Apollodorus, Epitome, ed. Sir James George Frazer, 6

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[1]
After these things they met in assembly, and Agamemnon and Menelaus quarrelled, Menelaus advising that they should sail away, and Agamemnon insisting that they should stay and sacrifice to Athena. When they put to sea, Diomedes, Nestor, and Menelaus in company, the two former had a prosperous voyage, but Menelaus was overtaken by a storm, and after losing the rest of his vessels, arrived with five ships in Egypt.¹

[2]
But Amphilochus, and Calchas, and Leonteus, and Podalirius, and Polypoetes left their ships in Ilium and journeyed by land to Colophon, and there buried Calchas the diviner²; for it was foretold him that he would die if he met with a wiser diviner than himself.

[3] Well, they were lodged by the diviner Mopsus, who was a son of Apollo and Manto, and he wrangled with Calchas about the art of divination. A wild fig-tree grew on the spot, and when Calchas asked, “ How many figs does it bear?” Mopsus answered, “ Ten thousand, and a bushel, and one fig over,” and they were found to be so.

[4] And when Mopsus asked Calchas concerning a pregnant sow, “ How many pigs has she in her womb, and when will she farrow?” Calchas answered, “ Eight.” But Mopsus smiled and said,“ The divination of Calchas is the reverse of exact; but I, as a son of Apollo and Manto, am extremely rich in the sharp sight which comes of exact divination, and I divine that the number of pigs in the womb is not eight, as Calchas says, but nine, and that they are all male and will be farrowed without fail tomorrow at the sixth hour.” So when these things turned out so, Calchas died of a broken heart and was buried at Notium.³

[5]
After sacrificing, Agamemnon put to sea and touched at Tenedos. But Thetis came and persuaded Neoptolemus to wait two days and to offer sacrifice; and he waited. But the others put to sea and encountered a storm at Tenos; for Athena entreated Zeus to send a tempest against the Greeks; and many ships foundered.

[6]
And Athena threw a thunderbolt at the ship of Ajax; and when the ship went to pieces he made his way safe to a rock, and declared that he was saved in spite of the intention of Athena. But Poseidon smote the rock with his trident and split it, and Ajax fell into the sea and perished; and his body, being washed up, was buried by Thetis in Myconos.⁴

[7]
The others being driven to Euboea by night, Nauplius kindled a beacon on Mount Caphareus; and they, thinking it was some of those who were saved, stood in for the shore, and the vessels were wrecked on the Capherian rocks, and many men perished.⁵

[8] For Palamedes, the son of Nauplius and Clymene daughter of Catreus, had been stoned to death through the machinations of Ulysses.⁶ And when Nauplius learned of it,⁷ he sailed to the Greeks and claimed satisfaction for the death of his son;

[9] but when he returned unsuccessful ( for they all favoured King Agamemnon, who had been the accomplice of Ulysses in the murder of Palamedes), he coasted along the Grecian lands and contrived that the wives of the Greeks should play their husbands false, Clytaemnestra with Aegisthus, Aegialia with Cometes, son of Sthenelus, and Meda, wife of Idomeneus, with Leucus.

[10] But Leucus killed her, together with her daughter Clisithyra, who had taken refuge in the temple; and having detached ten cities from Crete he made himself tyrant of them; and when after the Trojan war Idomeneus landed in Crete, Leucus drove him out.⁸

[11] These were the earlier contrivances of Nauplius; but afterwards, when he learned that the Greeks were on their way home to their native countries, he kindled the beacon fire on Mount Caphereus, which is now called Xylophagus; and there the Greeks, standing in shore in the belief that it was a harbor, were cast away.

[12]
After remaining in Tenedos two days at the advice of Thetis, Neoptolemus set out for the country of the Molossians by land with Helenus, and on the way Phoenix died, and Neoptolemus buried him;⁹ and having vanquished the Molossians in battle he reigned as king and begat Molossus on Andromache. And

[13] Helenus founded a city in Molossia and inhabited it, and Neoptolemus gave him his mother Deidamia to wife.¹⁰ And when Peleus was expelled from Phthia by the sons of Acastus¹¹ and died, Neoptolemus succeeded to his father's kingdom.

[14] And when Orestes went mad, Neoptolemus carried off his wife Hermione, who had previously been betrothed to him in Troy¹²; and for that reason he was slain by Orestes at Delphi. But some say that he went to Delphi to demand satisfaction from Apollo for the death of his father, and that he rifled the votive offerings and set fire to the temple, and was on that account slain by Machaereus the Phocian.¹³

[15]
After their wanderings the Greeks landed and settled in various countries, some in Libya, some in Italy, others in Sicily, and some in the islands near Iberia, others on the banks of the Sangarius river; and some settled also in Cyprus. And of those that were shipwrecked at Caphereus, some drifted one way and some another.¹⁴ Guneus went to Libya; Antiphus, son of Thessalus, went to the Pelasgians, and, having taken possession of the country, called it Thessaly. Philoctetes went to the Campanians in Italy; Phidippus with the Coans settled in Andros, Agapenor in Cyprus,¹⁵ and others elsewhere.

[15a]

Apollodorus and the rest¹⁶ say as follows. Guneus left his own ships, and having come to the Cinyps river in Libya he dwelt there.¹⁷ But Meges and Prothous, with many others, were cast away at Caphereus in Euboea¹⁸... and when Prothous was shipwrecked at Caphereus, the Magnesians with him drifted to Crete and settled there.

Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 902

[15b]

After the sack of Ilium,¹⁹ Menestheus, Phidippus and Antiphus, and the people of Elephenor, and Philoctetes sailed together as far as Mimas. Then Menestheus went to Melos and reigned as king, because the king there, Polyanax, had died. And Antiphus the son of Thessalus went to the Pelasgians, and having taken possession of the country he called it Thessaly.²⁰ Phidippus with the Coans was driven first to Andros, and then to Cyprus, where he settled. Elephenor died in Troy,²¹ but his people were cast away in the Ionian gulf and inhabited Apollonia in Epirus. And the people of Tlepolemus touched at Crete; then they were driven out of their course by winds and settled in the Iberian islands. ...The people of Protesilaus were cast away on Pellene near the plain of Canastrum.²² And Philoctetes was driven to Campania in Italy, and after making war on the Lucanians, he settled in Crimissa, near Croton and Thurium²³; and, his wanderings over, he founded a sanctuary of Apollo the Wanderer ( Alaios), to whom also he dedicated his bow, as Euphorion says.²⁴

Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 911

[15c]

Navaethus is a river of Italy.²⁵ It was called so, according to Apollodorus and the rest, because after the capture of Ilium the daughters of Laomedon, the sisters of Priam, to wit, Aethylla, Astyoche, and Medesicaste, with the other female captives, finding themselves in that part of Italy, and dreading slavery in Greece, set fire to the vessels; whence the river was called Navaethus and the women were called Nauprestides; and the Greeks who were with the women, having lost the vessels, settled there.²⁶

Tzetzes, Scholia on Lycophron, 921

[16]
Demophon with a few ships put in to the land of the Thracian Bisaltians,²⁷ and there Phyllis, the king's daughter, falling in love with him, was given him in marriage by her father with the kingdom for her dower. But he wished to depart to his own country, and after many entreaties and swearing to return, he did depart. And Phyllis accompanied him as far as what are called the Nine Roads, and she gave him a casket, telling him that it contained a sacrament of Mother Rhea, and that he was not to open it until he should have abandoned all hope of returning to her.

[17] And Demophon went to Cyprus and dwelt there. And when the appointed time was past, Phyllis called down curses on Demophon and killed herself; and Demophon opened the casket, and, being struck with fear, he mounted his horse and galloping wildly met his end; for, the horse stumbling, he was thrown and fell on his sword. But his people settled in Cyprus.

[18]
Podalirius went to Delphi and inquired of the oracle where he should settle; and on receiving an oracle that he should settle in the city where, if the encompassing heaven were to fall, he would suffer no harm, he settled in that place of the Carian Chersonnese which is encircled by mountains all round the horizon.²⁸

[19]
Amphilochus son of Alcmaeon, who, according to some, arrived later at Troy, was driven in the storm to the home of Mopsus; and, as some say, they fought a single combat for the kingdom, and slew each other.²⁹

[20]
The Locrians regained their own country with difficulty, and three years afterwards, when Locris was visited by a plague, they received an oracle bidding them to propitiate Athena at Ilium and to send two maidens as suppliants for a thousand years. The lot first fell on Periboea and Cleopatra.

[21] And when they came to Troy they were chased by the natives and took refuge in the sanctuary. And they did not approach the goddess, but swept and sprinkled the sanctuary; and they did not go out of the temple, and their hair was cropped, and they wore single garments and no shoes.

[22] And when the first maidens died, they sent others; and they entered into the city by night, lest, being seen outside the precinct, they should be put to the sword; but afterwards they sent babes with their nurses. And when the thousand years were passed, after the Phocian war they ceased to send suppliants.³⁰

[23]
After Agamemnon had returned to Mycenae with Cassandra, he was murdered by Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra; for she gave him a shirt without sleeves and without a neck, and while he was putting it on he was cut down, and Aegisthus reigned over Mycenae.³¹ And they killed Cassandra also.³²

[24] But Electra, one of Agamemnon's daughters, smuggled away her brother Orestes and gave him to Strophius, the Phocian, to bring up; and he brought him up with Pylades, his own son.³³ And when Orestes was grown up, he repaired to Delphi and asked the god whether he should take vengeance on his father's murderers.

