Ripheus (also Rhipeus, Rifeo and Rupheo) was a
Trojan
Trojan or Trojans may refer to:
* Of or from the ancient city of Troy
* Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...
hero and the name of a figure from the ''
Aeneid
The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan_War#Sack_of_Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to ...
'' of
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...
. A comrade of
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
, he was a Trojan who was killed defending his city against the
Greeks
The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...
. "Ripheus also fell," Virgil writes, "uniquely the most just of all the Trojans, the most faithful preserver of equity; but the gods decided otherwise" (Virgil, ''Aeneid'' II, 426–8). Ripheus's righteousness was not rewarded by the gods.
Ripheus in later works
Dante
In his ''
Divine Comedy
The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
'',
Dante
Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
placed Ripheus in Heaven, in the sixth sphere of
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
, the realm of those who personified
justice
Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...
.
Here, he provides an interesting foil to Virgil himself—whom Dante places in the first circle of Hell, with the pagans and the unbaptized—even though Virgil is a major character in the ''Commedia'' and for much of it remains Dante's guide through Hell and Purgatory. Although Ripheus would historically have been a pagan, in Dante's work he is portrayed as having been given a vision of Jesus over a thousand years before Christ's first coming, and was thus converted to Christianity in the midst of the Trojan War.
Boccaccio
In
Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...
's ''
Il Filostrato
"Il Filostrato" is a poem by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, and the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Troilus and Criseyde'' and, through Chaucer, the Shakespeare play ''Troilus and Cressida''. It is itself loosely based on '' Le Roman ...
'' (1333–1339), Ripheus is named as one of the Trojans taken prisoner by the Greeks.
Chaucer
''Il Filostrato'' served as the basis for
Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
's ''
Troilus and Criseyde
''Troilus and Criseyde'' () is an epic poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war during the siege of Troy. It was written in '' rime royale'' an ...
''. In it, Ripheo is mentioned as being unable to prevent
Antenor
__NOTOC__
Antenor ( grc-gre, Ἀντήνωρ, ''Antḗnōr''; BC) was an Ancient Athens, Athenian Ancient Greek sculpture, sculptor. He is recorded as the creator of the Harmodius and Aristogeiton (sculpture), joint statues of the tyrannic ...
from being taken prisoner. As ''Rupheo'', he appears once, in final rhyming position.
João de Barros
João de Barros, who later became one of the main Portuguese historians of the 16th century, while still a young man of the court of King
Manuel, wrote a
chivalry romanche called ''A Chronica do Emperador Clarimundo'' (''The Chronicle of Emperor Clarimundo''), in which it is reported that
Tróia, Portugal was founded by a Trojan called Ripheus (in 16th-century Portuguese ''Riphane''), who escaped the destruction of his city with the group of
Aeneas
In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...
, from which it split, and moved across the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic until reaching the
Setúbal Peninsula
The Setúbal Peninsula (Portuguese: ) is a peninsula in the Lisbon Region of Portugal. The peninsula is named after one of its larger cities, Setúbal, and is bordered by three bodies of water, the Atlantic Ocean in the west and southwest, the Tag ...
. There, Ripheus/Riphane's group engaged in a war with a party of Greeks led by
Ulysses
Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature.
Ulysses may also refer to:
People
* Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name
Places in the United States
* Ulysses, Kansas
* Ulysse ...
that established itself in what now is
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
, on the opposite side of the
Tagus river
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...
. This 'transplanted' Greek-Trojan war continued for some generations after the death of this Ripheus.
[''Chronica do Emperador Clarimundo'', page]
396404
(16th-century Portuguese) It is unclear if this Ripheus/Riphane is the same as the one of Virgil, and the authors previously referred to, or just a similarly named Trojan countryman of the most famous Ripheus (the fact that de Barros makes no clear references to the known deeds of the Trojan war past of Ripheus in his book and that in the original myth Ripheus fell in the Greek conquest of the town seems to go against it, but possibly de Barros is basing himself in the Boccaccio tradition of Ripheus having been taken as prisoner by the Greeks having possibly escaped subsequently, and the fact that de Barros refers to Riphane as being morally impressive seem to make an identification of Riphane and Ripheus possible. It could be also debated that post-classical versions of myths making characters dead in the Trojan War survive after it is not unusual,
being also told about Hector's son Astyanax to make him survive to found the ancient Gauls and Franks).
Namesake
Jovian asteroid
188847 Rhipeus, discovered at the
Calvin–Rehoboth Observatory in 2006, was named after the Trojan warrior.
The official was published by the
Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Function
...
on 19 August 2008 ().
References
External links
Dante Index
{{Aeneid
Trojans
Characters in the Aeneid