In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, Gorgythion (
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 peri ...
: Γοργυθίων, gen.: Γοργυθίωνος) was one of the
sons
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current co ...
of
King Priam
''King Priam'' is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's ''Iliad'', except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the ''Fabulae'' of Hyginus.
The premiere was on 29 May 1962, at Coventry. ...
of
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite language, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in prese ...
at the time of the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has ...
and appears as a minor character in
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...
''. His mother was Castianeira of Aisyme.
Name and description
In the ''Iliad'', Gorgythion is described as beautiful, and his
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
is ''the blameless''.
[''Iliad'', trans. Theodore Alois Buckley (1873): "...but in the breast he struck blameless Gorgythion with an arrow, the brave son of Priam."] Jane Ellen Harrison
Jane Ellen Harrison (9 September 1850 – 15 April 1928) was a British classics, classical scholar and linguistics, linguist. Harrison is one of the founders, with Karl Kerenyi and Walter Burkert, of modern studies in Ancient Greek religio ...
pointed out that "blameless" (άμύμων) was an epithet of the heroized dead, who were venerated and appeased at shrines. Zeus even applies the epithet to
Aegisthus
Aegisthus (; grc, Αἴγισθος; also transliterated as Aigisthos, ) was a figure in Greek mythology. Aegisthus is known from two primary sources: the first is Homer's ''Odyssey'', believed to have been first written down by Homer at the en ...
, the usurper, Harrison observes.
The epithet άμύμων in Homer is applied to individual heroes, to a hero's tomb 'Odyssey'' xxiv.80 to magical, half-mythical peoples like the Phaeacia
Scheria or Scherie (; grc, Σχερία or ), also known as Phaeacia () or Faiakia was a region in Greek mythology, first mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as the home of the Phaeacians and the last destination of Odysseus in his 10-year journey b ...
ns and Aethiopians 'Iliad'' x.423who to the popular imagination are half canonized, to the magic island 'Odyssey'' xii.261of the god Helios
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Helios (; grc, , , Sun; Homeric Greek: ) is the deity, god and personification of the Sun (Solar deity). His name is also Latinized as Helius, and he is often given the epithets Hyper ...
, to the imaginary half-magical Good Old King 'Odyssey'' xix.109 It is used also of the 'convoy' 'Iliad'' vi.171sent by the gods, which of course is magical in character; it is never, I believe, an epithet of the Olympians themselves. There is about the word a touch of what is magical and demonic rather than actually divine.
In applying "blameless" to Gorgythion, then, the poet may have been reflecting a tradition of
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
among his descendants, that was known to Homer or in the Homeric tradition. John Pairman Brown has suggested that Gorgythion's name "surely echoes the
Gergithes; the 'Gergithes remnants of the Teucrians' are projected back into the heroic age as individual antagonists".
According to
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
, the Gergithes were "the remnants of the ancient
Teucrian
In Greek mythology, King Teucer (; Ancient Greek: Τεῦκρος ''Teûkros'') was said to have been the son of the river-god Scamander and the nymph Idaea.
Mythology
Before the arrival of Dardanus, the land that would eventually be called D ...
s" (that is, of the ancient Trojans).
Family
Near the end of the ''Iliad'', Priam himself tells
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, k ...
: "I begat the bravest sons in wide Troy, of whom I say that none are left. Fifty there were to me, when the sons of the Greeks arrived; nineteen indeed from one womb, but the others women bore to me in my palaces. And of the greater number fierce Mars indeed has relaxed the knees under them..." Gorgythion is referred to at his death as "...the brave son
of Priam".
Of Gorgythion's mother Castianeira, Homer says (in
Samuel Butler's translation) "His mother, fair Castianeira, lovely as a goddess, had been married from Aesyme."
The ''
Bibliotheca'' says that Priam had nine sons and four daughters by
Hecuba
Hecuba (; also Hecabe; grc, Ἑκάβη, Hekábē, ) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.
Description
Hecuba was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "da ...
