Scamander in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Scamander

7 passages from 3 ancient authors that tell of Scamander, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Scamander was a river god in Greek mythology, son of the Titans gods Oceanus and Tethys, and personification of the eponymous river. He supported the... For the story in one place, read our article on Scamander.

Homer (5)

Homer, Iliad 2.394–483Agamemnon's sacrifice; the army mustersAgamemnon sacrifices an ox to Zeus and prays that the sun may not set before he burns Priam's palace and slays Hector, but Zeus accepts the offering and increases their toil. After the feast Nestor urges them to arm, and the army pours out onto the plain of Scamander like flocks of birds and swarms of flies, with Athena moving among them holding the aegis. The poet compares Agamemnon to Zeus, Ares and Poseidon.
Homer, Iliad 5.1–94Athena empowers DiomedesAthena fills Diomedes with strength and sets a flame burning from his helmet and shield, and he drives into the Trojans, killing Phegeus while Hephaestus saves Phegeus' brother Idaeus. Athena takes Ares out of the fighting, and the Achaeans turn the Trojans, each leader killing a man. Diomedes rages across the plain like a river in flood, and the Trojan ranks cannot stand before him.
Homer, Iliad 5.711–792Hera and Athena ride down to the plainHera harnesses her chariot while Hebe fits the wheels, and she and Athena arm themselves, Athena taking the aegis and her great spear. The Hours open the gates of heaven, and Hera asks Zeus whether she may drive Ares from the battle, and he tells her to set Athena on him. They come to the plain where the Simois and Scamander meet, and Hera, in the voice of Stentor, shouts to shame the Achaeans.
Homer, Iliad 21.233–325Scamander against AchillesPoseidon and Athena, in the likeness of men, take Achilles by the hand and promise him victory over Hector. The river goes on pursuing him, and Scamander calls on his brother Simois to help and rushes upon Achilles, raging on high with foam, blood and dead men.
Homer, Iliad 21.326–382Hephaestus fights the riverThe flood towers over Achilles and is about to overwhelm him, and Hera calls on her son Hephaestus to turn his fire against the river. Hephaestus burns the dead on the plain and then scorches the elms, willows and tamarisks and the fish in the stream. Scamander begs him to stop and swears that he will no longer help the Trojans, and Hera calls her son off.

Aeschylus (1)

Aeschylus, Eumenides 397–489Athena arrives and hears both sidesAthena arrives from the Scamander and is astonished at the strange group. The Furies tell her who they are and what their function is, and she says that only half of the case has been heard. Orestes tells her who he is, and says that he killed his mother by Apollo's command. Athena says that the case is too great for any single mortal, and decides to appoint judges from the citizens to try it.

Lycophron (1)

Lycophron, Alexandra 1253–1368Alexandra 1253–1368: The sow's colony and the Sibyl, and the chain of rapes and reprisals between the two continentsThe founder sets up a bronze image of the sow and her young and builds a shrine to Pallenis, putting his fathers' gods and his aged sire before his wife and goods, and, judged most pious even by his foes, founds a famous land near Circaeon and the Sibyl's cave. Cassandra then recounts the older quarrel: the carrying off of the ox-eyed girl from Lerne to the lord of Memphis, the reprisal on the Saraptian heifer taken to Crete, an expedition sent with Teucer and Scamandrus to the Bebryces, and the theft of the fleece by the leader of the single sandal. Further raids follow, a hero taking the girdle and an archer from Themiscyra, the Amazons' invasion of Attica, and a champion in a hide who levels the hill of Troy with the spade. The falcons from Tmolus then ravage Italy, and the fire-brand wakes the old strife again, so that the wronged side will repay the injury threefold and fourfold.