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Disguising Achilles
as a girl
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The nereid Thetis, mother of
Achilles, wished to
protect her sweet child from his unavoidable fate,
which was to meet death at
Troy and gain unforgettable
Fame, and for that purpose
she disguised him as a girl, and brought him to the
court of King Lycomedes 1 of Scyros, the same man
who is suspected of having treacherously killed his
guest, the exiled King
Theseus of
Athens.
But some have thought that this is nonsense, and
that what really happened is that
Achilles lived in that
island because he had conquered it.
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The king's daughter discovers the trick...
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The king's daughter Deidamia 1, playing with
Achilles, who was known
by all as the girl Pyrrha 3, discovered his
manhood, and making love to him, gave in time birth
to Neoptolemus. And because
Achilles had been
called "Pyrrha", so Neoptolemus was sometimes
called Pyrrhus.
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...and so do the Achaeans
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Thetis' trick concerning
Achilles' female
disguise was later revealed by
Odysseus, who along
with other Achaeans, came to Scyros looking for
him, at the time when attempts were being made to
form a coalition between all kingdoms of Hellas,
and sail against Troy in
order to restore Helen and
the Spartan property that had been stolen by the
Trojan Paris.
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Father dies
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After killing Hector
1, Achilles himself
was slain at Troy, either
by Paris, or by
Apollo, or by
Paris and his brother
Deiphobus 1, the same who married
Helen after
Paris was killed by the
poisoned arrow of
Philoctetes.
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Prophecy calls for Neoptolemus
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As Troy could not be
taken regardless of the efforts that were made,
ever new conditions were added by the
seers as to what was
necessary to do in order to take the city. So, in
the same way as before it had been declared that
Troy could not be taken
without Achilles, now
it was prophesied that Troy
could not be taken if Neoptolemus would not come
and fight. So Odysseus
and Phoenix 2 came to Scyros to fetch him, and
bring him to the war at
Troy. His mother failed to
persuade him not to go to the war, and so he sailed
away.
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Ajax 1 killed himself
for nothing
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When Neoptolemus arrived to
Troy,
Odysseus resigned
Achilles' armour and
gave it to him. This armour
Odysseus had received
as a prize after the death of
Achilles. This is the
same armour that caused the death of
Ajax 1; for the latter
contended with Odysseus
for the honour of owning it, and having lost, he
went mad and killed himself.
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Fetching
Philoctetes
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Some say that it was
Odysseus and
Neoptolemus who sailed to
Lemnos in order to fetch
Philoctetes and the
Bows & Arrows of
Heracles 1 back to the
war at Troy. When about to
perform this task,
Odysseus and
Neoptolemus did not agree as to the method to be
applied in order to bring
Philoctetes back:
Neoptolemus: It is not in my nature to achieve
anything by means of evil cunning ... But I am
ready to take the man by force and without
treachery.
Odysseus: I, too, in my youth once had a slow
tongue and an active hand. But now I see that the
tongue, not action, is what masters everything
among men... I command you to take
Philoctetes by deceit.
Neoptolemus: Then you
think it brings no shame to speak what is
false?
Odysseus: No, not if the falsehood yields
deliverance.
[Sophocles,
Philoctetes
89ff]
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The many lives that Neoptolemus took
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Neoptolemus killed many Trojans in battle:
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Eurypylus 6, who had brought a great
force of Mysians to fight for the Trojans
against the Achaean invaders.
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Agenor 8, who served in the same
company as Paris
and Alcathous 2 and was son of
Antenor 1, the
man who constantly adviced the Trojans to
restore Helen and
make peace with the Achaeans. Also Polybus
5, another son of
Antenor 1, was
killed by Neoptolemus.
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Alcidamas 2 and Melaneus 9, sons of
Alexinomus, who lived in Caunus, a city in
Lycia in southern Asia Minor.
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Antiphonus, Polites 1 and Pammon 1,
sons of Priam 1.
Polites 1 had once helped his wounded
brother Deiphobus 1 out of the turmoil of
battle.
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Astynous 2, son of Protiaon
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Celtus 3 and Eubius, sons of the rich
man Meges 3, son of Dymas 2
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Coroebus 2, who had come to
Troy in order to
marry
Cassandra,
fell fighting at
Troy by
Aeneas' side,
killed by Neoptolemus or by
Diomedes 2 or
by Peneleus; Coroebus 2 was son of Mygdon,
king of the Bebrycians, who once had
fought with Priam
1 against the
AMAZONS. Mygdon
himself, son of
Poseidon &
Melie, had been killed years ago by
Heracles 1.
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Hippomedon 3, son of Hippasus 6 &
Ocyrrhoe 3, born beside the river
Sangarius.
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Menalcas 1, a Trojan spearman, son of
Medon 9, a craftsman from Cilla, a city in
northwestern Asia Minor
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Menes, son of the Lycian King
Cassandrus.
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The Phrygians Hippomedon 2 and Morys 2.
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The Lycian Laodamas 4.
