o f G r e e c e a n d R o m e of Greece and Rome HHeerrooeess__HHeerrooiinneess ccoovveerr mmeecchhss__FFIINNAALL__..iinndddd 11 Job No: PL0511-27 / Alice 1111//0055//22001111 11::3377 PPMM 1st Proof Title: Herves And Heroines Of Greece And Rome•29623 GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 5/6/11 4:44 PM Page 1 HEROES AND HEROINES of Greece and Rome 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 8/12/11 1:01 PM Page 2 Copyright © 2012 Marshall Cavendish Corporation Published by Marshall Cavendish Reference An imprint of Marshall Cavendish Corporation All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system or transmitted,in any form or by any means, electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,or otherwise,without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to Permissions,Marshall Cavendish Corporation,99 White Plains Road, Tarrytown,NY 10591. Tel:(914) 332-8888,fax:(914) 332-1888. Website:www.marshallcavendish.us This publication represents the opinions and views of the authors based on personal experience,knowledge,and research. The information in this book serves as a general guide only.The authors and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this book and disclaim liability rising directly and indirectly from the use and application of this book. Other Marshall Cavendish Offices: Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) Private Limited,1 New Industrial Road,Singapore 536196 • Marshall Cavendish International (Thailand) Co Ltd.253 Asoke,12th Flr,Sukhumvit 21 Road,Klongtoey Nua,Wattana,Bangkok 10110,Thailand • Marshall Cavendish (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd,Times Subang,Lot 46,Subang Hi-Tech Industrial Park,Batu Tiga,40000 Shah Alam,Selangor Darul Ehsan,Malaysia Marshall Cavendish is a trademark of Times Publishing Limited All websites were available and accurate when this book was sent to press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Heroes and heroines of Greece and Rome. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7614-7952-9 (alk.paper) ISBN 978-0-7614-9981-7 (ebook) 1.Heroes--Greece. 2.Heroes--Rome. 3.Women heroes--Greece. 4.Women heroes--Rome. 5.Mythology,Greek. 6.Mythology,Roman. BL795.H46H45 2012 398.20938'02--dc22 2011006781 Printed in Malaysia 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 Marshall Cavendish Publisher:Paul Bernabeo Project Editor:Brian Kinsey Production Manager:Michael Esposito Indexer:Cynthia Crippen,AEIOU,Inc. 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 6/3/11 1:05 PM Page 3 CONTENTS Introduction 5 Deucalion 84 Contributors 6 Diomedes 89 Echo 91 Achilles 7 Electra 93 Actaeon 13 Endymion 96 Adonis 15 Erichthonius 99 Aeneas 18 Europa 101 Agamemnon 23 Galatea 102 Ajax 27 Ganymede 105 Alcestis 30 Gorgons 107 Amazons 32 Harpies 109 Andromeda 38 Hector 113 Antigone 40 Hecuba 118 Arachne 42 Helen 120 Ariadne 44 Heracles 127 Atalanta 46 Hero 134 Atreus 48 Hesperides 137 Bellerophon 52 Hippolyte 139 Cadmus 55 Hippolytus 141 Callisto 57 Icarus 143 Calypso 59 Idomeneus 145 Cassandra 61 Iphigeneia 147 Castor and Pollux 64 Jason 150 Circe 66 Laocoon 154 Clytemnestra 68 Laomedon 157 Cyclopes 70 Leda 159 Daedalus 75 Lycaon 162 Danae 78 Maenads 165 Daphne 81 Medea 167 3 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 6/3/11 1:06 PM Page 4 CONTENTS Memnon 170 Menelaus 173 Midas 177 Minos 180 Myrmidons 186 Myrrha 188 Narcissus 189 Nestor 192 Niobe 193 Odysseus 196 Oedipus 204 Orestes 210 Orion 214 Orpheus 217 Pandora 223 Paris 229 Pasiphae 234 Patroclus 238 Peleus 240 Pelops 242 Penelope 244 Sisyphus 287 Perseus 246 Tantalus 289 Phaethon 251 Theseus 291 Philoctetes 254 Tiresias 296 Pleiades 257 Tithonus 298 Priam 260 Troilus 301 Psyche 263 Pygmalion 268 Pronunciation Guide 304 Rhea Silvia 271 Major Figures 306 Romulus and Remus 273 Further Reading Satyrs 278 and Resources 310 Sibyl 281 Index 312 Silenus 285 Picture Credits 320 4 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 6/3/11 1:06 PM Page 5 INTRODUCTION H eroes and heroines come in all shapes, sorceresses,and partially human creatures,such as sizes,and ages.However,strictly speaking, satyrs.Because of their parentage,demigods form heroes and heroines in Greek and a distinct,if overlapping,group where heroes and Roman mythology all had one thing in common: heroines are concerned.For example,Perseus