Conon · Narrations Διηγήσεις

Conon, Narrations 44.1–47.2: Euangelus, Orpheus, Aeneas and Althaemenes

A captive's son becomes the first prophet of the Branchidae at Miletus, and Orpheus is torn apart by women and honored as a hero. Aeneas' travels end at Aenus, with a pointed remark on the Roman version of his story. Althaemenes, refusing both the Dorian and the Ionian colonists, settles Rhodes.

Sections 44.1–47.2 · 1183 words · click a number to copy its link

Ἡ μδ΄ ἱστορία φησὶν ὡς Λεωδάμας καὶ Φίτρης ἤρισαν ὑπὲρ τῆς Μιλησίων βασιλείας, γένους ἄμφω ὄντες βασιλείου. τὸ κοινὸν δὲ τῇ ἐκείνων κακούμενοι στάσει τῆς μὲν φιλονεικίας μετὰ πολλὰ πάθη ἐξίσταντο, ἔκρινον δ᾿ ἐκεῖνον βασιλεύειν, ὃς Μιλησίους πλείω ἀγαθὰ ἐργάσοιτο. ἦσαν δ᾿ αὐτοῖς τότε δύο πόλεμοι Καρυστίοις καὶ Μηλιεῦσι. καὶ πρὸς μὲν Μῆλον (αὐτῷ γὰρ ὁ κλῆρος τοῦτον ἐδίδου τὸν πόλεμον) Φίτρης στρατεύσας ἄπρακτος ἀναστρέφει· Λεωδάμας δὲ λαμπρῶς κατὰ Καρυστίων ἀνδραγαθήσας καὶ κατὰ κράτος ἑλὼν τὴν πόλιν καὶ ἀνδραποδισάμενος, Μιλήτου ἐπανιὼν κατὰ τὰ συγκείμενα βασιλεύει.

44. Leodamas, Phitres and the Branchidae

The forty-fourth history says that Leodamas and Phitres quarrelled over the kingship of the Milesians, both being of royal descent. The community, harmed by their strife, gave up the contest after many troubles, and decided that the one should be king who would do the Milesians more good. They then had two wars at once, against the Carystians and the Melians. And against Melos (for the lot gave him that war) Phitres campaigned and came back with nothing done; but Leodamas, distinguishing himself brilliantly against the Carystians, and taking the city by storm and enslaving the people, returned to Miletus and became king according to the agreement.

αἰχμάλωτον δὲ κατὰ χρησμὸν γυναῖκα Καρυστίαν, παῖδα φέρουσαν ὑπομάστιον, μετὰ πολλῶν καὶ ἄλλων ἀναθημάτων, ἃ δεκάτη τῶν λαφύρων ἐτύγχανον, ἀνέπεμψεν ἐν Βραγχίδαις. αὐτὸς δὲ τότε Βράγχος προϋστήκει τοῦ τε ἱεροῦ καὶ τοῦ μαντείου, ὃς τήν τε αἰχμάλωτον γυναῖκα ἐνόμισε καὶ τὸν παῖδα αὐτῆς ἔθετο. ηὔξανε δ᾿ ὁ παῖς οὐ κατὰ λόγον, ἀλλὰ θείᾳ τινὶ τύχῃ, καὶ πλέον ἢ πρὸς τὴν ἡλικίαν ἀπήντα τὸ εὐσύνετον. ποιεῖται δ᾿ αὐτὸν ὁ Βράγχος καὶ ἄγγελον τῶν μαντευμάτων, Εὐάγγελον ὀνομάσας. οὗτος ἡβήσας τὸ Βράγχου μαντεῖον ἐξεδέξατο, καὶ ἀρχὴ γένους Εὐαγγελιδῶν παρὰ Μιλησίοις ἐγένετο.

