Lycurgus (of Nemea)
In
When the army of the
Family
According to
According to
Pausanias describes an image on the
Mythology
Euripides
The earliest mention of Lycurgus occurs in Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle.[11] Hypsipyle, the former queen of Lemnos and lover of Jason, has in Euripides' play, come to be a slave of Lycurgus, and nursemaid of Lycurgus and his wife Eurydice's infant son Opheltes.[12] The surviving fragments of the play contain only a few brief references to Lycurgus. In an early scene, Amphiaraus, one of the Seven against Thebes, having just arrived at Lycurgus' house in Nemean Zeus' sacred grove, asks Hypsipyle, whose house it is, and she answers:[13]
- These are known as the wealthy halls of Lycurgus, who was chosen from all of Asopia to be the temple-keeper of our local Zeus.
That is, Lycurgus is a priest of Nemean Zeus,[14] from Asopia, a region of the Asopus river valley containing Phlius and located to the west of Nemea.[15] Although he is a king in later accounts, there is no indication of that in the surviving fragments of Euripides' play.[16] In a later scene we learn that Lycurgus is away,[17] and a fragmentary hypothesis of the play refers to guests of his household being "lodged with Lycurgus' wife",[18] further suggesting Lycurgus' absence.[19]
Hyginus
Statius
The Latin poet Statius' epic poem, the Thebaid—which tells the story of the Seven against Thebes— also gives an account of Lycurgus' infant son Opheltes' death.[25] While only passing references to Lycurgus are found in earlier sources, he has a substantial role in Statius' version of the story. Here Lycurgus is the priest of Zeus (as in Euripides), and the king of Nemea (as in Hyginus).[26]
While Euripides has Lycurgus coming from "Asopia", a region west of Nemea, for Statius Lycurgus is from
- ... taking no part in the Argive war; not that he lacked courage, but temple and altars held him back. Nor yet had the gods’ oracle and warnings of old dropped from his mind, the word received from the depth of the shrine: 'Lycurgus, you shall give first death to the Dircaean [i.e. Theban] war.' Of that he is aware; the dust of Mars close by saddens him, he winces at the trumpets, and wishes the doomed army ill.[31]
Here the "first death" will turn out to be Lycurgus' son Opheltes.
Passing through Nemea, on their way to Thebes, the Seven, in urgent need of water, encounter Hypsipyle with her nursling, the infant Opheltes.[32] In her haste to provide water for the Seven, Hypsipyle leaves Opheltes lying on the ground, while she takes the Seven to a nearby spring.[33] Meanwhile, left unattended, Opheltes is killed by the serpent who guards Zeus' sacred grove.[34]
Unlike in Euripides' play, where it is Eurydice who must be restrained, here, as in Hyginus, it is Lycurgus.[35] When he hears of his son's death, Lycurgus flies into a rage, intending to kill Hypsipyle with his sword, but the Seven intervene to defend Hysipyle.[36] A pitched battle between the Argives, and Lycurgus and his followers nearly breaks out, but finally Adrastus is able to calm both sides,[37] and the seer Amphiaraus, another one of the Seven, is able to appease Lycurgus, by telling him that Ophelts's death was preordained by the gods, and that his son is now a god, and will be "accorded lasting honors".[38]
Apollodorus
According to the mythographer
Tomb
The 2nd-century geographer, Pausanias, while describing the site of the Nemean Games, mentions seeing there the "tomb of Lycurgus, the father of Opheltes".[41]
Notes
- ^ Grimal, s.v. Lycurgus 3; Tripp, s.v. Lycurgus 3; Hard, pp. 318, 425, 426; Parada, s.v. Lycurgus 3; Smith, s.v. Lycurgus 4.
- P. Oxy. 2455 frs. 14–15, 3652 cols. i and ii.1-15] (Lycurgus as father), fr. 752h.26–28 (Lycurgus as priest of Zeus), fr. 757(Eurydice as mother).
- Fabulae273.6.
