Telamon in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Telamon

41 passages from 13 ancient authors that tell of Telamon, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Telamon or Telemon was the son of King Aeacus of Aegina and Queen Endeis in Greek mythology. He followed Jason in the Argonautic Expedition to retrieve the Golde... For the story in one place, read our article on Telamon.

Hesiod (1)

Hesiod, Fragments 6.1–7.9Fragments of unknown position and of doubtful authorshipThese are short quotations whose place in Hesiod's poems is not known, among them the Three-fold people, and the Muses who make a man wise. A second group is of doubtful authorship and includes the Hesperides, a line about Telamon and the saying that gifts move the gods.

Homer (10)

Homer, Iliad 11.489–595Ajax holds the line; Machaon is woundedAjax defends the Achaeans like a river in spate, while Hector fights on the left and is unaware of him. Paris wounds the healer Machaon in the shoulder, and Idomeneus asks Nestor to take him to the ships. Zeus puts fear into Ajax, and he withdraws slowly like a stubborn donkey beaten from a cornfield.
Homer, Iliad 8.253–349Teucer's arrowsDiomedes leads the Danaans out, and Teucer, sheltering behind the shield of Ajax, shoots down Trojan after Trojan while Agamemnon praises him. Twice he aims at Hector and misses, killing Gorgythion and then Hector's charioteer Archeptolemus. Hector hurls a stone that breaks Teucer's collar-bone and Ajax covers him, but Zeus gives Hector the upper hand and the Achaeans are driven back.
Homer, Iliad 14.440–522The Trojans are routedWhen the Achaeans see Hector withdraw, they leap on the Trojans, and Ajax son of Oileus kills Satnius. Polydamas kills Prothoenor, Ajax son of Telamon kills Archelochus, and Acamas and Peneleos each kill a man. The Trojans flee, and the swift son of Oileus kills most of all.
Homer, Iliad 17.233–365The Achaeans rally round the body of PatroclusThe Trojans charge in a mass, hoping to drag the body away, and Ajax tells Menelaus to call the Achaean chiefs. The Achaeans fight over the body, and Ajax kills Hippothous. Apollo, in the likeness of Periphas, urges Aeneas to stand fast, and the Achaeans fall back, though fewer of them are killed because they guard one another in the throng.
Homer, Iliad 9.606–713The Embassy to Achilles: Ajax's appeal and the returnAchilles tells Phoenix that he has no need of Agamemnon's honour, since Zeus honours him, and bids him stay the night and decide in the morning whether to sail. Ajax tells Odysseus that they should go, since Achilles' heart is wild in his breast, and Achilles replies that he will not fight until Hector reaches the ships of the Myrmidons. Odysseus reports to the Achaeans, and Diomedes tells Agamemnon to leave Achilles alone and lead them out at dawn.
Homer, Iliad 12.290–377Sarpedon and Glaucus; Ajax is called to the wallSarpedon tells Glaucus that the honours they have in Lycia, the seats, meat and wine and the great estate on the Xanthus, oblige them to be foremost in the fighting. Menestheus, seeing them come against his tower, sends a herald to Ajax for help, and Ajax and Teucer hurry to the place.
Homer, Iliad 13.126–205Hector rolls on; Imbrius and AmphimachusThe Achaeans close their ranks round the two Ajaxes, and Hector comes on like a boulder bounding down a cliff until he is stopped by their line. Teucer kills Imbrius, and Hector's spear, aimed at Teucer, kills Amphimachus instead. The two Ajaxes carry off the body of Imbrius, and the son of Oileus cuts off the head and sends it rolling before Hector's feet.
Homer, Iliad 13.673–787Polydamas' counsel; Hector regroupsHector, fighting on the left, does not know that the Achaeans are winning elsewhere. Polydamas advises him to call the chiefs together and decide whether to press on or retire, and Hector agrees but finds many of the leaders wounded or dead. He rebukes Paris sharply, and Paris answers that he will come with him.
Homer, Odyssey 11.465–567Achilles and AjaxThe ghosts of Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus and Ajax come up. Achilles says that he would rather be the hired servant of a poor man on earth than king of all the dead, and asks for news of his son Neoptolemus and his father Peleus. Odysseus tells him how Neoptolemus fought at Troy, and Achilles departs rejoicing. The ghost of Ajax, still angry about the arms of Achilles, will not speak.
Homer, Iliad 7.92–205The nine champions draw lotsMenelaus is ashamed at the silence and is the first to arm, but Agamemnon holds him back. Nestor rebukes the Achaeans, wishes that he were young enough to fight Hector, and tells how he once killed Ereuthalion. Nine rise to answer the challenge, and the lot falls to Ajax son of Telamon, who prays to Zeus and arms himself.