By an oracle, he sent to the Branchidae a captive Carystian woman, with a baby at the breast, together with many other offerings, which were the tithe of the spoils. Branchus himself at that time presided over the sanctuary and the oracle, and he took the captive woman into his household [?] and adopted her child. The boy grew not in the ordinary way, but by some divine chance, and his intelligence was greater than befitted his age. Branchus made him also the messenger of the oracles, naming him Euangelus. When he was grown he succeeded to the oracle of Branchus, and became the founder of the family of the Euangelidae among the Milesians.

Ἡ με΄, ὡς Ὀρφεύς, ὁ Οἰάγρου καὶ Καλλιόπης μιᾶς τῶν Μουσῶν, ἐβασίλευε Μακεδόνων καὶ τῆς Ὀδρυσίδος, ἐπετήδευε δὲ μουσικὴν καὶ μάλιστα κιθαρῳδίαν καὶ (φιλόμουσον γὰρ τὸ Θρᾳκῶν καὶ Μακεδόνων γένος) ἤρεσκεν ἐν τούτοις διαφερόντως τῷ πλήθει. κατέσχε δὲ δόξα ὡς εἰς Ἅιδου κατάβοι ἔρωτι τῆς γυναικὸς Εὐρυδίκης, καὶ ὡς τὸν Πλούτωνα καὶ τὴν Κόρην ᾠδαῖς γοητεύσας δῶρον λάβοι τὴν γυναῖκα· ἀλλ᾿ οὐ γὰρ ὄνασθαι τῆς χάριτος ἀναβιωσκομένης, λαθόμενον τῶν περὶ αὐτῆς ἐντολῶν. οὕτω δὲ θέλγειν καὶ κατακηλεῖν αὐτὸν ᾠδαῖς εἶναι σοφόν, ὡς καὶ θηρία καὶ οἰωνοὺς καὶ δὴ καὶ ξύλα καὶ λίθους συμπερινοστεῖν ὑφ᾿ ἡδονῆς.

45. Orpheus

The forty-fifth: how Orpheus, the son of Oeagrus and of Calliope, one of the Muses, was king of the Macedonians and of the Odrysian land, and practised music, especially singing to the lyre, and (for the race of Thracians and Macedonians is fond of music) pleased the people exceedingly in this. A report prevailed that out of love for his wife Eurydice he went down to Hades, and that, having enchanted Pluto and Kore with songs, he received his wife as a gift; but that he did not enjoy the favor of her return to life, having forgotten the instructions given about her. So skilled was he, they say, at charming and bewitching by songs, that even beasts and birds, and indeed trees and stones, went about with him, in their delight.

τελευτᾷ δὲ διασπασαμένων αὐτὸν τῶν Θρῃκίων καὶ Μακεδόνων γυναικῶν, ὅτι οὐ μετεδίδου αὐταῖς τῶν ὀργίων, τάχα μὲν καὶ κατ᾿ ἄλλας προφάσεις· φασὶ δ᾿ οὖν αὐτὸν δυστυχήσαντα περὶ γυναῖκα πᾶν ἐχθῆραι τὸ γένος. ἐφοίτα μὲν οὖν τακταῖς ἡμέραις ὡπλισμένον πλῆθος Θρᾳκῶν καὶ Μακεδόνων ἐν Λιβήθροις, εἰς οἴκημα ἓν συνερχόμενον μέγα τε καὶ πρὸς τελετὰς εὖ πεποιημένον· ὁπότε δ᾿ ὀργιάζειν εἰσίασι, πρὸ τῶν πυλῶν ἀπετίθεσαν τὰ ὅπλα. ὃ αἱ γυναῖκες ἐπιτηρήσασαι, καὶ τὰ ὅπλα ἁρπασάμεναι, ὑπ᾿ ὀργῆς τῆς διὰ τὴν ἀτιμίαν τούς τε προσπίπτοντας κατειργάσαντο, καὶ τὸν Ὀρφέα κατὰ μέλη ἔρριψαν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν σποράδην.

