Diomedes
Diomedes ( Greek Διομήδης ) is the son of Tydeus and Deipyle in Greek mythology . He married Aigiale , daughter of Adrastus , and became king of Argos .
Participation in the epigone
Diomedes' father Tydeus died in the battle of the seven against Thebes . Therefore he took part in the second war against Thebes , the so-called train of the Epigones . Thebes was finally conquered by them. However, Adrastos, the king of Argos, and his son Aigialeus died in battle. Since Kyanippos , the son of Aigialeus, was still a minor, Diomedes and Euryalus took over the government as guardians. After this Diomedes campaigned for the hand of Helen . When she took Menelaus as husband, he, like all suitors, promised to protect the couple.
Campaign against Aetolia
The sons of Agrios drove out Oineus , king of Kalydon and grandfather of Diomedes. Therefore he gathered a large army and marched together with Alkmaion against Aetolia and Acarnania . They killed all of Agrios' sons except Onchestus and Thersites . After their expulsion, Andraimon ascended the throne of Kalydon, as Oineus was already too old to rule.
In the absence of Diomedes, Agamemnon conquered Argos. But when he had to leave the country and move against Troy , he gave Argos back to persuade Diomedes to participate in the Trojan War .
Trojan war
Together with Sthenelos and Euryalus, Diomedes led 80 ships from Argos, Tiryns , Hermione , Asine , Troizen , Eione , Epidaurus , Aigina and Mases against Troy. In the Trojan War he was one of the main fighters of the Greeks. In his Aristie he wounded Aeneas , the goddess Aphrodite , who hurried to his aid, and the god Ares in battle with the help of the goddess Athena . Diomedes was wounded by Pandaros , whom he later killed. When the Trojans attacked the Greek camp, he bravely opposed them with Odysseus , but was wounded and had to return to the ships.
At the funeral games for Patroclus , he won the chariot race and the fight against Ajax . He did not consider the dead Penthesileia worthy to be buried, and thrust her into the Skamandros River with his foot . An oracle proclaimed that Troy could only be conquered if the Greeks had the bow of Heracles with them. Therefore Diomedes and Odysseus sailed to Lemnos and persuaded Philoctetes to fight with them.
He also undertook other adventures with Odysseus. So they conspired against Palamedes and finally stoned him to death. They secretly entered Troy and stole the palladium that was supposed to save the city from being conquered. Diomedes got this as spoils of war. They killed the Dolon and the Rhesos and stole their horses. In the fight, Diomedes still killed the Koroibos . Diomedes was also one of the heroes in the Trojan Horse .
Odyssey
On the way back from Troy, Diomedes was stranded on the coast of Libya because of a storm. The Libyan king Lykos wanted to sacrifice him to Ares. However, Kallirrhoë , the daughter of Lycus, helped him to escape. Now he and his entourage landed at night at Phaleron , on the Attic coast. Demophon , the King of Attica, mistook them for pirates and attacked them. After killing some of them, he captured the palladium and withdrew.
During Diomedes' absence his wife Aigiale had been unfaithful to him; after he returned home she tried to poison him. So he left the city and sailed towards Argos Amphilochicon in Akarnania, to his father's homeland. But a storm brought him to the Apulian coast . King Daunus took him in; Diomedes helped him fight the Messapiers . For this he received Euippe , Dauno's daughter, as a wife and part of his land. With his second wife he fathered a son Diomedes and founded several cities: Beneventum , Aequumtuticum, Argos Hippion (Argyripa or Arpi), Venusia (also Aphrodisia ), Canusium , Venafrum, Salapia, Spina, Sipus, Garganum and Brundisium .
death
His death is described in various ways. Once he is said to have died of old age and was buried on one of the Diomedian Islands . Another time he is said to have been killed by Daunus or his son Turnus . Or he disappeared on one of the Diomedian Islands and his companions were turned into birds.
Temple foundations
Numerous temples are said to have been founded by Diomedes. He is said to have founded a temple for Athena Oxydarches (the sharp-sighted) in Argos because she took a veil from his eyes in Troy. In Argive Troizen he founded a temple to Apollo Epibaterios, in the Messinian Methone one for Athena Anemotis.
swell
- Library of Apollodorus , 1, 18; 1.76; 1.78-79; 3, 82; 3, 129; 6, 12; 7, 2-7; 8, 5; 8, 8; 8, 13; 9, 13.
- Pausanias , travels in Greece , 1, 11, 7; 1, 22, 6; 1, 28, 9; 2, 20, 5; 2, 24, 2; 2, 25, 2; 2, 30, 10; 2, 32, 1-2; 4, 35, 1; 4, 35, 8; 5, 22, 2; 10, 10, 5; 10, 27, 1; 10, 31, 2.
- Strabo , Geographica , 150, 283-284, 325, 326, 423, 462.
- Virgil , Aeneis , 1, 752; 8, 9; 10, 581; 11, 226; 11, 243; 11, 273.
Remarks
literature
- Erich Bethe : Diomedes 1. In: Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume V, 1, Stuttgart 1903, Col. 815-826 ( digitized version ).
- Matthias Egeler: The Plane Trees of Diomedes: Staging the Islands of the Blessed in the Adriatic Sea. In: Numen, Volume 62, 2015, pp. 495-518.
- Ludwig von Sybel : Diomedes 2 . In: Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (Hrsg.): Detailed lexicon of Greek and Roman mythology . Volume 1,1, Leipzig 1886, Sp. 1023-1027 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Diomedes at theoi.com
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Adrastos (Biantide) |
List of the kings of Argos 12th century BC Chr. (Fictional chronology) |
Kyanippos (Biantide) |