was they were mortals.These individuals could be the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Danae,so good,but that was not necessarily the case. he is not a hero by the strictest definition of the Sometimes they obtained their status because term in relation to mythology,but he did perform of actions rather than virtue.For example, heroic acts,including slaying the monster Medusa, Agamemnon was portrayed as a brave hero of which leads many people to think of him as a the Trojan War even though he sacrificed his hero.The same ambiguity characterizes other daughter Iphigeneia to the gods in exchange demigods who fall into this middle territory for winds to carry the Greek fleet to Troy. between the immortals and the mortals. The idea of a person being a hero or heroine The 94 articles in Heroes and Heroines of Greece was also related to the individual’s continued and Rome represent the most well-known heroes influential presence after death (one meaning and heroines from those two civilizations,as well of the Greek word heros is “ghost”).One way as the overlapping demigods,nymphs,sorceresses, in which individuals could live on was to be and other creatures that inhabited the mortal memorialized in unforgettable tales of their deeds. world and figured prominently in the myths of the That is why many of the characters in Homer’s heroes and heroines.The abundant illustrations in Iliad and Odyssey,including Agamemnon,are this volume represent many centuries of artistic called heroes. interpretations of these famous beings and their The ability to live on gave heroes and heroines mythologies.Each article includes a bibliography a special position in the order of the world. and a selection of cross-references to related Immortal gods and goddesses lived forever,and articles.At the end of the volume is a detailed mere mortals died,but heroes and heroines could pronunciation guide,a list of the major figures in do either—making them the intermediaries the world of heroes and heroines,resources for between the immortals and the mortals.The further study,and an index. heroes and heroines generally seemed more Although these articles should also appeal to approachable than the immortal gods and the general reader,they were written with high goddesses,so people would turn to their heroes school students in mind,especially those who may and heroines in times of need.Some heroes and find themselves in classes ranging from history heroines were considered to have oracular powers and literature to art and music,where mythology or curative powers,and their physical remains and plays a part.These articles illumine subjects that possessions were believed to provide protection continue to reemerge in modern culture. and power.Therefore,many heroes and heroines, including Agamemnon and Odysseus,became the Additional information about Greek and Roman objects of cult worship. mythology is available in the single-volume Gods Also present in the world of the mortal heroes and Goddesses of Greece and Rome,the 11-volume and heroines,as apposed to the world of the set Gods,Goddesses,and Mythology,and the online immortal gods and goddesses,are the demigods Gods,Goddesses,and Mythology database at (children of gods and mortals),nymphs, www.marshallcavendishdigital.com. 5 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_001_006_prelims_ 5/6/11 8:58 AM Page 6 CONTRIBUTORS Laurel Bowman James M.Redfield University of Victoria,Canada University of Chicago Anthony Bulloch Carl Ruck University of California,Berkeley Boston University Andrew Campbell Feyo Schuddeboom London,UK Hilversum,Netherlands Alys Caviness Brian Seilstad Noblesville,Indiana Lutherville,Maryland Kathryn Chew Kirk Summers California State University,Long Beach University of Alabama Anna Claybourne Deborah Thomas Edinburgh,UK Anderson,South Carolina Peter Connor London,UK Barbara Gardner Mendocino,California Lyn Green Toronto,Canada Daniel P.Harmon University of Washington Karelisa Hartigan University of Florida Kathleen Jenks Hartford,Michigan Deborah Lyons Johns Hopkins University Jim Marks Spokane,Washington 6 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_007-012_Achilles•••_ 5/5/11 5:51 PM Page 7 ACHILLES According to Homer’s Iliad,Achilles Achilles’younger years was the Greeks’ best fighter in the Another of Themis’s prophecies regarding