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(Κοίρανος; Koíranos). [German version] [1] Descendant of Melampus Belongs to the family tree of  Melampus (Hes. Cat. 136,3), but his exact position therein is not certain; father of the seer  Poly(e)idus (Pherecydes FGrH 3 F 112; Paus. 1,43,5). Nünlist, René (Basle) [German version] [2] Charioteer of Meriones Charioteer for  Meriones; he saves  Idomeneus' [1] life by bringing a chariot to him at exactly the right moment, so that he instead of Idomeneus is hit by  Hector's spear (Hom. Il. 17,611-614). The motif of ‘substitution death’ is typical of Homer's epics [1]. Nünlist, René (Bas…

[German version] (Σίσυφος; Sísyphos). Mythical fraudster and penitent in the Underworld. Son of Aeolus [1], father of Glaucus [2], grandfather of Bellerophon, founder and king of Corinth (Corinthus), legendary and proverbial fraudster, who as a punishment in the Underworld has to roll a rock up a mountain, but every time just before reaching the summit it rolls back down into the valley (Hom. Od. 11,593-600). S. earns the punishment by conquering death (i.e. abandoning the boundaries placed on huma…

[German version] (τειχοσκοπία/ teichoskopía, ‘viewing from the walls’). Term, coined already in Antiquity (Schol. Eur. Phoen. 88), for the scene in the Iliad in which Helen (Helena [I 1]) identifies for Priamus the most important leaders of the Greek army (Agamemnon, Odysseus, Menelaus, Ajax [1], Idomeneus [1]) from the Trojan walls (Hom. Il. 3,161-244, imitated e.g. by Eur. Phoen. 88-192). The Homeric narrator has Helen observe an event happening elsewhere at the same time and present it verbally toPriam (and hence …

[German version] (Ἑκατόγχειρες, centimani = ‘hundred-handed’). Briareus (also called Aegaeon: Hom. Il. 1,403f.), Cottus and Gy(g)es (for the name forms see [1]) are powerful monsters (hundred arms, fifty heads: Hes. Theog. 147ff.), offspring of  Uranus and  Gaia. They were chained by their father and thrown into Tartarus (617ff.). Zeus frees them and, on account of their hundred arms, makes them allies in the battle with the  Titans (626ff.). The belief that the H. later guarded the defeated Titans…

[German version] (Τιθωνός; Tithōnós). Member of the Trojan royal family, grandson of Ilus [1], son of Laomedon [1] and hence a brother of Priamus. Eos, the  goddess of dawn, abducted the extremely attractive T. and makes him her lover (cf. Cephalus [1], Cleitus [1], Orion [1]). According to the Homeric formula Eos brings light in the morning, by rising from "T.' bed" (Hom. Il. 11,1 et passim). The result of their union is the Aethiopian king Memnon [1]. Eos asks Zeus for immortality for T., but neg…

[German version] (Σχερίη; Scheríē). Land of the Phaeaces, last stop on Odysseus's wanderings. As with almost all these stops, brains have been racked over the location of S. since Antiquity. Among the numerous proposed solutions Corcyra [1] (Corfu) appears at a very early stage (Alc. fr. 441 Voigt: [1. 19]) and most frequently [2. 294]. Similarly, for the ship of the Phaeaces, turned to stone on the return from Ithaca (Hom. Od. 13,161-164), several rock formations off Corfu are plausible. All of th…

(Κρεσφόντης). [German version] [1] Heraclidus Heraclidus ( Heraclidae), husband of  Merope. In the lottery for the Peloponnese, C. uses a trick to gain Messenia. After a short reign, he falls victim to a revolt. His only surviving son,  Aepytus [4], avenges him (on the motif:  Orestes) and secures the paternal throne for himself (Paus. 4,3,3-8; 8,5,6-7). Nünlist, René (Basle) [German version] [2] Son of Cresphontes [1] Son of [1] in Euripides' tragedy of the same name, in which C.'s mother almost kills him by mistake while avenging the murder of his father. Nünlist, René (Basle) Bibliogr…

[German version] (Ἑκάεργος; Hekáergos). Epithet of  Apollo and  Artemis ( Hekaerge), mostly interpreted as *έκα (cf. ἑκών) + έργον, ‘working of his own free will’, connected by the poets, however, with ἑκάς, ἕκαθεν: ‘working from afar’. Nünlist, René (Basle) Bibliography W. Beck, s.v. H., LFE 2, 493-494.