[25] The god gave him leave, so he departed secretly to Mycenae in company with Pylades, and killed both his mother and Aegisthus.³⁴ And not long afterwards, being afflicted with madness and pursued by the Furies, he repaired to Athens and was tried in the Areopagus. He is variously said to have been brought to trial by the Furies, or by Tyndareus, or by Erigone, daughter of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra; and the votes at his trial being equal he was acquitted.³⁵

[26]
When he inquired how he should be rid of his disorder, the god answered that he would be rid of it if he should fetch the wooden image that was in the land of the Taurians.³⁶ Now the Taurians are a part of the Scythians, who murder strangers³⁷ and throw them into the sacred fire, which was in the precinct, being wafted up from Hades through a certain rock.³⁸

[27] So when Orestes was come with Pylades to the land of the Taurians, he was detected, caught, and carried in bonds before Thoas the king, who sent them both to the priestess. But being recognized by his sister, who acted as priestess among the Taurians, he fled with her, carrying off the wooden image.³⁹ It was conveyed to Athens and is now called the image of Tauropolus.⁴⁰ But some say that Orestes was driven in a storm to the island of Rhodes, and in accordance with an oracle the image was dedicated in a fortification wall.⁴¹

[28] and having come to Mycenae, he united his sister Electra in marriage to Pylades,⁴² and having himself married Hermione, or, according to some, Erigone, he begat Tisamenus,⁴³ and was killed by the bite of a snake at Oresteum in Arcadia.⁴⁴

[29]
Menelaus, with five ships in all under his command, put in at Sunium, a headland of Attica; and being again driven thence by winds to Crete he drifted far away, and wandering up and down Libya, and Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Egypt, he collected much treasure.⁴⁵ And according to some, he discovered Helen at the court of Proteus, king of Egypt; for till then Menelaus had only a phantom of her made of clouds.⁴⁶ And after wandering for eight years he came to port at Mycenae, and there found Orestes, who had avenged his father's murder. And having come to Sparta he regained his own kingdom,⁴⁷ and being made immortal by Hera he went to the Elysian Fields with Helen.⁴⁸

Epitome. Apollodorus. ed. Sir James George Frazer. Cambridge, MA. 1921.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Epitome (English) (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921)

Editions (1)

Ἐπιτομὴ Perseus (Apollodorus. The Library, Vol. 1-2. Frazer, James George, Sir, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd. 1921) — 6 focus

[1] S καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα συνελθόντων εἰς ἐκκλησίαν, Ἀγαμέμνων καὶ Μενέλαος ἐφιλονείκουν, Μενελάου λέγοντος ἀποπλεῖν, Ἀγαμέμνονος δὲ ἐπιμένειν κελεύοντος καὶ θύειν Ἀθηνᾷ. ES ἀναχθέντες δὲ Διομήδης καὶ Νέστωρ καὶ Μενέλαος ἅμα, οἱ μὲν εὐπλοοῦσιν, ὁ δὲ Μενέλαος χειμῶνι περιπεσών, τῶν λοιπῶν ἀπολομένων σκαφῶν, πέντε ναυσὶν ἐπʼ Αἴγυπτον ἀφικνεῖται.

[2] Ἀμφίλοχος δὲ καὶ Κάλχας καὶ Λεοντεὺς καὶ Ποδαλείριος καὶ Πολυποίτης ἐν Ἰλίῳ τὰς ναῦς ἀπολιπόντες ἐπὶ Κολοφῶνα πεζῇ πορεύονται, κἀκεῖ θάπτουσι Κάλχαντα τὸν μάντιν· ἦν γὰρ αὐτῷ λόγιον τελευτήσειν, ἐὰν ἑαυτοῦ σοφωτέρῳ περιτύχῃ μάντει.

[3] ὑποδεχθέντων οὖν ὑπὸ Μόψου μάντεως, ὃς Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Μαντοῦς παῖς ὑπῆρχεν, οὗτος ὁ Μόψος περὶ μαντικῆς ἤρισε Κάλχαντι. καὶ Κάλχαντος ἀνακρίναντος ἐρινεοῦ ἑστώσης πόσους ὀλύνθους φέρει; ὁ Μόψος· μυρίους ἔφη καὶ μέδιμνον καὶ ἕνα ὄλυνθον περισσόν·

[4] καὶ εὑρέθησαν οὕτω. Μόψος δὲ συὸς οὔσης ἐπιτόκου ἠρώτα Κάλχαντα, πόσους χοίρους κατὰ γαστρὸς ἔχει καὶ πότε τέκοι· S τοῦ δὲ εἰπόντος· ὀκτώ, μειδιάσας ὁ Μόψος ἔφη· Κάλχας τῆς ἀκριβοῦς μαντείας ἀπεναντιῶς διακεῖται, ἐγὼ δʼ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Μαντοῦς παῖς ὑπάρχων τῆς ἀκριβοῦς μαντείας τὴν ὀξυδορκίαν πάντως πλουτῶ, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ὁ Κάλχας ὀκτώ, ἀλλʼ ἐννέα κατὰ γαστρός, καὶ τούτους ἄρρενας ὅλους ἔχειν μαντεύομαι, καὶ αὔριον ἀνυπερθέτως ἐν ἕκτῃ ὥρᾳ τεχθήσεσθαι. ES ὧν γενομένων Κάλχας ἀθυμήσας ἀπέθανε S καὶ ἐτάφη ἐν Νοτίῳ.

[5] Ἀγαμέμνων δὲ θύσας ἀνάγεται καὶ Τενέδῳ προσίσχει, Νεοπτόλεμον δὲ πείθει Θέτις ἀφικομένη ἐπιμεῖναι δύο ἡμέρας καὶ θυσιάσαι, καὶ ἐπιμένει. οἱ δὲ ἀνάγονται καὶ περὶ Τῆνον χειμάζονται. Ἀθηνᾶ γὰρ ἐδεήθη Διὸς τοῖς Ἕλλησι χειμῶνα ἐπιπέμψαι. καὶ πολλαὶ νῆες βυθίζονται.

[6] ES Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Αἴαντος ναῦν κεραυνὸν βάλλει, ὁ δὲ τῆς νεὼς διαλυθείσης ἐπί τινα πέτραν διασωθεὶς παρὰ τὴν θεοῦ ἔφη πρόνοιαν σεσῶσθαι. Ποσειδῶν δὲ πλήξας τῇ τριαίνῃ τὴν πέτραν ἔσχισεν, ὁ δὲ πεσὼν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τελευτᾷ, καὶ ἐκβρασθέντα θάπτει Θέτις ἐν Μυκόνῳ.

[7] τῶν δὲ ἄλλων Εὐβοίᾳ προσφερομένων νυκτὸς Ναύπλιος ἐπὶ τοῦ Καφηρέως ὄρους πυρσὸν ἀνάπτει· οἱ δὲ νομίσαντες εἶναί τινας τῶν σεσωσμένων προσπλέουσι, καὶ περὶ τὰς Καφηρίδας πέτρας θραύεται τὰ σκάφη καὶ πολλοὶ τελευτῶσιν.

ὁ γὰρ τοῦ Ναυπλίου καὶ Κλυμένης τῆς Κατρέως υἱὸς Παλαμήδης ἐπιβουλαῖς Ὀδυσσέως λιθοβοληθεὶς ἀναιρεῖται. τοῦτο μαθὼν Ναύπλιος ἔπλευσε πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας καὶ τὴν τοῦ παιδὸς ἀπῄτει ποινήν·

[9] ἄπρακτος δὲ ὑποστρέψας, ὡς πάντων χαριζομένων τῷ βασιλεῖ Ἀγαμέμνονι, μεθʼ οὗ τὸν Παλαμήδην ἀνεῖλεν Ὀδυσσεύς, παραπλέων τὰς χώρας τὰς Ἑλληνίδας παρεσκεύασε τὰς τῶν Ἑλλήνων γυναῖκας μοιχευθῆναι, Κλυταιμνήστραν Αἰγίσθῳ, Αἰγιάλειαν τῷ Σθενέλου Κομήτῃ, τὴν Ἰδομενέως Μήδαν ὑπὸ Λεύκου·

[10] ἣν καὶ ἀνεῖλε Λεῦκος ἅμα Κλεισιθύρᾳ τῇ θυγατρὶ ταύτης ἐν τῷ ναῷ προσφυγούσῃ, καὶ δέκα πόλεις ἀποσπάσας τῆς Κρήτης ἐτυράννησε· καὶ μετὰ τὸν Τρωικὸν πόλεμον καὶ τὸν Ἰδομενέα κατάραντα τῇ Κρήτῃ ἐξήλασε.

[11] ταῦτα πρότερον κατασκευάσας ὁ Ναύπλιος, ὕστερον μαθὼν τὴν εἰς τὰς πατρίδας τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐπάνοδον, τὸν εἰς τὸν Καφηρέα, νῦν δὲ Ξυλοφάγον λεγόμενον, ἀνῆψε φρυκτόν· ἔνθα προσπελάσαντες Ἕλληνες ἐν τῷ δοκεῖν λιμένα εἶναι διεφθάρησαν.

[12] Νεοπτόλεμος δὲ μείνας ἐν Τενέδῳ δύο ἡμέρας ὑποθήκαις τῆς Θέτιδος εἰς Μολοσσοὺς πεζῇ ἀπῄει μετὰ Ἑλένου, καὶ παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἀποθανόντα Φοίνικα θάπτει, καὶ νικήσας μάχῃ Μολοσσοὺς βασιλεύει, καὶ ἐξ Ἀνδρομάχης γεννᾷ Μολοσσόν.

