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 ...

, Telamon (;

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 ...

: Τελαμών, ''Telamōn'' means "broad strap") was the son of King

Aeacus Aeacus (; also spelled Eacus; Ancient Greek: Αἰακός) was a mythological king of the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. He was a son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, and the father of the heroes Peleus and Telamon. According to legend, ...

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island an ...

, and Endeïs, a mountain nymph. The elder brother of

Peleus In Greek mythology, Peleus (; Ancient Greek: Πηλεύς ''Pēleus'') was a hero, king of Phthia, husband of Thetis and the father of their son Achilles. This myth was already known to the hearers of Homer in the late 8th century BC. Bi ...

, Telamon sailed alongside Jason as one of his

Argonauts The Argonauts (; Ancient Greek: ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology, who in the years before the Trojan War (around 1300 BC) accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, ''Argo ...

, and was present at the hunt for the

Calydonian Boar The Calydonian boar hunt is one of the great heroic adventures in Greek legend. It occurred in the generation prior to that of the Trojan War, and stands alongside the other great heroic adventure of that generation, the voyage of the Argonauts, ...

. In the ''

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 ''Ody ...

'', he was the father of Greek heroes

Ajax the Great Ajax () or Aias (; grc, Αἴας, Aíās , ''Aíantos''; archaic ) is a Greek mythological hero, the son of King Telamon and Periboea, and the half-brother of Teucer. He plays an important role, and is portrayed as a towering figur ...

and Teucer by different mothers. Some accounts mention a third son of his,

Trambelus In Greek mythology, Trambelus ( Ancient Greek: Τράμβηλος) was a son of Telamon (thus a half-brother of Ajax the Great and Teucer). His mother was the Trojan captive, Hesione or Theaneira. Mythology When Trambelus' mother had already be ...

. He and Peleus were also close friends of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

, assisting him on his expeditions against the

Amazons In Greek mythology, the Amazons (Ancient Greek: Ἀμαζόνες ''Amazónes'', singular Ἀμαζών ''Amazōn'', via Latin ''Amāzon, -ŏnis'') are portrayed in a number of ancient epic poems and legends, such as the Labours of Hercule ...

and his assault on Troy (see below). In an earlier account recorded by

Pherecydes of Athens Pherecydes of Athens ( grc, Φερεκύδης) (fl. c. 465 BC), described as an historian and genealogist, wrote an ancient work in ten books, now lost, variously titled "Historiai" (''Ἱστορίαι'') or "Genealogicai" (''Γενελογίαι ...

, Telamon and Peleus were not brothers, but friends. This would accord with Peleus being the father of the hero

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 Pe ...

(Homer called him ''Pelides'' – i.e. son of Peleus). According to this account, Telamon was the son of Actaeus and Glauce, with the latter being the daughter of Cychreus, king of Salamis; and Telamon married

Periboea __NOTOC__ In Greek mythology, the name Periboea (; Ancient Greek: Περίβοια "surrounded by cattle" derived from ''peri'' "around" and ''boes'' "cattle") refers to multiple figures: *Periboea, one of the 3,000 Oceanids, water-nymph daught ...

( Eriboea), daughter of King Alcathous of

Megara Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being take ...

Biography

After killing their half-brother,

Phocus Phocus (; Ancient Greek: Φῶκος means "seal") was the name of the eponymous hero of Phocis in Greek mythology. Ancient sources relate of more than one figure of this name, and of these at least two are explicitly said to have had Phocis named a ...

, Telamon and Peleus fled Aegina. They made their way to the island of Salamis, where King Cychreus welcomed Telamon and befriended him. Telamon married Cychreus' daughter Periboea, who gave birth to Ajax; sometime later, Cychreus gave Telamon his kingdom. In other versions of the myth Cychreus' daughter is named Glauce, and Periboea is Telamon's second wife, and the daughter of Alcathous. Telamon also features in both versions of

’ sacking of

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

, which was ruled by King Laomedon (or Tros in the alternate versions). Before the Trojan War,

Poseidon Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as ...

sent a sea monster to attack Troy. In the King Tros version,

(along with Telamon and

Oicles In Greek mythology, Oicles or Oecles (; grc, Οἰκλῆς), also Oicleus or Oecleus (; Οἰκλεύς), was the father of the seer Amphiaraus. He accompanied Heracles on his campaign against Troy. Family According to Homer's '' Odyssey'', ...

