according to others: see Pind. Isth. 8. 27 ff., AR 4. 783 ff.
an ashwood spear . . . horses: later passed on to Achilles, see Il. 16. 140 ff. and 19. 400 ff.
When Thetis gave birth . . . went back to the Nereids: following AR 4. 869 ff. Ambrosia, the food of the gods, would foster what was immortal in the child’s nature. For the use of fire to burn away what is mortal in the body, cf. p. 33. In some sources, Thetis is said to have killed several children born before Achilles while trying to immortalize them (sc. Aristoph. Clouds1068a), or test whether they were mortal (sc. AR 4. 816). The passages in the Iliadwhere Homer refers to Thetis in her home under the sea at the time of the Trojan War (e.g. Il. 1. 358) seem to assume her departure; but in other passages there is talk of her welcoming Achilles home to the house of Peleus (e.g. 18. 441, cf. 332).
not . . . lips: privative a(implied rather than directly stated) and cheile, hence Achilles! By feeding on the flesh and marrow of powerful and courageous animals, Achilles would come to share their qualities.
slaughtering Astydameia: she had falsely accused him to her husband, p. 128.
Lycomedes: he ruled the island of Scyros, off Euboea.
Pyrrhos . . . later called Neoptolemos: because he was young, neos, when he went to war, polemos, at Troy (see p. 156), or because his father was (P. 10. 26. 1, reporting the Cypria). His previous name was explained by his red, pyrrhos, hair (Serv. on Am. 2. 469). Achilles refers to his son on Scyros in Il. 19. 326 f.
causing a trumpet to be sounded: this is explained by Hyg. 96. Odysseus placed women’s finery in the courtyard of the palace with a shield and spear amongst it. He then had a trumpet sounded, accompanied by shouts and the clashing of arms. Thinking that they were under attack, Achilles took off his women’s clothing and seized the shield and spear. Or more simply, when women’s finery with arms mixed amongst it was placed before Achilles and his female companions, he instinctively seized the arms (sc. Il. 19. 326). In Homer’s account, Il. 11. 769 ff., Achilles remained with Peleus, and was eager to go when Nestor and Odysseus came to fetch him and Patroclos; and the present story was absent from the Cypriaalso (for Achilles came to Scyros and married Deidameia after the Greek attack on Mysia, Procl., cf. sc. Il. 19. 326 on the Little Iliad). Because Achilles was too young to be one of Helen’s suitors, he was not bound by oath to join the expedition (and subsequently, when Agamemnon offended him, he could threaten to go home, Il. 1. 169 ff., etc.).
Phoenix had been blinded. . . seduced her: in Homer’s account, Il. 9. 447 ff., he actually sleeps with her, at the instigation of his mother (who is jealous of the concubine); he has to go into exile, but is not blinded.
Patroclos had killed a boy: cf. Il. 23. 84 ff.
Achilles had become his lover: this is never stated by Homer; see also Plato Symp. 180a. Patroclos was older than Achilles ( Il. 11. 787).
the Erechtheid Sea: not a sea in the literal sense, but a sea-water well in the Erechtheum on the Acropolis, from which the sound of waves could be heard to rise when the south wind was blowing (see P. 1. 26. 6, with Hdt. 8. 55). This symbolic sea, and the mark of his trident in the rock (which can still be seen), were the evidence that Poseidon produced to support his claim (P. 1. 26. 6).
the Pandroseion: an enclosure near the Erechtheum. The olive tree survived until Roman times (after miraculously regrowing when the Persians set fire to Athens, P. 1. 27. 2, Hdt. 8. 55).
flooded the Thriasian plain: to the north-west of the city. Not a permanent flood (although he wanted it to be, until Zeus sent Hermes to forbid it, Hyg. 164).
Agraulos, the daughter of Actaios: her name appears in the form Aglauros elsewhere. Actaios was presumably invented to explain why Attica was previously called Acte (see above); Pausanias (1. 2. 6) records a tradition that he was the first king of Attica and that Cecrops succeeded to the throne by marrying his daughter.
was tried on the Areiopagos: the Areiopagos, the traditional Athenian high court which dealt especially with cases involving blood-guilt, met on the place of that name to the north-west of the Acropolis. The present story explains its name (the ‘Hill of Ares’) and its prime function. Because his victim was trying to rape a close relative, and was caught in the act, Ares’ defence would have been acceptable in classical Athens.
Herse . . . Phaethon: in Theog. 984 ff., Dawn bears Memnon and Emathion to Tithonos (as on p. 124), and Phaethon to Cephalos. On p. 44 this Cephalos was said to be a son of Deion; but it seems likely that Cephalos son of Deion, the hunter and husband of Procris, p. 134, was originally not the same figure as the son of Hermes associated with Dawn. In Theog. 986 ff. this Phaethon is abducted by Aphrodite and made guardian of one of her temples; he should not be identified with the more famous son of the Sun who borrowed his father’s chariot and was struck by Zeus with a thunderbolt when he was unable to control the horses and almost set the earth on fire, DS 5. 23, Ov. Met. 2. 19 ff.
slept with foreigners: presumably a reference to temple prostitution in connection with the cult of Aphrodite-Astarte. The cause of Aphrodite’s anger (perhaps neglect of her cult) is not recorded. Cinyras was associated with the cult of Paphian Aphrodite in Cyprus (Pind. Pyth. 2. 15 ff., Tacitus Hist. 2. 3).
a son of Theias: the following story of incest between father and daughter is most generally favoured to explain Adonis’ birth, whether the king in question is called Theias (cf. AL 34) or Cinyras (e.g. Hyg. 58, where Cinyras is described as the king of the Assyrians; cf. Ov. Met. 10. 298 ff.). As we see in Ovid, his daughter is sometimes called Myrrha (in Greek, Smyrnawas an alternative word for myrrh).
born to Hephaistos and Athene: it will be seen that this is a loose expression, as he is born from the earth as a son of Hephaistos. The following story allows him to be earthborn (in a peculiar way) and yet have a special connection with Athene although she is a virgin goddess.
with a piece of wooclass="underline" this was introduced into the story for etymological reasons, to explain Erichthonios’ name by his birth from the ground, chthon, when the wool, erion, fell on it (as in Et. Magn.;others pointed to the struggle, eris, between Athene and Hephaistos, e.g. Hyg. 166).