Melanippus in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Melanippus

6 passages from 4 ancient authors that tell of Melanippus, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. A number of characters have the name Melanippus in Greek mythology. One of the better known ones was the son of Astacus, who participated in the war ... For the story in one place, read our article on Melanippus.

Homer (1)

Homer, Iliad 15.484–591Hector at the ships; Ajax encourages the AchaeansHector rouses the Trojans, saying that they have come to the ships and that to die defending his country is no shame. Ajax tells the Achaeans that there is no retreat, only death or safety, and the fighting is hand to hand. Hector kills Schedius and Ajax kills Laodamas, while Menelaus urges Antilochus on, and he kills Melanippus.

Apollodorus (1)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.6.1–8The Seven against ThebesEteocles and Polynices quarrel over the throne of Thebes, and Polynices gathers an Argive army under Adrastus. Amphiaraus foresees disaster but is compelled to join by Eriphyle, who has accepted the necklace of Harmonia. At Nemea the infant Opheltes is killed by a serpent and the Nemean games are founded; at Thebes Menoeceus sacrifices himself on Tiresias's word, Capaneus is struck by lightning, and Eteocles and Polynices kill each other. Tydeus loses Athena's gift by eating Melanippus's brain, Amphiaraus is swallowed by the earth, and only Adrastus escapes.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Seven against Thebes 369–456Second episode: Tydeus and Capaneus at the first two gatesThe Scout comes back and reports where the seven chieftains stand. Tydeus is storming the Proetid gates and rages at the seer for holding him back. Eteocles sets Melanippus against him, and then, after the Chorus prays, he answers the Scout's report of Capaneus, a giant who has boasted that even Zeus cannot keep him out of the city, by posting Polyphontes against him and trusting in the thunderbolt of Zeus.

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 7.19.1–10Patrae: Comaetho and Melanippus, and the chest of EurypylusPausanias begins with the tomb of Eurypylus and the sanctuary of Artemis Triclaria. He tells how the priestess Comaetho and her lover Melanippus desecrated the sanctuary, so that Delphi ordered a yearly sacrifice of a youth and a maiden, and the river was named Amilichus. The sacrifice ended when Eurypylus, son of Euaemon, arrived mad from seeing the image of Dionysus in a chest from Troy, and the river was renamed Milichus. Pausanias reports and doubts a variant that makes the hero another Eurypylus, son of Dexamenus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 9.18.1–6Thebes: the road to Chalcis, the tombs of Melanippus, Tydeus, Oedipus' children, Tiresias and HectorPausanias follows the road from Thebes to Chalcis by the Proetidian gate, noting the grave of Melanippus and three unwrought stones said to mark Tydeus. He describes the tombs of the children of Oedipus, where the flame and smoke of the sacrifices are said to divide, and the cenotaph of Tiresias. At Thebes he also notes the grave of Hector, whose bones were brought from Ilium by an oracle, the fountain of Oedipus and the grave of Asphodicus.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 10.25.1–11Delphi: the Cnidian Lesche and Polygnotus' painting of Troy after its capture (1)Pausanias describes the building dedicated by the Cnidians at Delphi, called the Lesche or Club-room, with its paintings by Polygnotus. On the right wall the painting shows Troy after its capture and the Greeks setting sail, with Menelaus' crew and the pilot Phrontis, then Helen and her handmaids, Helenus, the wounded Meges and Lycomedes, Aethra and Demophon, and the captive Trojan women, Andromache, Medisicaste and Polyxena, with Nestor.