I Poetic Inspiration

A) Philostratus, On Heroes 6.1: Ask whatever you wish, my guest, and you will not say that you came in vain. For when Odysseus, far from his ship, was perplexed, Hermes, or one of his clever followers, had an earnest conversation with him (the subject was probably the moly). And Protesilaos by means of me will fill you with information, and you will appear more content and wise. For knowing many things is worth much.

B) Philostratus, On Heroes 7.1-6

Phoenician: You at least know what I long to learn. I need to understand this association which you have with Protesilaos, what he is like, and if he knows a story about Trojan times similar to that of the poets, or one unknown to them. What I mean by "Trojan times" is this sort of thing: the assembling of the army at Aulis and the heroes, one by one, whether they were handsome, brave, and clever, as they are celebrated. After all, how could he narrate the war round about Troy when he did not fight to the end, since they say that he was the first of the entire Hellenic army to die, the instant he disembarked there?

Vinedresser: This is a foolish thing for you to say, my guest. To be cleansed of the body is the beginning of life for divine and thus blessed souls. For the gods, whose attendants they are, they know then, not by worshipping statues and conjectures, but by gaining visible association with them. And free from the body and its diseases, souls observe the affairs of mortals, both when souls are filled with prophetic skill and when the oracular power sends Bacchic frenzy upon them.

At any rate, among those who critically examine Homer's poems, who will you say reads and has insight into them as Protesilaos does? Indeed, my guest, before Priam and Troy there was no epic recitation, nor had anyone sung of events that had not yet taken place. There was poetry about prophetic matters and about Herakles, son of Alkmênê, recently arranged but not yet developed fully, but Homer had not yet sung. Some say that it was when Troy was captured, others say it was a few or even eight generations later that he applied himself to poetic composition. Nevertheless, Protesilaos knows everything of Homer and sings of many Trojan events that took place after his own lifetime, and also of many Hellenic and Median events.

C) Philostratus, On Heroes 43.12-16: For they say that Homer once sailed to Ithaca because he heard that the ghost of Odysseus still breathed, and they say that Homer summoned him from the dead. When Odysseus came up, Homer began asking him about the events in Ilion, but Odysseus kept saying that although he knew and remembered them all, he would say nothing of the things he knew unless there would be a reward for him from Homer, songs of praise in his poetry and a song for his wisdom and bravery. After Homer agreed to these things and said that in his poetry he would do whatever he could to favor him, Odysseus narrated everything truthfully and just as it happened. For you see, the ghosts of the dead least of all speak falsely in the presence of blood and offering pits. Moreover, just when Homer was leaving, Odysseus cried out and said, "Palamedes is demanding justice from me for his own murder! I know I did wrong, and I am completely persuaded of it. Those who issue judgments here are terrible, Homer, and the punishments of the Poinai are near at hand! If to mortals above the ground I do not seem to have done these things to Palamedes, the forces here will destroy me less. Do not lead Palamedes to Ilion, neither treat him as a soldier nor say that he was wise! Other poets will say these things, but because they have not been said by you, they will not seem plausible." This, my guest, was the conversation between Odysseus and Homer, and in this way Homer learned the truth, but he modified many things for the expediency of the account that he composed.

 

II The Bones of a Hero

D) Philostratus, On Heroes 7.9-8.10

Phoenician: I think that I have confessed my own experience to you from the beginning of our conversation: I am inclined to disbelieve legends. This is the reason: Until now I have not met anyone who has seen such fabulous things, but rather one person claims to have heard it from another, that other believes it, and a third one a poet convinces. What is said about the great size of the heroes - how they were ten cubits tall - I consider pleasing in storytelling, but false and unconvincing for one who observes things according to nature, for which contemporary humans provide the measure....

Vinedresser: Listen now, my friend. I had a grandfather who knew many of the things you do not believe. He used to say that the tomb of Ajax was destroyed by the sea near which it lies, and that bones appeared in it of a person eleven cubits tall. He also said that upon his arrival at Troy the emperor Hadrian embraced and kissed some of the bones, wrapped them up, and restored the present tomb of Ajax. ...Indeed, if I were versed in legendary lore, I would describe the seven-cubit-long corpse of Orestes, which the Lacedaemonians found in Tegea... Furthermore, Hymnaios of Peparêthos, who is on friendly terms with me, sent one of his sons here some four years ago to consult Protesilaos through me about a similar marvel. While Hymnaios happened to dig up vines on the island of Ikos (he alone owned the island), the earth sounded somewhat hollow to those who were digging. When they opened it up, they found a twelve-cubit corpse lying there with a serpent inhabiting its skull. The young man then came to ask us what should be done in his honor, and Protesilaos said, "Let us cover the stranger completely," without doubt urging those who were willing to rebury the corpse and not to leave it exposed.