He met his end when the Thracian and Macedonian women tore him apart, because he did not give them a share in the rites, perhaps for other reasons as well; but they say that, having been unfortunate over a woman, he had come to hate the whole race. On appointed days an armed multitude of Thracians and Macedonians used to gather at Libethra, in a single large building that was well constructed for initiations; and when they went in to celebrate the orgies, they put down their weapons in front of the gates. The women, having watched for this, and having seized the weapons, in the anger they felt at being dishonored, killed those who came upon them, and cast Orpheus limb from limb into the sea, scattering them.

λοιμῷ δὲ τῆς χώρας, ὅτι μὴ ἀπῃτήθησαν δίκην αἱ γυναῖκες, κακουμένης, δεόμενοι λωφῆσαι τὸ δεινόν, ἔλαβον χρησμόν, τὴν κεφαλὴν τὴν Ὀρφέως ἣν ἀνευρόντες θάψωσι, τυχεῖν ἀπαλλαγῆς. καὶ μόλις αὐτὴν περὶ τὰς ἐκβολὰς τοῦ Μέλητος δι᾿ ἁλιέως ἀνεῦρον ποταμοῦ, καὶ τότε ᾄδουσαν καὶ μηδὲν παθοῦσαν ὑπὸ τῆς θαλάσσης, μηδέ τι ἄλλο τῶν ὅσα κῆρες ἀνθρώπιναι νεκρῶν αἴσχη φέρουσιν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐπακμάζουσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ζωϊκῷ καὶ τότε αἵματι μετὰ πολὺν χρόνον ἐπανθοῦσαν. λαβόντες οὖν ὑπὸ σήματι μεγάλῳ θάπτουσι, τέμενος αὐτῷ περιείρξαντες, ὃ τέως μὲν ἡρῷον ἦν, ὕστερον δ᾿ ἐξενίκησεν ἱερὸν εἶναι· θυσίαις τε γὰρ καὶ ὅσοις ἄλλοις θεοὶ τιμῶνται γεραίρεται. ἔστι δὲ γυναιξὶ παντελῶς ἄβατον.

When the country was afflicted by a plague, because the women had not been called to account, the people, begging for relief from the evil, received an oracle that they would obtain release if they found and buried the head of Orpheus. And with difficulty they found it, through a fisherman, near the mouths of the river Meles, singing even then and having suffered nothing from the sea, nor any of the disfigurements that mortal fates inflict on the dead, but in full bloom, flowering with living blood even then, after a long time. They took it, then, and bury it under a great mound, enclosing a sacred precinct around it, which for a time was a hero-shrine, but later prevailed as a temple; for he is honored with sacrifices and with everything else with which gods are honored. It is wholly forbidden to women.

Ἡ μς΄, ὡς Τροίας πορθουμένης ὑπεκτίθεται Πρίαμος εἰς Λυδίαν δύο παῖδας Ἕκτορος, Ὀξύνιον καὶ Σκάμανδρον. ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸ Ἴλιον ἥλω, Αἰνείας ὁ Ἀγχίσου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης, διαφυγὼν τοὺς Ἀχαιούς, τὸ μὲν πρῶτον ᾤκει τὴν Ἴδην, Ὀξυνίου δὲ καὶ Σκαμάνδρου ἐπανελθόντων ἀπὸ Λυδίας καὶ ὡς πατρῴας λήξεως μεταποιουμένων τῶν περὶ τὸ Ἴλιον τόπων, ἀναλαβὼν Ἀγχίσην τὸν πατέρα καὶ ὅσους δύναιτο τῶν συμφυγάδων, πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνίσχοντα ᾤχετο κατὰ Ἀφροδίτης ἐπίσκηψιν. διαβὰς οὖν τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον, καὶ ἀφικόμενος εἰς Θερμὸν καλούμενον κόλπον, Ἀγχίσην μὲν ἀποθανόντα θάπτει, αὐτὸς δέ, τῶν ἐπιχωρίων δεομένων ὥστε βασιλεύειν αὐτῶν, οὐκ ἐδέξατο. εἶτα εἰς τὴν Βρουσιάδα γῆν ἔρχεται· πᾶσι δ᾿ ἦν ἐφίμερος, οἷς ἐντυγχάνοι, κατὰ χάριν τῆς Ἀφροδίτης. ἐνταῦθα μυκησαμένης τῆς συνεπομένης αὐτῷ βοὸς ἐξ Ἴδης (τοῦτο γὰρ Ἀφροδίτη ἐπέσκηψε) λαμβάνει τὸ κράτος τῆς γῆς διδόντων τῶν ἐπιχωρίων, καὶ τὴν βοῦν θύει Ἀφροδίτῃ, καὶ κτίζει πόλιν, ἣ τότε μὲν Αἰνεία ἀπὸ τοῦ κτίσαντος, ὕστερον δὲ παρενεγκόντος τοῦ ὀνόματος Αἶνος ἐκλήθη. λόγος μὲν οὖν εἷς οὗτος ὑπὸ Ἑλλήνων ἐπὶ πολλοῖς ἄλλοις λέγεται· ὁ δὲ τὸ Ῥωμαῖον γένος εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφέρων καὶ οἰκιστὴν ποιῶν Ἄλβας, καὶ τὸ χρηστήριον ὃ κατοικεῖν ἐπέτρεπεν ὁπότ᾿ ἂν αὐτὸς ἅμα τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ θύσας μετὰ τῶν σιτίων καταφάγοι καὶ τὰς τραπέζας, οὗτος κατημάξεται.