(the sons being
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
,
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Deiphobus
In Greek mythology, Deiphobus ( grc, , Dēḯphobos) was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris. Deiphobus killed four men of fame in the Trojan War.
Description
Deiphobus ...
,
Helenus
In Greek mythology, Helenus (; grc, Ἕλενος, ''Helenos'', la, Helenus) was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Trojan prince as the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. He was al ...
,
Pammon In Greek mythology, Pammon (Ancient Greek: Πάμμων) was a Trojan prince and one of the sons of King Priam of Troy and Hecuba. He was killed by Achilles' son Neoptolemus during the Trojan War.
Family
According to Pseudo-Apollodorus, King Pri ...
,
Polites,
Antiphus
In Greek mythology, Antiphus or Ántiphos ( /ˈæntəfəs/; Ancient Greek: Ἄντιφος) is a name attributed to multiple individuals:
*Antiphus, a Phthian prince as the son of King Myrmidon and Peisidice, and brother of Actor. He may be the ...
,
Hipponous In Greek mythology, Hipponous (Ancient Greek: Ἱππόνοος) referred to several people:
*Hipponous, the Olenian father of Capaneus and Periboea by Astynome. He was son of Iocles, grandson of Astacus and great-grandson of Hermes and Astabe, ...
,
Polydorus
In Greek mythology, Polydorus (; grc, Πολύδωρος, i.e. "many-gift d) or Polydoros referred to several different people.
*Polydorus, son of Phineus and Cleopatra, and brother of Polydector (Polydectus). These two sons by his first wife were ...
, and the daughters
Creusa
In Greek mythology, Creusa (; grc, Κρέουσα ''Kreousa'' "princess") may refer to the following figures:
* Creusa, a naiad daughter of Gaia.
* Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens and his wife, Praxithea.
* Creusa, also known by t ...
,
Laodice,
Polyxena
In Greek mythology, Polyxena (; Greek: ) was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba. She does not appear in Homer, but in several other classical authors, though the details of her story vary considerably. After the ...
, and the prophetess
Cassandra
Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believe ...
), and he names thirty-eight sons by other women, including
Troilus
Troilus ( or ; grc, Τρωΐλος, Troïlos; la, Troilus) is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War. The first surviving reference to him is in Homer's ''Iliad,'' composed in the late 8th century BCE.
In Greek myth ...
,
Hippothous
In Greek mythology, Hippothous ( grc, Ἱππόθοος, meaning "swift-riding") is the name of seven men:
* Hippothous, an Egyptian prince as one of the sons of King Aegyptus. Apollodorus, 2.1.5 He suffered the same fate as his other brothers, s ...
,
Kebriones
In Greek mythology, Cebriones (Ancient Greek: Κεβριόνης, ''Kebriones'') was the illegitimate son of King Priam of Troy and a slave.
Mythology
In the ''Iliad'' he was the half-brother of Hector and his final charioteer during the Trojan ...
, and Gorgythion.
['' Bibliotheca'' 3.12.5.]
In the ''Fabulae'' of
Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...
, fable 90 consists wholly of a list of "Sons and daughters of Priam to the number of fifty-five", in which Gorgythion is included.
Mythology
Gorgythion is killed by an arrow of
Teucer
In Greek mythology, Teucer (), also Teucrus, Teucros or Teucris ( grc, Τεῦκρος, Teûkros), was the son of King Telamon of Salamis Island and his second wife Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He fought alongside his half-broth ...
's at lines 303–305 of Book VIII of the ''Iliad'', although Teucer's target is Gorgythion's brother
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
. Teucer aims two arrows at Hector, but kills first Gorgythion and next Hector's friend Archeptolemus, which serves to increase the impression of Hector's elusiveness and strength.
When Gorgythion dies, Homer says
[ –
Susanne Lindgren Wofford comments on this simile "But the poppy is not wilted or dead, just top-heavy; in any case, a poppy will return every spring to bow its head, but Gorgythion's death is final; it is a unique event that does not participate in any natural cycles of renewal or return... to make death seem beautiful is to transform it into something different."
