Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

Stories (80)

• Shade of Achilles in the Underworld (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Achilles / Odyssey nekyia · Homeric — Achilles’ shade speaks with Odysseus
• Shade of Ajax Silent before Odysseus (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Ajax Telamonian / Odyssey nekyia · Homeric — Ajax’s shade refuses speech in lingering wrath
• Shade of Heracles in the Underworld (*Odyssey* 11)
  Heroes — Heracles / Odyssey nekyia · Homeric — eidolon in Hades while the god feasts on Olympus
• Heracles and the Cercopes
  Heroes — Heracles / side adventure (Ephesus–Lydia region) · Apollodorean / comic folklore handbook tradition
• Heracles and Syleus: The Vineyard
  Heroes — Heracles / Omphale-period side deed · Apollodorean / tragic (Euripides *Syleus*) — forced digging; host slain
• Philoctetes’ Isolation on Lemnos (Sophocles)
  Heroes — Philoctetes / Trojan muster aftermath · Attic tragic — Sophocles *Philoctetes* (isolation and wound focus)
• Heracles and Antaeus
  Heroes — Heracles / side labor (Libya) · Apollodorean / Pindaric — earth-giant wrestler slain by lifting
• Heracles and Eryx: Wrestling for the Bull
  Heroes — Heracles / side episode on the Geryon cattle-drive · Apollodorean — Eryx slain in wrestling after a runaway bull reaches Sicily
• Heracles Wrestles Nereus for the Way to the Hesperides
  Heroes — Heracles / Eleventh Labor prelude · Apollodorean — Old Man of the Sea wrestled for directions
• Heracles and Hippocoön: The Spartan Vengeance War
  Heroes — Heracles / side campaigns after the labors · Apollodorean (Hippocoön; Oeonus; Tyndareus restored)
• Heracles against Neleus and the Pylians
  Heroes — Heracles / side campaigns; Nestor’s background · Apollodorean / Homeric recollection (Neleus; eleven sons; Nestor spared)
• Heracles, Theiodamas, and the Dryopians
  Heroes — Heracles / side campaigns; Hylas’s parentage · Apollodorean — Theiodamas slain; Dryopian war; Hylas taken
• Eurystheus Hides in the Bronze Jar
  Heroes — Heracles / labors aftermath delivery · Apollodorean / pictorial classical tradition — Eurystheus cowers in a jar when Heracles brings live monsters
• Molorchus of Cleonae and the Nemean Lion
  Heroes — Heracles / Nemean labor hospitality aetiology · Callimachean (+ Apollodorean labor frame) — poor host Molorchus; postponed sacrifice
• Copreus: Herald of Eurystheus
  Heroes — Heracles / labor administration · Homeric / Apollodorean — Copreus as intermediary after Eurystheus’s fright
• Heracles and the Fifty Daughters of Thespius
  Heroes — Heracles / youth; Thespian progeny · Apollodorean / Pausanian — fifty nights; Thespiades as mothers of Heracles’ sons
• Lichas and the Poisoned Robe
  Heroes — Heracles / Trachiniae endgame · Sophoclean / Apollodorean — Lichas brings the gift; Heracles hurls him to death
• Hyllus Marries Iole
  Heroes — Heracles aftermath / Trachiniae close / Heraclid marriage · Sophoclean / Apollodorean — dying Heracles exacts Hyllus’s marriage to Iole
• Abderus and the Founding of Abdera
  Heroes — Heracles / eighth labor aftermath / Thracian foundation · Apollodorean — Abderus killed by the mares; Heracles founds Abdera over his tomb
• Ajax and Hector: The Day’s Duel and Truce for Burial
  Trojan · Homeric — *Iliad* 7
• The Embassy to Achilles
  Trojan · Homeric — *Iliad* 9 (with Book 8 as immediate cause)
• Trojans at the Ships; Patroclus Pleads for Achilles’ Armor
  Trojan · Homeric — *Iliad* 11–16 (compressed arc to Achilles’ concession)
• Fight over Patroclus’s Body; Thetis and the New Armor
  Trojan · Homeric — *Iliad* 17–18
• Funeral of Patroclus and the Games
  Trojan · Homeric — *Iliad* 23
• Death of Achilles: Paris and Apollo
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Aethiopis* (Proclus) / Apollodorean (+ Homeric foreshadowing)
• Contest for Achilles’ Arms: Ajax, Odysseus, Madness, and Suicide
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Little Iliad* / *Aethiopis* end (Proclus) + Attic tragic — Sophocles *Ajax*; Apollodorean
• Sack of Troy: Priam, Astyanax, Cassandra and Ajax Locrian
