by Apollodorus
Alexander abducted Helen: we now pass to the events leading up to the Trojan War. Ap.’s main source henceforth will be the poems in the epic cycle that gave an account of the events not covered by Homer; but he also introduces material from later sources. For all the following, compare the summaries of these epic poems by Proclus (English translations of these can be found, with other relevant material, in Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns in the Loeb series). Events prior to the Iliad were covered in a single epic, the Cypria.
demigods: a term sometimes applied to the heroes of the Trojan War and earlier adventures (see Hes. WD 159 ff., cf. Il. 12. 23); it need not imply divine parentage.
For one of these reasons: Homer remarks enigmatically in Il. 1. 5 that the war fulfilled the will of Zeus, but offers no explanation. Elsewhere two main reasons are adduced (which need not be exclusive), one, as here, that it was to be a source of glory for those involved, and another that Zeus wanted to lighten the burden on the Earth, which was weighed down by an excessive number of mortals (thus the Cypria as quoted in sc. Il. 1. 5; some included the Theban War as part of the plan, sc. Eur. Orest. 1641).
Eris threw an apple: Eris, discord personified, now sets in motion the chain of events that will lead to the Trojan War. This takes place at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis (Procl.; for the marriage see p. 129). The apple is first mentioned in late sources (e.g. Hyg. 92) but the theme could well be early; it is inscribed ‘to the fairest’, or Eris says that the fairest should take it. On Eris, see also Il. 4. 440 ff. The judgement of Paris is mentioned by Homer, Il. 24. 25 ff.
with ships built by Phereclos: on Phereclos, see Il. 5. 59 ff. The fleet was suggested by Aphrodite, and she told Aeneas to sail with Paris (Procl).
the funeral of his maternal grandfather Catreus: after he had been killed by his son Althaimenes, p. 99; Menelaos was his grandson through Aerope.
the treasures: from the palace of Menelaos; this became an issue in the war, see Il. 3. 70 ff. and 285 ff.
put in at Sidon: Homer alludes to his stay there in Il. 6. 289 ff; in the Cypria, he captured the city (Procl.).
a phantom of Helen: a theme invented by the lyric poet Stesichorus (late seventh to early sixth century). According to a later (and doubtless apocryphal) story, he was struck blind after he had spoken badly of Helen in one of his poems, and this caused him to write a recantation saying that only her phantom was present at Troy (thus absolving her from blame for the war); see Plato Phaed. 243a f., with the verses quoted there. See also Eur. Helen (31 ff. and passim) and Hdt. 2. 112 ff.
to Agamemnon in Mycenae: as king of Mycenae he was the richest and most powerful king in Greece, and undisputed leader of the expedition. According to the Homeric catalogue he ruled the north-eastern corner of the Peloponnese in an area also embracing Corinth and Sicyon (Il. 2. 569 ff, while Diomedes ruled Argos, Tiryns, and much of the Argolid, ibid. 559 ff.); but there are also suggestions that he held wider authority (e.g. ibid. 107 ff.).
the oaths: most of the Greek kings had been suitors for Helen’s hand, and had sworn to help the one who was chosen as her husband if he should be wronged with regard to his marriage, see p. 121.
pretended to be mad: he is said to have yoked an ox with a horse (Hyg. 95), and sown the land with salt (VM 1. 35).
drew his sword: or he placed the child in front of Odysseus’ plough (Tzetz. sc. Lycophr. 818). Procl. is vague: he picked up the child ‘to punish it’.
after capturing. . . as a traitor: this is Odysseus’ later revenge for his ignominious exposure. It was also said that Odysseus killed Palamedes because he was envious of his cleverness (Xen. Mem. 4. 2. 33), or that Odysseus, Agamemnon, and Diomedes plotted against him because they were jealous of his popularity with the army for his inventions etc. (sc. Eur. Orest. 432). In the Cypria, Odysseus and Diomedes drowned him while he was fishing (P. 10. 31. 1).
a breastplate: in the manuscripts, ‘breastplates’, but this is surely a reference to the magnificent breastplate described in Il. 11. 19 ff., a personal gift from one king to another rather than a practical contribution to the expedition. The ruse of the earthenware ships, absent from Homer, may go back to the Cypria (although Procl. makes no mention of it). For Cinyras, see p. 131.
