Telamon
Encyclopedia
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Telamon (in Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
, Τελαμών), son of the king Aeacus
Aeacus
Aeacus was a mythological king of the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf.He was son of Zeus and Aegina, a daughter of the river-god Asopus. He was born on the island of Oenone or Oenopia, to which Aegina had been carried by Zeus to secure her from the anger of her parents, and whence this...
, of Aegina
Aegina
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of Aeacus, who was born in and ruled the island. During ancient times, Aegina was a rival to Athens, the great sea power of the era.-Municipality:The municipality...
, and Endeis
Endeis
In Greek mythology, Endeïs was the wife of Aeacus and mother of Telamon and Peleus. The name is a dialect variant of Engaios ....
and brother of Peleus
Peleus
In Greek mythology, Pēleus was a hero whose myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BCE. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Endeïs, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he was the father of Achilles...
, accompanied Jason as one of his Argonauts
Argonauts
The Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar
Calydonian Boar
The Calydonian Boar is one of the monsters of Greek mythology that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age. Sent by Artemis to ravage the region of Calydon in Aetolia because its king failed to honor her in his rites to the gods, it was killed in the Calydonian Hunt, in which many male...
. In the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
he was the father of Greek heroes Ajax the Great
Ajax (mythology)
Ajax or Aias was a mythological Greek hero, the son of Telamon and Periboea and king of Salamis. He plays an important role in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War. To distinguish him from Ajax, son of Oileus , he is called "Telamonian Ajax," "Greater...
and Teucer
Teucer
In Greek mythology Teucer, also Teucrus or Teucris , was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax, in the Trojan War and is the legendary founder of the city Salamis on Cyprus...
the Archer by different mothers. Some accounts mention a third son of his, Trambelus
Trambelus
In Greek mythology, Trambelus was a son of Telamon . His mother was the Trojan captive, Hesione or Theaneira: when she had already been made pregnant by Telamon, she escaped by jumping off his ship and swimming until she reached the land of Miletus...
. He and Peleus were also close friends with Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, assisting him on his expeditions against the Amazons
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
and against Troy (see below).
In an earlier account recorded by Pherecydes
Pherecydes
Pherecydes was the name of:*Pherecydes of Syros, a pre-Socratic philosopher and author from the island of Syros, by some believed to have influenced Pythagoras...
, Telamon and Peleus were not brothers, but friends. According to this account, Telamon was the son of Actaeus
Actaeus
Actaeus was the first king of Attica, according to Pausanias. He was the son of Erysichthon, father of Agraulus, and father-in-law to Cecrops, the first king of the city of Athens. Actaeus is said to have ruled over a city named Acte or Akte. The location of this city is uncertain...
and Glauce
Glauce
In Greek mythology, Glauce , Latin Glauca, refers to seven different people:#Glauce, daughter of Creon. She married Jason. She was killed, along with Jason's children, by his wife, Medea. Also known by the name Creusa, predominantly in Latin authors, e.g...
, with the latter being the daughter of Cychreus, king of Salamis
Salamis Island
Salamis , is the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile off-coast from Piraeus and about 16 km west of Athens. The chief city, Salamina , lies in the west-facing core of the crescent on Salamis Bay, which opens into the Saronic Gulf...
; and Telamon married Periboea
Periboea
In Greek mythology, nine people shared the name Periboea .#Periboea was the daughter of either King Cychreus of Salamis or of Alcathous, her mother in the latter case being either Pyrgo or Evaechme, daughter of Megareus. She married Telamon and became and mother of Ajax...
, daughter of King Alcathous
Alcathous
Alcathous was the name of several people in Greek mythology:*Alcathous, son of Pelops, killed the Cithaeronian lion.*Alcathous, son of Aesyetes, husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Anchises and sister of Aeneas, who was educated in the house of Alcathous. In the Trojan War, he was one of the...
of Megara
Megara
Megara is an ancient city in Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken by Athens. Megara was one of the four districts of Attica, embodied in the four mythic sons of King...
.
Life
After killing their half-brother, PhocusPhocus
Phocus was the son of Aeacus and Psamathe in Greek mythology. His mother, the Nereid goddess of sand beaches, transformed herself into a seal when she was ambushed by Aeacus, and was raped as a seal; conceived in the rape, Phocus' name means "seal". He had two sons, Crisus and Panopaeus.Aeacus...
, Telamon and Peleus had to leave Aegina. King Cychreus of Salamis
Salamis Island
Salamis , is the largest Greek island in the Saronic Gulf, about 1 nautical mile off-coast from Piraeus and about 16 km west of Athens. The chief city, Salamina , lies in the west-facing core of the crescent on Salamis Bay, which opens into the Saronic Gulf...
welcomed Telamon and befriended him. Telamon married Cychreus' daughter Periboea
Periboea
In Greek mythology, nine people shared the name Periboea .#Periboea was the daughter of either King Cychreus of Salamis or of Alcathous, her mother in the latter case being either Pyrgo or Evaechme, daughter of Megareus. She married Telamon and became and mother of Ajax...
