Telephus
In Greek mythology, Telephus was the son of Heracles and Auge, who was the daughter of king Aleus of Tegea. He was adopted by Teuthras, the king of Mysia, in Asia Minor, whom he succeeded as king. Telephus was wounded by Achilles when the Achaeans came to his kingdom on their way to sack Troy and bring Helen back to Sparta, and later healed by Achilles. He was the father of Eurypylus, who fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War. Telephus' story was popular in ancient Greek and Roman iconography and tragedy. Telephus' name and mythology were possibly derived from the Hittite god Telepinu.
Birth to adulthood
Summary
Telephus' mother was Auge, the daughter of Aleus, the king of Tegea, a city in Arcadia, in the Peloponnese of mainland Greece. His father was Heracles, who had seduced or raped Auge, a priestess of Athena. When Aleus found out, he tried to dispose of mother and child, but eventually both ended up in Asia Minor at the court of Teuthras, king of Mysia, where Telephus is adopted as the childless king's heir.There were three versions of how Telephus, the son of an Arcadian princess, came to be the heir of a Mysian king. In the oldest extant account, Auge goes to Mysia, is raised as a daughter by Teuthras, and Telephus is born there. In some accounts Telephus arrives in Mysia as an infant with his mother, where Teuthras marries Auge, and adopts Telephus. In others, while Auge is delivered to the Mysian court where she again becomes wife to the king, Telephus is instead left behind in Arcadia, having been abandoned on Mount Parthenion, either by Aleus, or by Auge when she gave birth while being taken to the sea by Nauplius to be drowned. However Telephus is suckled by a deer found and raised by King Corythus, or his herdsmen. Seeking knowledge of his mother, Telephus consulted the Delphic oracle which directed him to Mysia, where he was reunited with Auge and adopted by Teuthras.
The silence of Telephus
Presumably Sophocles' Aleadae told how Telephus, while still in Arcadia, prior to going to Mysia in search of his mother, killed Aleus' sons, thereby fulfilling the oracle. Ancient sources confirm the killing, however virtually nothing is known of how this may have come about.The murder of his uncles would have caused Telephus to become religiously polluted, and in need of purification,
and apparently, Greek religious practice required criminal homicides to remain silent until their blood-guilt could be expiated. Aristotle in the Poetics, in a reference to Telephus' appearance in a tragedy called Mysians, mentions "the man who came from Tegea to Mysia without speaking". And indeed, the silence of Telephus was apparently "proverbial". The comic poet Alexis writes about a voratious dinner guest who like "Telephus in speechless silence sits, / Making but signs to those who ask him questions", presumably too intent on eating to converse. And another comic poet Amphis, complains about fishmongers who "mute they stand like Telephus", going on to say that the comparison of the fishmongers to Telephus is apt since "they all are homicides".
King in Mysia
Summary
Attacked by the Greeks
Telephus was made the heir of Teuthras' kingdom of Teuthrania in Mysia, and eventually succeeded Teuthras as its king. During Telephus' reign, in a prelude to the Trojan War, the Greeks attacked Telephus' city mistaking it for Troy. Telephus routed the Greeks, killing Thersander, son of Polynices, and forcing the Greeks back to their ships.But Telephus was tripped by a vine and wounded in the thigh by Achilles' spear. According to Apollodorus, and a scholiast on Homer's Iliad, Telephus was tripped while fleeing from Achilles' attack. The scholiast says that Dionysus caused the vine to trip Telephus because Telephus had failed to properly honor him. Dionysus' involvement is attested by a late sixth-century or early fifth-century BC red-figure calyx krater. Philostratus and Dictys Cretensis give detailed elaborations of all these events.
Wound and healing
The Mysians were victorious, and the Greeks returned home, but Telephus' wound would not heal. Telephus consulted the oracle of Apollo which gave the famous reply ὁ τρώσας ἰάσεται. So Telephus went to Argos to seek a cure, and there was healed by Achilles. In return Telephus agreed to guide the Greeks to Troy. Apollodorus and Hyginus tell us that rust scraped from Achilles' spear was the healing agent. The healing of Telephus was a frequent theme in Augustan age and later Roman poetry.Wives and offspring
The earliest mention of Telephus, which occurs in Homer's Odyssey, says that Telephus had a son Eurypylus, who died at Troy. Nothing is said there about who Eurypylus' mother was, but all ancient sources that do mention Eurypylus' mother say that she was Astyoche, who was Priam's sister. Eurypylus led a large force of Mysian to fight on the side of Troy during the final stages of the Trojan War. Eurypylus was a great warrior, and killed many opponents, including Machaon and Nireus, but was finally killed by Achilles' son Neoptolemus. The irony of Achilles' son killing Telephus' son using the same spear that Achilles had used to both wound and heal Telephus, apparently figured in Sophocles' lost play Eurypylus. According to Servius, Eurypylus had a son, Grynus, who became king in Mysia and was known as the eponym of Gryneion and the founder of Pergamon.Three other wives are given for Telephus, with no mention of offspring. According to Hyginus Telephus' wife was Priam's daughter Laodice. According to Diodorus Siculus, Telephus married Agriope a daughter of Teuthras. While Philostratus says that Hiera, the leader of a contingent of Mysian women cavalry, killed in battle by Nireus, was the wife of Telephus. The Amazon-like Hiera had already been portrayed, on horseback, leading the Mysian women into battle, on the second-century BC Telephus frieze of the Pergamon Altar.
