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"This thought occurred to
Tyndareus: the suitors should swear to each
other and join right hands and pour libations with
burnt-sacrifice, binding themselves by this curse:
whoever wins the child of
Tyndareus for wife, they will assist that
man, in case a rival takes her from his house and
goes his way, robbing her husband of his rights;
and march against that man in armed array and raze
his city to the ground, Hellene no less than
barbarian."
[Agamemnon. Euripides,
Iphigenia
in Aulis 57ff.]
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SUITORS OF HELEN are those who came from many
kingdoms of Hellas to compete for the hand of the
Spartan princess Helen.
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Helen abducted when very young
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Some affirm that Helen
was not a virgin when suitors from the whole of
Hellas came asking for her hand. For
Theseus, they say, had
abducted her years before, fathering a girl
Iphigenia, whom
Helen handed over to her
sister
Clytaemnestra when
she came back to Sparta,
having been rescued by her brothers the
DIOSCURI, who destroyed
the city of Aphidnae in Attica, where
Theseus had hidden her.
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Helen's beauty
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But many others never cared about these rumours,
finding this daughter of
Zeus who was hatched from
an egg to be of unsurpassed beauty. And when
because of her, war broke up, some aged wise men
found it perfectly understandable that Achaeans and
Trojans should slaughter each other for her sake.
For to such an extent may sometimes wisdom submit
to beauty.
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Helen's hand offered
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So when it became known that King
Tyndareus of
Sparta was offering in
marriage his stepdaughter
Helen, princes and
noblemen from the whole of Hellas came to win her
hand.
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Tyndareus' fear
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Already at this stage it was feared that
Helen could cause a war.
And when Tyndareus saw
the multitude of suitors, he feared that choosing
one of them might provoke the others to start
quarrelling.
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Odysseus' solution
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Noticing his plight,
Odysseus promised that
if the king would help him to win the hand of
Tyndareus' niece
Penelope, he in return
would reveal a way by which all trouble could be
avoided. When
Tyndareus accepted
this bargain, Odysseus
told him to exact an oath from all the suitors that
they would defend and protect him who was chosen as
Helen's husband against
any wrong done against him in regard to his
marriage.
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The Oath of
Tyndareus
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This is how The Oath of
Tyndareus came about,
the suitors being sworn by the king, and
Odysseus receiving
Penelope from Icarius
1, brother of
Tyndareus. The
ceremony was done in the place later called The
Tomb of the Horse on the road from
Sparta to
Arcadia; for before
administrating the oath to the suitors,
Tyndareus sacrificed a
horse, and after the suitors had been sworn
standing upon the pieces of the horse, the animal
was buried in the same place.
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Helen chooses
Menelaus
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It is also told that
Tyndareus feared that
Agamemnon might
divorce his daughter
Clytaemnestra, and
following Odysseus'
advice, bound himself by an oath, and gave
Helen leave to choose a
husband. And she chose
Menelaus, putting a
wreath on his head.
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The oath invoked
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Later, when the seducer
Paris came to
Sparta and abducted
Helen taking her to
Troy, The Oath of
Tyndareus was invoked
by her husband Menelaus
and his brother
Agamemnon in order to
form the coalition that sailed against
Troy.
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What Odysseus did
not foresee
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But The Oath of
Tyndareus, through
which Odysseus won
Penelope, turned
against its inventor. For now
Odysseus was bound, by
the oath he himself had conceived, to go to war.
Furthermore, an oracle had declared that if he
sailed to Troy he would be
away twenty years, and he would lose everything.
So, being reluctant to join the alliance,
Odysseus feigned
madness, but
Palamedes, seeing
through the deception, forced him to stop
pretending, and go to the war.
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Agapenor was king of the Arcadians and
their leader against Troy.
After the war he founded Paphos in Cyprus. Agapenor
was son of Ancaeus 1 & Iotis. Ancaeus 1 was son
of Lycurgus 2, son of Aleus, son of Aphidas 1, son
of Arcas 1, son of Zeus and
Callisto.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.609; Pau.8.5.2;
QS.12.314ff.