E) Herodotus 1.67-68: In the previous war the Lacedaemonians continually contended poorly in battle against the Tegeans, but in the time of Croesus and the kingship of Anaxandrides and Ariston in Lacedaemon the Spartans had gained the upper hand. This is how: When they kept being defeated by the Tegeans, they sent ambassadors to Delphi to ask which god they should propitiate to prevail against the Tegeans in war. The Pythia responded that they should bring back the bones of Orestes son of Agamemnon. When they were unable to discover Orestes' tomb, they sent once more to the god to ask where he was buried. The Pythia responded in hexameter to the messengers:

There is a place Tegea in the smooth plain of Arcadia, where two winds blow under strong compulsion. Blow lies upon blow, woe upon woe. There the life-giving earth covers over the son of Agamemnon. Bring him back and you will be the patrons of Tegea.

When the Lacedaemonians heard this, they were no closer to discovery, though they looked everywhere... It was Likhes, one of these men, who found the tomb in Tegea by a combination of luck and sophia [wisdom]. At that time there was free access to Tegea, so he went into a workshop and watched iron being forged, standing there in amazement at what he saw done. The smith perceived that he was amazed, so he stopped what he was doing and said, "Laconian xenos, if you had seen what I saw, then you would really be amazed, since you marvel so at ironworking. I wanted to dig a well in the courtyard here, and in my digging I hit upon a coffin seven cubits long. I could not believe that there had ever been men taller than now, so I opened it and saw that the corpse was just as long as the coffin. I measured it and then reburied it." So the smith told what he had seen, and Likhes thought over what was said and reckoned that this was Orestes, according to the oracle. In the smith's two bellows he found the winds, hammer and anvil were blow upon blow, and the forging of iron was woe upon woe, since he figured that iron was discovered as an evil for the human race. After reasoning this out, he went back to Sparta and told the Lacedaemonians everything. They invented some counterfeit charge against him and sent him into exile. Coming to Tegea, he explained his misfortune to the smith and tried to rent thecourtyard, but the smith did not want to lease it. Finally he persuaded him and set up residence there. He dug up the grave and collected the bones, then hurried off to Sparta with them. Ever since then, whenever they made trial of each other, the Lacedaemonians were far superior, and they had already subdued most of the Peloponnese.

 

III The Hero as Athlete

F) Philostratus, On Heroes 13.2-4

Vinedresser: He tosses the discus above the clouds, and he casts it more than one hundred cubits, and that, you see, with it being twice the Olympic weight! When he runs, you would not find a trace, nor does his foot leave any impression on the ground.

Phoenician: But there are huge footprints on the walkways, which suggest that the hero is ten cubits tall.

Vinedresser: Those prints, my guest, are from his walking or doing some other exercise; but when he runs, the earth remains unmarked because he is raised off the ground and like someone floating on the waves. He said that in Aulis, when Hellas was training for war against Troy, he outran Achilles in the competitions and that he jumped farther than Achilles. But in warlike exercises he yields to Achilles, as he said, except in the fight against the Mysians, for there he killed more Mysians than Achilles and carried away the rewards of valor.

G) Philostratus, On Heroes 15.2-3: When the young man arrived at this sanctuary (he sailed directly to Delphi for the trial of strength) he asked Protesilaos how he might overcome his rivals. He said, "By being trampled upon." Faintheartedness immediately seized the athlete, as if he had been struck down by the oracle. After he first discovered the heel maneuver during a contest, he later realized that the oracle ordered him not to let go of his opponent's foot. For the one who wrestles with the heel must be trampled upon repeatedly and lie under his opponent. By so doing, the athlete gained an illustrious name for himself and was defeated by no one.

 

IV Divine Ephipanies

H) Philostratus, On Heroes 11. 7

Phoenician: Where does he spend the rest of the time, vinedresser?

Vinedresser: He says that sometimes he lives in Hades, other times in Phthia, and even sometimes in Troy, where his companions are. And when he hunts wild boar and deer, he arrives here at midday, stretches out, and falls asleep.

