Achaemenides

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In the Aeneid of Virgil, Achaemenides (Greek: Ἀχαιμενίδης Akhaimenides) was a son of Adamastos of Ithaca, and one of Ulysses's crew. He was marooned on Sicily when Ulysses fled the Cyclops Polyphemus, until Aeneas arrived and took him to Italy with his company of refugee Trojans.[1][2][3]

His character seems to have been chosen by Virgil treating the Persian-origin name Achaemenes as Greek and extracting the meaning "he who waits with affliction".

Although not mentioned in the

Laestrygonian giants, and those besides Odysseus on the last ship were drowned after his men devoured Helios
's sacred cattle).

The episode also provides Virgil with an opportunity to show Aeneas' magnanimity in saving a member of Ulysses's crew, and bearing no grudge for Ulysses's major role in the destruction of Troy, Aeneas' home.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Virgil, Aeneid 3.613–614
  2. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.158
  3. ^ Schmitz, Leonhard (1867), "Achaemenides", in Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, vol. 1, Boston, MA, p. 8, archived from the original on 2005-07-10, retrieved 2007-09-30{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References