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Ajax 1.
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Ajax 2.
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Alcmaeon 1 was leader of the
EPIGONI against
Thebes. After capturing
Thebes, Alcmaeon 1
learned that his mother Eriphyle had been bribed to
his undoing as well as to his father's. So, in
accordance with an oracle given to him by
Apollo, Alcmaeon 1 killed
his own mother, perhaps in conjunction with his
brother Amphilochus 1. But he was haunted by the
ERINYES of his mother's
murder and, having gone mad, he first went to
Arcadia, where he was
received by Oicles. Thence he came to the court of
Phegeus 1 at Psophis who, having purified him, gave
him his daughter Arsinoe 1. Nevertheless the fields
were believed to have become barren on his account,
and so he departed to Achelous who purified him
again and gave him his daughter as well. But his
second wife asked for the necklace of Harmonia 1
that Arsinoe 1 had received from Alcmaeon 1. And
when he tried to get it back from his first wife,
Phegeus 1 understood he was being deluded by
Alcmaeon 1 and sent his sons Pronous 1 and Agenor 3
to kill him, or perhaps killed him himself [see
also Robe & Necklace of
Harmonia 1].
Parentage:
Amphiaraus and
Eriphyle. Mates &
Offspring: Alcmaeon 1 was father of
Clytius 11 by Alcinoe 1; of Acarnan 1 and
Amphoterus 1 by Callirrhoe 2; of Amphilochus 2 and
Tisiphone 2 by Manto 1.
Apd.3.7.2-7; Hes.CWE.68.15, 99; Hyg.Fab.245;
Pau.6.17.6.
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Amphilochus 1, brother of Alcmaeon 1, is
known, among other things, for having killed his
own mother in conjunction with his brother [see
Robe & Necklace of Harmonia
1]. He is not always well distinguished from
Amphilochus 2, son of Alcmaeon 1. Amphilochus 1 was
the son of Amphiaraus
and greedy Eriphyle. They say that he was killed by
Apollo at Soli.
Amphilochus 1 was one of the
EPIGONI.
Apd.3.7.2-5, 3.10.8.; Hdt.3.91; Hes.Mel.1, 8;
QS.14.366
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Amphimachus 1 was the leader from
Elis (see ACHAEAN LEADERS]
and died at Troy killed by
Hector 1 He is son of
Cteatus and Theronice, daughter of Dexamenus 1, son
of Oeceus. Cteatus was one of the MOLIONIDES [see
Elis].
Apd.3.10.8; Apd. Ep.3.12; Hom.Il.2.536ff.,
2.620, 13.185; Pau.5.3.3-4
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Ancaeus 2 of Samos, son of
Poseidon is counted
among the ARGONAUTS.
He is not reported to have fought at
Troy.
King of Samos, was son of
Poseidon, either by
Althaea or by Astypalea. He married Samia, daughter
of the river god Meander, and had children by her:
Perilaus 1, Enudus, Samus, Alitherses, and
Parthenope 2. Ancaeus 2 is counted among the
ARGONAUTS. He is not
reported to have fought at
Troy.
Hyg.Fab.14, 81; Pau.7.4.1; Val.1.413
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Antilochus, son of
Nestor, either by
Anaxibia 3 or by Eurydice 8, was one of the leaders
from Pylos against
Troy. Antilochus died in
the Trojan War killed
either by Hector 1 or by
Memnon. Leonymus says
that he saw his soul in the White Isle, but
Odysseus met his soul
in the Underworld
when he descended there. Antilochus, who is counted
among the SUITORS OF
HELEN, was father of Paeon 3, whose sons were
expelled from Messenia
by the HERACLIDES
Temenus 2 and Cresphontes.