Achilles was that he would die in battle.When Achilles was born,Thetis Trojan War, famed for his strength and tried to protect her beloved son from his fate.According to courage.The story of Achilles is one version of the story,she dipped him in the magical Styx River in the underworld in order to make him dominated by prophecies about the immortal,but she held onto her son by the heel,which future, and by desperate attempts to became the one vulnerable point on his body.In other versions,Thetis tried to protect Achilles by applying avoid fate—common themes in Greek ambrosia (the ointment of the gods) to his body by day and mythology.As in other tales, the putting him in the embers of fire by night to burn away his prophecies come true: despite the mortality.Peleus,however,was alarmed by his wife’s behavior and prevented her from continuing her treatment efforts of his mother,Achilles dies at of Achilles.His intervention irritated Thetis,who left her Troy while still a young man. husband but continued to watch over her son. Peleus sent Achilles to be educated by Cheiron,a centaur (a human with the body of a horse) famed for A chilles was the son of the sea goddess Thetis and his wisdom and kindness.Cheiron trained the boy to use the mortal Peleus,king of Phthia.Long before his weapons and taught him many other skills,including birth,the earth goddess Themis predicted that healing and playing the lyre (see box,page 9).However, Thetis would give birth to a son who would be more as Achilles grew older,he became unruly,stealing things powerful than his father.Zeus,king of the gods,and his and vandalizing the other centaurs’homes,and Cheiron brother,the sea god Poseidon,had both wanted to marry despaired of his disobedience.After his time with Cheiron, Thetis,but the prophecy put them off,since neither Achilles returned to live with Peleus.His new tutor was wanted to be overthrown.Instead,Themis said that Thetis Phoenix,whom Peleus had made king of the Dolopians. should marry a mortal,Peleus,so that her son would be During his time with Phoenix,Achilles became acquainted half mortal and thus no threat to the gods.Other versions with the youth Patroclus.Peleus made Patroclus his son’s say that Zeus’s wife,Hera,helped to raise Thetis,and the attendant,and the two became lifelong companions. sea goddess refused Zeus’s advances out of loyalty to her. Several events occurred at the wedding of Peleus and Sent away to hide Thetis that would have a bearing on Achilles’life.For When Achilles was nine,the seer Calchas said that the great a wedding gift,the gods gave the happy couple the war that was to take place at Troy could only be won if the enchanted horses Xanthus and Balius,which would later Greeks had Achilles fighting on their side.This prophecy pull Achilles’chariot.More significant,during the wedding terrified Thetis,who dreaded her son’s death in battle. ceremony,Eris,goddess of discord,threw a golden apple Hoping to save him from the war,she disguised Achilles as among the guests.The apple was inscribed with a girl named Pyrrha and took him to live in secret at the the words For the fairest,and was claimed by three court of King Lycomedes on the island of Scyros.She told goddesses:Hera;Athena,goddess of arts and war;and the Lycomedes that Pyrrha was Achilles’sister,and the king love goddess Aphrodite.Zeus asked the mortal Paris,son believed her.In another version of events,Thetis sent her of King Priam of Troy,to judge the victor.Paris chose son to Scyros before Calchas’s prophecy,and it was only Aphrodite in return for the goddess’s promise to help him after the seer gave his prediction that she insisted Achilles win the most beautiful woman alive—Helen,daughter of hide from the Greeks by pretending to be Pyrrha.At first Zeus and the mortal Leda. Achilles was mortified at having to dress as a girl,but he 7 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_007-012_Achilles•••_ 5/5/11 5:51 PM Page 8 ACHILLES Above:Thetis is depicted in this painting dipping her son Achilles in the The outbreak of war River Styx,by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). Paris sparked off the Trojan War when,aided by Aphrodite, he ran away with Helen,who was married to King soon realized it was a good way to get close to Lycomedes’ Menelaus of Sparta.Many other Greek leaders who had daughter,Deidamia.The two fell