[13] Ἕλενος δὲ κτίσας ἐν τῇ Μολοσσίᾳ πόλιν κατοικεῖ, καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτῷ Νεοπτόλεμος εἰς γυναῖκα τὴν μητέρα Δηιδάμειαν. Πηλέως δὲ ἐκ Φθίας ἐκβληθέντος ὑπὸ τῶν Ἀκάστου παίδων καὶ ἀποθανόντος, Νεοπτόλεμος τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ πατρὸς παρέλαβε.

[14] καὶ μανέντος Ὀρέστου ἁρπάζει τὴν ἐκείνου γυναῖκα Ἑρμιόνην κατηγγυημένην αὐτῷ πρότερον ἐν Τροίᾳ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐν Δελφοῖς ὑπὸ Ὀρέστου κτείνεται. ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτόν φασι παραγενόμενον εἰς Δελφοὺς ἀπαιτεῖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν Ἀπόλλωνα δίκας καὶ συλᾶν τὰ ἀναθήματα καὶ τὸν νεὼν ἐμπιμπράναι, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑπὸ Μαχαιρέως τοῦ Φωκέως ἀναιρεθῆναι.

[15] E ὅτι πλανηθέντες Ἕλληνες ἄλλοι ἀλλαχοῦ κατάραντες κατοικοῦσιν, οἱ μὲν εἰς Λιβύην, οἱ δὲ εἰς Ἰταλίαν, εἰς Σικελίαν ἕτεροι, τινὲς δὲ πρὸς τὰς πλησίον Ἰβηρίας νήσους, ἄλλοι παρὰ τὸν Σαγγάριον ποταμόν· εἰσὶ δὲ οἳ καὶ Κύπρον ᾤκησαν. S τῶν δὲ ναυαγησάντων περὶ τὸν Καφηρέα ἄλλος ἀλλαχῆ φέρεται, Γουνεὺς μὲν εἰς Λιβύην, Ἄντιφος δὲ ὁ Θεσσαλοῦ εἰς Πελασγοὺς καὶ τὴν χώραν κατασχὼν Θεσσαλίαν ἐκάλεσεν, ὁ δὲ Φιλοκτήτης πρὸς Ἰταλίαν εἰς Καμπανούς, Φείδιππος μετὰ τῶν Κῴων ἐν Ἄνδρῳ κατῴκησεν, Ἀγαπήνωρ ἐν Κύπρῳ, καὶ ἄλλος ἀλλαχοῦ.

[15a]

Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οὕτω φασί· Γουνεὺς εἰς Λιβύην λιπὼν τὰς ἑαυτοῦ ναῦς ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ Κίνυφα ποταμὸν κατοικεῖ. Μέγης δὲ καὶ Πρόθοος ἐν Εὐβοίᾳ περὶ τὸν Καφηρέα σὺν πολλοῖς ἑτέροις διαφθείρεται τοῦ δὲ Προθόου περὶ τὸν Καφηρέα ναυαγήσαντος, οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ Μάγνητες εἰς Κρήτην ῥιφέντες ᾤκησαν.

τζετζες, σξηολια ον λψξοπηρον, 902

[15b]

μετὰ δὲ τὴν Ἰλίου πόρθησιν Μενεσθεὺς Φείδιππός τε καὶ Ἄντιφος καὶ οἱ Ἐλεφήνορος καὶ Φιλοκτήτης μέχρι Μίμαντος κοινῇ ἔπλευσαν. εἶτα Μενεσθεὺς μὲν εἰς Μῆλον ἐλθὼν βασιλεύει, τοῦ ἐκεῖ βασιλέως Πολυάνακτος τελευτήσαντος. Ἄντιφος δὲ ὁ Θεσσαλοῦ εἰς Πελασγοὺς ἐλθὼν καὶ τὴν χώραν κατασχὼν Θεσσαλίαν ἐκάλεσε. Φείδιππος δὲ μετὰ Κῴων ἐξωσθεὶς περὶ τὴν Ἄνδρον, εἶτα περὶ Κύπρον ἐκεῖ κατῴκησεν. Ἐλεφήνορος δὲ ἀποθανόντος ἐν Τροίᾳ, οἱ σὺν αὐτῷ ἐκριφέντες περὶ τὸν Ἰόνιον κόλπον Ἀπολλωνίαν ᾤκησαν τὴν ἐν Ἠπείρῳ. καὶ οἱ τοῦ Τληπολέμου προσίσχουσι Κρήτῃ, εἶτα ὑπʼ ἀνέμων ἐξωσθέντες περὶ τὰς Ἰβηρικὰς νήσους ᾤκησαν οἱ τοῦ Πρωτεσιλάου εἰς Πελλήνην ἀπερρίφησαν πλησίον πεδίου Κανάστρου. Φιλοκτήτης δὲ ἐξώσθη εἰς Ἰταλίαν πρὸς Καμπανοὺς καὶ πολεμήσας Λευκανοὺς πλησίον Κρότωνος καὶ Θουρίου Κρίμισσαν κατοικεῖ· καὶ παυθεὶς τῆς ἄλης Ἀλαίου Ἀπόλλωνος ἱερὸν κτίζει, ᾧ καὶ τὸ τόξον αὑτοῦ ἀνέθηκεν, ὥς φησιν Εὐφορίων.

τζετζες, σξηολια ον λψξοπηρον, 911

[15c]

Ναύαιθος ποταμός ἐστιν Ἰταλίας· ἐκλήθη δὲ οὕτω κατὰ μὲν Ἀπολλόδωρον καὶ τοὺς λοιπούς, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν Ἰλίου ἅλωσιν αἱ Λαομέδοντος θυγατέρες, Πριάμου δὲ ἀδελφαί, Αἴθυλλα Ἀστυόχη Μηδεσικάστη μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν αἰχμαλωτίδων ἐκεῖσε γεγονυῖαι τῆς Ἰταλίας, εὐλαβούμεναι τὴν ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι δουλείαν τὰ σκάφη ἐνέπρησαν, ὅθεν ὁ ποταμὸς Ναύαιθος ἐκλήθη καὶ αἱ γυναῖκες Ναυπρήστιδες· οἱ δὲ σὺν αὐταῖς Ἕλληνες ἀπολέσαντες τὰ σκάφη ἐκεῖ κατῴκησανgt.

τζετζες, σξηολια ον λψξοπηρον, 921

[16] E Δημοφῶν δὲ Θρᾳξὶ Βισάλταις μετʼ ὀλίγων νεῶν προσίσχει, καὶ αὐτοῦ ἐρασθεῖσα Φυλλὶς ἡ θυγάτηρ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπὶ προικὶ τῇ βασιλείᾳ συνευνάζεται ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρός. ὁ δὲ βουλόμενος εἰς τὴν πατρίδα ἀπιέναι, πολλὰ δεηθεὶς ὀμόσας ἀναστρέψειν ἀπέρχεται· καὶ Φυλλὶς αὐτὸν ἄχρι τῶν Ἐννέα ὁδῶν λεγομένων προπέμπει καὶ δίδωσιν αὐτῷ κίστην, εἰποῦσα ἱερὸν τῆς μητρὸς Ῥέας ἐνεῖναι, καὶ ταύτην μὴ ἀνοίγειν, εἰ μὴ ὅταν ἀπελπίσῃ τῆς πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀνόδου.

[17] Δημοφῶν δὲ ἐλθὼν εἰς Κύπρον ἐκεῖ κατῴκει. καὶ τοῦ τακτοῦ χρόνου διελθόντος Φυλλὶς ἀρὰς θεμένη κατὰ Δημοφῶντος ἑαυτὴν ἀναιρεῖ· Δημοφῶν δὲ τὴν κίστην ἀνοίξας φόβῳ κατασχεθεὶς ἄνεισιν ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον καὶ τοῦτον ἐλαύνων ἀτάκτως ἀπόλλυται· τοῦ γὰρ ἵππου σφαλέντος κατενεχθεὶς ἐπὶ τὸ ξίφος ἔπεσεν. οἱ δὲ σὺν αὐτῷ κατῴκησαν ἐν Κύπρῳ.

[18] Ποδαλείριος δὲ ἀφικόμενος εἰς Δελφοὺς ἐχρᾶτο ποῦ κατοικήσει· χρησμοῦ δὲ δοθέντος, εἰς ἣν πόλιν τοῦ περιέχοντος οὐρανοῦ πεσόντος οὐδὲν πείσεται, τῆς Καρικῆς Χερρονήσου τὸν πέριξ οὐρανοῦ κυκλούμενον ὄρεσι τόπον κατῴκησεν.

[19] Ἀμφίλοχος δὲ ὁ Ἀλκμαίωνος, κατά τινας ὕστερον παραγενόμενος εἰς Τροίαν, κατὰ τὸν χειμῶνα ἀπερρίφη πρὸς Μόψον, καί, ὥς τινες λέγουσιν, ὑπὲρ τῆς βασιλείας μονομαχοῦντες ἔκτειναν ἀλλήλους.

