Thoas (king of Aetolia)
In
In the Iliad Thoas is the leader of the forty-ship Aetoilian contingent at Troy. He is mentioned several times in the Iliad, where he is described as excelling both in fighting and in speaking. Other sources list Thoas as one of the suitors of Helen, and as one of the warriors hidden inside the Wooden Horse. He was one of the few Greeks to return home safely after the war.
Family
Thoas's father was Andraemon, whose birth and origin are unknown.[2] Andraemon married Gorge, the daughter of Oeneus, who was the king of Calydon, an ancient Aetolian city-state, and the father of the heroes Tydeus (one of the Seven against Thebes) and Meleager (the host of the Calydonian boar hunt, and one of the Argonauts), and grandfather of the Trojan War hero Diomedes. An aged Oeneus lost his kingdom to the sons of his brother Agrius. But his grandson Diomedes was able to reclaim the kingdom, and install Oeneus's son-in-law Andraemon as the king of Calydon.[3]
Thoas had a son Haemon, and an unnamed daughter.[4] Haemon was the father of Oxylus, who guided the Heracleidae in their invasion of the Peloponnese, and as reward for this, Oxylus was given the throne of Elis.[5] Thoas' daughter married Odysseus, by whom she had a son Leontophonus (Lion Slayer).[6]
The Trojan War
By the time of the Trojan War, Thoas had apparently succeeded his father Andraemon to the Calydonian throne. The Iliad describes him as ruling Calydon and the nearby city of
In the Iliad
In the Iliad, though only a minor leader,[11] with neither individual character, nor particular achievements, Thoas is nevertheless well respected, with several occasional mentions.[12] He is described as
- far the best of the Aetolians, well-skilled in throwing the javelin, but a good man too in close fight, and in the place of assembly could but few of the Achaeans surpass him, when the young men were striving in debate.
In Book 4, Thoas kills a
- Thoas, seeing that aforetime thou wast ever staunch in fight, and dost also urge on another, wheresoever thou seest one shrinking from fight, therefore now cease thou not, but call to every man.[16]
His only speech occurs in Book 15 where the Greeks, having seen Hector miraculously reappear on the battlefield, are "seized with fear".[17] But Thoas, addressing the Greeks, says:
- "Now look you, verily a great marvel is this that mine eyes behold, how that now he is risen again and hath avoided the fates, even Hector. In sooth the heart of each man of us hoped that he had died beneath the hands of Aias, son of Telamon. But lo, some one of the gods hath again delivered and saved Hector, who verily hath loosed the knees of many Danaans, as, I deem, will befall even now, since not without the will of loud-thundering Zeus doth he stand forth thus eagerly as a champion. Nay come, even as I shall bid, let us all obey. The multitude let us bid return to the ships, but ourselves, all we that declare us to be the best in the host, let us take our stand, if so be we first may face him, and thrust him back with our outstretched spears; methinks, for all his eagerness he will fear at heart to enter into the throng of the Danaans."[18]
And finally, in Book 19, Thoas is one of the small delegations of Greeks who Odysseus took with him to the tent of Agamemnon, to bring back the many gifts Agamemnon had pledged to give Achilles, in reparation for his taking Briseis.[19]
Other sources
Two events concerning Thoas's involvement in the Trojan War, occurred after the events covered in the Iliad, and are given in other later sources. In the
Thoas is also mentioned in the Odyssey, in a war story told by Odysseus.[22]
After the war
Thoas was one of the few Greek leaders to
Local tradition associated Thoas with the Greek city of
Notes
- ^ "Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, θοάς". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-09.
- ^ Hard, p. 419.
- ^ Hard, p. 419; Apollodorus, 1.8.1, 1.8.6.
- ^ Hard, p. 420; Tripp, s.v. Thoas 3; Parada, s.v. Thoas 2.
- ^ Pausanias, 5.3.6.
- ^ Gantz, p. 713; Grimal, s.v. Thoas 4; Apollodorus, E.7.40.
- ^ Hard, p. 419; Parada, s.v. Thoas 2; Smith, s.v. Thoas 1; Homer, Iliad 13.214–216.
- Fabulae81.
- ^ Hard, p. 440; Gantz, pp. 565–566; Catalogue of Women fr. 155.76–85 Most [= Hes. fr. 204.76–85 MW]; Apollodorus, 3.10.9.
- Fabulae97.12.
- ^ Gantz, p. 609.
- ^ Hard, p. 419.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 4.527–535.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 7.161–169.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 13.89–98.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 13.213–235.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 15.280.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 15.286–299.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 19.238–241.
- ^ Hard, p. 419; Little Iliad fr. 8 West (with West's n. 38); Lycophron, Alexandra 790 (with Mair's n. g); Compare with Homer, Odyssey 4.242–249.
- Fabulae 108; Quintus Smyrnaeus, 12.314–318.
- ^ Homer, Odyssey 14.494–501.
- ^ Tripp, s.v. Thoas 3.
- ^ Hard, p. 419; Grimal, s.v. Thoas 4; Strabo, 6.1.5 .
- ^ Hard, p. 419; Pausanias, 10.38.5.
- Greek Questions 14, which tells a similar story, but does not mention Thoas, and has Odysseus retire to Italy.
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.
- 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.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, The Odyssey with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PH.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1919. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6.
- A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Lycophron, Alexandra (or Cassandra) in Callimachus and Lycophron with an English translation by A. W. Mair; Aratus, with an English translation by G. R. Mair, London: W. Heinemann, New York: G. P. Putnam 1921. Internet Archive.
- .
- 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.
- .
- Quintus Smyrnaeus, Quintus Smyrnaeus: The Fall of Troy, Translator: A.S. Way; Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1913. Internet Archive.
- Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Strabo, Geography, translated by Horace Leonard Jones; Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. (1924). LacusCurtis, Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Books 6–14
- Tripp, Edward, Crowell's Handbook of Classical Mythology, Thomas Y. Crowell Co; First edition (June 1970). ISBN 069022608X.
- Virgil, Aeneid, Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- .