in love,and by the time originally hoped to marry Helen themselves had sworn an Achilles left Scyros,at age 15,Deidamia had given birth to oath to her stepfather Tyndareos that they would fight their son,Neoptolemus. anyone who tried to harm her marriage to Menelaus.They 8 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie GGM_01_007-012_Achilles•••_ 5/5/11 5:51 PM Page 9 ACHILLES now were obliged to go to Troy to help Menelaus win them back to their ships.Achilles,however,stood firm and back his wife.Achilles himself had not taken the oath,but inflicted a serious wound on Telephus.An oracle told because of Calchas’s prophecy,the Greeks needed him to Telephus that his wound could only be cured by the one go to Troy,too.Odysseus,king of Ithaca,having heard who had caused it.He raced after the Greeks.Odysseus, where Achilles was,went to Scyros to collect him.He guessing that the cause of the wound was Achilles’spear, tricked Achilles out of his disguise by lining up a row of advised Achilles to rub rust from the weapon into the ornaments together with a spear and a shield.Odysseus king’s body.In thanks,Telephus showed the Greeks the way then played a war trumpet,which caused Achilles to Troy. As their journey continued,however,the Greeks instinctively to reach for the weapons,revealing himself as a stopped at the island ofTenedos,where Achilles fell for trained soldier. Hemithea,the sister of King Tenes.Tenes tried to keep Achilles eagerly responded to Odysseus’s request that he Achilles away from her,and in a fit of anger the young join the Greeks in their war against Troy.Still only 15,he Greek killed him.This murder caused even more grief for became the leader of the Myrmidons,an army of soldiers Thetis,for it had been said that whoever killed Tenes from Phthia,who took 50 ships to Troy.His closest friend, would in turn be killed by his father,the sun god Apollo. Patroclus,also went with him to the war.Events before the During the ten-year siege of Troy,the Greeks raided Greeks landed at Troy demonstrated both Achilles’valor other settlements in the area for supplies,or attacked them and his hotheadedness.He attempted to save the life of because they supported the Trojans.Achilles and his men Iphigeneia,daughter of the Greek leader Agamemnon, sacked the island of Lesbos and captured 12 nearby cities. when Agamemnon was poised to sacrifice her to ensure The warrior also killed countless Trojans and their favorable winds for the Greek ships.Iphigeneia,however, supporters,including King Priam’s son Troilus,and Cycnus, offered herself for sacrifice anyway,and the Greeks set sail, a son of Poseidon,whose body could withstand the blows landing not in Troy but,by accident,in Mysia,where of any weapons.Achilles killed Cycnus by strangling him Achilles acted honorably for a second time.On Mysia,an with the straps of his own helmet.Besides fighting,Achilles army led by King Telephus attacked the Greeks and drove managed to develop passionate feelings for Polyxena,a daughter of King Priam,even though she was a Trojan.He also kept a slave girl,Briseis,in his camp.He had captured her in Lyrnessus,one of the cities he had raided. The Centaur Cheiron Acentaur was a creature that was human from the waist up, but with the body and legs of a horse. The centaurs, who were said to have been born out of a cloud, lived in the mountains of Thessaly in central Greece. They were mostly drunken and violent creatures, but one of them, Cheiron, was not like the rest. He was the son of Cronus, the ruler of the Titans, and he was renowned for his gentleness and wisdom. Cheiron was a master of healing. He knew all about medicinal herbs and potions— Asclepius, god of healing, gained his knowledge of medicine from Cheiron. Besides helping to raise Achilles, the great centaur also taught Jason, Actaeon, Patroclus, and Peleus, Achilles’ father, among others. Cheiron’s life ended after the hero Heracles accidentally shot him with a poisoned arrow. He was badly hurt and longed to die, but he could not because he was immortal. However, the Titan Prometheus offered to become immortal in his place, and Cheiron was finally allowed to die. Left:A Roman fresco from c.100 BCE–70 CE depicts the kindly centaur Cheiron teaching Achilles how to play the lyre. 9 1st Proof Title: Heroes and Heroines Of Greece And Rome : 29623 Job No: PL0511-6 / connie