[20] Λοκροὶ δὲ μόλις τὴν ἑαυτῶν καταλαβόντες, ἐπεὶ μετὰ τρίτον ἔτος τὴν Λοκρίδα κατέσχε φθορά, δέχονται χρησμὸν ἐξιλάσασθαι τὴν ἐν Ἰλίῳ Ἀθηνᾶν καὶ δύο παρθένους πέμπειν ἱκέτιδας ἐπὶ ἔτη χίλια. καὶ λαγχάνουσι πρῶται Περίβοια καὶ Κλεοπάτρα.

[21] αὗται δὲ εἰς Τροίαν ἀφικόμεναι, διωκόμεναι παρὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν κατέρχονται· καὶ τῇ μὲν θεᾷ οὐ προσήρχοντο, τὸ δὲ ἱερὸν ἔσαιρόν τε καὶ ἔρραινον· ἐκτὸς δὲ τοῦ νεὼ οὐκ ἐξῄεσαν, κεκαρμέναι δὲ ἦσαν καὶ μονοχίτωνες καὶ ἀνυπόδετοι.

[22] τῶν δὲ πρώτων ἀποθανουσῶν ἄλλας ἔπεμπον· εἰσῄεσαν δὲ εἰς τὴν πόλιν νύκτωρ, ἵνα μὴ φανεῖσαι τοῦ τεμένους ἔξω φονευθῶσι· μετέπειτα δὲ βρέφη μετὰ τροφῶν ἔπεμπον. χιλίων δὲ ἐτῶν παρελθόντων μετὰ τὸν Φωκικὸν πόλεμον ἱκέτιδας ἐπαύσαντο πέμποντες.

[23] ES Ἀγαμέμνων δὲ καταντήσας εἰς Μυκήνας μετὰ Κασάνδρας ἀναιρεῖται ὑπὸ Αἰγίσθου καὶ Κλυταιμνήστρας· δίδωσι γὰρ αὐτῷ χιτῶνα ἄχειρα καὶ ἀτράχηλον, καὶ τοῦτον ἐνδυόμενος φονεύεται, καὶ βασιλεύει Μυκηνῶν Αἴγισθος· κτείνουσι δὲ καὶ Κασάνδραν.

[24] Ἠλέκτρα δὲ μία τῶν Ἀγαμέμνονος θυγατέρων Ὀρέστην τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐκκλέπτει καὶ δίδωσι Στροφίῳ Φωκεῖ τρέφειν, ὁ δὲ αὐτὸν ἐκτρέφει μετὰ Πυλάδου παιδὸς ἰδίου. τελειωθεὶς δὲ Ὀρέστης εἰς Δελφοὺς παραγίνεται καὶ τὸν θεὸν ἐρωτᾷ, εἰ τοὺς αὐτόχειρας τοῦ πατρὸς μετέλθοι.

[25] τοῦτο δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιτρέποντος ἀπέρχεται εἰς Μυκήνας μετὰ Πυλάδου λαθραίως καὶ κτείνει τήν τε μητέρα καὶ τὸν Αἴγισθον, καὶ μετʼ οὐ πολὺ μανίᾳ κατασχεθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἐρινύων διωκόμενος εἰς Ἀθήνας παραγίνεται καὶ κρίνεται ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ, S ὡς μὲν λέγουσί τινες ὑπὸ Ἐρινύων, ὡς δέ τινες ὑπὸ Τυνδάρεω, ὡς δέ τινες ὑπὸ Ἠριγόνης τῆς Αἰγίσθου καὶ Κλυταιμνήστρας, καὶ κριθεὶς ἴσων γενομένων τῶν ψήφων ἀπολύεται.

[26] ES ἐρομένῳ δὲ αὐτῷ, πῶς ἂν ἀπαλλαγείη τῆς νόσου, ὁ θεὸς εἶπεν, εἰ τὸ ἐν Ταύροις ξόανον μετακομίσειεν. S οἱ δὲ Ταῦροι μοῖρά ἐστι Σκυθῶν, οἳ τοὺς ξένους φονεύουσι καὶ εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν πῦρ ῥίπτουσι. τοῦτο ἦν ἐν τῷ τεμένει διά τινος πέτρας ἀναφερόμενον ἐξ Ἅιδου.

παραγενόμενος οὖν εἰς Ταύρους Ὀρέστης μετὰ Πυλάδου φωραθεὶς ἑάλω καὶ ἄγεται πρὸς Θόαντα τὸν βασιλέα δέσμιος, ὁ δὲ ἀμφοτέρους πρὸς τὴν ἱέρειαν ἀποστέλλει. ἐπιγνωσθεὶς δὲ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἱερὰ ποιούσης ἐν Ταύροις, ἄρας τὸ ξόανον σὺν αὐτῇ φεύγει. S κομισθὲν δὲ εἰς Ἀθήνας νῦν λέγεται τὸ τῆς Ταυροπόλου· ἔνιοι δὲ αὐτὸν κατὰ χειμῶνα προσενεχθῆναι τῇ νήσῳ Ῥόδῳ λέγουσιν αὐτὸν καὶ κατὰ χρησμὸν ἐν τείχει καθοσιωθῆναι.

καὶ δὴ ἐλθὼν εἰς Μυκήνας Πυλάδῃ μὲν τὴν ἀδελφὴν Ἠλέκτραν συζεύγνυσιν, αὐτὸς δὲ γήμας Ἑρμιόνην, ἢ κατά τινας Ἠριγόνην, τεκνοῖ Τισαμενόν, E καὶ δηχθεὶς ὑπὸ ὄφεως ἐν Ὀρεστείῳ τῆς Ἀρκαδίας θνήσκει.

[29] ES Μενέλαος δὲ πέντε ναῦς τὰς πάσας ἔχων μεθʼ ἑαυτοῦ προσσχὼν Σουνίῳ τῆς Ἀττικῆς ἀκρωτηρίῳ κἀκεῖθεν εἰς Κρήτην ἀπορριφεὶς πάλιν ὑπὸ ἀνέμων μακρὰν ἀπωθεῖται, καὶ πλανώμενος ἀνά τε Λιβύην καὶ Φοινίκην καὶ Κύπρον καὶ Αἴγυπτον πολλὰ συναθροίζει χρήματα. καὶ κατά τινας εὑρίσκεται παρὰ Πρωτεῖ τῷ τῶν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλεῖ Ἑλένη, μέχρι τότε εἴδωλον ἐκ νεφῶν ἐσχηκότος τοῦ Μενελάου. ὀκτὼ δὲ πλανηθεὶς ἔτη κατέπλευσεν εἰς Μυκήνας, κἀκεῖ κατέλαβεν Ὀρέστην μετεληλυθότα τὸν τοῦ πατρὸς φόνον. ἐλθὼν δὲ εἰς Σπάρτην τὴν ἰδίαν ἐκτήσατο βασιλείαν. καὶ S ἀποθανατισθεὶς ὑπὸ Ἥρας εἰς τὸ Ἠλύσιον ἦλθε πεδίον μεθʼ Ἑλένης.

Notes on the current edition

Epitome

1. Compare Hom. Od. 3.130ff. , Hom. Od. 3.276ff. ; Hagias, Returns, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 .

2. Compare Hagias, Returns, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 ; Strab. 14.1.27 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 427-430, 980 .

3. Compare Strab. 14.1.27 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 427-430, 980 . From Strabo we learn that the riddle of Calchas concerning the wild fig-tree was recorded by Hesiod, and that the riddle of Mopsus concerning the sow was recorded by Pherecydes. Our authorities vary somewhat in regard to the latter riddle. According to Pherecydes, the true answer was, “Three little pigs, and one of them a female.” According to Tzetzes, Calchas could not solve the riddle, so Mopsus solved it by saying that the sow would farrow ten little pigs, of which one would be a male. Strabo also tells us that the oracle which doomed Calchas to death whenever he should meet a diviner more skilful than himself, was mentioned by Sophocles in his play The Demand for Helen. As to that play, see The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 121ff. A different story of the rivalry of the two seers is told by Conon 6 .

4. As to the shipwreck and death of the Locrian Ajax, compare Hom. Od. 4.499-511 ; Hagias, Returns, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 ; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.66 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.530-589 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 365, 387, 389, 402 ; Verg. A. 1.39-45 ; Hyginus, Fab. 116 ; Seneca, Agamemnon 532-556 ; Dictys Cretensis vi.1 . In his great picture of the underworld, which Polygnotus painted at Delphi, the artist depicted Ajax as a castaway, the brine forming a scurf on his skin ( Paus. 10.31.1 ). According to the Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.66 Ajax was cast up on the shore of Delos, where Thetis found and buried him. But as it was unlawful to be buried or even to die in Delos ( Thuc. 3.104 ), the statement of Apollodorus that Ajax was buried in Myconus, a small island to the east of Delos, is more probable. It is said that on hearing of his death the Locrians mourned for him and wore black for a year, and every year they laded a vessel with splendid offerings, hoisted a black sail on it, and, setting the ship on fire, let it drift out to sea, there to burn down to the water's edge as a sacrifice to the drowned hero. See Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 365 . Sophocles wrote a tragedy, The Locrian Ajax, on the crime and punishment of the hero. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. i. pp. 8ff.

5. As to the false lights kindled by Nauplius to lure the Greek ships on to the breakers, see above, Apollod. 2.1.5 ; Eur. Hel. 766ff. ; Eur. Hel. 1126ff. ; Scholiast on Eur. Or. 432 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.611-628 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 384 ; Prop. v.1.115ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 116 ; Seneca, Agamemnon 557-575 ; Dictys Cretensis vi.1 ; Serv. Verg. A. 11.260 ; Lactantius Placidus on Statius, Achill. i.93 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 46, 141 (First Vatican Mythographer 144; Second Vatican Mythographer 201) . The story was probably told by Hagias in his epic The Returns (Nostoi), though in the abstract of that poem there occurs merely a mention of “the storm at the Capherian Rocks.” See Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 . The wrecker Nauplius was the subject of a tragedy by Sophocles. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 80ff.

