Telephus

• 1. The Son Of Heracles

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  In the Louvre, a marble statue from the mid second century AD shows Heracles holding an infant named Telephus alongside a deer. The name means far-shining or he who shines afar according to ancient mythographers. This child was the son of Heracles and Auge daughter of king Aleus of Tegea in Arcadia. Ancient sources offer conflicting accounts about where this birth occurred. Some traditions place it in Mysia while others insist on Arcadia. A sixth-century BC fragment from Hesiod's Catalogue of Women suggests Telephus was born in Mysia after Auge arrived there as a daughter of King Teuthras. Other accounts describe her being cast adrift in a wooden chest that washed up on the Caicus river plain. Pausanias recorded that when Aleus discovered Auge had given birth he ordered mother and child drowned but they survived the sea voyage. Diodorus Siculus wrote that Auge gave birth near Mount Parthenion before ending up with Teuthras in Mysia. Apollodorus described how Auge hid the newborn in Athena's temple at Tegea until a famine revealed his presence.

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• 2. Silence And Oracle

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  A fourth-century BC inscription mentions a play called Telepheia by Sophocles which may have included scenes of silence. Aristotle noted that the best tragedies were written about families like Alcmaeon Oedipus and Telephus. In one version of the story Telephus killed his maternal uncles fulfilling an oracle that warned Aleus his grandson would destroy his sons. This act left him religiously polluted requiring purification through silence. The comic poet Alexis wrote about a voracious dinner guest who sat in speechless silence making only signs to those asking questions. Another comic poet Amphis compared fishmongers standing mute to Telephus since they all were homicides. A scholiast on Homer's Iliad attributed the vine-tripping incident to Dionysus angry because of unpaid honors. The Delphic oracle directed Telephus to seek knowledge of his mother leading him back to Mysia where he was reunited with Auge and adopted as heir by King Teuthras. Pausanias reported seeing images of this reunion at Mount Helicon in Boeotia.

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• 3. The Wound And Cure

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  During a prelude to the Trojan War Greek forces attacked Telephus' city mistaking it for Troy. Achilles wounded Telephus in the thigh when he tripped over a vine while fleeing. Apollodorus stated that Dionysus caused the trip because Telephus had failed to properly honor the god. Philostratus described how Telephus lost his shield fighting Protesilaos leaving him unprotected. The wound refused to heal despite all attempts at treatment. Apollo's oracle delivered the famous reply your assailant will heal you. Telephus traveled to Argos seeking a cure from Achilles himself. Pliny the Elder recorded paintings depicting Achilles scraping rust from his spear into the wound. Horace wrote about how the same spear could both kill and cure. Propertius and Ovid were among the first Roman poets to reference this healing agent. A marble bas-relief from Herculaneum dated to the first century BC shows Achilles performing the procedure. The Pharmacologia of John Ayrton Paris identified verdigris as the medicinal rust scraped from the weapon. In return for being healed Telephus agreed to guide the Greeks to Troy though some versions claim he later refused due to family ties.

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• 4. Lost Plays And Parodies

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  Euripides produced a play called Telephus in 438 BCE which dramatized the hero's journey to Argos disguised as a beggar. Aristophanes parodied this production extensively in two comedies written between 446 and 386 BC. In the Acharnians Dicaeopolis borrowed Telephus' beggar costume to take a charcoal basket hostage. Women at the Thesmophoria featured a kinsman disguising himself as a woman who grabbed an infant wineskin as hostage when exposed. These parodies demonstrate how famous Euripides' original had become decades after its premiere. Sophocles likely wrote four plays involving Telephus including Aleadae Mysians and Eurypylus. All these works are now lost surviving only through fragments preserved by ancient writers. Agathon Iophon Cleophon Moschion Aphareus Nicomachus Ennius and Accius all composed tragedies on the subject. Aristotle observed that Telephus belonged among the great tragic families alongside Oedipus and Thyestes. The irony of Achilles' son killing Telephus' son using the same spear appears in Sophocles' Eurypylus. Plutarch mentioned that the duel between Eurypylus and Neoptolemus featured in some work of Sophocles.

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• 5. Marble And Myth

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  The Telephus frieze created between 180 and 156 BC adorned the Great Altar of Pergamon with nearly 60 meters of narrative panels. Around 74 marble sections each measuring 1.58 meters high depicted scenes from Telephus life. Panel twelve showed Heracles discovering the abandoned child being suckled by a lioness rather than deer. Panels twenty-two through twenty-four illustrated Hiera leading Mysian women cavalry into battle against Greek forces. Panel forty-two captured Telephus threatening infant Orestes at an altar while holding a bandaged thigh. Over one hundred entries for Telephus appear in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae cataloging ancient representations. East-Ionian engraved gems from circa 480 BC show the infant crawling under a standing deer grasping teats. Tegeatic coins from about 370 BC presented nearly identical scenes. Pausanias reported seeing images of Telephus suckled by a deer on Mount Helicon in Boeotia. The West pediment of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea finished around 350 to 340 BC featured Telephus fighting Achilles wearing his father's lion-skin.

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• 6. King And Cult

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  The Attalid dynasty ruling Pergamon from 241 BC claimed descent from Telephus to legitimize their sovereignty. A Milesian inscription after 129 BC called the people of Pergamon Telephidai descendants of Telephus. Pausanias recorded that Pergamenes sang hymns and made offerings to Telephus as part of ritual hero worship. Inscriptions documented the association between Pergamon and Tegea where Auge established the cult of Athena. The Telephus frieze prominently proclaimed this claimed ancestry to establish Pergamon's Greek heritage. Telephus was also worshipped on Mount Parthenion in Arcadia and honored at Tegea where he fought Achilles on temple metopes. Plutarch stated that according to one account Roma daughter of Telephus gave her name to the city of Rome. Servius noted that Grynus son of Telephus became king in Mysia founding Gryneion and Pergamon. Cyparissus another son became one of Apollo's male lovers while Tarchon and Tyrensus founded Etruscan cities. These connections linked Italian myths with the heroic lineage of Telephus across the Mediterranean world.

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