Diomedes Wounds Aphrodite (*Iliad* 5)

Diomedes Wounds Aphrodite (Iliad 5)

Catalogue ID: 04-trojan-cycle/246-diomedes-wounds-aphrodite-iliad-5

Cycle: Trojan — Homeric *Iliad* / Diomedes’ aristeia

Version line: Homeric — Athena’s leave; spear to Aphrodite’s wrist; Aeneas rescued

Sources: Homer, *Iliad* 5.311–430

Source file: /workspace/greek-myth-catalogue/04-trojan-cycle/246-diomedes-wounds-aphrodite-iliad-5.md

Characters

Aeneas — fallen; saved first by Aphrodite, then Apollo
Aphrodite — mother who comforts Aphrodite on Olympus
Ares — helps Aphrodite from the field
Artemis — rescues Aeneas; wrist pierced; flees to Olympus
Diomedes — wounds Aphrodite with Athena’s leave
Epeius — authorized the wounding
Lyssa — lends Aphrodite his chariot
People of Crisa — takes up Aeneas when Aphrodite drops him
Philotes — mildly rebukes Aphrodite’s presence in battle

Places

Assembly — battlefield of the wounding
House of Zeus — Dione’s comfort; Zeus’s counsel

Themes

Narrative

In Diomedes’ aristeia, Aeneas falls under a stone cast by the Argive; Aphrodite throws her arms about her son to spirit him away. Athena has told Diomedes he may wound Aphrodite if she appears on the field (but not other gods except if they attack). Diomedes pursues and drives his spear through the flesh of her wrist; ichor—the bloodless fluid of the gods who eat no bread—runs out. Aphrodite shrieks and drops Aeneas; Apollo takes him up. Iris leads Aphrodite to Ares for horses; on Olympus Dione comforts her, and Zeus smilingly advises her to leave war to Athena and Ares. Catalogue this as the Aphrodite-wounding atom inside (but separable from) the full Diomedes aristeia.