(Κτιμένη, Ktiménē). [German version] [1] Odysseus' youngest sister  Odysseus' youngest (or younger [1]) sister. She was brought up together with  Eumaeus and sent to Same to be married (Hom. Od. 15,363ff.: only place tò mention siblings of Odysseus). Nünlist, René (Basle) [German version] [2] Daughter of the Locrian Phegeus from Oenoë Daughter of the Locrian Phegeus from Oenoë; C. is said to have been seduced by  Hesiod and to have given birth to  Stesichorus, which caused her brothers Amphiphanes and  Ganyctor [2] to kill Hesiod in revenge (Vita Hesiodi p. 50 Wilam.). Nünlist, René (B…

(Ἶρος; Îros). [German version] [1] Son of Actor Son of Actor from Opus, father of the Argonaut Eurytion, whom  Peleus accidentally killed during a hunt (Pind. Fr. 48). I. refused the sheep and cattle offered as atonement (Antoninus Liberalis 38). Nünlist, René (Basle) [German version] [2] Derisive nickname for the beggar Arnaeus Derisive nickname (secondary masculine form of the name of the messenger to the gods  Iris: ‘Mr Iris’) for the beggar Arnaeus, because he ran errands for everyone (Hom. Od. 18,6f.). Greedy, presumptuous, but at the same t…

[German version] (Τηρεύς; Tēreús). Mythical king from Thrace. By marrying Procne he allies himself with the Attic king Pandion [1], whose other daughter Philomele he rapes. In order that she should not be able to denounce him, T. cuts out her tongue. She depicts the crime on a loom, however. Procne avenges herself on her husband by cruelly killing their son Itys. When T. in turn wants to take revenge all three transform themselves into birds, T. into a hoopoe, the sisters into a swallow and a nightingale (Apollod. 3,193-195; Ov. Met. 6,424-674). Sophocles wrote a (largely lost) Tēreús (fr. 5…

[German version] (Φήμη/ Phḗmē; Latin Fama ). Goddess or personification of public speech, rumour and (helpful or malicious) gossip (Hes. Op. 760-764; Bacchyl. 2,1; 10,1). Aeschines (Aeschin. In Tim. 128 with schol.; Aeschin. Leg. 144f.; cf. Paus. 1,17,1) mentions an altar of P. (built after the Battle on the Eurymedon [5]), making the distinction that P. appeared in person, while Diabolḗ ('Calumny') could be traced to individual people. However, Ach. Tat. (6,10,4-5) makes P. the daughter of Diabole. Nünlist, René (Basle)

[German version] (Ἕκτωρ/ Héktōr; Lat. Hector). Son of the Trojan royal couple  Priamus and  Hecabe, husband of  Andromache and father of  Astyanax. As the strongest fighter of Priamus' sons, H. (and not Paris, who is to blame for the war) is responsible for the defence of the besieged city in The Iliad. He is most successful on the third day of battle: after Agamemnon's wounding (Hom. Il. 11,200ff.), H. breaks through the Achaean wall (12,445ff.), and - despite a set-back (14,409ff.) - he pushes them back to their ships and sets one of them on f…

[German version] (Φιλοίτιος; Philoítios). Odysseus’ cowherd (Hom. Od. 20-22); like the swineherd Eumaeus he epitomizes the loyal retainer. After Odysseus has revealed his identity to them and has assured himself of their loyalty, the two of them, who are largely cast in the same mould [1], assist him in killing the suitors. In doing so, the two of them take their revenge on their counterpart, the disloyal goatherd Melanthius [1]. Nünlist, René (Basle) Bibliography 1 B. Fenik, Studies in the Odyssey (Hermes ES 30), 1974, 172-173.