Elais, Spermo, and Oino: their names refer to the oil, grain, and wine elicited by them. They lived with their father, Anios, on Delos. Ap.’s account in the original text was probably comparable with that in Dictys of Crete, Trojan War 1. 23, where they send provisions to the Greeks at Aulis. It was also said that Anios, who knew that Troy could not be taken until the tenth year, offered to maintain the Greek army at Delos for the intervening period, using his daughters to feed them (Tzetz. sc. Lycophr. 570, reporting the Cypria and Pherecydes), or that his daughters came to help the Greeks when they were suffering from hunger at Troy (ibid. 580, reporting Callimachus).
Those who took part: compare Homer’s catalogue, Il. 2. 494 ff.; some of the names and numbers diverge.
a snake . . . after ten years: cf. Il. 2. 308 ff. The nine birds eaten by the snake represent nine years of war; Troy will be captured in the tenth.
Mysia: in the north-western corner of Asia Minor; historically the Troad lay within the province of that name.
Telephos, son of Heracles: see pp. 88 and 116.
entangled in a vine branch: through the anger of Dionysos, because Telephos had deprived him of his cult (sc. Il. 1. 59); hence the vine, which is emblematic of the god.
lasted twenty years: this is clearly problematic, as the war would then end twenty (rather than ten) years after the portent of the sparrows (which is said to have been revealed at the first muster by both Ap. above and Procl.). But there are indications that this was not a fancy of late origin. In the Cypria (Procl.) and Little Iliad (sc. Il. 19. 326) Achilles married Deidameia (and thus fathered Neoptolemos) on his way back from Mysia, and Neoptolemos must have had time to grow to fighting age before joining the Greeks in the final year of the war (see p. 156); and there is the anomalous statement by Helen in Il. 24. 765 f, where she says that it is the twentieth year since she left her homeland.
scraping rust from his Pelian spear: following the principle of sympathetic magic noted for Iphiclos’ knife on p. 47, that what inflicts harm can cure it. The Pelian spear was the ashwood spear cut on Mount Pelion by Cheiron as a wedding present for Peleus, see p. 129 with Il. 16. 143 f.
Not even Artemis: following the Vatican epitome, where the meaning of this is left to the reader’s understanding; I have completed the sentence following sc. Il. 1. 108 (cf. sc. Eur. Orest. 658). The reading in the Sabbaitic epitome, ‘it could not escape alive even if Artemis wanted it to,’ is surely a misinterpretation of the statement in its abbreviated form.
Agamemnon brought her. . . at the altar: as in the Cypria (Procl.). See also Euripides’ Iphigeneia in Aulis and the introductory speech of his Iphigeneia in Tauris.
Cycnos: not the adversary of Heracles (pp. 82, 90) but a son of Poseidon who ruled at Colonai in the Troad (cf. P. 10. 14. 1 ff). Tenedos was a small island lying off the coast of the Troad.
While. . . offering a sacrifice to Apollo: on Tenedos, following the Cypria (Procl.). Homer mentions the water-snake, hydros, as the cause of his wound, Il. 2. 723. The later tradition varies; in Soph. Philoct. Mil f, he is bitten on Chryse, an island near Lemnos, by a serpent guarding the local temple of Athene; or he is bitten where his comrades abandon him, on Lemnos (e.g. Hyg. 102).
the bow of Heracles: Heracles gave it to his father Poias (or to Philoctetes himself) for lighting his pyre, see p. 91 and note.
sending Odysseus and Menelaos: cf. Il. 3. 205 ff.
first. . . to disembark: cf. Il. 2. 701 f., where his killer is a nameless Dardanian (as against Hector in the Cypria, see Procl.); that Protesilaos would be the first to enter battle is suggested in his name.
Laodameia: there seems to have been some coverage of her story in the Cypria (P. 4. 2. 7; there she was described as Polydora, daughter of Meleager, but the present name
is general in later authors). The pathetic tale appealed to later sentiment and was much developed and varied. Protesilaos was to be released from Hades for a limited period only. (See also Ovid Heroides 18. and Hyg. 103 and 104. In Hyg. 103, Laodameia prays to be allowed three hours with him, and is unable to endure the sorrow when he dies for a second time.)
by hurling a stone at his head: Cycnos (the father of Tenes, see above) was said to be invulnerable except in his head (sc. Lcophr. 232). There was another tradition that he was wholly invulnerable and Achilles had to strangle him as Heracles strangled the Nemean lion (e.g. Ov. Met. 12. 144, with the thong of his helmet).