AETH.1; Apd.1.9.9; Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.5.3;
Hom.Od.3.452, 11.468; Hyg.Fab.97, 112, 113, 252;
Pau.2.18.8, 3.19.12; QS.2.256, 2.262; Try.18
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Ascalaphus 1. An Argive, son of Lycus 4
and Pernis or of Ares and
Astyoche 5, daughter of Actor 7, son of Azeus, son
of Clymenus 2, son of Presbon, son of Phrixus 1,
son of Athamas 1.
Ascalaphus 1 is also counted among the
ARGONAUTS, and the
ACHAEAN LEADERS.
He perished at Troy killed
by Deiphobus 1, son of King
Priam 1.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff., 2.512,
Il.13.518; Hyg.Fab.97
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Blanirus is otherwise unknown.
Hyg.Fab.81.
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Clytius 1 was one of the
ARGONAUTS. He is son
of Eurytus 4 and Antiope 2. Eurytus 4 is the Prince
of Oechalia who received a bow from
Apollo, that became,
through Iphitus 1,
Odysseus' renowned bow.
Clytius 1 was killed by King
Aeetes of Colchis, or by
Heracles 1, and that
is why he never was at
Troy.
Dio.4.37.5; Hes.CWE.79; Hyg.Fab.14, 81.
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Diomedes 2.
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Elephenor led the Euboean Abantians
against Troy, where he died
killed by Agenor 8, the son of
Antenor 1 who was in
turn killed by
Neoptolemus.
Elephenor was son of Chalcodon 1, the Euboean king
that waged war against
Thebes and was killed by
Amphitryon.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11; Hom.Il.2.536ff.,
4.463ff.; Hyg.Fab.97.
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Epistrophus 1, son of Iphitus 2 and
Hippolyte 1, led the Phocians against
Troy.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.517; Hyg.Fab.97
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Eumelus 1, son of Admetus 1 and
Alcestis, led the
Pheraeans against Troy. He
married Iphthime, daughter of Icarius 1 and sister
of Penelope,
Odysseus' wife. At the
end of the war he was one of the warriors who hid
inside the WOODEN
HORSE.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.715ff.; Hom.Od.4.797;
QS.12.314ff.; Try.172
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Eurypylus 1, who led the Ormenians
against Troy, is said to
have received a cursed chest after the war and on
seeing it went mad. But some say that the one who
found the chest was Eurypylus 7, son of Dexamenus
1, son of Oeceus. Eurypylus 1 is the son of Evaemon
1, son of Ormenus 3, son of Cercaphus 2, son of
Aeolus 1.
Apd.3.10.8; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.7.19.6, 10.27.2;
QS.12.314ff.; Try.176
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Ialmenus 1. A Leader against
Troy from Aspledon and
Minyan Orchomenus and
brother of Ascalaphus 1 [see above]. Ialmenus 1,
who had been one of the
ARGONAUTS, is found
among the ACHAEAN
LEADERS and among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff.; Hyg.Fab.97;
QS.12.314ff.
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Idomeneus 1, son of Deucalion 2, son of
Minos 2, led the Cretans
against Troy. Idomeneus 1's
wife Meda 2, like other Achaean women, took a lover
while her husband was fighting at
Troy. Her lover Leucus 1
usurped power and when Idomeneus 1 returned he was
driven out of Crete. And
after that Leucus 1 killed Meda 2 and her daughter
Clisithyra, whom she had by Idomeneus 1. King
Idomeneus 1 migrated to Italy.
Apd.3.3.1; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 6.10; Hom.Od.13.260;
Hyg.Fab.81; QS.12.314ff.; Try.168.
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Leitus was also one of the
ARGONAUTS, for no
common men asked for
Helen's hand. He led the
Boeotians against Troy and
was wounded by Hector 1,
but nevertheless he was the only one among the
Boeotian chiefs to return home from
Troy. His parentage is
disputed.