Apollodorus (2)

Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 3.12.1–7Dardanus, Priam and the royal house of TroyElectra's son Dardanus founds the line of the Trojan kings through Erichthonius and Tros, to Ganymede, Anchises and Ilus. Ilus founds Ilium on the spot where the cow lies down and receives the Palladium, and Laomedon and Priam follow him, with Tithonus and Memnon among Laomedon's line. The section lists Priam's children, including Hecuba's dream before Paris's birth, Cassandra's gift, and Paris and Oenone, and ends with the sons of Aeacus, Peleus and Telamon, the murder of Phocus and the birth of Ajax and Teucer.
Apollodorus, The Library (Bibliotheca), with the Epitome 2.6.1–4Heracles, Iphitus and OmphaleAfter the labours Heracles wins the archery contest for Iole but is refused, and later, in a fresh fit of madness, throws Iphitus from the walls of Tiryns. Struck with disease, he tries to carry off the Delphic tripod, and is told to be sold into slavery for three years; he serves Omphale of Lydia, binds the Cercopes and kills Syleus. Afterwards he sails against Troy, sacks it and kills Laomedon, and Telamon gets Hesione, whose brother Podarces is ransomed and renamed Priam.

Pindar (4)

Pindar, Isthmian Odes 6.1–75Isthmian 6: for Phylacidas — Heracles and TelamonPindar mixes a second bowl of song for the house of Lampon after the pancratium victory of Phylacidas. He tells how Heracles, as Telamon's guest, prayed to Zeus for a son and Zeus sent an eagle, so that the child was named Aias, and how Heracles sailed with Telamon against Troy and killed Laomedon and his sons. He ends with the victories of Phylacidas, Pytheas and their uncle Euthymenes, who has won at the Isthmus and Nemea.
Pindar, Nemean Odes 3.1–84Nemean 3: for Aristocleides — the Aeacidae and CheironPindar calls on the Muse to come to Aegina for the pancratiast Aristocleides, and says that victory in the contest heals its blows. He recalls the Aeacidae: Peleus, who took Iolcus and won the sea-nymph Thetis, Telamon, who followed Heracles against Laomedon, and Achilles, whom Cheiron trained in all the arts of a hero. The ode ends with the virtues that suit each age of life.
Pindar, Nemean Odes 4.1–96Nemean 4: for Timasarchus — Peleus and ThetisPindar says that good cheer and song heal the toil of contests and praises Timasarchus of Aegina, boys' wrestling victor. He recalls Teucer, who rules in Cyprus, Ajax at Salamis, and Peleus, who wedded Thetis, one of the Nereids, and saw the gods promise sovereignty to his line. He promises to raise a monument of song for the victor's uncle Callicles.
Pindar, Nemean Odes 5.1–54Nemean 5: for Pytheas — Peleus and the wife of AcastusPindar sends his song out from Aegina to announce the pancratium victory of Pytheas, and says that reverence restrains him from telling how Peleus and Telamon left the island. He tells instead how Peleus resisted the false advances of the wife of Acastus, and how the Muses sang at his wedding to Thetis. He ends by praising Pytheas and his trainer Menander and by bringing garlands to the portals of Aeacus.

Sophocles (5)

Sophocles, Ajax 134–200Parodos: the sailors of SalamisThe Chorus of Salaminian sailors, followers of Ajax, say that rumours are spreading through the army that Ajax has killed the captured cattle, and that Odysseus is spreading the slander. They say that envy strikes the great, wonder whether Artemis or Ares sent the madness, and call on Ajax to come out and answer his enemies.
Sophocles, Ajax 545–595Second episode (cont.): Ajax and his son EurysacesAjax takes his young son in his arms, prays that he will be luckier than his father but otherwise like him, and tells the Chorus to ask Teucer to take the boy home to Telamon. He gives him his great shield and tells Tecmessa to take the child and shut the doors of the tent. The Chorus is afraid of his words.
Sophocles, Ajax 596–645First stasimon: the sailors long for SalamisThe Chorus sing of famous Salamis and of the long months of toil and exile at Troy, with no end in sight, and of Ajax's illness. They say that his mother will cry out in grief when she hears of the madness of her son, and that his father Telamon will hear a heavy curse upon his house.
Sophocles, Ajax 974–1039Teucer arrives and mourns AjaxTeucer arrives and learns from the Chorus that Ajax is dead, and asks for his son to be brought so that no enemy can seize him. He grieves over the body, says that he fears what his father Telamon will say, and tells how Ajax and Hector exchanged gifts, the sword and the belt, which proved fatal to each of them.
Sophocles, Ajax 1223–1315Fifth episode: Agamemnon and Teucer quarrelTeucer returns when he sees Agamemnon coming, and Agamemnon calls him a captive's son and asks how he dares to speak so boldly. Teucer tells him how Ajax saved the Greek ships from Hector's fire, and how much the army owes him. He answers with the ancestry of Agamemnon and says that he will protect the body with his own life.

