Hyginus · Fabulae Fabulae

Hyginus, Fabulae 98–111: The Trojan War and the sack of Troy

Iphigenia at Aulis, Telephus, Philoctetes, Protesilaus and Laodamia, Palamedes, the ransom of Hector and the death of Achilles are narrated briefly. The wooden horse, the story of Iliona and Polydorus, and the sacrifice of Polyxena bring the war to its end.

Sections 98–111 · 2203 words · click a number to copy its link

XCVIII Iphigenia

Agamemnon cum Menelao fratre †Asiae delectis ducibus Helenam uxorem Menelai, quam Alexander Paris avexerat, repetitum ad Troiam cum irent, in Aulide tempestas eos ira Dianae retinebat, quod Agamemnon in venando cervam eius violavit superbiusque in Dianam est locutus. Is cum aruspices convocasset, et Calchas sc⟨elus⟩ respondisset aliter expiari non posse nisi Iphigeniam filiam ⟨Agamemnonis⟩ immolasset, re audita Agamemnon recusare coepit. tunc Ulysses eum consiliis ad rem pulchram transtulit. Idem Ulysses cum Diomede ad Iphigeniam missus est adducendam. qui cum ad Clytemnestram matrem eius venissent, ementitur Ulysses eam Achilli in coniugium dari. quam cum in Aulidem adduxisset et parens eam immolare vellet, Diana virginem miserata est et caliginem

eis obiecit cervamque pro ea supposuit; Iphigeniamque per nubes in terram Tauricam detulit ibique templi sui sacerdotem fecit.

98. Iphigenia

When Agamemnon with his brother Menelaus, †Asiae, with chosen leaders, were going to Troy to reclaim Helen, Menelaus' wife, whom Alexander Paris had carried off, a storm held them back at Aulis through the anger of Artemis, because Agamemnon in hunting had harmed her hind and had spoken arrogantly against Artemis. When he called the soothsayers together and Calchas answered that the crime could not otherwise be expiated unless Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia, on hearing this Agamemnon began to refuse. Then Odysseus brought him round by his counsels to the noble deed. The same Odysseus was sent with Diomedes to bring Iphigenia. When they came to her mother Clytemnestra, Odysseus falsely said that she was to be given in marriage to Achilles. When he had brought her to Aulis and her father was about to sacrifice her, Artemis took pity on the maiden and a mist [was cast]

was cast over them, and she substituted a hind for her; and she carried Iphigenia through the clouds to the land of the Taurians and there made her priestess of her own temple.

XCIX Auge

Auge Alei filia ab Hercule compressa cum partus adesset in monte Parthenio peperit et ibi eum exposuit. Eodem tempore Atalante Iasii filia filium exposuit ex Meleagro natum, Herculis autem filium cerva nutriebat. hos pastores inventos sustulerunt atque nutrierunt, quibus nomina imposuerunt Herculis filio Telephum, quoniam cerva nutrierat: Atalantes autem Parthenop⟨a⟩eum, quoniam virgine⟨m⟩ simulans Ata⟨lante⟩ in monte Parthenio eum exposuerat. Ipsa autem Auge patrem suum timens profugit in Mysiam ad regem Teuthrantem, qui cum esset orbus liberis hanc pro filia habuit.

99. Auge

Auge, daughter of Aleus, was seduced by Heracles; when her time came she gave birth on Mount Parthenius and exposed her child there. At the same time Atalanta, daughter of Iasius, exposed a son born to her by Meleager, and a hind was nursing the son of Heracles. Shepherds found them, took them up and brought them up, and gave them names: to Heracles' son Telephus, because a hind (elaphos) had nursed him; to Atalanta's, Parthenopaeus, because Atalanta, pretending to be a maiden, had exposed him on Mount Parthenius. Auge herself, fearing her father, fled to Mysia to King Teuthras, who, being childless, treated her as his daughter.

C Teuthras

Teuthrantem regem in Mysia Idas Apharei filius regno privare voluit. quo cum Telephus Herculis filius ex responso quaerens matrem cum comite Parthenopaeo venisset ⟨et⟩, huic Teuthras regnum et filiam Augen in coniugium daturum promisit, si se ab hoste tutasset. Telephus conditionem regis non praetermisit, cum Parthenopaeo Idam uno praelio superavit. cui rex pollicitam fidem praestitit regnumque et Augen matrem inscientem in coniugium dedit. Quae cum mortalem neminem vellet suum corpus violare Telephum interficere voluit inscia filium suum. itaque cum in thalamum venissent, Auge ensem sumpsit ut Telephum interficeret. tum deorum voluntate dicitur draco immani magnitudine inter eos exisse, quo viso Auge ensem proiecit et Telepho inceptum patefecit. Telephus re audita inscius matrem interficere voluit: illa Herculem violatorem suum imploravit et ex eo Telephus matrem agnovit et in patriam suam reduxit.