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Iliou Persis* (Proclus) / Apollodorean (+ Euripides *Troades*; Homeric allusions)
• Departure Disasters Begin: Athena’s Wrath and Locrian Ajax
  Trojan · Epic Cycle — *Iliou Persis* / *Nostoi* (Proclus) / Apollodorean (+ Euripides *Troades* prologue)
• Nekyia: Odysseus in the Underworld (*Odyssey* 11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nostoi · Homeric — *Odyssey* 11 (+ Apollodorean summary)
• Orestes Avenges Agamemnon (*Choephoroi* / Libation Bearers)
  Trojan — Nostoi / Oresteia · Attic tragic — Aeschylus *Choephoroi* (+ Homeric / Apollodorean revenge notice)
• Helen’s Eidolon: The Phantom at Troy (Stesichorus / Euripides)
  Trojan — variant of Helen’s role in the war · Stesichorean palinode + Euripides *Helen* (eidolon at Troy; real Helen in Egypt)
• Death of Locrian Ajax on the Gyrae Rocks (Detailed)
  Trojan — Nostoi · Homeric (*Odyssey* 4) / Apollodorean / Cycle *Nostoi* (+ Euripides *Troades* wrath frame)
• Teucer’s Exile from Salamis and the Founding of Cyprian Salamis
  Trojan — Nostoi / Aeacid aftermath · Tragic / Apollodorean / Pausanian (Telamon’s rejection; Cyprus foundation)
• Ajax Telamonian: Tomb and Cult
  Trojan — Ajax aftermath / hero cult · Homeric / cyclic / Pausanian / local Rhoetean
• Helen’s Teichoscopia: Naming the Greek Heroes (*Iliad* 3)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 3 · Homeric — wall-viewing (teichoscopia) before the Paris–Menelaus duel
• Paris Wounds Diomedes (*Iliad* 11)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 11 · Homeric — Paris’s arrow ends Diomedes’ fighting day
• Funeral Games for Patroclus: Wrestling (*Iliad* 23)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 23 games · Homeric — wrestling draw (Ajax Telamonian and Odysseus)
• Funeral Games for Patroclus: Foot-Race (*Iliad* 23)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 23 games · Homeric — foot-race (Odysseus wins by Athena’s aid)
• Funeral Games for Patroclus: Armed Combat (*Iliad* 23)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 23 games · Homeric — Ajax Telamonian vs. Diomedes in full armor
• Funeral Games for Patroclus: Casting the Iron Mass (*Iliad* 23)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 23 games · Homeric — weight-throw (solos); Polypoetes victorious
• Phoenix’s Speech in the Embassy (*Iliad* 9)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Embassy to Achilles · Homeric — Phoenix’s Meleager paradeigma within Book 9
• Ghost of Achilles Demands Polyxena
  Trojan — Cyclic *Nostoi* / *Iliou Persis* aftermath / Euripidean · Cyclic / Euripidean — Achilles’ shade requires Polyxena’s sacrifice
• Briseis Returned: Her Lament for Patroclus (*Iliad* 19)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / reconciliation · Homeric — restitution of Briseis; her goos over Patroclus
• Kerostasia: Zeus Weighs Hector’s Fate (*Iliad* 22)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / death of Hector · Homeric — golden scales decide Hector’s doom
• Odysseus’s Speech in the Embassy (*Iliad* 9)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Embassy to Achilles · Homeric — Odysseus’s opening offer and appeal
• Ajax’s Speech in the Embassy (*Iliad* 9)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Embassy to Achilles · Homeric — Ajax’s blunt closing appeal
• The Shield of Achilles: Homeric Ekphrasis (*Iliad* 18)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 18 · Homeric — Hephaestus’s cosmic and civic shield
• Hector Fires the Achaean Ships (*Iliad* 15–16)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / ships crisis · Homeric — fire at Protesilaus’s hull; climax of Zeus’s promise to Thetis
• Suitors’ Shades and Amphimedon’s Tale (*Odyssey* 24)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Book 24 / underworld aftermath · Homeric — Hermes leads the suitors; Amphimedon narrates to Agamemnon
• Teucer Shoots from Behind Ajax’s Shield (*Iliad*)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Teucer’s archery · Homeric — bastard son of Telamon; archer paired with Ajax’s tower-shield