Euripides (2)

Euripides, Trojan Women 782–858Second choral song; Talthybius takes Astyanax awayTalthybius tells the child to leave his mother and to mount the towers to die, and Hecuba cries out for the boy, wondering what she can do for him. The Chorus sings to Telamon, king of Salamis, who once came with Heracles to take Troy, and mourns that the gods have now abandoned the city and that it is lost.
Euripides, Helen 68–141First episode: Teucer arrives and brings news of Troy and LedaTeucer arrives at the palace and, seeing Helen, curses her likeness to the woman who ruined the Greeks. Helen questions him, and he tells of his exile from Salamis after the death of his brother Aias, and of the sack of Troy. He says that Menelaus is reported dead, that Leda hanged herself, and that the Dioscuri are said to be both dead and gods.

Apollonius Rhodius (5)

Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.1261–1362Heracles and Polyphemus are left behindHeracles searches wildly for Hylas, and at dawn Argo sails on without him and Polyphemus. Telamon accuses Jason of leaving Heracles behind on purpose, until the sea-god Glaucus rises from the waves and declares what Zeus has fated for Heracles and for Polyphemus. Telamon and Jason are reconciled.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.439–575The heroes decide to ask Medea for helpMedea, tormented by love, fears for the stranger's life. Argus tells Jason that Medea knows magic and should be asked for help, and after Peleus, Telamon and Idas offer to face the contest, an omen of a dove escaping a hawk, which Mopsus reads as the will of Cypris, persuades the heroes. Idas scorns the plan, and Argus is sent back to the city.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.1–121Pelias' oracle and the catalogue of the ArgonautsThe poet invokes Phoebus and tells how Pelias, warned by an oracle to beware the man with one sandal, sends Jason after the Golden Fleece when Jason loses a sandal crossing the Anaurus. The catalogue of the Argonauts begins with Orpheus and goes on through Asterion, Polyphemus, Admetus, Mopsus, Peleus and Telamon and Tiphys, who steers the ship Athena and Argus built. It closes with Phlias and the sons of Bias from Argos.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.167–298Medea falls in love with JasonIn council Jason proposes to try Aeetes with words first and goes to the palace with the sons of Phrixus, Telamon and Augeias. Hera hides them in mist; Chalciope greets her sons, and Eros shoots Medea with an arrow as Jason stands among them, so that she is struck with love for him.
Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 3.1163–1277Hecate's rites and the arming of Jason and AeetesJason tells the heroes Medea's counsel, and Telamon fetches the dragon's teeth from Aeetes. By night Jason sacrifices to Hecate, and in the morning Aeetes arms himself and goes to the field of the contest. Jason steeps his weapons in the charm, and Idas cannot break his spear.

Diodorus Siculus (2)

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.45.1–4.49.8The Argonauts II: Colchis, Medea and the golden fleeceThe historian explains the custom of the Colchi of killing strangers by the story of Aeëtes and his brother Perses, and gives the traditions about Medea and about Phrixus and the ram with the golden fleece. With Medea's help the Argonauts take the fleece; the king of the Colchi falls in the fighting, and the chiefs sail home by way of Byzantium and Troy.
Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Books 4 to 6 (the Greek myths) 4.71.1–4.75.6Asclepius, Aeacus, Pelops and the kings of TroyThe historian gives the birth and healing art of Asclepius and the descendants of Asopus' daughters, including Aeacus and his sons Peleus and Telamon. He then tells of Oenomaüs and the chariot race by which Pelops wins Hippodameia, and of Tantalus, and ends with the first kings of Troy, from Teucrus and Dardanus down to Priam.