[German version] (Στέντωρ/ Sténtōr, aptonym: 'roarer' [1]). Greek warrior at Troy, whose powerful voice is equivalent to those of 50 men. In his guise Hera gives the Greeks a dressing-down (Hom. Il. 5,784-792). S. himself does not appear anywhere. This 'lacuna' was increased in ancient exegesis by scholarly speculations (Schol. AbT Hom. Il. 5,785): he had to lose his life because he had challenged Hermes to a competition in shouting (for the motif cf. Thamyris), and is the inventor of the war trump…

[German version] (Δόλων/ Dólōn, cf. δόλος/ dólos, ‘guile’). Son of the Trojan herald Eumedes. During a night reconnaissance raid in the Greek camp, for which he had volunteered in order to gain Achilles' immortal horses, he fell into the hands of the Greek scouts Diomedes and Odysseus. In an (unsuccessful) bid to save his skin, he readily betrayed his own cause, which cost the life of the Trojan ally, the Thracian King Rhesus (Hom. Il. 10, so-called Doloneia, probably post- Iliad [1]; [Eur.] Rhes.). By contrast with this portrait of D. ─ for the Stoa he was the archetypical…

[German version] (Σῶκος; Sôkos). Trojan, son of Hippasus [2], challenges Odysseus to battle to avenge the death of his brother Charops [4] (Hom. Il. 11,430-433: one of the rare direct speeches by a 'minor' combatant). He wounds Odysseus so badly that he has to leave the battle field, but not before killing the fleeing S. and directing a sneering speech of triumph to him (ibid. 11,434-458). Nünlist, René (Basle) Bibliography P. Wathelet, Dictionnaire des Troyens de l'Iliade, vol. 2, 1988, s. v. S., 1001-1004.

(Κλονίος; Kloníos). [German version] [1] Commander of the Boeotian contingent at Troy commanded, with four other leaders, the Boeotian contingent at Troy (Hom. Il. 2,495); died in a sea battle at the hand of  Agenor [5] (ibid. 15,340). Nünlist, René (Basle) [German version] [2] Companion of Aeneas Aeneas [1] had with him two Clonii, who fell in battle against Turnus and Messapus respectively (Verg. Aen. 9,574; 10,749). One of Aeneas' companions with the name of Clonius is said to have founded the gens Cloelia (Paul. Fest. 48,16 L.). Nünlist, René (Basle)

[German version] (Εὔμαιος; Eúmaios). The faithful swineherd of  Odysseus (Hom. Od., esp. Bks. 14-17; 20-22); son of a king, he was abducted as a child owing to the betrayal of a Phoenician maid and was sold. Hard-working, caring, pious and unconditionally faithful to his absent master, E. represents the type of the loyal vassal. The meeting with Telemachus on E.'s farm, in accordance with Athena's directive (Hom. Od.13,404), marks the beginning of Odysseus's homecoming within Ithaca. From there E. …

[German version] (Προκρούστης/ Prokroústēs, 'stretcher', Lat. Procrustes). Highwayman in Attica who would lie in wait for travellers and torture them to death by stretching them and hitting their limbs with a hammer (alternative name: Προκόπτης/ Prokóptēs, 'persuader'), until they fitted his enormous bed ('Procrustes' bed'). Together with Sinis and Sciron, P. represents a 'plague on the land' from which  Theseus with civilizing intentions liberates the region (Bacchyl. 18,19-30; Xen. Mem. 2,1,14; Diod. Sic. 4,59; Hyg. Fab. 38; Ov…