6. As to the death of Palamedes, see above, Apollod. E.3.8 .

7. This passage, down to the end of Section 12, is quoted with some slight verbal changes, but without citing his authority, by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 384-386 ; compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1093 .

8. See Frazer's Appendix to Apollodorus, “The vow of Idomeneus.”

9. Compare Hagias, Returns, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 902 , quoting “Apollodorus and the rest.” According to Serv. Verg. A. 2.166 , it was the soothsayer Helenus who, foreseeing the shipwreck of the Greek leaders, warned Neoptolemus to return home by land; hence in gratitude for this benefit Neoptolemus at his death bequeathed Andromache to Helenus to be his wife ( Serv. Verg. A. 3.297 ). Neoptolemus was on friendly terms with Helenus, because the seer had revealed to the Greeks the means by which Troy could be taken, and because in particular he had recommended the fetching of Neoptolemus himself from Scyros. See above, Apollod. E.5.10 . A different tradition is recorded by Eustathius on Hom. Od. 3.189, p. 1463 . He says that Neoptolemus sailed across the sea to Thessaly and there burned his ships by the advice of Thetis; after which, being directed by the soothsayer Helenus to settle wherever he should find a house with foundations of iron, walls of wood, and roof of wool, he marched inland till he came to the lake Pambotis in Epirus, where he fell in with some people camping under blankets supported by spears, of which the blades were stuck into the earth. Compare Scholiast on Hom. Od. iii.188 , who adds that, “having laid waste Molossia, he begot Molossus by Andromache, and from Molossus is descended the race of the kings of Molossia, as Eratosthenes relates.” The lake Pambotis is believed to be what is now called the lake of Joannina, near which Dodona was situated. Paus. 1.11.1 mentions that Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus) settled in Epirus “in compliance with the oracles of Helenus,” and that he had Molossus, Pielus, and Pergamus by Andromache.

10. As to Deidamia, mother of Neoptolemus, see above, Apollod. 3.13.8 . The marriage of Helenus to Deidamia appears not to be mentioned by any other ancient writer.

11. According to Eur. Tro. 1126-1130 , while Neoptolemus was still at Troy, he heard that his grandfather Peleus had been expelled by Acastus; hence he departed for home in haste, taking Andromache with him. The Scholiast on this passage of Euripides ( 1128) says that Peleus was expelled by Acastus's two sons, Archander and Architeles, and that the exiled king, going to meet his grandson Neoptolemus, was driven by a storm to the island of Cos, where he was entertained by a certain Molon and died. As to an early connexion between Thessaly and Cos, see W. R. Paton and E. L. Hicks, The Inscriptions of Cos, pp. 344ff. A different and much more detailed account of the exile of Peleus is furnished by Dictys Cretensis vi.7-9 . According to it, when Neoptolemus was refitting his shattered ships in Molossia, he heard that Peleus had been deposed and expelled by Acastus. Hastening to the aid of his aged grandfather, he found him hiding in a dark cave on the shore of one of the Sepiades Islands, where he eagerly scanned every passing sail in hopes that one of them would bring his grandson to his rescue. By disguising himself Neoptolemus contrived to attack and kill Acastus's two sons, Menalippus and Plisthenes, when they were out hunting. Afterwards, disguising himself as a Trojan captive, he lured Acastus himself to the cave and would have slain him there, if it had not been for the intercession of Thetis, who had opportunely arrived from the sea to visit her old husband Peleus. Happy at his escape, Acastus resigned the kingdom on the spot to Neoptolemus, and that hero at once took possession of the realm in company with his grandfather, his divine grandmother Thetis, and the companions of his voyage. This romantic narrative may be based on a lost Greek tragedy, perhaps on the Peleus of Sophocles, a play in which the dramatist appears to have dealt with the fortunes of Peleus in his old age. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 140ff. The statement of Dictys Cretensis that Peleus took refuge in one of the Sepiades Islands suggests that in the Scholium on Eur. Tro. 1126-1130 the name Icos should be read instead of Cos, as has been argued by several scholars ( A. C. Pearson, op. cit. ii.141 ); for Icos was a small island near Euboea ( Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ἰκός ), and would be a much more natural place of refuge for Peleus than the far more distant island of Cos. Moreover, we have the positive affirmation of the poet Antipater of Sidon that Peleus was buried in Icos ( Anth. Pal. vii.2.9ff. ). The connexion of Peleus with the Sepiades Islands is further supported by Euripides; for in his play Andromache ( Eur. And. 1253-1269 ) he tells how Thetis bids her old husband Peleus tarry in a cave of these islands, till she should come with a band of Nereids to fetch him away, that he might dwell with her as a god for ever in the depths of the sea. In the same play ( Eur. And. 22ff. ) Euripides says that Neoptolemus refused to accept the sceptre of Pharsalia in the lifetime of his grandfather Peleus.

12. In this passage Apollodorus appears to follow the account given by Euripides in his Andromache, ( Eur. And. 967-981 ). According to that account, Menelaus gave his daughter Hermione in marriage to her cousin Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra. But in the Trojan war he afterwards promised the hand of Hermione to Neoptolemus, if Neoptolemus should succeed in capturing Troy. Accordingly on his return from the war Neoptolemus claimed his bride from her husband Orestes, who was then haunted and maddened by the Furies of his murdered mother Clytaemnestra. Orestes protested, but in vain; Neoptolemus insolently reproached him with his crime of matricide and with the unseen avengers of blood by whom he was pursued. So Orestes was obliged to yield up his wife to his rival, but he afterwards took his revenge by murdering Neoptolemus at Delphi. This version of the legend is followed also by Hyginus, Fab. 123 . An obvious difficulty is presented by the narrative; for if Menelaus had given his daughter in marriage to Orestes, how could he afterwards have promised her to Neoptolemus in the lifetime of her first husband? This difficulty was met by another version of the story, which alleged that Hermione was betrothed or married to Orestes by her grandfather Tyndareus in the absence of her father Menelaus, who was then away at the Trojan war; that meantime, in ignorance of this disposal of his daughter, Menelaus had promised her hand to Neoptolemus before Troy, and that on his return from the war Neoptolemus took her by force from Orestes. See Eustathius on Hom. Od. iv.3, p. 1479 ; Scholiast on Hom. Od. iv.4 ; Ovid, Her. viii.31ff. ; Serv. Verg. A. 3.330, compare on 297 . According to the tragic poet Philocles, not only had Hermione been given in marriage by Tyndareus to Orestes, but she was actually with child by Orestes when her father afterwards married her to Neoptolemus. See Scholiast on Eur. Andr. 32 . This former marriage of Hermione to Orestes, before she became the wife of Neoptolemus, is recognized by Verg. A. 3.330 , and Ovid, Heroides, viii. passim , but it is unknown to Homer. On the other hand, Homer records that Menelaus betrothed Hermione to Neoptolemus at Troy, and celebrated the marriage after his return to Sparta ( Hom. Od. 4.1-9 ). Sophocles wrote a tragedy Hermione , the plot of which seems to have resembled that of the Andromache of Euripides. See The Fragments of Sophocles, ed. A. C. Pearson, vol. ii. pp. 141ff. Euripides does not appear to have been consistent in his view that Neoptolemus forcibly deprived Orestes of Hermione and married her himself; for in his play Orestes ( Eur. Or. 1653-1657 ) he makes Apollo prophesy to Orestes that he shall wed Hermione, but that Neoptolemus shall never do so.