Three other offspring of Telephus are given which link Telephus with Italian myths. In Lycophron's Alexandra, the legendary founders of the Etruscan Dodecapolis, Tarchon and Tyrensus are the sons of Telephus. That Tyrrhenus was said to be the son of Telephus is also reported by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Neither Lycophron nor Dionysius mention the name of their mother, although apparently according to some, their mother was Hiera. Plutarch says that, according to one account, Telephus was the father a daughter Roma, from whom the city of Rome took its name.
Iconography
Over a hundred entries for Telephus are cataloged in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Most representations associated with Telephus are late, with only a few earlier than the fourth century BC. Early examples include Attic red-figure pottery from as early as c. 510 BC, and East-Ionian engraved gems. Scenes showing Telephus suckled by a deer or holding Orestes hostage were particularly popular. Other scenes include either his wounding or his healing by Achilles. The most complete single account of the life of Telephus is depicted in the first-century BC Telephus frieze.Telephus frieze
The Telephus frieze formed part of the decoration of the Pergamon Altar. The frieze adorned the inside walls of the colonnade that surrounded the raised interior court containing the sacrificial altar. It was nearly 60 meters in length, and was composed of around 74 marble panels each 1.58 meters high, of which 47 panels are completely or partially preserved.The panels depict scenes from the life of Telephus, from events preceding his birth, to perhaps his death and heroizing. Panels have been interpreted as showing Heracles' first glimpse of Auge in an oak grove ; carpenters building the vessel in which Auge will be cast into the sea ; Teuthras finding Auge on the shore in Mysia ; Heracles discovering the abandoned Telephus being suckled by a lioness ; Telephus receiving arms from Auge, and leaving for the war against Idas ; Teuthras giving Auge to Telephus in marriage ; and Auge and Telephus, being startled by a serpent, and recognizing each other on their wedding night. The next several panels have been interpreted as depicting the battle between the Mysians and the Greeks on the Caicus plain, including Hiera, Telephus' Amazon-like wife, leading a group of Mysian women cavalry into battle and Achilles, aided by Dionysus, wounding Telephus. Scenes follow which have been interpreted as showing Telephus consulting the oracle of Apollo regarding the healing of his wound ; Telephus arriving at Argos, seeking a cure for his wound ; his welcome there ; a banquet at Argos during which Telephus' identity is revealed ; Telephus threatening the infant Orestes at an altar ; and presumably his healing by Achilles. Two final panels perhaps depict Telephus' death and heroizing.
Suckled by a deer
The abandoned Telephus being suckled by a deer was a frequent iconographic motif. Except for the Telephus frieze, which depicts the abandoned Telephus being suckled by a lioness, every other depiction of this event shows Telephus suckled by a deer. The earliest such representations occur on East-Ionian engraved gems, depicting the infant Telephus keeling or crawling under a standing deer, grasping the deer's teats. Nearly identical scenes appears on Tegeatic coins from about 370 BC. Pausanias reports seeing an image of Telephus suckled by a deer on Mount Helicon in Boeotia. Representations showing Heracles finding Telephus with a deer are also frequent from the first century AD. The scene continued to be popular through the third century AD.Wounded by Achilles
A late sixth-century or early fifth-century Attic fragmentary red-figure calyx krater, attributed to Phintias apparently depicted the battle between Telephus and Achilles. Fragments show Patroclus, and a bent over Diomedes, part of a thyrsos, and the inscription "Dionysos". It is presumed that Diomedes is attending to the fallen Thersander, and that the central part of the vase depicted Achilles wounding Telephus, with the aid of the god Dionysus.According to Pausanias, the battle between the Telephus and Achilles at the Caicus river was also depicted on the West pediment of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. Only fragments remain of the West pediment, which indicate that Telephus perhaps wore the lion-skin of his father Heracles. Inscriptions show that Telephus and Auge were represented on the metopes of the temple, and Pausanias also mentions seeing a portrait painting of Auge there.