Apd.1.9.16; 3.10.8; Eur.IA.259; Hom.Il.2.494,
17.605; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.9.4.3
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Leonteus 1 is the Lapith leader against
Troy, who buried
Calchas when he died
after the war at Colophon in Asia Minor. Leonteus
1, who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE at the
end of the Trojan War,
was son of Coronus 1, son of Caeneus 1, who
formerly was a woman Caenis was turned into an
invulnerable man by
Poseidon. A great
advantage it would seem, but as he could not be
killed the CENTAURS
buried him alive in the earth.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.3; Hom.Il.2.726ff., 2.746,
12.128; QS.7.484, 12.314ff.; Try.176
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Lycomedes 4. A Cretan.
Hes.CWE.68.50.
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Machaon from Tricca in western Thessaly
is son of Asclepius
and Epione and was himself a surgeon. During the
Trojan War he cured
the wound that the arrow of Pandarus 1 inflicted on
Menelaus and he also
healed the wound of
Philoctetes. Machaon
failed in obtaining
Helen's hand and married
Anticlia 3, daughter of Diocles 1, son of
Orsilochus 1, son of the river god Alpheus. Machaon
had by Anticlia 3 several children: Alexanor,
Sphyrus, Polemocrates, Nicomachus 1 and Gorgasus.
Machaon hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE, say
some, but others say that he was killed by the
Amazon Penthesilia, an ally of
Troy, and that is before
the sack of Troy. Still
others say that Machaon was killed at
Troy by Eurypylus 6, a
Mysian ally, son of
Telephus, son of
Heracles 1.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.5.1; Dio.4.71.4;
Hom.Il.2.732, 4.215ff.; Hyg.Fab.97, 108;
Pau.2.11.5, 2.23.4, 2.29.1, 2.38.6, 3.26.9, 4.30.3;
Prop.2.1.59; QS.6.408; SI.5; Vir.Aen.2.63.
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Meges 1, who commanded forces from
Elis or from Dulichium
against Troy is also found
among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE. Meges
1 was son of Phyleus 1, son of Augeas, the man
whose stables Heracles
1 had to clean.
Apd.3.10.8; Eur.IA.285; Hom.Il.13.692;
Hyg.Fab.97; QS.12.314ff.; Try.180
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Menelaus won
the hand of Helen.
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Menestheus 1.
Establishing a model that was later used in
historical times, Menestheus 1 was appointed king
in Athens by the
DIOSCURI, who were
Spartans. This happened because of
Theseus' abduction of
Helen which caused the
Peloponnesian armies to invade Attica [see
Theseus].
Menestheus 1 was son of Peteos, who migrated
from Attica to Phocis when pursued by
Theseus' father
Aegeus 1. Peteos, some
say, was originally an Egyptian, who later obtained
Athenian citizenship. But Peteos is also called son
of Orneus 1, who was son of Erechtheus, a pure
Athenian [see Athens].
Menestheus 1 is among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.1.23, 6.15b; Hes.CWE.68.42;
Hom.Il.2.536ff., 2.552; Pau.1.23.8; QS.12.314ff.
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Meriones became a leader from
Crete against
Troy, being also the squire
of Idomeneus 1. He is among those who hid inside
the WOODEN HORSE.
Meriones is son of Molus 1, a bastard son of
Deucalion 2 or else son of
Minos 2. Meriones' mother
was Melphis.
Hom.Il.7.166; Hyg.Fab.81, 97; QS.12.314ff.
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Nireus 2 became leader of the Syme, a
small island between Caria and
Rhodes, and was killed in
the Trojan War by
Eurypylus 6, son of
Telephus, son of
Heracles 1. Nireus 2
is son of Charopus and Aglaia 4
Apd.Ep.3.11ff.; Hom.Il.2.672; Hyg.Fab.81, 97;
QS.6.372
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Odysseus did
not win the hand of Helen.
Instead he received
Penelope for having
conceived what is called The Oath of
Tyndareus.
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Patroclus
1.
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Peneleus became one of the Boeotian
leaders against Troy. He is
found among the
ARGONAUTS and among
those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE.
Peneleus died in the
Trojan War killed by
Eurypylus 6, son of
Telephus, son of
Heracles 1.
Peneleus was son of Hippalcimus 2, son of Itonus
2, son of Boeotus, son of Itonus 1, son of
Amphictyon, son of
Deucalion 1, the man
who survived the Flood.