) agreed to kill the monster if Tros would give him the horses he received from

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label= genitive Boeotian Aeolic and Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label= genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek relig ...

as compensation for Zeus’ kidnapping Tros’ son, Ganymede. Tros agreed; Heracles succeeded and Telamon married Hesione, Tros’ daughter, by whom he sired Teucer. In the King Laomedon version, Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to

in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles rescued her at the last minute and killed both the monster and Laomedon and Laomedon's sons, except for Ganymede, who was on

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

, and

Podarces In Greek mythology, Podarces ( grc, Ποδάρκης) was a son of Iphiclus (son of Phylacus, founder of Phylace) by Diomedeia and the brother of Protesilaus. In some accounts, he and his brother were called the sons of Phylacus and Astyoche in ...

, who saved his own life by giving Heracles a golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize and married her, and she gave birth by him to Teucer. When Ajax later committed suicide at Troy, Telamon banished Teucer from Salamis for failing to bring his brother home. In Apollodorus' ''Library'', Telamon was almost killed during the siege of Troy. Telamon was the first one to break through the Trojan wall, which enraged Hercules as he was coveting that glory for himself. Hercules was about to cut him down with his sword when Telamon began to quickly assemble an altar out of nearby stones in honor of Hercules. Hercules was so pleased, after the sack of Troy he gave Telamon Hesione as a wife. Hesione requested that she be able to bring her brother Podarces with her. Hercules would not allow it unless Hesione bought Podarces as a slave. Hesione paid for her brother with a veil. Podarces’ name was then changed to

Priam In Greek mythology, Priam (; grc-gre, Πρίαμος, ) was the legendary and last king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra. Etymology ...

– which, according to Greek author Apollodorus, was derived from the Greek phrase “to buy”.

In architecture

In architecture, telamons are colossal male figures used as columns. These are also called

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geogra ...

, atlantes, or atlantids; they are the male versions of

caryatids A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

The Telamon

The "Telamon" (also "Song of Telamon", "Telamon Song", "Telamon-song") is an ancient Greek song (fl. 5th century BC) only found referred to by name in some ancient Greek plays and later

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of t ...

or commentaries. It is usually thought to be a warlike song about Telamon's son Ajax, though some other commentaries thought it to be a mournful song about Telamon himself. It began with: "Son of Telamon, warlike Ajax! They say you are the bravest of the Greeks who came to Troy, next to Achilles."English translation of the ''Telamon'' quoted from

Notes

References

* *

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 ...

, ''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. ISBN 0-674-99135-4
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.Greek text available from the same website
* *

Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and ...

, ''

Argonautica The ''Argonautica'' ( el, Ἀργοναυτικά , translit=Argonautika) is a Greek epic poem written by Apollonius Rhodius in the 3rd century BC. The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the ''Argonautica'' tells the myth of the voyage of Jas ...

'' translated by Robert Cooper Seaton (1853–1915), R. C. Loeb Classical Library Volume 001. London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1912
Online version at the Topos Text Project.
*Apollonius Rhodius, ''Argonautica''. George W. Mooney. London. Longmans, Green. 1912
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* *

Publius Ovidius Naso Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

, ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' translated by Brookes More (1859–1942). Boston, Cornhill Publishing Co. 1922
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
*Publius Ovidius Naso, ''Metamorphoses.'' Hugo Magnus. Gotha (Germany). Friedr. Andr. Perthes. 1892
Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tzetzes, John, ''Allegories of the Iliad'' translated by Goldwyn, Adam J. and Kokkini, Dimitra. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Harvard University Press, 2015.

External links

* {{Authority control Argonauts Kings in Greek mythology Characters in the Argonautica Aeginetan characters in Greek mythology Salaminian characters in Greek mythology Salaminian mythology Columns and entablature