13. The murder of Neoptolemus at Delphi, as Apollodorus observes, was variously related. According to Euripides, Neoptolemus paid two visits to Delphi. On the first occasion he went to claim redress from Apollo, who had shot his father Achilles at Troy (see above, Apollod. E.5.3 ). On the second occasion he went to excuse himself to the god for the rashness and impiety of which he had been guilty in calling the deity to account for the murder; and it was then that Orestes, enraged at having been robbed of his wife Hermione by Neoptolemus, waylaid and murdered his rival in the temple of Apollo, the fatal blow being struck, however, not by Orestes but by “a Delphian man.” See Eur. And. 49-55 , Eur. And. 1086-1165 ; compare Eur. Or. 1656ff. This is the version of the story which Apollodorus appears to prefer. It is accepted also by Hyginus, Fab. 123 , Velleius Paterculus i.1.3 , Serv. Verg. A. 3.297, 330 , and somewhat ambiguously by Dictys Cretensis vi.12ff. The murder of Neoptolemus by Orestes is mentioned, but without any motive assigned, by Heliodorus ii.34 and Justin xvii.3.7 . A different account is given by Pindar. He says that Neoptolemus went to consult the god at Delphi, taking with him first-fruit offerings of the Trojan spoil; that there he was stabbed to death by a man in a brawl concerning the flesh of the victim, and that after death he was supposed to dwell within the sacred precinct and to preside over the processions and sacrifices in honour of heroes. See Pind. N. 7.34(50)-47(70) ; compare Pind. Pa. 6.117ff. P The Scholiast on the former of these passages of Pindar, Scholiast on Pind. Pa. 42(62) , explains the brawl by saying that it was the custom of the Delphians to appropriate ( ἁρπάζειν) the sacrifices; that Neoptolemus attempted to prevent them from taking possession of his offerings, and that in the squabble the Delphians despatched him with their swords. This explanation seems to be due to Pherecydes, for a Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1655 quotes the following passage from that early historian: “When Neoptolemus married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus, he went to Delphi to inquire about offspring; for he had no children by Hermione. And when at the oracle he saw the Delphians scrambling for ( διαρπάζοντας) the flesh, he attempted to take it from them. But their priest Machaereus killed him and buried him under the threshold of the temple.” This seems to have been the version of the story followed by Pausanias, for he mentions the hearth at Delphi on which the priest of Apollo slew Neoptolemus ( Paus. 10.24.4 ), and elsewhere he says that “the Pythian priestess ordered the Delphians to kill Pyrrhus (Neoptolemus), son of Achilles” ( Paus. 1.13.9 ; compare Paus. 4.17.4 ). That the slayer of Neoptolemus was called Machaereus is mentioned also by a Scholiast on Eur. Andr. 53 and by Strab. 9.3.9 , who says that Neoptolemus was killed “because he demanded satisfaction from the god for the murder of his father, or, more probably, because he had made an attack on the sanctuary.” Indeed, Asclepiades, in his work Tragodoumena, wrote as follows: “About his death almost all the poets agree that he was killed by Machaereus and buried at first under the threshold of the temple, but that afterwards Menelaus came and took up his body, and made his grave in the precinct. He says that Machaereus was a son of Daetas.” See Scholiast on Pind. N. 7.42(62) . The story that Neoptolemus came to Delphi to plunder the sanctuary, which is noticed by Apollodorus and preferred by Strabo, is mentioned by Paus. 10.7.1 and a Scholiast on Pind. N. 7.58, Boeckh . It is probably not inconsistent with the story that he went to demand satisfaction from, or to inflict punishment on, the god for the death of his father; for the satisfaction or punishment would naturally take the shape of a distress levied on the goods and chattels of the defaulting deity. The tradition that the slain Neoptolemus was buried under the threshold of Apollo's temple is remarkable and, so far as I remember, unique in Greek legend. The statement that the body was afterwards taken up and buried within the precinct agrees with the observation of Paus. 10.24.6 that “quitting the temple and turning to the left you come to an enclosure, inside of which is the grave of Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. The Delphians offer sacrifice to him annually as to a hero.” From Pind. N. 7.44(65)ff. we learn that Neoptolemus even enjoyed a preeminence over other heroes at Delphi, being called on to preside over the processions and sacrifices in their honour. The Aenianes of Thessaly used to send a grand procession and costly sacrifices to Delphi every fourth year in honour of Neoptolemus. The ceremony fell at the same time as the Pythian games. See Heliodorus, Aeth. ii.34-iii.6 . It is a little difficult to understand how a man commonly accused of flagrant impiety and sacrilege should have been raised to such a pitch of glory at the very shrine which he was said to have attacked and robbed. The apparent contradiction might be more intelligible if we could suppose that, as has been suggested, Neoptolemus was publicly sacrificed as a scapegoat, perhaps by being stoned to death, as seems to have been the fate of the human victims at the Thargelia, whose sacrifice was justified by a legend that the first of their number had stolen some sacred cups of Apollo. See Harpocration, s.v. φάρμακος ; and as to the suggestion that Neoptolemus may have been sacrificed as a scapegoat, see J. Toepffer, “Thargelienbrauche,” Beiträge zur griechischen Altertumswissenschaft (Berlin, 1897), pp. 132ff. , who points out that according to Eur. And. 1127ff. Neoptolemus was stoned as well as stabbed at the altar of Apollo. As to the custom of burying the dead under a threshold, see Folk-Lore in the Old Testament, iii.13ff.

14. The wanderings described in the remainder of this paragraph, except those of Agapenor, are resumed and told somewhat more fully in the following three paragraphs (15a, 15b, 15c), which do not occur in our text of the Epitome, but are conjecturally restored to it from the Scholiast on Lycophron of Tzetzes, who probably had before him the full text of Apollodorus, and not merely the Epitome.

15. Compare Paus. 8.5.2 , who says that, driven by the storm to Cyprus, Agapenor founded Paphos and built the sanctuary of Aphrodite at Old Paphos. Compare Aristot. Peplos 30(16), in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ii.654 .

16. This paragraph is quoted from Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 902 .

17. According to another account, Guneus was drowned at sea. See Aristot. Peplos 32(37), in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ii.654 .

18. Epitaphs on these two drowned men are ascribed to Aristot. Peplos 25(19) and 28(38) . See Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ii.653, 654 . Meges was leader of the Dulichians, and Prothous was leader of the Magnesians. See Apollod. E.3.12 and Apollod. E.14 .

19. This paragraph is quoted from Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 911 .

20. Compare Strab. 9.5.23 .

21. Elephenor was killed in battle by Agenor. See Hom. Il. 4.463-472 . Compare Aristot. Peplos 33(4), in Bergk's Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ii.654 .

22. Canastrum, or Canastra, is the extreme southern cape of the peninsula of Pallene ( Pellene) in Macedonia. See Hdt. 7.123 ; Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.599, with the Scholiast ; Strab. 7 Fr. 25 ; Apostolius, Cent. ii.20 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 526 ; Livy xxx.45.15, xliv.11.3 .

23. It is said that in a sedition Philoctetes was driven from his city of Meliboea in Thessaly ( Hom. Il. 2.717ff. ), and fled to southern Italy, where he founded the cities of Petilia, Old Crimissa, and Chone, between Croton and Thurii. See Strab. 6.1.3 , who, after recording the foundation of Petilia and Old Crimissa by Philoctetes, proceeds as follows: “And Apollodorus, after mentioning Philoctetes in his Book of the Ships, says that some people relate how, on arriving in the country of Croton, he founded Crimissa on the headland and above it the city of Chone, from which the Chonians hereabout took their name, and how men sent by him to Sicily fortified Segesta near Eryx with the help of Aegestes the Trojan.” The book from which Strabo makes this quotation is not the Library of our author, but the Catalogue of the Ships, a work on the Homeric Catalogue by the Athenian grammarian Apollodorus. According to Strab. 8.3.6 , Apollodorus borrowed most of his materials for this work from Demetrius of Scepsis. For the fragments of the work see Heyne's Apollodorus (Second Edition, 1803), vol. i. pp. 417ff. ; Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, i.453ff.

24. Compare Aristot. Mir. 107(115) : “It is said that Philoctetes is worshipped by the Sybarites; for on his return from Troy he settled in the territory of Croton at the place called Macalla, which they say is distant a hundred and twenty furlongs, and they relate that he dedicated the bow of Hercules in the sanctuary of the Halian Apollo. But they say that in the time of their sovereignty the people of Croton fetched the bow from there and dedicated it in the sanctuary of Apollo in their country. It is said, too, that when he died he was buried beside the river Sybaris; for he had gone to the help of the Rhodians under Tlepolemus, who had been carried out of their course to these regions and had engaged in battle with the barbarous inhabitants of that country.” This war with the barbarians is no doubt the “war on the Lucanians,” in which Apollodorus, or at all events, Tzetzes here tells us that Philoctetes engaged after his arrival in Italy.

25. This paragraph is quoted from Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 921 .

26. The same story is told by Strabo, who calls the river Neaethus ( Strab. 6.1.12 ). Stephanus Byzantius agrees with Apollodorus in giving Navaethus ( Ναύαιθος) as the form of the name. Apollodorus derives the name from ναῦς, “a ship,” and αἴθω, “to burn.” Virgil tells a similar tale of the founding of Segesta or, as he calls it, Acesta in Sicily. See Verg. A. 5.604-771 .

27. Demophon and his brother Acamas, the sons of Theseus, had gone to Troy to rescue their grandmother Aethra from captivity. See above, Apollod. E.5.22 . The following story of the loves and sad fate of Demophon and Phyllis is told in almost the same words by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 495 , except that for the name of Demophon he substitutes the name of his brother Acamas. Lucian also couples the names of Acamas and Phyllis ( Lucian, De saltatione 40 ). A pretty story is told of the sad lovers by Servius. He says that Phyllis, despairing of the return of Demophon, hanged herself and was turned into a leafless almond tree; but that when Demophon came and embraced the trunk of the tree, it responded to his endearments by bursting into leaf; hence leaves, which had been called πέταλα before, were ever after called φύλλα in Greek. See Serv. Verg. Ecl. 5.10 . Compare Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 51, 146ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 159; Second Vatican Mythographer 214) . The story is told in a less romantic form by Hyginus, Fab. 59 , compare 243. He says that when Phyllis died for love, trees grew on her grave and mourned her death at the season when their leaves withered and fell.

28. The same story is told, nearly in the same words, by Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 1047) , who probably copied Apollodorus. As to the settlement of Podalirius in Caria, compare Paus. 3.26.10 ; Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Σύρνα . Podalirius was worshipped as a hero in Italy. He had a shrine at the foot of Mount Drium in Daunia, and the seer Calchas was worshipped in a shrine on the top of the same mountain, where his worshippers sacrificed black rams and slept in the skins of the victims for the purpose of receiving revelations in dreams. See Strab. 6.3.9 ; Lycophron, Cassandra 1047ff. Hence Lycophron said that Podalirius was buried in Italy, and for so saying he was severely taken to task by his learned but crabbed commentator Tzetzes, who roundly accused him of lying ( Scholiast on Lycophron 1047 ).

