|
The returns of the ACHAEAN LEADERS after the destruction of Troy consisted mainly of dispersion, shipwreck, long wanderings and sedition at home. Short account of the returns of the ACHAEAN LEADERS (more details at The Aftermath of the Trojan War):
Agamemnon was the overlord of the coalition against Troy. He returned home to Mycenae, but was murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, who then seized the kingdom.
Agapenor from Arcadia settled in Cyprus.
Ajax 2 was the Leader of the Locrians against Troy. During the sack of the city, he raped Cassandra who was clinging to the wooden image of Athena. So during his return Athena threw a thunderbolt against his ship; and when the ship went to pieces he made his way safe to a rock, and declared that he was saved in spite of the intention of Athena. But Poseidon smote the rock with his trident and split it, and Ajax 2 fell into the sea and perished. His body, being washed up, was buried by Thetis in Myconos. But Leonymus affirms that he saw the soul of Ajax 2 in the White Isle.
Antiphus 5, from Cos (one of the Sporades islands, now Dodecanese, off the southwestern coast of Asia Minor), settled in Thessaly.
Amphilochus 2 (son of Alcmaeon 1), said to have arrived late to the Trojan War, was killed in single combat by Mopsus 2 (son of Manto 1, daughter of Tiresias) in Caria.
Calchas died during his wanderings in Asia Minor when he was defeated by Mopsus 2 in the art of divination.
Diomedes 2 was Leader of the Argives against Troy. When after the war Diomedes 2 went back to Argos, Aegialia (his wife) plotted against him. So he took sanctuary at the altar of Hera, and fleeing with his companions by night he passed into Italy and went to the court of King Daunus. Some say he died of old age. Others that he was caused to disappear while his companions were changed into birds. Still others say that King Daunus killed him by a trick.
Guneus 2, a Thessalian, went to Libya and settled near the Cinyps river.
Idomeneus 1, Leader of the Cretans against Troy. Previously, one of the SUITORS OF HELEN, and one of the heroes inside the WOODEN HORSE. He was never able to come back home. During his absence he was deposed by an usurper and emigrated to Italy. His wife married the usurper, and was later murdered by him.
Menelaus, king of Sparta, whose wife Helen had been the cause of the war, is found some years later living a pleasant life together with Helen in Sparta. But before that, he had wandered for seven years in the Mediterranean coasts visiting or pillaging Egypt, Libya, Cyprus and Phoenicia.
Menestheus 1 had been given the sovereignty of Athens by the DIOSCURI and when the war against Troy started he became leader of the Athenians. But he did not return to Athens: after the sack of Troy, Menestheus 1 went to Melos and reigned as king, because the king there, Polyanax, had died.
Neoptolemus and Phoenix 2 wandered through northern Greece together with the Trojan prisoners Helenus 1 and Andromache, whom Neoptolemus married. Neoptolemus set out for the country of the Molossians by land, burying Phoenix 2, who died on the way. Having vanquished the Molossians he reigned over them. He became king of the islands off Epirus and gave his own mother to Helenus 1 as wife.
Odysseus went, after the sack of Troy, through 10 years of involuntary adventures in the Mediterranean (Odysseus had attempted to stay at home during the war). Calypso 3 offered him immortality, but he refused to trade returning home for immortality. However, at home there was sedition, and he felt compelled to take back his rights through a massacre. For having killed the SUITORS OF PENELOPE, Neoptolemus (who had been appointed judge in this matter) condemned him to exile. So they tell; but it is also said that Odysseus died of Old Age in Ithaca.
Phidippus, who had led an army from Cos, settled in Andros (the most northerly of the Cyclades Islands).
Philoctetes was from Meliboea. He became Leader of the Olizonians against Troy. He was bitten by a water-snake (Serpent 12) in Tenedos, and as the wound did not heal the army put him ashore on the island of Lemnos with the bow of Heracles 1 which he had in his possession. There he subsisted in the wilderness by shooting birds. Calchas prophesied to the Achaeans that Troy could not be taken unless they had the bow and arrows of Heracles 1 fighting on their side. So Odysseus and Diomedes 2 (or as some say Odysseus and Neoptolemus) sailed to Lemnos, and by craft got possession of the bow of Philoctetes. They then persuaded him to sail to Troy, where, having being cured by Podalirius, he shot Paris. After the war, he returned to Meliboea. But as sedition threatened the city, he settled in Campanian in Italy where he made war on the Lucanians. Later he settled in Crimissa where he founded a sanctuary of Apollo to whom he dedicated his bow.
Phrontis 3 (son of Onetor 2) was the steerman in Menelaus' ship. He was killed by Apollo in cape Sunium.
Podalirius, Asclepius' son, following the instructions of the oracle at Delphi, settled in Caria (southwestern Asia Minor).
Prothous 4 from Magnesia in eastern Thessaly, settled in Crete.
|