• Nestor Rescues the Wounded Machaon (*Iliad* 11)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Book 11 hinge · Homeric — Paris wounds Machaon; Nestor conveys him; Achilles sends Patroclus
• Eos and the Immortality of Memnon (*Aethiopis*)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle / *Aethiopis* aftermath · Cyclic — Eos obtains immortality for Memnon from Zeus after Achilles kills him
• Athena as Deiphobus Deceives Hector (*Iliad* 22)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Hector’s death · Homeric — Athena’s false likeness ends Hector’s flight and seals his doom
• Death of Antilochus at Memnon’s Hands (*Aethiopis*)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle / *Aethiopis* · Cyclic / Apollodorean — Memnon kills Antilochus; Achilles avenges him
• Ajax Carries Achilles’ Body from the Fight (*Aethiopis*)
  Trojan — Epic Cycle / *Aethiopis* / death of Achilles aftermath · Cyclic — Ajax bears the corpse while Odysseus covers the retreat
• Achilles Drags Hector’s Body (*Iliad* 22–24)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / aftermath of Hector’s death · Homeric — piercing of the ankles; dragging behind the chariot; daily outrage at the tomb
• The Ghost of Patroclus Appears to Achilles (*Iliad* 23)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / funeral of Patroclus · Homeric — shade demands burial; shared bones; vanishes like smoke
• Catalogue of Heroines in the Nekyia (*Odyssey* 11)
  Trojan — Odyssey / Nekyia / heroic genealogy in Hades · Homeric — blood-drinking shades of famous women; Hesiodic-style catalogue embedded in nostos
• Phoenix’s Meleager Paradeigma (*Iliad* 9)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Embassy to Achilles · Homeric — Meleager’s wrath as warning paradeigma inside Phoenix’s speech
• Achilles Consoles Priam with Niobe (*Iliad* 24)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Ransom of Hector · Homeric — Niobe’s grief and return to food as consolation paradeigma
• Hera Bribes Hypnos to Lull Zeus (*Iliad* 14)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Dios apate prelude · Homeric — Sleep’s fear of Zeus; promise of Pasithea; lull on Ida
• Patroclus Borrows Achilles’ Armor (*Iliad* 16)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Patrocleia prelude · Homeric — Nestor’s plan; Achilles’ limits; Patroclus arms in the Myrmidon panoply
• Patroclus’s Aristeia (*Iliad* 16)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Patrocleia · Homeric — Patroclus turns the Trojans; kills Sarpedon; presses to the wall
• Achilles’ Heel: Late Invulnerability Tradition
  Trojan — Achilles death lore / later biographic aetiology · Late classical / Roman transmission — Styx-dip heel as the sole mortal spot (labeled)
• Helen in Egypt: Recognition and Escape (Euripides)
  Trojan — Euripidean *Helen* / post-Troy Egypt plot · Attic tragic — Menelaus finds the real Helen; eidolon vanishes; escape from Theoclymenus
• Polydamas Advises Hector (*Iliad* 12 and 18)
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Trojan counsel vs. Hector’s force · Homeric — bird-omen counsel at the ditch; night counsel after Achilles’ return
• Epeigeus Slain by Hector
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Patrocleia · Homeric — Myrmidon exile of royal blood; Hector kills him over Sarpedon’s body
• Psychostasia: Zeus Weighs Achilles and Memnon
  Trojan — Aethiopis / Aeschylean tragedy / Memnon cycle · Aeschylean *Psychostasia* (lost) + cyclic *Aethiopis* notices — Zeus scales the fates of Achilles and Memnon
• The Memnonides: Birds from Memnon’s Pyre
  Trojan — Memnon aftermath / bird metamorphosis · Ovid-labeled Roman — cinders become fighting birds; annual memorial
• Stentor of the Bronze Voice
  Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / divine disguise on the battlefield · Homeric — Hera (or Athena) takes Stentor’s form; voice of fifty men
• Hylas Abducted by the Nymphs
  Local and lesser — Mysian / Argonautic episode · Apollonian (*Argonautica*); Theocritean idyll; Apollodorean brief notice
• Salmoneus: Imitating Zeus
