Страница 81 из 95
Athene hurled... was killed: cf. Od. 4. 499 ff., where Poseidon drives his ships on to the Gyraean Rocks, which are located by later authors either at the island of Tenos in the southern Aegean (the place of the storm in the present account), where there was a Mount Gyraios (Hesych.), or more commonly, at Cape Caphereus in southern Euboea (e.g. Serv. on Aen. 1. 45, QS 14. 568 ff); here Aias was presumably wrecked at Tenos (for he was washed ashore at Myconos nearby), but in the Returnshe was wrecked at the Capherides Rocks (Procl.). In the OdysseyPoseidon wrecked Aias, rescued him from the waves, but then killed him as here. Eur. Troades75 ff. is the first surviving source for Athene’s use of her father Zeus’ thunderbolt.
Nauplios: see p. 62 and note; the earliest surviving source for this episode is Eur. Helen766 f. and 1126 ff.
the intrigues of Odysseus: see p. 147.
Aigialeia: the wife of Diomedes, p. 43, king of Argos; her infidelity was also attributed to the anger of Aphrodite (e.g. Ov. Met. 14. 476 ff.), who was wounded by Diomedes during the fighting at Troy ( Il. 5. 330 ff.).
wife of Idomeneus: the king of Crete, see p. 99 and note.
Xylophagos: literally ‘Eater of Wood’, i.e. of ships.
the country of the Molossians: Epirus, in north-western Greece. See also P. 1. 11. 1 f, and 2. 23. 6.
his father’s kingdom: that of Peleus, at Phthia in Thessaly, which his father Achilles would have inherited if he had survived.
when Orestes went mad: after killing Clytemnestra and Aigisthos, see p. 163.
Hermione. . . at Troy: an allusion to the story that Menelaos had given Hermione to Orestes, but afterwards offered her to Neoptolemos if he captured Troy (see Eur. Andromache967 ff.; some explain this as an accident, saying that Hermione had been given to Orestes by her grandfather Tyndareus at Sparta, and that Menelaos, who was away at Troy, remained unaware of it, e.g. sc. Od. 4. 4).
for the death of his father: Apollo, together with Paris, had killed Achilles, see p. 154, cf. Il. 22. 359 f.
by Machaireus: a name surely suggested by the machaira, or short sword (cf. Pind. Nem. 7. 42) used to kill him. It was also said (ibid. 40 ff.) that he was killed in an argument over the meat from his sacrifice (he objected to the Delphians appropriating such meat, according to Pherecydes in sc. Eur. Or. 1655). He was buried at Delphi and honoured there as a presiding hero (Pind. Nem. 7. 44 ff, P. 10. 24. 5).
Gouneus. . . settled there: there is a gap in the text here. This passage, which is prefaced, ‘Apollodorus and the rest say this’, is taken from Tzetzes sc. Lycophr. 902; the next two paragraphs are taken from ibid. 911 and 921 respectively. There too Apollodorus is probably Tzetzes’ main source; he is referred to explicitly in the second passage.
Navaithos.. . Nauprestides: Navaithos is derived here from naus, ship, aitkein, burning. Similarly, the Nauprestides were burners (from pimpremi)of ships. Cf. Strabo 6. 1. 12.
Demophon: a son of Theseus; the following story, of relatively late origin, was also associated with his brother Acamas (e.g. Aeschines Defals. leg. 31, apparently the earlier tradition).
Nine Ways: the earlier name of Amphipolis (Thuc. 4. 103); said to have been given that name because she ran down to the shore nine times when Demophon failed to return on the appointed day (Hyg. 59).
terror-struck: the reason is unclear; Tzetzes (sc. Lycophr. 495, following Ap.) says that he was ‘overcome by a phantom’ rather than struck by terror, but that may well be a mistake. The basket would have contained sacred objects used in the Mysteries of Rhea.
Amphilochos . , . killed one another: on this Amphilochos, a relatively late invention, see p. 114 and note. This story of a double killing was surely based on a similar story told about Amphilochos, son of Amphiaraos (Strabo 14. 5. 16, cf. Tzetzes sc. Lycophr. 440): after founding Mallos (in Cilicia) with Mopsos, he went to Amphilochian Argos for a year, and when Mopsos refused to accept him back as joint ruler on his return, they fought and killed one another in a duel (thus explaining the origin of the famous oracle at Mallos, in which both were involved, see Plut. Moralia434d).
Locris was struck by a plague: yet another disaster provoked by the Locrian Aias’ desecration of Athene’s image, p. 158; the need to propitiate Athene provides a mythical explanation for the strange custom of the Locrian tribute, which is well attested (e.g. Polybius 12. 5. 7; the girls were chosen by lot from the hundred foremost families).
after the Phocian War: it ended in 346 BC; this could only mark the end of the thousand years if the Trojan War took place at an earlier period than the Greeks commonly assumed; see also Strabo 13. 1. 40.
was killed by Aigisthos and Clytemnestra: in the Odyssey, 3. 193 ff. and 4. 529 ff., Aigisthos kills him, in Aesch. Agamemnon1373 ff., Clytemnestra; thereafter in tragedy they are often mentioned together, e.g. Soph. Electra97 ff. Ap. is probably following the Returnshere (for Proclus also reports that he was killed by both in his summary of the poem); if so, it is possible that the motif of the tunic, first mentioned in Aesch. Ag. 1382 ff., may also have originated in early epic. Aigisthos, the son of Thyestes, p. 146, came to Mycenae while Agamemnon was away at Troy and seduced Clytemnestra, Od. 3. 263 ff. In Aesch. Ag. Clytemnestra’s action is provoked by Agamemnon’s sacrifice of Iphigeneia (1414 ff.) and his infidelity with the Trojan captive women Chryseis and Cassandra (1439 ff.).
they killed Cassandra too: cf. Od. 11. 421–3; there she is killed by Clytemnestra alone, and that is the usual account (e.g. Pind. Pyth. 11. 17 ff.).
left Mycenae . . . killed his mother and Aigisthos: cf. Od. 1. 298 ff. and 3. 305 ff. There is no mention of Pylades in Homer, but in the Returnsthe murder of Agamemnon was ‘avenged by Orestes and Pylades’ (Procl.). On the whole affair, see Aesch. Choephoroi, and Soph, and Eur. Electra.
indicted by the Furies. . . acquitted: following Aesch. Eumenides;when the votes are evenly divided, he is acquitted on Athene’s instructions (752 f).