Tyndareus
Tyndareus | |
|---|---|
| King ofSparta | |
 Vase depicting the Dioskuri (either side) with Tyndareus (white beard) andLeda | |
| Legendary King of Sparta | |
| Predecessor | Hippocoon |
| Successor | Menelaus |
| Born | Greece |
| Died | Greece |
| Buried | Therapne,Sparta |
| Wife | Leda |
| Issue | Castor Clytemnestra Timandra Phoebe Philonoe Helen of Troy[1](stepdaughter) Pollux(stepson) |
| Father | OebalusorPerieres |
| Mother | Gorgophone |
InGreek mythology,Tyndareus(/tɪnˈdɛriəs/;Ancient Greek:Τυνδάρεος,Tundáreos;Attic:Τυνδάρεως,Tundáreōs;[tyndáreɔːs]) was aSpartanking.
Family
[edit]Tyndareus was the son ofOebalus(orPerieres[2]) andGorgophone[3](orBateia). He married the Aetolian princess,Leda,by whom he became the father ofCastor,Clytemnestra,Timandra,[4]PhoebeandPhilonoe,and the stepfather ofHelen of TroyandPollux.[5]
Mythology
[edit]Early years
[edit]Tyndareus had a brother namedHippocoon,who seized power and exiled Tyndareus. He was reinstated byHeracles,who killed Hippocoon and his sons. Tyndareus’ other brother wasIcarius,the father ofPenelope.
Tyndareus’ wifeLedawas seduced byZeus,who disguised himself as a swan. She laid two eggs, each producing two children;Castor and Pollux,andHelen of TroyandClytemnestra.
WhenThyestesseized control inMycenae,two exiled princes,AgamemnonandMenelauscame toSparta,where they were received as guests and lived for a number of years. The princes eventually married Tyndareus' daughters, Clytemnestra and Helen respectively.
Curse of the goddess
[edit]According toStesichorus,while sacrificing to the gods Tyndareus forgot to honorAphroditeand thus the goddess was angered and made his daughters twice and thrice wed and deserters of their husbands.[6]AsHesiodalso says:
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Helen and the Trojan War
[edit]
Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, and when it was time for her to marry,many Greek kings and princescame to seek her hand or sent emissaries to do so on their behalf. Among the contenders wereOdysseus,Ajax the Great,Diomedes,Idomeneus,and bothMenelausandAgamemnon.All but Odysseus brought many and rich gifts with them. Helen's favourite was Menelaus who, according to some sources, did not come in person but was represented by his brother Agamemnon, who chose to support his brother's case, and himself married Helen's half-sister Clytemnestra instead.[7]
Tyndareus would accept none of the gifts, nor would he send any of thesuitorsaway for fear of offending them and giving grounds for a quarrel. Odysseus promised to solve the problem in a satisfactory manner if Tyndareus would support him in his courting ofPenelope,the daughter ofIcarius.[8]Tyndareus readily agreed and Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with the chosen one. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favour of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king.
Some years later,Paris,a Trojan prince came to Sparta to marry Helen, whom he had been promised byAphrodite.Helen left with him – either willingly because she had fallen in love with him, or because he kidnapped her, depending on the source – leaving behind Menelaus andHermione,their nine-year-old daughter. Menelaus attempted to retrieve Helen by calling on all her former suitors to fulfil their oaths, leading to theTrojan War.[9]
Afterwards
[edit]According toEuripides'sOrestes,Tyndareus was still alive at the time of Menelaus’ return,[10]and was trying to secure the death penalty for his grandsonOrestesdue to the latter's murder of his own mother who was also Tyndareus’ daughter, Clytemnestra, but according to other accounts he had died prior to the Trojan War.[11]In some versions of the myth, Tyndareus was one of the dead men resurrected byAsclepiusto live again.[12][13]
Notes
[edit]- ^Virgil,Aeneid.BookVI.For an English translation see thePerseus Project.
- ^John Tzetzes onLycophron,511
- ^Pausanias,Description of Greece,2.21.7
- ^Hesiod,Catalogue of Womenfr. 23(a)7–9; Pseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheca3. 10. 6
- ^Apollodorus, 3.10.6.
- ^Scholiast on Euripides, Orestes 249;Hesiod,Catalogue of Women Fragment 67.Translated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.
- ^Hesiod,Catalogs of Women and Eoiae.For an English translation see theMedieval and Classical Literature Library.
- ^Pseudo-Apollodorus,Bibliotheca3.10.9.
- ^Herodotus,Histories,A. D. Godley(translator), Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1920;ISBN0-674-99133-8.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- ^Vienna Papyrus G2315,fromHermopolis
- ^Euripides,Helen,inThe Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 1.Helen,translated by E. P. Coleridge. New York. Random House. 1938.
- ^John Tzetzes.Chiliades, 10.49 line 720
- ^This account might explain the inconsistency between the death of Tyndareus according to various versions of the story.
References
[edit]- Apollodorus,The Librarywith an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website.
- Euripides,The Complete Greek Drama,edited by Whitney J. Oates and Eugene O'Neill, Jr. in two volumes. 2. Helen, translated by Robert Potter. New York. Random House. 1938.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Euripides,Euripidis Fabulae.vol. 3.Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Herodotus,The Historieswith an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.ISBN0-674-99133-8.Online version at the Topos Text Project.Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library.
- Hesiod,Catalogue of WomenfromHomeric Hymns, Epic Cycle, Homericatranslated by Evelyn-White, H G. Loeb Classical Library Volume 57. London: William Heinemann, 1914.Online version at theio
- Pausanias,Description of Greecewith an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918.ISBN0-674-99328-4.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias,Graeciae Descriptio.3 vols.Leipzig, Teubner. 1903.Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro,Aeneid.Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910.Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Publius Vergilius Maro,Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics.J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900.Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Tzetzes, John,Book of Histories,Book IX-X translated by Jonathan Alexander from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826.Online version at theio