Apd.1.9.16, 3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494; Hyg.Fab.97;
Pau.9.5.15-16; QS.7.104; Try.180
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Phemius 1. Otherwise unknown.
Hyg.Fab.81.
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Phidippus led against
Troy the forces from Cos,
which is one of the Sporades Islands off the
southwestern coast of Asia Minor. After the war he
settled in Andros, the most northerly of the
Cyclades Islands. Phidippus is son of Thessalus 1,
son of Heracles 1. His
mother was Chalciope 4.
Apd.Ep.6.15; Hom.Il.2.670ff.; Hyg.Fab.81.
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Philoctetes
came from Meliboea, a city in Thessaly, and he led
the Olizonians against
Troy. On his way to the war
he was bitten by a water-snake in Tenedos, an
island off the coast of the Troad, and as the wound
did not heal the Achaean army put him ashore on the
island of Lemnos, with
the bow of Heracles 1
which he had in his possession. There he survived
by shooting birds while the war was going on at
Troy. But when
Calchas prophesied that
the city could not be taken unless the Achaeans had
the bow and arrows of
Heracles 1 fighting on
their side, Odysseus
and Diomedes 2, or as
others say
Neoptolemus, went to
Philoctetes in
Lemnos, and persuaded him
to sail to Troy. After
being cured by Podalirius,
Philoctetes shot
Paris with his poisoned
arrows. After the war he went to Campania in Italy,
and having made war on the Lucanians, he settled in
Crimissa where he founded a sanctuary of
Apollo to whom he
dedicated the famous bow.
Philoctetes is
counted among the
ARGONAUTS and among
those Achaean warriors who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE.
Philoctetes was son
of Poeas and Demonassa 2.
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Podalirius the healer is brother of
Machaon and son of
Asclepius and Epione.
He was inside the WOODEN
HORSE, and after the
Trojan War he settled
in the Carian Chersonese in southwestern Asia
Minor.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 5.8, 6.18;
Dio.4.71.4; Hom.Il.2.732; Pau.2.29.1, 3.26.10;
QS.12.314ff.; SI.5.
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Podarces 2 led the people of Phylace, a
Thessalian city west of the Gulf of Pagasae,
against Troy. He is son of
Iphiclus 1, son of either Phylacus 1 or Cephalus 1,
both sons of King Deion of Phocis, son of
Aeolus 1.
Hes.CWE.68.35; Hom.Il.2.670ff.; QS.1.238
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Polypoetes 1 led the people of Gyrtone, a
city in Thessaly, against
Troy. He was inside the
WOODEN HORSE and
after the war he was among those who buried
Calchas at Colophon in
Asia Minor. Polypoetes 1 was son of notorious
Pirithous, the man who
wished to marry
Persephone.
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.3; Dio.4.63.1;
Hom.Il.2.670ff., 12.182; Pau.10.26.2; QS.12.314ff.
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Polyxenus 2 led against
Troy the people of Aetolia,
the region in mainland Greece north of the Gulf of
Patrae. Polyxenus 2 survived the war and
entertained Odysseus
when he came to Elis to
inspect his herds after the killing of the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE. Polyxenus 2 is son of Agasthenes, son
of Augeas, the man whose stables
Heracles 1 had to
clean. Polyxenus 2 had a son Amphimachus 6, whom he
named after his friend Amphimachus 1 who died at
Troy.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.624; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.5.3.4;
Tel.1.
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Protesilaus is brother of Podarces 2 [see
above]. He led the people of Phylace against
Troy. Protesilaus was the
first of the Achaeans to land on Trojan soil, and
on landing he killed many but was himself killed.
His wife (Laodamia 2 or Polydora 3), who loved him
still, made an image of him and consorted with it.
