1.
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Amphius 1 is one of the sons of the
seer Merops 1.
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Rhesus 2.
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King of Thrace killed while he slept.
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Dolon 1.
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The spy that
Odysseus and
Diomedes 2 captured the same night they
killed Rhesus
2.
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Thymbraeus 1.
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This son of the Trojan seer
Laocoon 2 was
either killed by Diomedes 2, or by certain
serpents sent by the gods.
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Phegeus 2.
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Son of the Trojan priest Dares 1.
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Hypeiron.
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A Trojan chieftain.
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Abas 5.
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Sons of Eurydamas 3, a reader of
dreams.
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Polyidus 3.
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Xanthus 3.
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Sons of Phaenops 1.
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Thoon 1.
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Axylus.
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Son of Teuthranus.
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Calesius.
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Axylus' squire and charioteer.
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Eniopeus.
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Son of Thebaeus, and charioteer of
Hector 1.
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Agelaus 6.
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Son of Phradmon.
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Agastrophus.
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Trojan spearman, son of Paeon 1 and
Cleomede.
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Coroebus 2.
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Coroebus 2 came to
Troy to marry
Cassandra. He
fought by
Aeneas' side,
and was killed either by
Neoptolemus,
or by Diomedes
2, or by Peneleus. Coroebus 2 was son
of Mygdon, the King of the Bebrycians who
once fought with
Priam 1 against
the AMAZONS.
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Alcibie.
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These are
AMAZONS.
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Derimacheia.
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Eumaeus 2.
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Trojan warriors.
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Amphinous 2.
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Menon 2.
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Eurydamas 5.
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The son-in-law of
Antenor 1.
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Ilioneus 4.
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A Trojan elder who asked for mercy.
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Eurycoon.
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Son of Perimnestor.
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Astynous 3.
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A Trojan warrior.
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Wounded a goddess
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Diomedes 2 would probably have killed
Aeneas as well, had not
Aphrodite intervened
to protect her son. However, the goddess herself
was wounded by Diomedes 2 in the wrist, which
caused her to hand over the exhausted
Aeneas to
Apollo. And since
Diomedes 2 persisted in his furious attack,
Apollo shouted at him in
a terrible way:
"Think,
Diomedes, and give way! Do not aspire to be the
equal of the gods. The immortals are not made of
the same stuff as men that walk on the ground!"
[Apollo to
Diomedes 2. Homer,
Iliad
5.440]
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A goddess in his chariot
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These things happened before
Zeus forbade the gods to
intervene in the battles. And during those good
times before prohibition,
Athena herself took place
beside Diomedes 2 in his chariot, and drove it
against Ares; and with her
help, Diomedes 2 succeeded in wounding the god in
the lower part of his divine belly, although it
could be also said that this was
Athena's work altogether.
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Diomedes 2, in the
chariot, attacks Ares, while
Athena, wearing
Hades' helmet, drives
the horses. On the ground is Periphas 3
the Aetolian, whom Ares just
killed
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Spy and saboteur
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Such was Diomedes 2 in the battlefield: a man
who dared to defy the gods themselves, as they say.
But in the company of
Odysseus, he employed
stealth and treachery too, as when he murdered King
Rhesus 2 of Thrace, a
Trojan ally, while he slept.
That was the night when the Trojans, having
obtained victory the previous day, camped in the
plain outside the city. Diomedes 2 and
Odysseus were then sent
by the Achaean chiefs to find out something about
that temerity and the intentions of the enemy. On
their way to the Trojan camp, they discovered and
captured Dolon 1—also a spy—, who
approached the Achaean camp. It was after
questioning him that they learned everything about
Rhesus 2 and the
positions of the Thracians. Having truthfully
revealed valuable things, Dolon 1 expected to be
taken as a prisoner to the ships, or to be tied up,
while the other two found out whether he had told
them the truth or not. But Diomedes 2 told him:
"You have
given us excellent news, but do not imagine you are
going to get away, now that you have fallen into
our hands. If we set you free tonight, there is
nothing to prevent your coming down once more to
the Achaean ships, either to play the spy or to
meet us in open fight. But if I lay my hands on you
and take your life, you will never be a nuisance to
the Argives again." [Diomedes 2 to Dolon 1.
Homer,
Iliad
10.447]
Having said this, Diomedes 2 cut off the
prisoner's head with his sword, without giving him
time to plead for his life. Then they went where
Dolon 1 had indicated, and having found the
Thracian king, Diomedes 2 let him and twelve of his
soldiers pass from one kind of sleep to another;
for they were all killed in their beds, while
asleep.