Troilos: a son of Priam (or Apollo, p. 125) and Hecuba (Il. 24. 257). There was a tradition that Troy could not be taken if he remained alive (Plautus Bacchides 953 f, or if he lived to the age of twenty, VM 1. 210).
captured Lycaon: see Il. 21. 34 ff. for the full story. Lycaon was sold into slavery in Lemnos (also Procl.), but was ransomed, and came up against Achilles on the twelfth day after his return, giving rise to the memorable scene in which he entreats the pitiless Achilles to spare him.
rustle the cattle of Aeneas: cf. Il. 20. 90 ff. and 188 ff.
the following allies: for the Trojan allies cf. Homer’s catalogue, Il. 2. 819 ff.
performed deeds of valour: for aristeuein; the aristeiai of the various heroes, episodes in which an individual comes to the fore and remains the centre of attention while he performs exceptional feats, formed set-pieces in the epic narrative.
exchanged armour: in Homer’s account, Glaucos exchanged ‘gold for bronze’ (the phrase became proverbial), provoking the poet to observe, in a rare personal comment, that Zeus must have deprived him of his wits (Il. 6. 234 ff.).
The river rushed out. . . massive flame: this is rather unsatisfactory as a summary of Il. 21. 211 ff.
accidentally killed Hippolyte: her sister, whom she killed with her lance while aiming at a deer, according to QS 1. 21 ff.; see also Appendix, 8 and note. The tradition that she came there to win glory to enable her to marry (Tzetz. Posthom. 14, referring to Hellanicos and others) reflects later ethnographical interests (see Hdt. 4. 117).
Thersites: he abused Achilles ‘for his alleged passion’ (Procl.) for the Amazon, apparently an accusation of necrophilia (Eustath. on Il. 2. 219), and gouged out her eyes with his spear-point (Tzetz. sc. Lycophr. 999). The Aethiopis (Procl.) went on to say that Achilles sailed to Lesbos, sacrificed to Apollo, and was purified from the murder of Thersites by Odysseus (the first known reference to such a purification in Greek literature, for none is mentioned in Homer). On Thersites, see also p. 42 and Il. 2. 211 ff.
Memnon: to provide a suitable opponent for Achilles, a warrior who resembles him in being the son of a goddess and having a set of arms made by Hephaistos (Procl.; cf. Achilles’ arms in Il. 18. 457 ff.). Proclus further reports that Thetis told her son Achilles of the fate in store for Memnon, and that Dawn asked Zeus to grant him immortality.
shot down . . . Scaean Gates: as foretold in Il. 22. 359 f.
in the ankle: it is said in late sources at least that his mother Thetis held Achilles by the ankle when dipping him into the Styx, or the fire (cf. p. 129), to make him immortal (e.g. Serv. on Aen. 6. 57).
on the White Island: in the Aethiopis (Procl.) Thetis, with the Muses and her sisters, snatched Achilles’ body from the fire and conveyed it to the White Island (Leuke, in the Black Sea). But the present passage surely refers to the Homeric account in Od. 24. 43 ff., where the Greeks mix the bones in a golden urn for burial in a mound by the Hellespont; as Wagner observed, the phrase must have originated as a gloss on the Isles of the Blessed in the next sentence.
on the Isles of the Blessed: a home at the ends of the earth for those whom the gods absolved from death, see Hes. WD 167 ff. In Homer, Achilles descends to Hades, where he complains to Odysseus of his fate as king of the shades, Od. 11. 473 ff., but in the Aethiopis, it can be inferred from Proclus’ summary that Thetis would have revived him and made him immortal after taking him to the White Island. In Pind. ol. 2. 79 ff., she conveyed him to the Isles of the Blessed. Ibycus, a sixth-century lyric poet, and Simonides are said to have placed him in Elysium (which was much the same) with Medea (sc. AR 4. 816).
the Trojans acting as judges: in Od. 11. 542 ff., the Trojans and Athene are said to be the judges. In the Little Iliad (sc. Aristophanes. Eq. 1056) spies are sent to listen under the walls of Troy, and they hear two girls discussing the matter; when one says that Aias must have been the bravest because he carried off the body of Achilles, the other counters that Odysseus was even braver because he covered their retreat. There was also a tradition that they simply asked the Trojan prisoners (sc. Od. 11. 547).
the allies: cf. Pind. Nem. 8. 26, where the Greeks decide the matter by secret ballot.
the Achaeans: the Greeks (as in Homeric usage).