In ]Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...
's looser but more poetic translation (1715–1720), the death scene reads –
This translation of the ''Iliad'' was called by 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 ...
"a performance which no age or nation could hope to equal", while Richard Bentley
Richard Bentley FRS (; 27 January 1662 – 14 July 1742) was an English classical scholar, critic, and theologian. Considered the "founder of historical philology", Bentley is widely credited with establishing the English school of Hellen ...
wrote: "It is a pretty poem, Mr Pope, but you must not call it Homer."
In the 4th century AD, a Roman called Q. Septimius published ''Dictys Cretensis Ephemeridos belli Trojani'', purporting to be a translation by Lucius Septimius of a chronicle of the Trojan War by Dictys of Crete
Dictys Cretensis, i.e. Dictys of Crete (, ; grc, Δίκτυς ὁ Κρής) of Knossos was a legendary companion of Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and the purported author of a diary of its events, that deployed some of the same materials worke ...
, the companion of Idomeneus
In Greek mythology, Idomeneus (; el, Ἰδομενεύς) was a Cretan king and commander who led the Cretan armies to the Trojan War, in eighty black ships. He was also one of the suitors of Helen, as well as a comrade of the Telamonian Ajax. ...
during the Trojan War. In Book 3, Patroclus
In Greek mythology, as recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'', Patroclus (pronunciation variable but generally ; grc, Πάτροκλος, Pátroklos, glory of the father) was a childhood friend, close wartime companion, and the presumed (by some later a ...
, and not Teucer, is said to have killed Gorgythion:
Other uses of the name
*The name Gorgythion was given to a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of Pyrginae, North American butterflies
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
commonly known as Spread-winged Skippers, in Frederick Du Cane Godman and O. Salvin's ''Biologia Centrali Americana'' (1896).
* 48373 Gorgythion is an asteroid of the Solar System
The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
, discovered on 16 October 1977, by C. J. van Houten and I. van Houten-Groeneveld.48373 Gorgythion (2161 T-3)
online at jpl.nasa.gov (accessed 21 January 2008)
See also
*
List of children of Priam
In Greek mythology, Priam, the mythical king of Troy during the Trojan War, supposedly had 18 daughters and 68 sons. Priam had several wives, the primary one Hecuba, daughter of Dymas or Cisseus, and several concubines, who bore his children. The ...
*
List of Trojan War characters
This is a list of mythological characters who appear in narratives concerning the Trojan War.
Armies
* See Catalogue of Ships
** See Trojan Battle Order
Individuals
Deaths and outcome of war
This table lists characters killed during the ...
Notes
References
*
Dictys Cretensis
Dictys Cretensis, i.e. Dictys of Crete (, ; grc, Δίκτυς ὁ Κρής) of Knossos was a legendary companion of Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and the purported author of a diary of its events, that deployed some of the same materials worke ...
'', from The Trojan War.'' ''The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and
Dares the Phrygian'' translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931–). Indiana University Press. 1966
Online version at the Topos Text Project.*
Gaius Julius Hyginus
Gaius Julius Hyginus (; 64 BC – AD 17) was a Latin author, a pupil of the scholar Alexander Polyhistor, and a freedman of Caesar Augustus. He was elected superintendent of the Palatine library by Augustus according to Suetonius' ''De Grammatic ...
, ''Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus'' translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies
Online version at the Topos Text Project.*
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
, ''The Histories'' with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920. Online version at the Topos Text Project. Greek text available at Perseus Digital Library.
*
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
,
''The Iliad'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, PhD in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924
Online version at the Perseus Digital xLibrary.* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
*
Pseudo-Apollodorus
The ''Bibliotheca'' (Ancient Greek: grc, Βιβλιοθήκη, lit=Library, translit=Bibliothēkē, label=none), also known as the ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus, is a compendium of Greek myths and heroic legends, arranged in three book ...
, ''The Library'' with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
{{Characters in the Iliad
Trojans
Children of Priam
Princes in Greek mythology