46. Aeneas

The forty-sixth: how, when Troy was being sacked, Priam secretly sends away to Lydia two sons of Hector, Oxynius and Scamandrus. And when Ilion had been taken, Aeneas, the son of Anchises and Aphrodite, having escaped the Achaeans, at first lived on Ida; but when Oxynius and Scamandrus came back from Lydia and laid claim to the district around Ilion as their ancestral allotment, he took his father Anchises and as many of his fellow exiles as he could, and set out toward the rising sun at Aphrodite's command. Crossing the Hellespont, and arriving at the gulf called Thermos [?], he buries Anchises, who had died; and he himself, when the locals asked him to be their king, did not accept. Then he comes to the land of Brusias [?]; and he was desirable to all whom he met, by the favor of Aphrodite. There, when the cow that had followed him from Ida lowed (for Aphrodite had laid this on him), he receives the rule of the land, which the locals gave, and sacrifices the cow to Aphrodite, and founds a city, which was at first called Aeneia after its founder, but later, with the name altered, Aenus. This, then, is one account, told by the Greeks together with many others; but the writer who traces the Roman race to him and makes him the founder of Alba, and the oracle that told him to settle wherever he, together with those with him, should sacrifice and eat the tables along with the food, is going off the road [?].

Ἡ μζ΄, ὡς Ἀλθαιμένης, τὸ Ἡρακλειδῶν γένους τρίτῃ γενεᾷ ἀπὸ Τημένας, στασιάζει πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς (νεώτατος δ᾿ ἦν) καὶ μετανίσταται Πελοποννήσου, στρατὸν Δωριέων ἔχων καὶ τινας Πελασγῶν. ἔστελλον δὲ καὶ Ἀθηναῖοι τότε τὴν σὺν Νειλέῳ τε καὶ τοῖς Κοδρίδαις ἀποικίαν· ὁμοίως δὲ καθ᾿ ἑαυτοὺς καὶ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τὸν Φιλονόμου λαὸν ἀπῴκιζον, ὧν ἡγεῖτο Δέλφος ὄνομα καὶ Πόλις. ἑκάτεροι οὖν παρεκάλουν Ἀλθαιμένην συμμετέχειν αὐτοῖς τοῦ ἔργου, οἵ τε Δωριεῖς τοῦ ἐπὶ Κρήτην πλοῦ, ἅτε καὶ αὐτὸν Δωριέα ὄντα, οἵ τε Ἴωνες εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν μετὰ σφῶν περαιωθῆναι. τῷ δ᾿ οὐδετέροις ἐδόκει συμπλεῖν, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν δοθέντα αὐτῷ χρησμὸν ἐπὶ Δία καὶ Ἥλιον κομίζεσθαι, καὶ παρ᾿ αὐτῶν αἰτεῖν εἰς κατοίκησιν γῆν· εἶναι δὲ Διὸς μὲν Κρήτην, Ἡλίου δὲ Ῥόδον.