29. This passage is quoted from Apollodorus, with the author's name, by Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 440-442) , who says that according to the usual tradition Amphilochus and Mopsus had gone together to Cilicia after the capture of Troy. This statement is confirmed by the testimony of Strab. 14.5.16 , who tells us that Amphilochus and Mopsus came from Troy and founded Mallus in Cilicia. The dispute between Amphilochus and Mopsus is related more fully both by Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 440-442) and Strab. 14.5.16 According to them, Amphilochus wished to go for a time to Argos (probably Amphilochian Argos; see above, Apollod. 3.7.7 ). So he departed after entrusting the kingdom or priesthood to Mopsus in his absence. Dissatisfied with the state of affairs at Argos, he returned in a year and reclaimed the kingdom or priesthood from Mopsus. But, acting on the principle Beati possidentes, the viceroy refused to cede the crown or the mitre to its proper owner; accordingly they had recourse to the ordeal of battle, in which both combatants perished. Their bodies were buried in graves which could not be seen from each other; for the people built a tower between them, in order that the rivals, who had fought each other in life, might not scowl at each other in death. However, their rivalry did not prevent them working an oracle in partnership after their decease. In the second century of our era the oracle enjoyed the highest reputation for infallibility ( Paus. 1.34.3 ). The leading partner of the firm was apparently Amphilochus, for he is usually mentioned alone in connexion with the oracle; Plut. De defectu oraculorum 45 is the only ancient writer from whom we learn that Mopsus took an active share in the business though Cicero mentions the partners together ( Cicero, De divinatione i.40.88 ). According to Plutarch and Dio Cassius lxxii.7 , the oracles were communicated in dreams; but Lucian says ( Philopseudes 38 ) that the inquirer wrote down his question on a tablet, which he handed to the prophet. The charge for one of these infallible communications was only two obols, or about twopence halfpenny. See Lucian, Alexander 19 ; Lucian, Deorum concilium 12 . The ancients seem to have been divided in opinion on the important question whether the oracular Amphilochus at Mallus was the son or the grandson of Amphiaraus. Apollodorus calls him the son of Alcmaeon, which would make him the grandson of Amphiaraus, for Alcmaeon was a son of Amphiaraus. But Tzetzes, in reporting what he describes as the usual version of the story, calls Amphilochus the son, not the grandson of Amphiaraus ( Scholiast on Lycophron 440-442 ). Compare Strab. 14.1.27 ; Quintus Smyrnaeus, Posthomerica xiv.365-369 . Lucian is inconsistent on the point; for while in one passage he calls Amphilochus the son of Amphiaraus ( Lucian, Alexander 19 ), in another passage he speaks of him sarcastically as the noble son of an accurst matricide, by whom he means Alcmaeon ( Quintus Smyrnaeus, Deorum concilium 12 ). Elsewhere Apollodorus mentions both Amphilochus, the son of Amphiaraus, and Amphilochus, the son of Alcmaeon. See above, Apollod. 3.7.2 and Apollod. 3.7.7 .

30. The story of the custom of propitiating Athena at Troy by sending two Locrian virgins to her every year is similarly told by Tzetzes, who adds some interesting particulars omitted by Apollodorus. From him we learn that when the maidens arrived, the Trojans met them and tried to catch them. If they caught the maidens, they killed them and burned their bones with the wood of wild trees which bore no fruit. Having done so, they threw the ashes from Mount Traron into the sea. But if the maidens escaped from their pursuers, they ascended secretly to the sanctuary of Athena and became her priestesses, sweeping and sprinkling the sacred precinct; but they might not approach the goddess, nor quit the sanctuary except by night. Tzetzes agrees with Apollodorus in describing the maidens during their term of service as barefoot, with cropped hair, and clad each in a single tunic. He refers to the Sicilian historian Timaeus as his authority for the statement that the custom was observed for a thousand years, and that it came to an end after the Phocian war ( 357-346 B.C.). See Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1141 . The maidens were chosen by lot from the hundred noblest families in Locris ( Polybius xii.5 ); and when they escaped death on landing, they served the goddess in the sanctuary for the term of their lives ( Plut. De sera numinis vindicta 12 ), or, at all events, till their successors arrived ( Suidas, s.v. κατεγήρασαν ). For other references to this very remarkable custom, which appears to be well authenticated, see Strab. 13.1.40 ; Scholiast on Hom. Il. xiii.66 ; Iamblichus, De Pythagorica vita, viii.42 ; Suidas, s.v. ποινή (quoting Aelian) ; Serv. Verg. A. 1.41 . Servius, in contradiction to our other authorities, says that only one maiden was sent annually. Strabo appears to affirm that the custom originated as late as the Persian period ( τὰς δὲ λοκρίδας πεμφθῆναι περσῶν ἤδη κρατούντων συνέβἠ. This view is accepted by Clinton, who accordingly holds that the custom lasted from 559 B.C. to 346 B.C.( Fasti Hellenici, i.134ff. ).

31. As to the murder of Agamemnon, see Hom. Od. 3.193ff. ; Hom. Od. 303-305 ; Hom. Od. 4.529-537 ; Hom. Od. 11.404-434 ; Hagias, Returns, summarized by Proclus, in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 ; Aesch. Ag. 1379ff. ; Aesch. Eum. 631-635 ; Soph. Elec. 95-99 ; Eur. El. 8-10 ; Eur. Or. 25ff. ; Paus. 2.16.6 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1108, 1375 ; Hyginus, Fab. 117 ; Seneca, Agamemnon 875-909 ; Serv. Verg. A. 11.268 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 47, 126, 141ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 147; Second Vatican Mythographer 147, 202) ; Dictys Cretensis vi.2 . According to Homer and the author of the Returns, with whom Pausanias agrees, it was Aegisthus who killed Agamemnon; according to Aeschylus, it was Clytaemnestra. Sophocles and Euripides speak of the murder being perpetrated by the two jointly. The sleeveless and neckless garment in which Clytaemnestra entangled her husband, while she cut him down, is described with tragic grandiloquence and vagueness by Aeschylus, but more explicitly by later writers (Tzetzes, Seneca, Servius and the Vatican Mythographers).

32. As to the murder of Cassandra, see Hom. Od. 11.421-423 ; Pind. P. 11.19(29)ff. ; Philostratus, Im. ii.10 ; Athenaeus xiii.3, p. 556 C ; Hyginus, Fab. 117 . According to Hyginus, both Clytaemnestra and Aegisthus had a hand in the murder of Cassandra; according to the other writers, she was despatched by Clytaemnestra alone.

33. Compare Pind. P. 11.34(52)ff. ; Soph. Elec. 11ff. ; Eur. El. 14ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 117 . Pindar tells how, after the murder of his father Agamemnon, the youthful Orestes was conveyed to the aged Strophius at the foot of Parnassus; but he does not say who rescued the child and conveyed him thither. According to Sophocles and Euripides, it was an old retainer of the family who thus saved Orestes, but Sophocles says that the old man had received the child from the hands of Electra. Hyginus, in agreement with Apollodorus, relates how, after the murder of Agamemnon, Electra took charge of ( sustulit) her infant brother Orestes and committed him to the care of Strophius in Phocis.

34. This vengeance for the murder of Agamemnon is the theme of three extant Greek tragedies, the Choephori of Aeschylus, the Electra of Sophocles, and the Electra of Euripides. It was related by Hagias in his epic, the Returns, as we learn from the brief summary of Proclus ( Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 ). Compare Pind. P. 11.36ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 119 . Homer briefly mentions the murder of Aegisthus by Orestes ( Hom. Od. 1.29ff. ; Hom. Od. 1.298-300 ; Hom. Od. 3.306ff. ); he does not expressly mention, but darkly hints at, the murder of Clytaemnestra by her son ( Hom. Od. 3.309ff. ).

35. The trial and acquittal of Orestes in the court of the Areopagus at Athens is the subject of Aeschylus's tragedy, the Eumenides, where the poet similarly represents the matricide as acquitted because the votes were equal ( Aesch. Eum. 752ff. ). The Parian Chronicle also records the acquittal on the same ground, and dates it in the reign of Demophon, king of Athens. See Marmor Parium 40ff. (Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, ed. C. Müller, i.546) . Compare Eur. IT 940-967 ; Eur. IT 1469-1472 ; Eur. Or. 1648-1652 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1374 ; Paus. 1.28.5 ; Paus. 8.34.4 ; Dictys Cretensis vi.4 . In the Eumenides the accusers of Orestes are the Furies. According to the Parian Chronicler, it was Erigone, the daughter of Aegisthus and Clytaemnestra, who instituted the prosecution for the murder of her father; the chronicler does not mention the murder of Clytaemnestra as an article in the indictment of Orestes. According to the author of the Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. Αἰώρα, p. 42 , the prosecution was conducted at Athens jointly by Erigone and her grandfather Tyndareus, and when it failed, Erigone hanged herself. Peloponnesian antiquaries, reported by Paus. 8.34.4 , alleged that the accuser was not Tyndareus, who was dead, but Perilaus, a cousin of Clytaemnestra. According to Hyginus, Fab. 119 , Orestes was accused by Tyndareus before the people of Mycenae, but was suffered to retire into banishment for the sake of his father. As to the madness of Orestes, caused by the Furies of his murdered mother, see Eur. Or. 931ff. ; Paus. 3.22.1 ; Paus. 8.34.1-4 . The incipient symptoms of madness, showing themselves immediately after the commission of the crime, are finely described by Aesch. Lib. 1021ff.

