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the land of the Taurians: the Crimea. Hereafter Ap. follows Eur. Iphigeneia in Tauris;for a divergent account of how the Taurians dealt with their victims, see Hdt. 4. 103.
he himself married. . .father of Tisamenos: such is the text of the Epitome, but Tzetzes (sc. Lycophr. 1374) states the alternative rather differently, reporting that he either married Hermione and had a son, Tisamenos, by her, or, according to some, he married Erigone and became the father of Penthilos(cf. P. 2. 18. 6, where he is said to have had an illegitimate son, Penthilos, by Erigone in addition to Tisamenos, his legitimate son by Hermione). The suggestion here that Erigone may have been the mother of Tisamenos almost certainly misrepresents the original text. This Erigone was the daughter of Aigisthos and Clytemnestra, p. 163 (not to be confused with the Athenian Erigone on p. 133). On Hermione, see p. 121. Tisamenos succeeded Orestes (who became king of Argos, and later succeeded Menelaos on the Spartan throne also), and he remained the most powerful ruler in the Pelopo
Menelaos . . . treasure: see Od. 3. 276 ff.
only a phantom: see p. 147 and note.
went to the Elysian Fields with Helen: thus fulfilling the prophecy of Proteus in Od. 4. 561 ff.; they were sent there because Helen was a daughter of Zeus. Elysium was much like the Isles of the Blessed, a home for immortalized human beings vaguely situated ‘at the ends of the world’, ibid. 563 (although in the later tradition it came to be regarded as a region of the Underworld).
wolves . . . pigs, or asses, or lions: in the Odysseythey are turned into pigs alone (10. 239, although some of her previous victims were turned into wolves and lions, 212).
moly: a mythical plant with white flowers, Od. 10. 302 ff., sometimes identified as a variety of wild onion; the details on Odysseus’ use of it are not derived from the Odyssey.
Telegonos: important for his role in the Telegonia, the last epic in the Trojan cycle, as summarized in Epitome 7. 34–7; not in Homer.
The Sirens: cf. Od. 12. 49 ff. and 165 ff., where there are only two; their names, the statement that they were half bird, and the prophecy regarding their death are not derived from the Odyssey.
cattle: owned by the Sun and not subject to a natural death, see Od. 12. 127 ff.; Circe had warned that they should not be killed.
Latinos: not in Homer; in Theog. 1013 (part of a later addition to Hesiod’s text, probably sixth century), he is Odysseus’ son by Circe, and ruler of the Tyrsenians (i.e. Etruscans) with his brother Agrios. In the Roman tradition, where he is usually a son of Faunus, Latinus becomes an important figure as the king of the aboriginal inhabitants of central Italy when Aeneas arrived (e.g. Verg. Aen. 7 ff.).
for five years: in Od. 7. 259, seven years.
suitors: there is no catalogue of suitors in the Odyssey, although many are mentioned individually, and numbers are given for the suitors from each place (16. 246 ff.; only in the case of Ithaca does the number coincide with the total here).
he wrestled with him: in Od. 18. 88 ff., a boxing match, settled by Odysseus with a single blow.
the land of the Thesprotians: in Epirus, in north-western Greece.
propitiated Poseidon: for killing his son, the Cyclops Polyphemos, p. 165.
Teiresias. . . in his prophecy: see Od. 11. 119 ff.; Teiresias told him to travel inland until he found a people who had no knowledge of the sea and mistook an oar for a wi
Ithaca, he plundered. . . cattle: not realizing that he was in his father’s kingdom; according to Hyg. 127, he was carried there by a storm, and was driven by hunger to ravage the land.
from a stingray: added by Bucheler after kentron, translated as needle; this weapon (which was made by Hephaistos, sc. Od. 11. 134) was given to Telegonos by Circe (see Oppian On Fishing 2. 497 ff.).
Telegonos. . . married Penelope: the Telegoniaconcluded with a double marriage (Procl.) because he also took Odysseus’ son Telemachos to Circe’s island, and Telemachos married Circe! The departure of Telegonos and Penelope to the Isles of the Blessed is otherwise unattested, but the Telegoniais the most likely source.
seduced by Antinoos: the leader of the suitors in the Odyssey(where Penelope is a model of wifely fidelity).
gave birth to Pan, as a son of Hermes: see P. 8. 12. 6 for the local Mantineian tradition that Penelope died there. Pan was particularly associated with the wild country of Arcadia, where his cult originated. Herodotus (2. 145) talks as if the present account of his birth was generally accepted amongst the Greeks, but there were many others; he was often said to have been a son of Hermes by other mothers, and there was even a bizarre tradition that Penelope bore him to the suitors, causing Odysseus to leave home again in disgust (Servius on Aen. 2. 44). See also p. 31.
Amphinomos: in the Odyssey(16. 397 f.) he is cleverer and more gentlemanly than the other suitors, and thus earns a measure of approval from Penelope; doubtless conclusions were drawn from that.
as his judge Neoptolemos: cf. Plut. Greek Questions14 (where Odysseus departs to Italy).
Thoas: leader of the Aetolians in the Trojan War, p. 148, see Il. 2. 638 ff, and 13. 216 ff.; the name of his daughter is unknown.
THE TWELVE GODS
FROM the classical period onwards it was commonly accepted that there were twelve principal deities. This idea, which developed from cultic rather than strictly mythological considerations, originated in the Greek colonies of Asia Minor, but by the fifth century BC altars had been dedicated to the Twelve Gods at Athens and Olympia. Athough there is some variation in surviving lists, the standard list in later times was: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaistos, Athene, Artemis, Apollo, and Hermes. Here we will exclude Hestia (who is of some significance cultically as goddess of the hearth, but has virtually no mythology because she never leaves home), and include Dionysos in her place. The group then includes all the Olympian deities who are most important in mythology and appear most frequently in the present work. At Rome, most were identified with local deities; the names of these are given in brackets.