Laertes in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Laertes

19 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Laertes, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Laertes was a mythical figure in Greek mythology, son of Arcesius and Chalcomedusa. He was married to Anticlea, daughter of the thief Autolycus; they ... For the story in one place, read our article on Laertes.

Homer (15)

Homer, Odyssey 24.203–411Odysseus and LaertesOdysseus and his companions go down to the farm of Laertes, who is working in the orchard, in old and dirty clothes. Odysseus, weeping, tests him with a false tale, and Laertes grieves and falls to the ground, and Odysseus tells him who he is and shows him the scar and the trees that he had been given as a child. Laertes recognises him, and Athena makes the old man taller and stronger, and they eat. Dolius and his sons come in from the fields and join them at the meal.
Homer, Odyssey 16.1–153Telemachus comes to the hutAt dawn Eumaeus and Odysseus prepare breakfast, and the dogs, which do not bark, show that a friend is coming. Telemachus enters, and Eumaeus embraces him, weeping, and Odysseus rises to give him his seat, but Telemachus bids him stay. Eumaeus tells him of the stranger, and Telemachus promises him clothes, a sword and shoes, but says that he cannot protect him from the suitors. He then sends Eumaeus to tell Penelope that he is home.
Homer, Odyssey 24.412–548The kinsmen of the suitors; peace restoredRumour carries the news of the slaughter through the city, and the kinsmen of the suitors take up their bodies and gather in the market-place, where Eupeithes, the father of Antinous, calls for revenge. Odysseus and his men arm and go out to meet them. Laertes kills Eupeithes with a spear, and Athena, in the likeness of Mentor, calls off the fighting, and a covenant is made between the two sides.
Homer, Odyssey 22.89–204The slaying of the suitors: Amphinomus and MelanthiusAmphinomus rushes at Odysseus with his sword and is killed by Telemachus' spear, and Telemachus runs to the store-room for shields, spears and helmets. Melanthius makes two trips for arms for the suitors before Eumaeus and Philoetius catch him and bind him to a pillar.
Homer, Odyssey 2.1–145Telemachus calls the assemblyAt dawn Telemachus calls the people of Ithaca to the assembly, which has not met since Odysseus left. He tells them of his grief for his father and of the suitors who devour his house, and urges them to feel shame. Antinous answers that the blame lies with Penelope, who put the suitors off for three years with the web of Laertes' shroud, and Telemachus ends by calling on Zeus to bring vengeance.
Homer, Odyssey 4.715–847Penelope's grief; Athena sends a phantomPenelope learns of the plot and of her son's journey and sinks down on the threshold, wailing, while her maids gather round her. Eurycleia confesses that she knew of the voyage, and tells her to wash and pray to Athena. Athena sends a phantom in the likeness of Penelope's sister Iphthime, which tells her that her son will return, and the suitors set out to lie in ambush on the island of Asteris.
Homer, Odyssey 9.473–566Odysseus taunts the CyclopsOdysseus shouts back to the Cyclops from the ship and tells him that Zeus has punished his wickedness. The Cyclops tears off a hill-top and hurls it so that it nearly strikes the ship, and he does so again after Odysseus, against the pleading of his men, shouts out his own name. The Cyclops prays to Poseidon, his father, that Odysseus never reach home, or that he come late and alone, in a stranger's ship, and find trouble in his house. The ships rejoin the rest of the fleet, and they sail on.
Homer, Odyssey 10.466–574Circe's instructions; the death of ElpenorAfter a year the men urge Odysseus to think of home, and Circe tells him that before he goes he must visit the house of Hades and consult the ghost of Teiresias. She tells him how to make the offerings and where to land. Odysseus rouses his men, but the youngest, Elpenor, who had gone to sleep on the roof, falls from it and breaks his neck. The men weep at the news of the journey they must make, and Circe passes unseen to leave a ram and a black ewe by the ship.
Homer, Odyssey 15.301–379Odysseus tests EumaeusIn the hut, Odysseus, wanting to learn whether Eumaeus will really keep him on, says that he must go to the city to beg. Eumaeus bids him stay and says that the suitors are hard masters, and that he would rather be the servant of a kind lord. Odysseus asks about the parents of Odysseus, and Eumaeus tells him that Laertes lives on, sorrowing, and that Anticlea has died of grief.
Homer, Odyssey 15.380–492Eumaeus tells his storyOdysseus asks Eumaeus how he came to be a slave, and Eumaeus says that he was the son of a king of an island called Syria, and was stolen as a child by a Phoenician woman who had been a slave in his father's house. She was taken off by sea and died on the voyage, and he was sold to Laertes. Odysseus answers that Zeus has given him good along with evil, and that he himself is a wanderer.
Homer, Odyssey 19.96–163Penelope questions the strangerPenelope has a chair set for the stranger by the fire and asks him who he is. Odysseus answers that she should not ask about his family and country, which would make him weep, and praises her fame. Penelope tells how the gods ruined her beauty when Odysseus left, how she put off the suitors with the web of Laertes' shroud, and how her parents now urge her to remarry.
Homer, Odyssey 19.164–316The stranger's tale of CreteOdysseus says that he comes from Crete, that his name is Aethon and that he is the younger brother of Idomeneus, and that he once entertained Odysseus in Crete when the wind drove him toward Troy. Penelope weeps, and tests him, asking what clothes Odysseus wore, and he describes the purple cloak with the golden brooch and the tunic that shone like the skin of an onion. He then says that Odysseus is alive in Thesprotia and will return, but Penelope does not believe him.
Homer, Odyssey 22.310–380Leiodes, Phemius and MedonLeiodes begs for his life, saying he never wronged anyone and tried to restrain the others, but Odysseus kills him with the sword that had fallen from a suitor's hand. The minstrel Phemius begs for mercy, and Telemachus asks his father to spare him and the herald Medon, who had been kind to him as a boy. Odysseus spares both, and tells them to go out into the courtyard.
Homer, Odyssey 24.98–202Amphimedon's storyThe ghost of Agamemnon asks Amphimedon how so many young men came to die, and Amphimedon tells how the suitors courted Penelope, who put them off with the web, and how Odysseus came in disguise and killed them. He says that their bodies still lie unburied in the hall. Agamemnon praises Penelope's virtue and contrasts her with Clytemnestra.
Homer, Odyssey 11.150–224AnticleaThe ghost of Odysseus' mother Anticlea comes up and drinks the blood, and knows him. She tells him that Penelope still weeps in the house, that Telemachus holds the estates, and that his father Laertes lives in the country, grieving. She herself died of longing for him, and Odysseus three times tries to embrace her and she slips through his hands like a shadow.