47. Althaemenes

The forty-seventh: how Althaemenes, of the family of the Heracleidae, a third generation from Temenus [?], quarrelled with his brothers (he was the youngest) and emigrated from the Peloponnese, with an army of Dorians and some Pelasgians. At that time the Athenians too were sending out the colony led by Neileus and the Codridae; and likewise, on their own account, the Lacedaemonians were sending off the people of Philonomus, led by Delphus and Polis. Both parties therefore invited Althaemenes to share in the enterprise, the Dorians in the voyage to Crete, since he himself was a Dorian, the Ionians to cross over to Asia with them. But it seemed good to him to sail with neither, and, in accordance with the oracle that had been given to him, to betake himself to Zeus and Helios, and ask from them a land to live in; and Crete is Zeus's, Rhodes Helios's.

ἀναγόμενος οὖν ἐκ Πελοποννήσου προσίσχει πρὸς τὴν Κρήτην, καὶ μέρος τοῦ λαοῦ τοὺς βουλομένους αὐτόθι οἰκεῖν καταλείπει· αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς πλείους ἔχων Δωρικὸν ἔπλει ἐπὶ Ῥόδον. τὴν δὲ Ῥόδον τὸ μὲν ἀρχαῖον λαὸς αὐτόχθων ἐνέμοντο, ὧν ἦρχε τὸ Ἡλιάδων γένος, οὓς Φοίνικες ἀνέστησαν καὶ τὴν νῆσον ἔσχον· Φοινίκων δ᾿ ἐκπεσόντων Κᾶρες ἔσχον, ὅτε καὶ τὰς ἄλλας νήσους τὰς περὶ τὸ Αἰγαῖον ᾤκησαν. οἷς ἐπιπλεύσαντες οἱ Δωριεῖς, πολέμῳ τὸ Καρικὸν καταστρεψάμενοι, τρεῖς πόλεις ἔκτισαν, Λίνδον, Ἰήλυσον καὶ Κάμειρον. οἱ μὲν οὖν Δωριεῖς ἀπὸ Ἀλθαιμένους ἀρξάμενοι μέχρι καὶ δεῦρο καταβεβήκασιν· αἱ δὲ τρεῖς πόλεις εἰς μίαν ἀποκλεισθεῖσαι μεγάλην καὶ εὐδαίμονα, ταὐτὸν ὄνομα τῇ νήσῳ Ῥόδον ἔδοσαν καλεῖσθαι.

So, putting to sea from the Peloponnese, he put in at Crete, and left there part of the people, those who wished to live there; he himself, taking the majority, the Dorian force, sailed toward Rhodes. Rhodes in ancient times a native people inhabited, ruled by the family of the Heliadae, whom the Phoenicians drove out and held the island; and when the Phoenicians were driven out the Carians held it, at the time when they also settled the other islands around the Aegean. The Dorians sailed against them, and, having overthrown the Carian power in war, founded three cities, Lindos, Ialysos and Cameiros. And the Dorians, beginning from Althaemenes, have come down even to the present; and the three cities, shut up into one great and prosperous city, gave the island the same name, to be called Rhodes.

People and places in this passage

English translation by GreekMythology.com (2026). Original text: Immanuel Bekker (ed.), Photii Bibliotheca, vol. 1, Berlin: Reimer, 1824 (cod. 186).

Text layer: Greek text: public domain (Bekker, 1824; our OCR correction of the Internet Archive scan bibliothecaexrec00photuoft). English translation © GreekMythology.com.. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.

Narrations 44.1–47.2: Euangelus, Orpheus, Aeneas and…