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 ...

, Euphorbus (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Εὔφορβος ''Euphorbos'') 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 18 ...

hero during the

Trojan War The Trojan War was a legendary conflict in Greek mythology that took place around the twelfth or thirteenth century BC. The war was waged by the Achaeans (Homer), Achaeans (Ancient Greece, Greeks) against the city of Troy after Paris (mytho ...

Description

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

describes Euphorbus as handsome man with 'the loveliest locks among the curly-haired', into which with gold and other ornaments were braided.

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 ...

describes his hair as like that of the

Charites In Greek mythology, the Charites (; ), singular Charis (), also called the Graces, are goddesses who personify beauty and grace. According to Hesiod, the Charites were Aglaia (Grace), Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia (Grace), Thalia, who were the ...

, and as being bound with gold and silver.

Family

In 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 ...

'' Euphorbus is described as the son of

Panthous In Greek mythology, Panthous (), son of Othrys, was an elder of Troy, husband of the "queenly" Phrontis and father of Euphorbus, Polydamas and Hyperenor. Because he was the son of Othrys, he had the patronymic Othryades (). Mythology Panthous ...

and

Phrontis In Greek mythology, Phrontis (/fron-tis/; ) may refer to the following personages: ''Male'' * Phrontis, son of Phrixus and Chalciope, daughter of King Aeëtes, Aeetes. *Phrontis, son of Onetor and the steersman in Menelaus' vessel. Phrontis had ...

, and thus also brother to Polydamas and Hyperenor. In his ''Chiliades'' or ''Book of Histories'', Tzetzes relays that

Orpheus In Greek mythology, Orpheus (; , classical pronunciation: ) was a Thracians, Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet. He was also a renowned Ancient Greek poetry, poet and, according to legend, travelled with Jason and the Argonauts in se ...

gives Euphorbus' parents as the

naiad In Greek mythology, the naiads (; ), sometimes also hydriads, are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who embodied ...

Abarbarea and Boucolides.

Mythology

In the ''Iliad'' Euphorbus wounded

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 ...

before the Achaean hero was killed by

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 ...

, and was then killed by

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

in the fight for Patroclus' body.

Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

relates that Euphorbus was the second to strike Patroclus with the god Apollo being the first. In Homer's account Menelaus is prevented from taking Euphorbus' armour through the actions of Apollo, who, in disguise, drew Hector's attention to Euphorbus' death. but other sources claim that the shield was taken by Menelaus who dedicated it as an offering in a temple. According to Pausanias this was the temple of

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

in Argos, though

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

claimed it was the temple of Apollo at

Didyma Didyma (; ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek sanctuary on the coast of Ionia in the domain of the famous city of Miletus. Apollo was the main deity of the sanctuary of Didyma, also called ''Didymaion''. But it was home to both of the Ancient ...

Reincarnation

Several sources from the 4th Century BCE onwards relate a tradition in which Euphorbus was the subject of

reincarnation Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...

. These accounts often includes a story of someone who claimed that they used to be Euphorbus travelling to a temple and identifying an offering within as the shield that Euphorbus had used at Troy. Several versions also assert that the 6th century BCE philosopher

Pythagoras Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...

claimed to be a reincarnation of Euphorbus. The Roman author and grammarian

Aulus Gellius Aulus Gellius (c. 125after 180 AD) was a Roman author and grammarian, who was probably born and certainly brought up in Rome. He was educated in Athens, after which he returned to Rome. He is famous for his ''Attic Nights'', a commonplace book, ...

states that it was well known that Pythagoras claimed to have been a reincarnation of Euphorbus and adds that

Dicaearchus Dicaearchus of Messana (; ''Dikaiarkhos''; ), also written Dikaiarchos (), was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains extant. He wrote on geography and t ...

and Clearchus give further details of the chain of reincarnations claimed by Pythagoras. The Greek sophist

Philostratus Philostratus or Lucius Flavius Philostratus (; ; 170s – 240s AD), called "the Athenian", was a Greek sophist of the Roman imperial period. His father was a minor sophist of the same name. He flourished during the reign of Septimius Severus ...

also includes the story of Pythagoras' claim in his '' Life of Apollonius of Tyana''. The poet

Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...

includes both the details of verification via shield and the later reincarnation as Pythagoras in his epic poem ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' (, , ) is a Latin Narrative poetry, narrative poem from 8 Common Era, CE by the Ancient Rome, Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''Masterpiece, magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the world from its Cre ...

''. The 3rd century CE biographer

reports this story in his ''

Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek phi ...

'', giving as a source the Greek philosopher

Heraclides of Pontus Heraclides Ponticus ( ''Herakleides''; c. 390 BC – c. 310 BC) was a Greek philosopher and astronomer who was born in Heraclea Pontica, now Karadeniz Ereğli, Turkey, and migrated to Athens. He is best remembered for proposing that the Earth ...

. In this account Pythagoras claimed that Euphorbus was one reincarnation in a string of previous lives which began with the Argonaut Aethalides. Aethalides' father,

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

, offered to grant him any wish except for immortality, and Aethalides therefore chose to be able to remember, even in death, everything that had happened to him. In this variant of the story after Aethalides had lived as Euphorbus he became Hermotimus, who, wishing to prove that he had previously been Euphorbus, travelled to the Temple of Apollo at

, and pointed out the shield of Euphorbus which had been dedicated there by Menelaus. Although Heraclides is the earliest surviving source for the Pythagorean tradition, Walter Burkert suggests that the fact that the story is also known to Dicaearchus suggests that the tradition predates Heraclides, but nonetheless credits Heraclides with combining different independent traditions of euphorbian reincarnations.

Notes

References

, ''The Iliad'' with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
* Homer, ''Homeri Opera'' in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920.
Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
* Tzetzes, John, ''Book of Histories,'' Book I translated by Ana Untila from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826
Online version at theoi.com
* Tzetzes, John, ''Book of Histories,'' Book II-IV translated by Gary Berkowitz from the original Greek of T. Kiessling's edition of 1826

* Trojans Greek mythological heroes {{Greek-myth-stub

Description

Family

Mythology

Reincarnation

See also

Notes

References