In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...
, Broteas (
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
: Βροτέας), a hunter, was the son of
Tantalus (by Dione,
Euryanassa In Greek mythology, Euryanassa ( Ancient Greek: Εὐρυάνασσα) is a name that may refer to:
*Euryanassa, daughter of the river-god Pactolus. She was the wife of Tantalus, and one of the possible mothers of Pelops, Broteas and Niobe.
*Euryan ...
or
Eurythemista
In Greek mythology, the name Eurythemista or Eurythemiste (Ancient Greek: Εὐρυθεμίστη) may refer to:
*Eurythemista, a Calydonian princess as the daughter of King Porthaon and Laothoe. She was the sister of Sterope and Stratonice, ...
), whose other offspring were
Niobe
In Greek mythology, Niobe (; grc-gre, Νιόβη ) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione (mythology), Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas.
Her ...
and
Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus.
He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the O ...
.
Broteas was also one of the
Lapiths
The Lapiths (; grc, Λαπίθαι) are a group of legendary people in Greek mythology, whose home was in Thessaly, in the valley of the Peneus and on the mountain Pelion.
Mythology
Origin
The Lapiths were an Aeolian tribe who, like the Myr ...
, killed at the battle of the Lapiths and the centaurs.
Historical accounts
Broteas was consumed on a
pyre
A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...
as a propitiating sacrifice. The mythic rationale, that he was a famous hunter who refused to honour
Artemis
In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified with ...
. Artemis then drove him mad, causing him to
immolate
Immolation may refer to:
*Death by burning
*Self-immolation, the act of burning oneself
*Immolation (band), a death metal band from Yonkers, New York
*''The Immolation'', a 1977 novel by Goh Poh Seng
*''Dance Dance Immolation'', an interactive per ...
himself.
He can be compared to the hunter
Actaeon
Actaeon (; grc, Ἀκταίων ''Aktaion''), in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron.
He fell to ...
, whose sacrifice is also justified as retribution.
Broteas had a son
Tantalus, like his grandfather.
A Hesiodic papyrus fragment from
Oxyrhyncus
Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cair ...
connects
Dardanus, Broteas and
Pandion, in a tradition of which there is no further evidence.
Manisa relief
This ancient rock carving was famous in antiquity. It's located near the town of
Magnesia ad Sipylum, and it was believed to have been carved by Broteas. He was said to have carved the most ancient image of the
Great Mother of the Gods (
Cybele
Cybele ( ; Phrygian language, Phrygian: ''Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya'' "Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother", perhaps "Mountain Mother"; Lydian language, Lydian ''Kuvava''; el, Κυβέλη ''Kybele'', ''Kybebe'', ''Kybelis'') is an Anatolian mother godde ...
), an image that in
Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
' day (2nd century CE) was still held sacred by the
Magnesians.
The sculpture was carved into the rock-face of the crag Coddinus, north of
Spil Mount-Mount Sipylus, whose ''
daemon
Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and Hell ...
'' was one of the mythographers' candidates for Broteas' grandfather.
The rock-cut carving mentioned by Pausanias was identified with the Manisa relief in 1881 by W. M. Ramsay and is still to be seen above the road about 6 or 7 km east of
Manisa
Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province.
Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port ci ...
(the modern descendant of
Magnesia ad Sipylum), though the head has partly cleaved away, from natural causes. The figure 8–10 metres high carved in a recess in the a cliff-face a hundred metres above the marshy plain near the village of Akpinar, has come to be confused with a nearby natural rock formation associated with
Niobe
In Greek mythology, Niobe (; grc-gre, Νιόβη ) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione (mythology), Dione, the most frequently cited, or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa, the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas.
Her ...
, the "Niobe of Sipylus" (the "Weeping Rock", in
Turkish ''Ağlayan Kaya''), also mentioned by Pausanias.
Apart from the badly damaged head, the sitting figure is clear enough to be made out by a non-professional. The goddess with the
polos
The ''polos'' crown (plural ''poloi''; el, πόλος) is a high cylindrical crown worn by mythological goddesses of the Ancient Near East and Anatolia and adopted by the ancient Greeks for imaging the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele and Her ...
headgear holds her breasts with her hands; a vague trace of four Hittite hieroglyphics could be seen on a squared section to the right of her head. The site is
Hittite, second millennium BCE.
Nearby, other archaeological sites traditionally associated with the House of Tantalus since Antiquity are also in fact Hittite. Some 2 km east of Akpınar there are another two monuments on Spil Mount, which are also mentioned by Pausanias: the tomb of
Tantalus (
Christianized
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
as "Saint Charalambos' tomb") and the "throne of Pelops", in fact a rocky altar.
Brotheus and Renaissance invective
In literature of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
and later, Broteas is most often called "Brotheus" and described as a son of
Vulcan who cast himself into the flames, sometimes specified as those of
Mount Aetna, because of his deformity. The immediate source for the Renaissance
trope
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
of Brotheus and his self-immolation was
Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
's curse poem ''
Ibis
The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word ...
