Euphorbos

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Menelaus and Hector fight over the body of Euphorbo. Euphorbos plate

Euphorbos ( Greek  Εὔφορβος , Latinized Euphorbus ) is the son of Panthoos and Phrontis in Greek mythology .

He fought as a brave hero in the Trojan War on the side of the defenders. His brothers are Polydamas and Hyperenor . He wounded Patroclus , who was stunned by Apollo , before Hector killed him. In the fight for Patroclus' body, Euphorbos himself fell at the hands of Menelaus . In some legends, Euphorbos - and not Aeneas , Cyknos or Hector - kills Protesilaos , who was the first of the Greeks to set foot on Trojan soil.

Excerpt from Homer's Iliad (XVII) 17th song (Death of Euphorbo):

“Meanwhile, Euphorbos, the Trojan, and Menelaus, the Atride, quarreled over the corpse of Patroclus . 'You shall atone for it,' cried the latter, 'that you killed my brother Hyperenor and widowed his wife!' And with that he ran the lance against the shield of the Atrid, but the iron tip bent. Now Menelaus also raised his lance and bored it into the middle of the enemy's throat, so that the point protruded to the neck and his delicately curly hair, which was crinkled with gold and silver, dripped with blood. So he sank into the dust with the clank of his weapons, which Menelaus immediately robbed him of; and he would have carried off the armor if Apollo had not envied him for it. But this spurred Hector, in the form of Mentes , the prince of the Kikonen , from the immortal steeds of the Peliden , which Automedon kidnapped, as an unreachable prey, and to turn back to the corpse of Euphorbos. He turned back, and suddenly he became aware of Prince Menelaus how he was appropriating the glorious weir of Euphorbos, bent over the bleeding corpse. He heard the roaring cry of woe from the Trojan hero and had to admit, blushing, that he could not withstand the storming Hector with his troops. So Menelaus gave way, leaving corpse and armor behind, but only unwillingly, looked around from time to time, hurried back, stood still and looked for the great Ajax in battle. "

Menelaus later carried the shield of Euphorbos as a consecration gift to the temple of Hera in Argos . It was there, according to a later legend, that Pythagoras of Samos , a follower of the doctrine of the migration of souls, recognized himself as the reincarnation of Euphorbos when he saw the shield .

literature

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References and comments

  1. ↑ Homer : Iliad XVI-XVII
  2. ^ Gustav Schwab : Death of Patroclus in the Gutenberg-DE project ( archive version ) ISBN 3-458-31827-5
  3. ↑ Bartel Leendert van der Waerden : The Pythagoreans . Zurich / Munich 1979, ISBN 3-7608-3650-X , p. 55 f.