Ovid (4)

Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.121–254The contest for the arms of Achilles: Odysseus repliesOdysseus (Ulysses) answers that Ajax's strength is of no use without the counsel that guides it, and that he, a descendant of Zeus (Jupiter), has served the Greeks as much with his mind as with his hands. He tells how he brought Iphigenia to Aulis for the common good, and how he found Achilles disguised among the daughters of Lycomedes and brought him to Troy. He tells too how he went as an envoy to Troy, and how he and Diomedes killed Dolon and Rhesus and won Rhesus' horses.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 7.453–613Cephalus at Aegina; the plagueMinos is gathering a fleet to make war on Athens, and Cephalus is sent from Athens to ask help from Aeacus, king of Aegina, and is received with honour. Aeacus tells how Hera (Juno), angered that the island was named after Zeus' (Jupiter's) lover Aegina, sent a plague that killed its people. The plague began among animals and spread to men, and the dead lay unburied in thousands.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.264–444The Calydonian boar huntArtemis (Diana), angered at being forgotten at the harvest rites, sends a huge boar to ravage the fields of Calydon, and Meleager gathers heroes from all Greece to hunt it. The hunters include Theseus, Jason, Castor and Pollux, and the huntress Atalanta, whose beauty and skill the others admire. Atalanta first wounds the boar, and Meleager kills it, and awards the head and hide to her. Meleager's uncles, jealous of Atalanta, snatch the prize from her, and Meleager kills them in a rage.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.255–381Odysseus' speech: his services at TroyOdysseus (Ulysses) lists the Trojan warriors he killed, reminds the chiefs that he carried the body of Achilles from the field, and answers the charge about Palamedes. He tells how the prophets said that Philoctetes and his arrows were needed to take Troy, and how he brought Philoctetes to the army. He says that he alone dared to enter Troy by night and take the Palladium, and he ends by asking for the arms as the reward of his mind, pointing to the image of Athena (Minerva).

Pausanias (3)

Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.15.1–9Pheneus: the Petroma and Demeter's mysteriesPausanias describes the Pheneatian mysteries of Demeter Eleusinia, which they say were brought by Naus, with the Petroma, two stones fitted together that are opened every second year to read the writings of the mysteries. The priest wears the mask of Demeter Cidaria at the Greater Mysteries, and the Pheneatians swear their weightiest oaths by the stones. He mentions the temple of Demeter Thesmia, the story of the bean, and the temple of Pythian Apollo with the tombs of Telamon and Chalcodon, whom he doubts to be the famous heroes of those names. The section ends with the borders of Pheneus and Mount Crathis.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 2.29.1–11Epidaurus and Aegina: the Aeaceum and the stories of Aeacus and PhocusPausanias lists the temples and images of Epidaurus city and moves to Aegina, tracing the island’s legends from Zeus and Aegina to Aeacus, the descendants of Aeacus who went elsewhere, and its rise to naval power. He describes the Aeaceum with the relief of the envoys who begged Aeacus to end the drought, and the grave of Phocus, killed by Peleus’ quoit throw. He also notes the Secret Harbour and Telamon’s mole, and the theatre and stadium.
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1.35.1–8Salamis and the island of Helene; the bones of giants and the grave of AjaxPausanias describes the islands off Attica, Helene and Salamis, whose history he traces from Cychreus and Telamon to the Athenian expulsion of the Salaminians. He notes the temple of Ajax, the stone where Telamon sat and the flower that sprang from Ajax’s blood. He then lists remarkable large bones and bodies, among them Ajax’s knee bones, the ribs of Protophanes, the corpse of Asterius at Lade and the skeleton found at Temenothyrae, which locals took for Geryon.

Quintus Smyrnaeus (1)

Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy (Posthomerica) 5.568–663The burial of AiasThe army wails for Aias, and Odysseus and Nestor speak to the grieving Argives. The kings lift the huge body and carry it to the pyre, and his bones are gathered and buried.

Bacchylides (1)

Bacchylides, Epinicians (Odes of Victory) 12.1–14.23Odes 12–14: Pytheas of Aegina and the Aeacidae; Cleoptolemus of ThessalyOde 12 asks Cleio to guide the poet to Aegina and to a wrestler's victory at Nemea, but only its opening survives. Ode 13, for Pytheas of Aegina, shows Heracles, the descendant of Perseus, mastering the Nemean lion, praises Aegina and her heroes Peleus, Telamon, Achilles and Ajax, and tells how Achilles' anger let the Trojans drive the Greeks to their ships until Ajax stopped Hector. It ends with praise of the trainer Menander and of the host Lampon. Ode 14 reflects that fortune can crush or exalt a man before honouring Cleoptolemus of Thessaly and the domain of Poseidon Petraios.

Parthenius of Nicaea (1)

Parthenius of Nicaea, Love Romances 26.1–28.1Apriate and Trambelus; Alcinoe; Clite and CyzicusTrambelus, son of Telamon, throws Apriate of Lesbos into the sea when she resists his ambush, and later, wounded in battle against Achilles, is mourned by him with a great barrow. Alcinoe, punished by Athena for cheating the spinner Nicandra, sails away with the stranger Xanthus and, repenting, throws herself into the sea. Clite, newly married to Cyzicus, hangs herself after he is killed fighting the heroes who sailed with Jason.