'', an erudite rant of gruesome threats cataloguing the fates of numerous mythic and historical figures. Ovid's reference is minimal: "May you consign your body parts, set on fire, to the pyre to be cremated, as they say Broteas did out of a desire for death."
The Italian
humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential and agency of human beings. It considers human beings the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "human ...
and literary agitator
Domizio Calderini, also known in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
as Domitius Calderinus, appended the ''Ibis'' to his annotated edition of
Martial
Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial ; March, between 38 and 41 AD – between 102 and 104 AD) was a Roman poet from Hispania (modern Spain) best known for his twelve books of ''Epigrams'', published in Rome between AD 86 and ...
(1474). Calderini's note says that Brotheus was the son of Vulcan and
Minerva
Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...
; scorned because of his ugliness, he cast himself into a burning pyre. The same year, drawing on his classical sources, Calderini published a ''Defensio adversus Brotheum'' ("Defense against Brotheus"), an attack on his literary rivals
Angelo Sabino Angelo Sabino or in Latin Angelus Sabinus (''fl.'' 1460s–1470s) was an Italian Renaissance humanist, poet laureate, classical philologist, Ovidian impersonator, and putative rogue.
Sabino's real name was probably Angelo Sani di Cure, with the top ...
and
Niccolò Perotti
Niccolò Perotti, also Perotto or Nicolaus Perottus (1429 – 14 December 1480) was an Italian humanist and the author of one of the first modern Latin school grammars.
Biography
Born in Sassoferrato (near Fano), Marche, Perotti studied with Vitt ...
under the pseudonyms "Fidentinus," after the plagiarist in Book 1 of Martial's epigrams, and "Brotheus." The
literary feud
A literary feud is a conflict or quarrel between well-known writers, usually conducted in public view by way of published letters, speeches, lectures, and interviews. In the book ''Literary Feuds'', Anthony Arthur describes why readers might be i ...
is mentioned in several sources, including
Gyraldus, and its notoriety helped establish the predominant version of the myth in the 15th–18th centuries.
The idiosyncratic but enormously influential ''Mythologiae'' of
Natalis Comes
Natale Conti or Latin Natalis Comes, also Natalis de Comitibus and French Noël le Comte (1520–1582) was an Italian mythographer, poet, humanist and historian. His major work ''Mythologiae'', ten books written in Latin, was first published in V ...
(1567) uses this version in a chapter on the aspects of Vulcan and his progeny: "Brotheus, who was mocked by everyone because of his ill-formed appearance, hurled himself into the fire, as if to escape
libel
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defi ...
by death." This description is repeated closely in ''
The Anatomy of Melancholy
''The Anatomy of Melancholy'' (full title: ''The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is: With all the Kinds, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and Several Cures of it. In Three Maine Partitions with their several Sections, Members, and Subsections. Ph ...
'' (1621) by
Robert Burton
Robert Burton (8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640) was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, who wrote the encyclopedic tome '' The Anatomy of Melancholy''.
Born in 1577 to a comfortably well-off family of the landed gentry, Bur ...
, and early 19th-century versions of
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
's ''
Dictionary
A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologie ...
'' specify that Brotheus "threw himself into Mount Ætna."
21st-century Brotheus
Broteas, under the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...
spelling Brotheus, is also a character in "Anakhronismos," a long-form poem with mock annotations by
Mike Ladd
Mike Ladd is an American hip hop musician from Boston, Massachusetts. He is based in Paris, France. '' The Guardian'' described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept."
Early life
Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he ...
. In the poem, Brotheus is called a philosopher and attends the cinema with the poem's speaker, the fictional Aponius Maso. The note identifies Brotheus as the "deformed son of Vulcan and Minerva who burned himself because of the ridicule he suffered."
[Mike Ladd, "Anakhronismos" 16, in ''Rooms and Sequences'' (Salt, 2003), p. 2]
online.
/ref>
Notes
{{reflist
References
*Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celt ...
, 1960. ''The Greek Myths'' (Section 108).
*Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to:
*Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium''
*Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC
* Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...
, ''Greece'', iii.22.4.
*Apollodorus
Apollodorus (Greek: Ἀπολλόδωρος ''Apollodoros'') was a popular name in ancient Greece. It is the masculine gender of a noun compounded from Apollo, the deity, and doron, "gift"; that is, "Gift of Apollo." It may refer to:
:''Note: A f ...
, ''Epitome'', i.24; ii.2.
*Ovid
Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...
, ''Ibis'', line 517 (with scholiast noted by Graves).
168. Manisa / Magnesia on Sipylus
''Archaeological Atlas of the Aegean'', map 168. Retrieved: March 10, 2006.
Kings in Greek mythology
Anatolian characters in Greek mythology
Cybele
Children of Vulcan (mythology)
Mythological hunters
Deeds of Artemis