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The same thing happened to the Trojans
Cestrus, Eioneus 4, Elasus 2, Evenor 3,
Galenus, Amphinous 1, Cebrus, Harmon 2,
Agenor 13, Hysminus, Imbrasius, Iphition
2, Mnesaeus, Oenops 2, Nirus, Pasitheus,
Perilaus 3, Perimedes 6, Phalerus 2,
Phasis 2, Phleges, Schedius 4 and Ennomus
2.
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Victor gives way to wrath
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When finally the city was taken, Neoptolemus
caught King Priam 1, who
had taken refuge at the altar of
Zeus, and dragging him out
of the temple, slew him at the gate of his own
palace. Neoptolemus is also said to have murdered
little Astyanax 2, the baby child of
Hector 1, by throwing
him down from a tower. Some affirm that Neoptolemus
came to this amazing idea by activating his own
mind, and that the Achaeans never decreed that the
child should be put to death. But others assert
that little Astyanax 2 survived the sack of
Troy, and that he was taken
prisoner by Neoptolemus, who later allowed him to
return home from Hellas. Little Astyanax 2, they
affirm, became then king of Scepsis near Mt. Ida in
the Troad.
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Reward for his zeal
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In any case, when all resistance was crushed and
the city was destroyed, the Achaeans divided the
spoils, and Neoptolemus got, as a special reward,
Hector 1's wife
Andromache.
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Returning home
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When it was time to return home, Neoptolemus,
following the advice of Thetis, who knew that the
gods wished to cause trouble to the returning
Achaean fleet, stayed two days in the island of
Tenedos, and then set out for Epirus by land [see
Map: The Returns],
burying Phoenix 2, son of Amyntor 1 and companion
of Achilles, who died
on the way.
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Battle in Thrace
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Passing through Thrace during his return from
Troy, Neoptolemus engaged
in battle with King Harpalycus 1, who was severely
wounded by him. The king was saved from death by
his daughter Harpalyce 1, thought to be his
successor on the throne. For she had been fed by
cows and mares, and had been later trained in arms
by her father. However, this family project did not
become a reality because Harpalycus 1 was later
killed during a civil insurrection. Harpalyce 1
then had to retire to the woods, where she lived by
plundering cattle, being finally killed by
shepherds.
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His new kingdom
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On arrival to Epirus (the Adriatic coastal
region of Greece between the Ambracian Gulf and
Illyria, today called Albania), Neoptolemus
defeated the Molossians, reigned over them during a
brief time, becoming also king of the islands off
Epirus. Neoptolemus gave Deidamia 1 as wife to the
seer Helenus 1 (son of
King Priam 1), whom he
had brought as a prisoner, and
Helenus 1 founded a
city in Molossia.
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Neoptolemus arbiter
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While Neoptolemus was king,
Odysseus, who had been
accused by the families of the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE he slaughtered, submitted the case to
him, and Neoptolemus condemned him to exile,
because, it is suspected, through the exile of
Odysseus he expected to
gain control over the island of Cephallenia.
Neoptolemus also ajudged that the relatives of the
SUITORS should
pay to Odysseus a
yearly recompense for the injuries that the
SUITORS had done
to his estate. For the
SUITORS, during
Odysseus' absence, had
a great time with many banquets at the expense of
Odysseus' fortune. So
while Odysseus was
exiled in Italy, the recompense was paid to his son
Telemachus, and
consisted of barley, wine,
honeycombs, olive-oil, salt, and animals for
sacrifice.
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Inherits his grandfather
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During these times, Neoptolemus' grandfather
Peleus was expelled from
Phthia by the sons of Acastus and died, but
Neoptolemus managed to succeed his grandfather as
ruler of Phthia. Yet, it has also been said that
Peleus survived
Neoptolemus.
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Old conflict in new form
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The conflict between
Achilles and
Agamemnon for the sake
of a woman experienced a revival in their sons. For
Neoptolemus married
Andromache, but based
in Menelaus' promises,
he claimed the hand of the latter's daughter
Hermione, whom
Menelaus had given as
wife to Orestes 2 (his
nephew) at his return from
Troy.
Menelaus then,
recalling his promise, took
Hermione from
Orestes 2, and gave her
to Neoptolemus.
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The 'Punishment of Neoptolemus'
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But Orestes 2, son
of Agamemnon, came
with an armed force to
Delphi when Neoptolemus
was there and killed him.
To suffer what a man has himself done to another
is called the 'Punishment of Neoptolemus', for
Neoptolemus killed King Priam
1 in a temple and was himself killed in a
temple. In spite of this, the Delphians have ever
since sacrificed to Neoptolemus as to a hero.
It is also said that Pylades, friend of
Orestes 2, planned the
murder of Neoptolemus [see the reasons Pylades
could have for plotting against Neoptolemus in the
notes about the nereid Psamathe 1 at
NEREIDS].
Some affirm, however, that Neoptolemus came to
Delphi to demand
satisfaction from Apollo,
who some say killed
Achilles, and that he
set fire to the temple, and for doing that he was
killed by Machaereus, a Phocian. The bones of
Neoptolemus were scattered through Ambracia, a
district of Epirus, but others think he was buried
at Delphi.
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