Aias killed himself: see Sophocles’ Ajax.
Calchas prophesied. . . bow of Heracles: in the Little Iliad (Procl.) this was revealed by the Trojan Helenos, see below, and it seems to have been his only prophecy; in the later tradition the prophecies multiply, and are shared between Calchas and Helenos (to whom three different prophecies are attributed below). For a fuller account of the following see QS 9. 325 ff., which follows the same pattern. For the bow of Heracles, now owned by Philoctetes, see p. 151 and note. It was needed to kill Paris.
Odysseus. . . to see Philoctetes: cf. QS 9. 333 ff. In the Little Iliad (Procl.) he was fetched by Diomedes alone.
cured by Podaleirios: as sons of Ascler’js, he and his brother, Machaon, performed valuable services as healers while serving with the Greeks (cf. Il. 2. 731 f.). In the Little Iliad he was healed by Machaon (Procl.), here as in QS 9. 461 ff.
Helenos.. . to reveal: a son of Priam and Hecuba, p. 125, whose qualities as a diviner are mentioned by Homer (Il. 6. 76, cf. 7. 44 ff.).
bones of Pelops: see also P. 5. 13. 4 ff.
Neoptolemos: the son of Achilles by Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes (see p. 129); he is still on Scyros, the island off Euboea where he was born. For Odysseus’ journey, cf. Od. 11. 506 ff. (where there is no mention of Phoenix).
Eurypylos . . . at the hand of Neoptolemos: cf. Od. 11. 519 ff., he was killed with many others, ‘for the sake of a woman’s gifts’; for Priam had bribed his mother, Astyoche, to send him by offering her a golden vine made by Hephaistos (sc. Od. 11. 520, following Acousilaos).
Odysseus went. . . aid of Diomedes: in the Little Iliad (Procl.), these were two separate expeditions. In the first, in which Diomedes played no part, Odysseus disguised himself to enter the city as a spy, where he was recognized by Helen (compare Helen’s own account in Od. 4. 242 ff.); in the second, he stole the Palladion with the help of Diomedes.
Odysseus. . . suggested it to Epeios: in the Little Iliad, Epeios acted on Athene’s advice (Procl.; cf. Od. 8. 493). It is understandable that the idea should also have been attributed to the crafty Odysseus.
three thousand: the text is surely defective here. Stesichorus said that there were a hundred (Eustathius 1698), and later authors give lower figures. Their function was merely to open the city to the main army.
devoured the sons of Laocoon: in the Sack of Troy (Procl.) in the epic cycle, Laocoon was killed with one of his two sons; the portent signified that Troy would be destroyed along with the senior branch of the Trojan royal family, and understanding its meaning, Aeneas, who belonged to the junior branch, withdrew to Mount Ida. Although later authors disagreed on the cause and significance of the episode, it can be assumed here that the snakes are sent by Apollo as a sign of the coming destruction.
Helen. . . Odysseus covered his mouth: see Od. 4. 274 ff.
came to his rescue: because his father Antenor had offered them his hospitality and protection when they visited the city as ambassadors before the Greek landing, see p. 151 and Il. 3. 205 ff.
Aeneas . . . his piety: cf. Xen. On Hunting 1. 15 (where he takes the household gods also); th
is is the tradition developed by Virgil Aen. 2. 699 ff. For the ancients, respect and care for parents was a religious duty (cf. Plato Laws 930e ff.). In the Sack of Troy (Procl.) Aeneas left before the sack, while in the Iliad (20. 307 ff.), Poseidon prophesied that he and his descendants would rule in Troy after the destruction of Priam’s family.
