Telamon

Telamon (also spelled Telemon) was a king of Salamis in Greek mythology, a son of Aeacus of Aegina and Endeis. He sailed with the Argonauts, took part in the Calydonian boar hunt, and with Heracles sacked Troy, where he won Hesione as his prize. He was the father of the great Ajax and of Teucer.

Family and Aegina

Aeacus married Endeis, daughter of Sciron, and had two sons by her, Peleus and Telamon. Pherecydes, however, said that Telamon was a friend rather than a brother of Peleus, being the son of Actaeus and Glauce, daughter of Cychreus (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.6). Aeacus also had a son Phocus by the Nereid Psamathe (Hesiod, Theogony 1003–1005; Apollodorus, Library 3.12.6).

The death of Phocus

Phocus excelled in athletics, and his half-brothers Peleus and Telamon plotted against him. According to Apollodorus, the lot fell on Telamon, who killed Phocus in a contest by throwing a discus at his head, and with Peleus’ help hid the body in a wood. When the murder was discovered, Aeacus drove both brothers out of Aegina (Library 3.12.6). Pausanias tells it a little differently: Telamon and Peleus persuaded Phocus to compete in the pentathlon, and when it was the turn of Peleus to throw the stone they used as a discus, he hit Phocus on purpose, to please their mother, who was Sciron’s daughter and not Phocus’ mother (Description of Greece 2.29.9). Diodorus (4.72.6) says only that Peleus killed Phocus by accident while throwing a discus.

Salamis, Periboea and Ajax

Telamon went to Salamis, to the court of Cychreus, son of Poseidon and Salamis, daughter of Asopus. Cychreus had become king by killing a snake that ravaged the island, and since he died childless he left the kingdom to Telamon. Telamon married Periboea, daughter of Alcathus, son of Pelops (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.7). In Diodorus’ version (4.72.7), Telamon first married Glauce, daughter of Cychreus, and so became king of the island; when she died he married Eriboea, daughter of Alcathus, who bore him Ajax.

Their son was Ajax. In Pindar’s account Heracles came to summon Telamon to the war against Troy and found the company at a feast. Telamon handed him a golden cup, and Heracles prayed to Zeus that Telamon might have a brave son by Eriboea. Zeus sent an eagle, and Heracles told Telamon that the child would be born and should be named Ajax after the bird (Pindar, Isthmian 6.35–54). Apollodorus gives the same reason for the name (Library 3.12.7).

Heracles, the Argonauts and Calydon

Telamon was one of the heroes who sailed in the Argo for the Golden Fleece (Apollodorus, Library 1.9.16) and was among those who came to hunt the Calydonian boar (Library 1.8.2). His brother Peleus was with him on the Argo.

The sack of Troy and Hesione

When Laomedon, king of Troy, cheated Apollo and Poseidon of their wages, Poseidon sent a sea monster, and an oracle said it could be stopped only if Laomedon exposed his daughter Hesione to it. Heracles, who found her tied to the rocks, killed the monster in return for the mares that Zeus had given as compensation for the abduction of Ganymede, but Laomedon refused to pay (Apollodorus, Library 2.5.9).

Heracles later returned with an army. Telamon was the first to breach the wall and enter the city, and Heracles followed. Heracles drew his sword against Telamon, unwilling that anyone should be thought a better man than himself, but Telamon began to pile up stones and said he was building an altar to Heracles the Glorious Victor, and Heracles thanked him. Heracles shot down Laomedon and his sons, except Podarces, and gave Hesione to Telamon as a prize. She was allowed to take one of the captives with her, and chose her brother Podarces, who was afterwards called Priam (Apollodorus, Library 2.6.4). Pindar also names Telamon as Heracles’ companion in this war (Isthmian 6.26–31) and says that he sacked Laomedon’s city as the comrade of Iolaus (Nemean 3.36–37). By Hesione, Telamon had a son, Teucer (Apollodorus, Library 3.12.7).

Telamon and his sons

Homer treats Teucer as illegitimate: Agamemnon reminds him that Telamon took him into his house although he was a bastard (Iliad 8.281–285). Ajax and Teucer both sailed against Troy, and Pausanias was shown a stone at Salamis where Telamon was said to have sat to watch the ship in which his children sailed for Aulis (Description of Greece 1.35.3). After Ajax’s death, Teucer is said to have been the first to defend himself from a ship, as exiles later did in the Athenian law courts, arguing before Telamon that he was guiltless of his brother’s death (Pausanias 1.28.11). No ancient source gives an account of how Telamon himself died.

Telamon Sources

Homer, Iliad 8.281–285; Hesiod, Theogony 1003–1005; Pindar, Nemean 3.36–37 and Isthmian 6.26–54; Apollodorus, Library 1.8.2, 1.9.16, 2.5.9, 2.6.4, 3.12.6–7; Diodorus Siculus 4.72.6–7; Pausanias 1.28.11, 1.35.3, 2.29.9.

See Also: Aeacus, Endeis, Peleus, Phocus, Ajax, Teucer, Heracles, Argonauts, Hesione