  Local and lesser — Thessalian / Elean / underworld sinners · Apollodorean / Vergilian echo labeled; Hesiodic *Catalogue* notices
• Busiris and Heracles in Egypt
  Local and lesser — Heraclean / Egyptian encounter (Labors itinerary) · Apollodorean (+ Pherecydian / Isocratean rhetorical use; vase tradition)
• Antaeus the Wrestler: Heracles in Libya
  Local and lesser — Heraclean / Libyan · Apollodorean / Pindaric (Earth-son; lift and crush)
• Birth of Teucer: Hesione and Telamon
  Local and lesser — Salaminian / Trojan prelude (Aeacid line) · Apollodorean (Hesione awarded to Telamon; Teucer as bastard half-brother of Ajax)
• Linus: Aetiology of the Mourning Song
  Local and lesser — musical aetiology / harvest lament · Homeric / Hesiodic / Pindaric / Pausanian (multiple Linus figures; song *ailinon*)
• Cancer: The Crab of the Lernaean Hydra (Catasterism)
  Local and lesser — astral aetiology / Heracles’s Second Labor · Catasterismic handbook — crab sent by Hera, placed as Cancer
• Leo: The Nemean Lion among the Stars (Catasterism)
  Local and lesser — astral aetiology / Heracles’s First Labor · Catasterismic handbook — Nemean lion as Leo
• Olympia’s Older Foundations: Idaean Dactyls and Pelops (Pausanias)
  Local and lesser — Eleian / Olympia cult aetiology · Pausanian — pre-Heraclean foundations of the Olympic games
• Cacus and Heracles (Roman-Labeled)
  Local and lesser — Roman reception of Heracles / Aventine aetiology · Roman transmission (Vergil / Ovid) of a Greek Heracles cattle-theft combat on the future site of Rome

Places appearing with them

• Abdera
• Achaean camp
• Achaean camp at Troy
• Achaean council
• Achaean ditch
• Achaean ditch and wall
• Achaean lines
• Achaean shore
• Achaean wall
• Achaean wall and ditch
• Achaean wall and ships
• Achilles’ hut
• Achilles’ hut among the Myrmidon ships
• Achilles’ ship-stern
• Altar of Zeus
• Altar of Zeus Herkeios
• Amyclae
• Ara Maxima
• Argo
• Argos
• Assembly
• Athena’s temple at Troy
• Aulis / Chalcis
• Aventine cave
• Battlefield before Troy
• Battlefield over Patroclus
• Blood-trench at Ocean’s edge
• Bronze pithos underground
• Budeion
• Chryse’s shrine
• Cleonae
• Cos
• Cretan Ida
• Cyprus
• Dryopian country
• Earth, heaven, sea
• Edge of Ocean
• Egypt
• Eleusis
• Elis
• Eos’s eastern realm
• Ephesus region
• Ethiopia
• Field over Sarpedon’s body
• Fields, vineyard, herd, dancing-floor
• Gates of Hades
• Gates of the Achaean camp
• Gerenia
• Greek camp at Troy
• Gyrae rocks
• Hades
• Hades’ gates
• Hephaestus’s forge on Olympus
• Hesperides itinerary
• House of Zeus
• Hut and shore of Ajax’s contingent
• Hut of Achilles
• Hut of Achilles by the Myrmidon ships
• Ilium
• Inland place of the winnowing-fan
• Ithaca
• Land of the Hyperboreans
• Lerna
• Leuke
• Lycia
• Lydia
• Lyrnessos
• Memnon’s pyre
• Messenia
• Molossia
• Mount Cithaeron
• Mount Etna
• Mount Helicon
• Mount Pangaeum
• Mount Pelion
• Mycenae
• Myrmidon ships
• Mysia
• Nestor’s chariot and hut
• Nestor’s hut
• Ocean stream
• Ocean’s edge
• Ocean’s streams
• Oechalia
• Oenone
• Olympus
• Palace of the Atreidae
• Pallanteum
• Path of the sun
• Patroclus’s tomb
• Pelopion
• Phoenicia
• Plain before Troy
• Plain by the Scamander
• Plain of Troy
• Pleuron
• Protesilaus’s ship
• Pyres on the plain
• Refuge of Tyndareus in exile
• Rhegium
• Road of the Hesperides labor
• Salamis
• Sardinia
• Scaean Gates
• Scheria
• Sea off Attica
• Sea off Egypt
• Sea off Euboea
• Seashore
• Seven Messenian cities
• Ships
• Shore
• Shore by the ships
• Spercheius
• Spring Pegae
• Stadium of the games
• Strait of Messina
• Temple of Athena in Troy
• Temple of Poseidon
• Tenedos
• The deep
• Theban battlefield
• Thebe under Placus
• Thebes
• Thessaly
• Thetis’s grip-point
• Thrinacia
• Tiber
• Tomb of Abderus
• Tomb of Achilles in the Troad
• Tomb of Ilus
• Troad battlefield
• Trojan camp on the plain
• Trojan shore
• Troy
• Two cities
• Underworld
• Vintage scene
• Wall of Troy
• Walls of Troy
• White Rock

Themes

• Abduction
• Binding
• Birth
• Contest
• Divine Council
• Exile
• Hospitality
• Hubris
• Marriage
• Metamorphosis
• Petrification
• Prophecy
• Revenge
• Sacrifice
• Succession
• Theft
• Underworld
• War