Sophocles (2)

Sophocles, Ajax 1–133Prologue: Athena shows Odysseus the madness of AjaxAthena sees Odysseus tracking footprints near the tent of Ajax, and Odysseus says that the army's cattle have been found slaughtered and that everyone blames Ajax. Athena tells how she sent a madness on Ajax, so that he took the animals for the Greek chiefs and tortured and killed them, and calls him out of his tent. Though Ajax boasts to her that he has dealt with the Atreidae and Odysseus, Odysseus does not rejoice, but pities him, and Athena tells him to learn from this to avoid arrogance toward the gods.
Sophocles, Philoctetes 391–506First stasimon; Philoctetes asks about Troy and begs to be taken homeThe Chorus pray to the Earth, mother of Zeus, in sympathy with Neoptolemus. Philoctetes asks about the men he knew at Troy, and hears that Ajax, Antilochus and Patroclus are dead while Odysseus and Thersites live, so that the gods spare the evil. When Neoptolemus says that he is about to set sail, Philoctetes begs him, by his father and mother and by everything dear to him, not to leave him but to take him home to Oeta.

Euripides (1)

Euripides, Rhesus 882–949Exodos: the Muse mourns her son RhesusThe Chorus wonders why fate changes and brings Troy again to mourning, and sees the corpse of Rhesus being carried in. The Muse, his mother, appears, laments her son, and curses the son of Oeneus and the son of Laertes. She tells how she bore Rhesus by the river Strymon and gave him to the fountain nymphs to rear, and she blames Athena for his death.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (1)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 12.1–116Odysseus plans the Wooden HorseCalchas assembles the chiefs and tells of a falcon that waited in vain by the cleft in the rock where a dove had hidden. Odysseus proposes building a great horse in which the best of the Argives will hide. Neoptolemus objects, but Zeus's thunderbolt falls, and Athena appears to Epeius in a dream and tells him to build.