So, through the pity of the gods,
Hermes brought up
Protesilaus from the
Underworld. His wife
thought then that he had returned from
Troy, but when he was
carried back to
Hades, she stabbed
herself to death. Protesilaus was killed by
Hector 1, or by an
unknown Dardanian leader, as he leapt forth from
his ship, or by Cycnus 1, son of
Poseidon and Calyce 2
and king of Colonae, a city in the Troad
Apd.3.10.8; Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 3.30; CYP.1;
Hdt.9.116; Hom.Il.698ff.; Hyg.Fab.103, 113;
Pau.4.2.7; QS.4.469.
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Prothous 4, son of Tenthredon, led the
people of Magnesia, the coastal area of eastern
Thessaly south of Mount Ossa, against
Troy.
Hom.Il.2.756; Hyg.Fab.81.
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Schedius 1 led against
Troy the people of Phocis,
the region bordering the Gulf of
Corinth west of Boeotia.
Schedius 1 is brother of Epistrophus 1 [see above].
He was killed by Hector
1 during the Trojan
War.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.494ff., 2.517, 17.306ff.;
Hyg.Fab.97.
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Sthenelus 2. This leader from
Argos against
Troy is counted among the
EPIGONI and among those
who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE.
Sthenelus 2 is son of Capaneus, son of Hipponous 1.
His mother was Evadne 2, the woman who threw
herself on the pyre of her husband Capaneus when he
died in the war of the
SEVEN AGAINST
THEBES, and was burned with him. Sthenelus 2's
son Cometes 2 became during the war the lover of
Aegialia, wife of Diomedes
2. Sthenelus 2's other son Cylarabes became
king of the Argives after the
Trojan War, and was
succeeded by Orestes 2.
Apd.3.7.2, 3.10.8; Apd.Ep.6.10; Eur.IA.246;
Hom.Il.2.564; Hyg.Fab.97, 108; Pau.2.18.5;
QS.12.314ff.; Vir.Aen.2.61
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Teucer 1 led against
Troy the people of Salamis,
the island off the coast of Attica in the Saronic
Gulf. He was among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE. After
the war he founded the city Salamis in Cyprus,
which he ruled. Teucer 1 is Telamon's bastard son
by Hesione 2, the girl
whom Heracles 1
assigned to Telamon after having saved her from a
monster. Teucer 1's half brother is
Ajax 1, son of Telamon and
Periboea 2.
Apd.3.10.8; Eur.Hel.87 and passim;
Hom.Il.8.285ff.; Hyg.Fab.97; Pau.1.23.8, 2.29.4;
Pin.Nem.4.46; QS.12.314ff.; Soph.Aj. passim;
Try.170.
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Thalpius is yet another leader from
Elis against
Troy, who joined the
warriors who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE. He is
son of Eurytus 1, an Elean general, son of Actor 4
and Molione, or of
Poseidon and Molione,
or of Augeas.
Apd.3.10.8; Hom.Il.2.536ff., 2.620; Pau.5.3.4;
QS.12.314ff.
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Thoas 2 was king of Pleuron and
Calydon. He led the
Aetolians against Troy and
is counted among those who hid inside the
WOODEN HORSE. Thoas
2 survived the war and years later
Odysseus, who had been
sent into exile because of the killing of the
SUITORS OF
PENELOPE, came to him and married his daughter.
Thoas 2 was son of Andraemon 1 and Gorge 2,
daughter of Oeneus 2 [see
Calydon].
Apd.Ep.3.11ff., 7.40; Hom.Il.13.216; Hyg.Fab.81,
108; Pau.5.3.6; QS.12.314ff.; Vir.Aen.2.62.
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Tlepolemus 1 led against
Troy the people of
Rhodes and was killed in
the war by Sarpedon 1, the King of Lycia to whom
Zeus granted life for three
generations. His wife Polyxo 4 is said to have
arranged the death of
Helen to avenge the loss
of her husband [see
Helen]. Tlepolemus 1 is
son of Heracles 1.
Apd.2.7.7ff.; Dio.5.59.5; Hom.Il.2.653,
5.655ff.; Hyg.Fab.81; Pau.3.19.10; Plu.GQ.37;
Strab.8.3.5.
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