Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, Eëtion or Eetion (; ) is the king of the

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

n city of

Cilician Thebe Thebe Hypoplakia (), also Cilician Thebe () and Placian Thebe (), was a city in ancient Anatolia. Alternative names include ''Placia'', ''Hypoplacia'' and ''Hypoplacian Thebe(s)'', referring to the city's position at the foot of Mount Placus. Near ...

. He is said to be the father of

Andromache In Greek mythology, Andromache (; , ) was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means "man battler", "fighter of men" or "m ...

, the wife of the Trojan prince

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; , ) was a Trojan prince, a hero and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. He is a major character in Homer's ''Iliad'', where he leads the Trojans and their allies in the defense of Troy, killing c ...

. In the sixth book of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) 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 ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'', Andromache tells her husband that a raid took place upon Thebe, in which

Achilles In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus () was a hero of the Trojan War who was known as being the greatest of all the Greek warriors. The central character in Homer's ''Iliad'', he was the son of the Nereids, Nereid Thetis and Peleus, ...

murdered her father and his seven sons.

Family

Eetion is described as the father of

, who becomes the wife of the Trojan prince

, as well as seven sons. Homer also mentions a figure named Eetion who is the father of Podes.

Mythology

In the first book of the ''

'', he is described as the king of the city of

, in the region of

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...

. In the sixth book of the ''Iliad'', Andromache tearily tells her husband of an attack which was mounted against Thebe by the Greeks. She relates that

killed her father, Eetion, also murdering his seven sons. Not feeling it right to plunder Eetion's armour, Achilles put him on the funeral pyre fully attired. His wife is never named, but Andromache relates that she was captured in the same raid in which Eëtion was killed, though she later met her demise at the hands of

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

. However, a certain

Astynome Astynome () is a name which may refer to one of the following characters in Greek mythology: *Astynome, one of the Niobids. *Astynome, daughter of Talaus and mother of Capaneus by Hipponous. *Astynome, commonly referred to by the patronymic Chrysei ...

, also called

Chryseis In Greek mythology, Chryseis (, , ) is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Chryses. Chryseis, her apparent name in the ''Iliad'', means simply "Chryses' daughter"; later writers give her real name as Astynome (). The 12th-century poet Tzetzes desc ...

, was said to be the wife of Eetion at that time. She was carried off by

and later became the war prize of

Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans during the Trojan War. He was the son (or grandson) of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of C ...

. In the Greeks' raid on the city, they stole goods which included a horse named

Pedasus Pedasus (Ancient Greek: Πήδασος) has been identified with several personal and place names in Greek history and mythology. Persons In Homer's ''Iliad'', Pedasus was the name of a Trojan warrior, and the son of the naiad Abarbarea and h ...

, a musical instrument called a

phorminx :''Phorminx is also a genus of cylindrical bark beetles.'' The ''phorminx'' () was one of the oldest of the Ancient Greek stringed musical instruments, in the yoke lutes family, intermediate between the lyre and the kithara. It consisted of tw ...

, as well as a disc which later featured in the

funeral games Funeral games are athletic competitions held in honor of a recently deceased person. The celebration of funeral games was common to a number of ancient civilizations. Athletics and games such as wrestling are depicted on Sumerian statues dating ...

in honour of

Patroclus In Greek mythology, Patroclus (generally pronounced ; ) was a Greek hero of the Trojan War and an important character in Homer's ''Iliad''. Born in Opus, Patroclus was the son of the Argonaut Menoetius. When he was a child, he was exiled from ...

. The author of ''Iliad'' was likely familiar with sources which related Achilles' raid upon the city.Bloch, para. 2.

Notes

References

* Bloch, Rene, "Eetion", in ''

Brill's New Pauly The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field o ...

: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. Antiquity, Volume 4'', Cyr – Epy, edited by Hubert Cancik and Helmuth Schneider, Brill, 2004. . *

Dictys Cretensis Dictys Cretensis, i.e. Dictys of Crete (, ; ) 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 worked up by Homer for the ''Iliad'' ...

'', 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.
*

Hyginus Hyginus may refer to: People *Hyginus, the author of the '' Fabulae'', an important ancient Latin source for Greek mythology. *Hyginus, the author of the ''Astronomia'', a popular ancient Latin guide on astronomy, probably the same as the author ...

, ''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.
*

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient 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. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, ''The Iliad'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Kings in Greek mythology Children of Zeus Characters in the Iliad {{greek-myth-royal-stub