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Helps to steal the
Palladium
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Also the theft of the
Palladium, a wooden
statue, was accomplished during a similar operation
by Odysseus and
Diomedes 2. Odysseus,
some say, went by night to
Troy disguised as a beggar
and, having entered into the city, stole away the
Palladium, and killed
several guards. Then he brought it to the ships
with the aid of Diomedes
2, who was waiting outside.
Others affirm that
Odysseus and
Diomedes 2 learned
from Antenor 1 the
oracle that declared that
Troy would be destroyed if
the Palladium were
carried outside the city walls; and that it was the
same Antenor 1, who
after having obtained the
Palladium from the
priestess, wrapped it and sent it to
Odysseus.
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Fraternization
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Although Diomedes 2 was a man given to both
treachery and violence, he found occasion to
refrain himself, as when he met Glaucus 3 (a Lycian
leader and Trojan ally) in the battlefield. They
first exchanged boasts and insults, but when
Diomedes 2 learned that Glaucus 3's grandfather
Bellerophon had once
been the guest of his own grandfather Oeneus 2, he
addressed his foe in cordial terms and invited him
to exchange armours, to honour the ties of
hospitality that united them, and as a token of
friendship:
"Let us
exchange our armour, so that everyone may know that
our grandfathers' friendship has made friends of
us" [Diomedes 2 to Glaucus 3. Homer,
Iliad
6.231]
This they did, but it has been remarked that
Glaucus 3 exchanged gold for bronze: "a hundred oxen's worth for the
value of nine" [Hom.Il.6.236].
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Inside the WOODEN
HORSE
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In the final phase of the war,
Odysseus conceived the
stratagem of the WOODEN
HORSE, hiding inside this huge piece of art a
group of Achaean warriors, among which Diomedes 2.
Not knowing that there was an enemy armed force
inside it, the Trojans brought the evil device into
the city. A fatal mistake; for when night fell and
the Trojans were asleep, the hidden force came
forth, and opened the gates for the rest of the
army, which set the city on fire and destroyed it.
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Haunted by old mischief
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When the war was over, the
Palamedes affair
haunted Diomedes 2.
For Palamedes' brother
Oeax went to Argos and
reportedto Aegialia, falsely or not, that her
husband was bringing a woman he preferred to his
wife. Others say that Aegialia herself had taken a
lover, Cometes 2 (son of Sthenelus 2, the Argive
leader and brother in arms of Diomedes 2), being
persuaded to do so by
Palamedes' father
Nauplius 1. Still others say that
Aphrodite, remembering
that Diomedes 2 had wounded her, helped Aegialia to
obtain, not one but many lovers.
In any case Aegialia, being helped by the
Argives, prevented
Diomedes 2 from
entering the city. Or else, if he ever entered
Argos, he had to take
sanctuary at the altar of
Hera, and thence flee with
his companions by night.
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End of Diomedes 2 in Italy
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Diomedes 2 then migrated to Apulia in Italy, and
went to the court of King Daunus, who, some say,
killed him by a trick. But others say that he
married the king's daughter, having sons by her,
and dying of Old Age. It
is told that when Diomedes 2 was already well
established in Italy,
Aeneas landed in Latium
with his Trojans, and that they who felt themselves
threatened by Aeneas went
to see Diomedes 2 in order to get from him military
aid. But Diomedes 2, perhaps tired of so much
warfare, refused.
Still others say that Diomedes 2 disappeared
while his companions were changed into birds, and
yet others that Athena
made him a god.
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Others with identical name
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- Diomedes 1 is the owner of the Thracian
man-eating mares [see
HERACLES 1'S
LABOURS].
- Diomedes 3 is son of Diomedes 2.
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Abolengo
Album - High Resolution Genealogical Charts
|
Names in this chart
Adrastus 1,
Aegialeus 1, Aegialia, Aeolia,
Aeolus 1, Aetolus 2,
Agenor 6, Alcidice, Aleus, Amphinomus 3, Amphithea
1, Amythaon, Aphidas 1, Arcas 1, Bias 1,
Callisto, Calyce 1,
Calydon, Cretheus 1, Daunus, Daunus' Daughter,
Deipyle, Deucalion 1,
Diomedes 2, Diomedes 3, Dorus 2,
Endymion, Epicasta 1,
Hellen 1, Oeneus 2, Phorbus, Phthia 2, Pleuron,
Porthaon, Pronax, Pronoe 2, Salmoneus, Talaus,
Tydeus 2, Tyro,
Xanthippe 1.
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