I) Philostratus, On Heroes 16.1-2

Phoenician: But what diseases does he heal? For you say that many pray to him.

Vinedresser: He heals all the illnesses there are, especially consumptions, edemas, diseases of the eyes, and quartan fever. Lovers can also gain his counsel, for he sympathizes deeply with those unlucky in erotic matters, and he suggests charms and tricks with which they enchant their boy lovers. But he neither converses with adulterers nor offers them any erotic advice. He says that he dislikes them because they give love a bad name. ...

J) Philostratus, On Heroes 16.4-17.6

Vinedresser: The gods know everything; but the heroes know less than the gods but more than humans. A great crowd of such ones streams in - if only I could remember them all - but at least some are from Phthia and Phulakê and known to all who live in Thessaly. Moreover, Protesilaos has an active sanctuary there, and he gives many benevolent and favorable signs to the Thessalians and wrathful ones if he is neglected.

Phoenician: By Protesilaos, I am convinced, vinedresser. It is good, I see, to swear by such a hero.

Vinedresser: You would be wrong to disbelieve, my guest. Since you live near the mainland of Cilicia, perhaps you know more than I do about both Amphiaraos, whom the earth is said to hold in a cleverly devised and secret shrine, and his son Amphilokhos. But you might do injustice to Marôn, the son of Euanthês, who haunts the vines at Ismaros and by planting and pruning them makes them produce sweet wine, especially when farmers see Marôn handsome and splendid, exhaling a breath sweet and smelling of wine. You should also know something about the Thracian Rhêsos. Rhêsos, whom Diomedes killed at Troy, is said to inhabit Rhodopê, where they celebrate many of his wonders in song. They say that he breeds horses, serves as a soldier, and hunts wild beasts. A sign that the hero is hunting is that the wild boars, deer, and all the wild beasts on the mountain come to the altar of Rhêsos by twos or threes to be sacrificed unbound and to offer themselves to the sacrificial knife. This same hero is also said to keep the mountains free of pestilence. Rhodopê is extremely populous, and many villages surround the sanctuary. For this reason I think even Diomedes will cry out in defense of his fellow soldiers. If we believe this Thracian still exists (whom Diomedes killed as one who had done nothing famous at Troy nor displayed anything worth mention other than his white horses) and we make sacrifices to him while traveling through Rhodopê and Thrace, then we would dishonor those who have performed divine and brilliant works, believing the fame surrounding them fabulous tales and idle boasting.

K) Philostratus, On Heroes 18.1-6

Phoenician: Finally I am on your side, vinedresser, and no one hereafter will disbelieve such stories. What about those heroes on the plain at Ilion whom you said marched in warlike fashion? When have they been seen?

Vinedresser: They appear, I said. They still appear great and divine to herdsmen and shepherds on the plain, and they are seen whenever there is evil upon the land. If they appear covered with dust, they portend drought for the land, but if they appear full of sweat, they portend floods and heavy rains. If blood appears on them or their weapons, they send forth diseases upon Ilion. If none of these signs is perceived about their images, they immediately bring prosperous times, and then the herdsmen sacrifice to them a lamb, a bull, a colt, or whatever each one tends. They say that all deaths among the herds come from Ajax. I believe they say this because of the story of his madness, when Ajax is said to have fallen upon the herds and cut them to pieces as if slaying the Achaeans because of their decision. No one grazes a herd near his grave for fear of the grass, since what grows there is diseased and harmful to eat. There is a story that Trojan shepherds once insulted Ajax because their sheep became sick. As they stood around the tomb, they called the hero an enemy of Hektor, of Troy, and of the flocks. One said that Ajax had been driven mad, another that he was in a warlike rage, but the most outrageous of the shepherds said, "Ajax stood firm no longer"; up until this point he recited the verse against him as a coward. But shouting from his grave in a spine-tingling and shrill voice, Ajax said, "But I did stand firm." Then it is said that he even clashed his weapons together, as is usual in battle. There is no need to marvel at the suffering of those poor devils, if, since they were Trojans and shepherds, they were panic-stricken at Ajax's attack, and some fell, others ran, and still others fled from their pastures. But it is worthwhile to admire Ajax, since he killed none of them. Rather, he endured the drunkenness which possessed them, only showing that he was listening to them. I suppose, my guest, that Hektor is not acquainted with this virtue. For last year, when some youth (they say he was quite young and uneducated) offended Hektor, he rushed headlong at him and killed him on the road, blaming the deed on a river.

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