Meges

For other uses, see Meges (mythology).

In Greek mythology, Mégês Phyleïdês (Ancient Greek: Μέγης Φυλεΐδης) was the commander of Epeans and/or Dulichians during the Trojan War.

Art Illustration depicting Meges

Family

Meges was the son of King Phyleus of Dulichium[1] and his mother's name is variously given as either Eustyoche,[2] Ctimene,[3] Ctesimache,[4] Hagnete[5] or Timandra.[6]

Meges’ (half-)sister was Eurydameia, mother of Cleitus and Euchenor by the seer Polyidus of Corinth.[7]

Mythology

Meges was one of the suitors of Helen,[8] and commanded the armies of the Echinadians and the Dulichians during the Trojan War, having summoned forty or sixty ships; he also led a contingent of Epeans who had once migrated to Dulichium together with his father.[4][9]

Meges was credited with killing a number of opponents, including Pedaeus (a son of Antenor),[10] Croesmus,[11] Amphiclus,[12] Itymoneus, Agelaus,[13] Eurymenes,[14] and Deiopites.[15] Dolops attempted to strike him with a spear but the corselet Meges was wearing, a gift for his father from Euphetes of Ephyra, saved his life.[16] Meges helped Odysseus to collect gifts for Achilles.[17] He was one of the men to enter the Trojan Horse.[18]

According to Dictys Cretensis, Meges fell at Troy.[19] Pausanias mentions a painting of him wounded in the arm by a Trojan, Admetes the son of Augeas.[20] Tzetzes relates that Meges, along with Prothous and a number of others, perished at Euboea.[21]

Notes

  1. ^ Homer, Iliad 2.627
  2. ^ Hyginus, Fabulae 97
  3. ^ Eustathius ad Homer, Iliad p. 305.15; Tzetzes, Homeric Allegories Prologue 577; Grimal, p. 340
  4. ^ a b Tzetzes, Homeric Allegories Prologue 577
  5. ^ Tzetzes, Homeric Allegories Prologue 576
  6. ^ Eustathius ad Homer, Iliad p. 305.17; Scholia ad Euripides, Orestes 249 = Hesiod, Ehoiai fr. 176 (no. 46 in the Loeb edition, 1914)
  7. ^ Pherecydes in Scholia ad Homer, Iliad 13.663
  8. ^ Apollodorus, 3.10.8
  9. ^ Homer, Iliad 2.625, 5.69, 13.692 & 15.531; Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis 284; Hyginus, Fabulae 97
  10. ^ Homer, Iliad 5.69
  11. ^ Homer, Iliad 15.523
  12. ^ Homer, Iliad 16.313
  13. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 1.279
  14. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 10.108
  15. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 13.212
  16. ^ Homer, Iliad 15.525 ff.
  17. ^ Homer, Iliad 19.239 ff.
  18. ^ Quintus Smyrnaeus, 12.326
  19. ^ Dictys Cretensis, 3.10
  20. ^ Pausanias, 10.25.5
  21. ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 902

References

  • Apollodorus, 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.
  • Dictys Cretensis, 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.
  • Euripides, The Plays of Euripides, translated by E. P. Coleridge. Volume II. London. George Bell and Sons. 1891. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Euripides, Euripidis Fabulae. vol. 3. Gilbert Murray. Oxford. Clarendon Press, Oxford. 1913. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Gaius Julius Hyginus, 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, 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. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
  • Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. ISBN 0-674-99328-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library
  • Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy translated by Way. A. S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 19. London: William Heinemann, 1913. Online version at theio.com
  • Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy. Arthur S. Way. London: William Heinemann; New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. 1913. Greek 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. ISBN 978-0-674-96785-4