36. As to the oracle, compare Eur. IT 77-92 ; Eur. IT 970-978 ; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1374 ; Hyginus, Fab. 120 .

37. The Taurians inhabited the Crimea. As to their custom of sacrificing castaways and strangers, see Hdt. 4.103 ; Eur. IT 34-41 ; Diod. 4.44.7 ; Paus. 1.43.1 ; Orphica, Argon. 1075ff., ed Abel ; Ovid, Ex Ponto iii.2.45-58 ; Mela ii.11 ; Ammianus Marcellinus xxii.8.34 . According to Herodotus, these Taurians sacrificed human beings to a Virgin Goddess, whom they identified with Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon. The victims were shipwrecked persons and any Greeks on whom they could lay hands. They were slaughtered by being knocked on the head with a club, after which their heads were set up on stakes and their bodies thrown down a precipice into the sea or buried in the ground; for reports differed in regard to the disposal of the corpses, though all agreed as to the setting of the heads on stakes. Ammianus Marcellinus says that the native name of the goddess was Orsiloche.

38. This account of the disposal of the bodies of the victims is based on Eur. IT 625ff.:—

*)ore/sths

ta/fos de\ poi=os de/cetai/ m', o(/tan qa/nw;

*)ifige/neia

pu=r i(ero\n e)/ndon xa/sma t' eu)rwpo\n pe/tras.

Compare Eur. IT 1154ff.:—

h)/dh tw=n ce/nwn kath/rcato,

a)du/tois t' e)n a(gnoi=s sw=ma la/mpontai puri/;

Thus Apollodorus differs from the account which Herodotus gives of the disposal of the bodies. See the preceding note.

39. This account of the expedition of Orestes and Pylades to the land of the Taurians, and their escape with the image of Artemis, is the subject of Euripides's play Iphigenia in Tauris, which Apollodorus seems to have followed closely. The gist of the play is told in verse by Ovid, Ex Ponto iii.2.43-96 and in prose by Hyginus, Fab. 120 . Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1374 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 7, 141ff. (First Vatican Mythographer 20; Second Vatican Mythographer 202) .

40. In saying that the image of the Tauric Artemis was taken to Athens our author follows Euripides. See Eur. IT 89-91 ; Eur. IT 1212-1214 . But according to Euripides the image was not to remain in Athens but to be carried to a sacred place in Attica called Halae, where it was to be set up in a temple specially built for it and to be called the image of Artemis Tauropolus or Brauronian Artemis ( Eur. IT 1446-1467 ). An old wooden image of Artemis, which purported to be the one brought from the land of the Taurians, was shown at Brauron in Attica as late as the second century of our era; Iphigenia is said to have landed with the image at Brauron and left it there, while she herself went on by land to Athens and afterwards to Argos. See Paus. 1.23.7 , Paus. 1.33.1 . But according to some the original image was carried off by Xerxes to Susa, and was afterwards presented by Seleucus to Laodicea in Syria, where it was said to remain down to the time of Pausanias in the second century of our era ( Paus. 3.16.8 ; Paus. 8.46.3 ). Euripides has recorded, in the form of prophecy, two interesting features in the ritual of Artemis at Halae or Brauron. In sacrificing to the goddess the priest drew blood with a sword from the throat of a man, and this was regarded as a substitute for the sacrifice of Orestes, of which the goddess had been defrauded by his escape. Such a custom is explained most naturally as a mitigation of an older practice of actually sacrificing human beings to the goddess; and the tradition of such sacrifices at Brauron would suffice to give rise to the story that the image of the cruel goddess had been brought from the land of ferocious barbarians on the Black Sea. For similar mitigations of an old custom of human sacrifice, see The Dying God, pp. 214ff. The other feature in the ritual at Brauron which Euripides notices was that the garments of women dying in child-bed used to be dedicated to Iphigenia, who was believed to be buried at Brauron. See Eur. IT 1458-1467 . As to Brauron and Halae, see Paus. 1.33.1 with Frazer's note (vol. ii. pp. 445ff.) . But other places besides Brauron claimed to possess the ancient idol of the Tauric Artemis. The wooden image of Artemis Orthia at Sparta, at whose altar the Spartan youths were scourged to the effusion of blood, was supposed by the Lacedaemonians to be the true original image brought by Iphigenia herself to Sparta; and their claim was preferred by Pausanias to that of the Athenians ( Paus. 3.16.7-10 ). Others said that Orestes and Iphigenia carried the image, hidden in a bundle of faggots, to Aricia in Italy. See Servius on Virgil, ii.116, vi.136 ; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 7, 142 (First Vatican Mythographer 20; Second Vatican Mythographer 202) ; compare Strab. 5.3.12 . Indeed, it was affirmed by some people that on his wanderings Orestes had deposited, not one, but many images of Artemis in many places ( Aelius Lampridius, Heliogabalus 7) . Such stories have clearly no historical value. In every case they were probably devised to explain or excuse a cruel and bloody ritual by deriving it from a barbarous country.

41. This drifting of Orestes to Rhodes seems to be mentioned by no other ancient writer. The verb ( καθοσιωθῆναἰ, which I have taken to refer to the image and have translated by “dedicated,” may perhaps refer to Orestes; if so, it would mean “purified” from the guilt of matricide. According to Hyginus, Fab. 120 , Orestes sailed with Iphigenia and Pylades to the island of Sminthe, which is otherwise unknown. Another place to which Orestes and Iphigenia were supposed to have come on their way from the Crimea was Comana in Cappadocia; there he was said to have introduced the worship of Artemis Tauropolus and to have shorn his hair in token of mourning. Hence the city was said to derive its name ( Κόμανα from κόμἠ. See Strab. 12.2.3 . According to Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1374 , Orestes was driven by storms to that part of Syria where Seleucia and Antioch afterwards stood; and Mount Amanus, on the borders of Syria and Cilicia, was so named because there the matricide was relieved of his madness ( Ἀμανός, from μανία“madness” and ἀ privative). Such is a sample of Byzantine etymology.

42. As to the marriage of Electra to Pylades, see Eur. El. 1249 ; Eur. Or. 1658ff. ; Hyginus, Fab. 122 .

43. As to the marriage of Orestes and Hermione, see above, Apollod. E.5.14 , with the note. According to Paus. 2.18.6 , Orestes had by Hermione a son Tisamenus, who succeeded his father on the throne of Sparta. But Pausanias also mentions a tradition that Orestes had a bastard son Penthilus by Erigone, daughter of Aegisthus, and for this tradition he cites as his authority the old epic poet Cinaethon. Compare Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1474 .

44. Compare Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1645 , quoting Asclepiades as his authority; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 1374 . In the passage of Euripides on which the Scholiast comments ( Eur. Or. 1643-1647 ), Orestes is bidden by Apollo to retire to Parrhasia, a district of Arcadia, for the space of a year, after which he is to go and stand his trial for the murder of his mother at Athens. This year to be spent in Arcadia is no doubt the year of banishment to which homicides had to submit before they were allowed to resume social intercourse with their fellows. See Frazer's note above on Apollod. 2.5.11 (vol. i. pp. 218ff. ). The period is so interpreted by a Scholiast on Eur. Or. 1645 . As to Oresteum in Arcadia, see Paus. 8.3.1ff. , who says that it was formerly called Oresthasium. A curious story of the madness of Orestes in Arcadia is told by Paus. 8.34.1-4 . He says that, when the Furies were about to drive him mad, they appeared to him black, but that he bit off one of his own fingers, whereupon they appeared to him white, and he immediately recovered his wits. The grave of Orestes was near Tegea in Arcadia; from there his bones were stolen by a Spartan and carried to Sparta in compliance with an oracle, which assured the Spartans of victory over their stubborn foes the Tegeans, if only they could get possession of these valuable relics. See Hdt. 1.67ff. ; Paus. 3.3.5ff. ; Paus. 3.11.10 ; Paus. 8.54.3 .

45. For the wanderings of Menelaus on the voyage from Troy, see Hom. Od. 3.276-302 ; compare Paus. 10.25.2 .

46. As to the real and the phantom Helen, see above, Apollod. E.3.5 , with the note.

47. The return of Menelaus to his home was related by Hagias in the Returns, as we learn from the brief abstract of that poem by Proclus in Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ed. G. Kinkel, p. 53 .

48. Homer in the Odyssey ( Hom. Od. 4.561-569 ) represents Proteus prophesying to Menelaus that he was fated not to die but to be transported by the gods to the Elysian Fields, there to dwell at ease where there was neither snow, nor storm, or rain, because he had married Helen and was thereby a in-law of Zeus. Compare Eur. Hel. 1676-1679 .

Apollodorus Epitome 6

ed. Sir James George Frazer

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*)ore/sths

ta/fos de\ poi=os de/cetai/ m', o(/tan qa/nw;

*)ifige/neia

pu=r i(ero\n e)/ndon xa/sma t' eu)rwpo\n pe/tras.

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Notes on the current edition

*)ore/sths ta/fos de\ poi=os de/cetai/ m', o(/tan qa/nw;

*)ifige/neia pu=r i(ero\n e)/ndon xa/sma t' eu)rwpo\n pe/tras.

Stable identifiers

*)ore/sths

ta/fos de\ poi=os de/cetai/ m', o(/tan qa/nw;

*)ifige/neia

pu=r i(ero\n e)/ndon xa/sma t' eu)rwpo\n pe/tras.