- Fabulae15, 74, 273.6.
- ^ Bravo, p. 118; Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 189, note 15: "King Lycurgus: we hesitantly have restored Lycurgus for Lycus in the belief that it is an error of transmission and not a mistake on the part of Hyginus" (so also in Hyginus, Fabulae 74, and 273.6).
- ^ Bravo, p. 119; Statius, Thebaid 4.746–752 (father), 5.632–634 (mother), 5.715–716, 733 (king), 5.638–641, 5.643–644 (priest).
- ^ Hard, pp. 425, 426; Parada, s.v. Lycurgus 3; Apollodorus, 1.9.14.
- ^ Gantz, p. 511; Pausanias, 3.18.12.
- ^ Gantz, pp. 511–512; Grimal, s.v. Lycurgus 3.
- distinguishes from the Lycurgus who was the father of Opheltes.
- ^ Bravo, p. 107. For the extant fragments of Euripides' play, with introduction and notes, see Collard and Cropp, pp. 250–321.
- P. Oxy. 2455 frs. 14–15, 3652 cols. i and ii.1-15] (Lycurgus as father), fr. 757 (Eurydice as mother), fr. 757.41–44(Hypsipyle as nurse).
- ^ Euripides, Hypsipyle fr. 752h.20–28.
- ^ Collard and Cropp, p. 275 n. 4; Bravo, p. 107.
- ^ Bravo, p. 107.
- ^ Bravo, p. 107.
- ^ Euripides, Hypsipyle fr. 752e.
- P. Oxy.2455 frs. 14–15, 3652 cols. i and ii.1-15].
- ^ Bravo, p. 107 with note 40.
- Fabulae15, 74, 273.
- ^ Bravo, p. 118; Smith and Trzaskoma, p. 189, note 15.
- Fabulae15, 74.
- Fabulae74.
- Fabulae74.
- ^ Bravo, p. 118.
- ^ Bravo, p. 119. For Lycurgus as the priest of Zeus, see Thebaid 5.638–641 ("Lycurgus ... at sacrifice ... offered portions to the unfriendly Thunderer"), and 5.643–644 ("temple and altars held him back"); for Lycurgus as king of Nemea, see 5.667 ("king"), 715–716 ("Lycurgus ... the king"), 719 ("king"), 733 ("ruler of Nemea").
- ^ Bravo, p. 119.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 4.749.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.670.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.676–678.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.643–649.
- ^ Bravo, p. 119; Statius, Thebaid 4.730–745 (needing water), 4.746–749 (meeting Hypsipyle carrying Opheltes, "at her breast"), 4.778–779 (Hypsipyle describing herself as the "foster mother of a child entrusted to my care").
- ^ Bravo, p. 120; Statius, Thebaid 4.785–789.
- ^ Bravo, pp. 120–121; Statius, Thebaid 5.505–540.
- ^ Bravo, p. 121.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.653–679.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.691–703.
- ^ Statius, Thebaid 5.731–753.
- ^ Apollodorus, 1.9.14.
- ^ Apollodorus, 3.6.4.
- ^ Hard, p. 426; Pausanias, 2.15.3.
References
- Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Bravo, Jorge J., III, Excavations at Nemea IV: The Shrine of Opheltes, Univ of California Press, 2018. ISBN 9780520967878.
- Collard, Christopher and Martin Cropp (2008b), Euripides Fragments: Oedipus-Chrysippus: Other Fragments, .
- ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3(Vol. 2).
- Grimal, Pierre, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Wiley-Blackwell, 1996. ISBN 978-0-631-20102-1.
- Hard, Robin, The Routledge Handbook of Greek Mythology: Based on H.J. Rose's "Handbook of Greek Mythology", Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 9780415186360. Google Books.
- ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
- Parada, Carlos, Genealogical Guide to Greek Mythology, Jonsered, Paul Åströms Förlag, 1993. ISBN 978-91-7081-062-6.
- Pausanias, Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- .
- Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.