At Agamemnon's altar
Telephus' taking refuge at Agamemnon's altar, usually with Orestes as hostage, was also a frequent motif. Attic vase painting depicts the scene, often with either Agamemnon, or Clytemnestra, also present. Perhaps the earliest example, an Attic kylix cup from Eastern Etruria shows Telephus, with bandaged thigh, sitting alone on an altar holding two spears. An Attic pelike, from Vulci shows Telephus, with bandaged thigh, sitting on an altar, holding a spear in his right hand, and the infant Orestes with his left arm. From the left, Agamemnon confronts Telephus, with spear. Later Italic treatments of the scene usually include both Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, often with Clytemnestra or sometimes Odysseus restraining Agamemnon from attacking Telephus.Healed by Achilles
The healing of Telephus was, according to tradition, depicted by the fifth-century BC Athenian painter Parrhasius. An engraved Etruscan bronze mirror, from the second half of the fourth century BC and a marble bas-relief, c. first century BC, from Herculaneum show Achilles healing Telephus with rust from his spear.Tragic tradition
Telephus was a popular tragic hero, whose family history figured in several Greek tragedies. Aristotle writes that "the best tragedies are written about a few families—Alcmaeon for instance and Oedipus and Orestes and Meleager and Thyestes and Telephus." All of these plays about Telephus are now lost. We know of them only through preserved fragments, and the reports of other ancient writers. Each of the three great tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides wrote multiple plays which featured the story.Aeschylus wrote a play called Mysians which perhaps told the story of Telephus coming to Mysia and seeking purification for having killed his maternal uncles. Aeschylus wrote another play Telephus thought to be a sequel to Mysians, in which Telephus comes to Argos seeking the healing of his wound, and perhaps also included Telephus' seizure of Orestes as hostage.
Sophocles probably wrote at least four plays: Aleadae, Mysians, Telephus, and Eurypylus, involving Telephus and his family. A fifth play The Gathering of the Achaeans possibly also involved Telephus. A fourth-century BC inscription mentions a Telepheia by Sophocles, which may refer to a trilogy or tetralogy on Telephus, perhaps including one or more of these plays. The Sons of Aleus presumablly told the story of Telephus' killing his uncles, and thus fulfilling the oracle. Fragments suggest a quarrel over Telephus' illegitimate birth, which perhaps resulted in the killings. Mysians and Telephus are presumed to continue the story of Telephus, after his arrival as an adult in Mysia. Sophocles' Eurypylus apparently told the story of Tellephus' son Eurypylus, killed at Troy by Achilles son Neoptolemus. The irony of Achilles' son, killing Telephus' son, using the same spear that Achilles had used to heal Telephus, apparently also figured in the tragedy.
Euripides wrote a play Auge which told the circumstances of Telephus' birth. His mother Auge having been raped by a drunken Heracles, the infant Telephus is found in Athena's temple, ordered put to death, but saved by Heracles. Euripides, like Aeschylus and Sophocles, also wrote a play entitled Telephus. Euripides' Telephus famously told the story of Telephus going to Argos disguised as a beggar where, after taking Orestes as hostage, he agreed to guide the Greeks to Troy in return for the healing of his wound.
A measure of the fame of Euripides' Telephus can be inferred from two comedies of Aristophanes, which extensively parodied the play. In the Acharnians, the comic hero of the play, Dicaeopolis, modelled on the Euripidean Telephus, takes as hostage a charcoal basket, and borrows Telephus' beggar costume from Euripides, to wear as a disguise. In Women at the Thesmophoria, a kinsman of Euripides, disguises himself. When he is exposed, he grabs an infant as hostage, and takes refuge at a sacrificial altar.
Several later tragic poets apparently also wrote plays on the subject. The late fifth-century poet Agathon, wrote plays with titles Mysians and Telephus. Another late fifth-century poet Iophon, and the fourth-century poets Cleophon and Moschion, each wrote plays called Telephus. The fourth-century poet Aphareus wrote an Auge, and the Hellenistic Nicomachus of Alexandria in Troas wrote a Mysians.
The Roman poets Ennius, and Accius also wrote plays called Telephus.
Pergamon
Telephus was considered to be the mythical founder of Pergamon, as well as the ancestor of the Attalids, Pergamon's ruling dynasty. As early as a Milesian inscription, the people of Pergamon were called Telephidai, descendants of Telephus. According to Pausanias, the Pergamon people claimed to be descendants of the Arcadians who had come with Telephus to Mysia. Inscriptions record the association between Pergamon and Tegea, and the most important cult of Pergamon, the cult of Athena, was said to have been brought from Tegea, and established at Pergamon by Auge.Their claimed descent from the hero Telephos, as prominently proclaimed by the Telephus frieze, was used by the Attalids to legitimize their claim to sovereignty, and to establish Pergamon's Greek heritage. Telephus was the object of ritual hero worship at Pergamon. According to Pausanias, the Pergamenes sung hymns and made offerings to Telephus.