, who gave birth to Ajax. Later, Cychreus gave Telamon his kingdom. In other versions of the myth Cychreus' daughter is named Glauce
Glauce
In Greek mythology, Glauce , Latin Glauca, refers to seven different people:#Glauce, daughter of Creon. She married Jason. She was killed, along with Jason's children, by his wife, Medea. Also known by the name Creusa, predominantly in Latin authors, e.g...
, and Periboea is Telamon's second wife, and the daughter of Alcathous
Alcathous
Alcathous was the name of several people in Greek mythology:*Alcathous, son of Pelops, killed the Cithaeronian lion.*Alcathous, son of Aesyetes, husband of Hippodameia, the daughter of Anchises and sister of Aeneas, who was educated in the house of Alcathous. In the Trojan War, he was one of the...
.
Telamon also figures in both versions of Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
' sacking of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, which was ruled by King Laomedon
Laomedon
In Greek mythology, Laomedon was a Trojan king, son of Ilus, brother of Ganymede and Assaracus, and father of Priam, Astyoche, Lampus, Hicetaon, Clytius, Cilla, Proclia, Aethilla, Medesicaste, Clytodora, and Hesione...
(or Tros
Tros
In Greek mythology, Tros was a ruler of Troy and the son of Erichthonius by Astyoche or of Ilus I, from whom he inherited the throne. Tros was the father of three sons: Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganymedes. He is the eponym of Troy, also named Ilion for his son Ilus...
in the alternate versions). Before the Trojan War, Poseidon
Poseidon
Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...
sent a sea monster to attack Troy.
In the King Tros version, Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
(along with Telamon and Oicles
Oicles
In Greek mythology, Oecles was an Argive king, father of Amphiaraus, son of Mantius or Antiphates and grandson of Melampus....
) agreed to kill the monster if Tros would give him the horses he received from Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
as compensation for Zeus' kidnapping Ganymede
Ganymede (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...
, Tros' son. Tros agreed; Heracles succeeded and Telamon married Hesione
Hesione
In Greek mythology and later art, the name Hesione refers to various mythological figures, of which the Trojan princess Hesione is known most.-Princess Hesione of Troy:...
, Tros' daughter, giving birth to Teucer
Teucer
In Greek mythology Teucer, also Teucrus or Teucris , was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax, in the Trojan War and is the legendary founder of the city Salamis on Cyprus...
by her.
In the King Laomedon version, Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione
Hesione
In Greek mythology and later art, the name Hesione refers to various mythological figures, of which the Trojan princess Hesione is known most.-Princess Hesione of Troy:...
to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles rescued her at the last minute and killed both the monster and Laomedon and Laomedon's sons, except for Ganymede, who was on Mt. Olympus, and Podarces
Priam
Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous".- Marriage and issue :...
, who saved his own life by giving Heracles a golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize and married her, and she gave birth to Teucer
Teucer
In Greek mythology Teucer, also Teucrus or Teucris , was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-brother, Ajax, in the Trojan War and is the legendary founder of the city Salamis on Cyprus...
by him.
In Apollodorus' Library
Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
The Bibliotheca , in three books, provides a comprehensive summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends, "the most valuable mythographical work that has come down from ancient times," Aubrey Diller observed, whose "stultifying purpose" was neatly expressed in the epigram noted by...
, Telamon was almost killed during the siege of Troy. Telamon was the first one to break through the Trojan wall, which enraged Hercules as he was coveting that glory for himself. Hercules was about to cut him down with his sword when Telamon began to quickly assemble an altar out of nearby stones in honor of Hercules. Hercules was so pleased, after the sack of Troy he gave Telamon Hesione as a wife. Hesione requested that she be able to bring her brother Podarces with her. Hercules would not allow it unless Hesione bought Podarces as a slave. Hesione paid for her brother with a veil. Podarces name was then changed to Priam – which, according to Greek author Apollodorus, was derived from the Greek phrase “to buy”.
The Telamon
The Telamon (also Song of Telamon, Telamon Song, Telamon-song) is an ancient Greek song (fl. 5th century BC) only found referred to by name in some ancient Greek plays and later scholia or commentaries. It is usually thought to be a warlike song about Telamon's son Ajax, though some other commentaries thought it to be a mournful song about Telamon himself. It began with: "Son of Telamon, warlike Ajax! They say you are the bravest of the Grecians who came to Troy, next to Achilles."Sources
- ApollodorusApollodorusApollodorus of Athens son of Asclepiades, was a Greek scholar and grammarian. He was a pupil of Diogenes of Babylon, Panaetius the Stoic, and the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace...
. Bibliotheke I, viii, 2 and ix 16; II, vi, 4; III, xii,6-7. - Apollonius Rhodius. Argonautica I, 90-94.
- OvidOvidPublius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
. MetamorphosesMetamorphoses (poem)Metamorphoses is a Latin narrative poem in fifteen books by the Roman poet Ovid describing the history of the world from its creation to the deification of Julius Caesar within a loose mythico-historical framework. Completed in AD 8, it is recognized as a masterpiece of Golden Age Latin literature...
, VIII, 309.