100. Teuthras

Idas, son of Aphareus, wanted to deprive King Teuthras in Mysia of his kingdom. Telephus, son of Heracles, who, according to an oracle, was searching for his mother, came there with his companion Parthenopaeus [and]; Teuthras promised him the kingdom and his daughter Auge in marriage if he would protect him against the enemy. Telephus did not let the king's condition pass; with Parthenopaeus he defeated Idas in a single battle. The king kept his promise and gave him the kingdom and, unknowingly, Auge, his mother, in marriage. She, wishing no mortal to violate her body, unknowingly wanted to kill her son Telephus. So when they had come into the bedchamber, Auge took up a sword to kill Telephus. Then, by the will of the gods, a serpent of immense size is said to have come out between them; at the sight of it Auge threw down the sword and revealed to Telephus what she had attempted. Telephus, hearing this, not knowing who she was, wanted to kill his mother; she called on Heracles, her ravisher, and by that Telephus recognised his mother and took her back to his native land.

CI Telephus

Telephus Herculis et Auges filius ab Achille in pugna Chironis hasta percussus dicitur. ex quo vulnere cum in dies tetro cruciatu angeretur petit sortem ab Apolline, quod esset remedium: responsum est, ei neminem mederi posse, nisi †eandem hastam qua vulneratus erat. hoc Telephus ubi audivit ad regem Agamemnonem venit et monitu Clytemnestrae Orestem infantem de cunabulis rapuit minitans, se eum occisurum, nisi sibi Achivi mederentur. Achivis autem quod responsum erat, sine Telephi ductu Troiam capi non posse, facile cum eo in gratiam redierunt et ab Achille petierunt, ut eum sanaret. quibus Achilles respondit, se artem medicam non nosse. tunc Ulysses ait: ‘non te dicit Apollo, sed au⟨c⟩torem vulneris hastam nominat’. quam cum rasissent remediatus est. a quo cum peterent, ut secum ad Troiam expugnandam iret, non impetrarunt, quod is Laodicen Priami filiam uxorem haberet. sed ob beneficium quod eum sanarunt eos deduxit. locos autem et itinera demonstravit, inde in Mysiam est profectus.

101. Telephus

Telephus, son of Heracles and Auge, is said to have been wounded by Achilles in the fight with Chiron's spear. As he was racked day by day from the wound with foul torment, he asked Apollo for an oracle as to what the remedy might be: the answer was that no one could heal him except †the same spear with which he had been wounded. When Telephus heard this, he went to King Agamemnon and, on Clytemnestra's advice, snatched the infant Orestes from his cradle, threatening to kill him unless the Achaeans healed him. As the Achaeans had been told that Troy could not be taken without Telephus as guide, they readily came back into his favour and asked Achilles to cure him. Achilles answered that he did not know the art of medicine. Then Odysseus said: ‘Apollo does not mean you, but names the spear as the author of the wound.’ When they had scraped it, he was cured. When they asked him to go with them to take Troy, they did not obtain it, because he had Laodice, daughter of Priam, as wife. But in return for the kindness of his cure, he guided them: he showed them places and routes, and then went off to Mysia.

CII Philoctetes

Philoctetes Poantis et Demonassae filius cum in insula Lemno esset, coluber eius pedem percussit, quem serpentem Iuno miserat, irata ei ob id quia solus praeter c[a]eteros ausus fuit Herculis pyram construere, cum humanum corpus est exutum et ad immortalitatem traditum. ob id beneficium Hercules suas sagittas divinas ei donavit. Sed cum Achivi ex vulnere tetrum odorem ferre non possent, iussu Agamemnonis regis in Lemno expositus est cum sagittis divinis. quem expositum pastor regis Actoris nomine Iphimachus Dolopionis filius nutrivit. Quibus postea responsum est sine Herculis sagittis Troiam capi non posse. tunc Agamemnon Ulyssem et Diomedem exploratores ad eum misit. cui persuaserunt, ut in gratiam rediret et ad expugnandam Troiam auxilio esset, eumque secum sustulerunt.

102. Philoctetes

Philoctetes, son of Poeas and Demonassa, while he was on the island of Lemnos, was bitten on the foot by a snake which Hera had sent, angry with him because he alone, beyond all others, had dared to build Heracles' pyre, when his human body was stripped off and he was handed over to immortality. In return for this kindness Heracles gave him his divine arrows. But since the Achaeans could not bear the foul smell from the wound, he was left on Lemnos by order of King Agamemnon, with the divine arrows. When he was abandoned, the herdsman of King Actor, named Iphimachus, son of Dolopion, fed him. Afterwards they were told that Troy could not be taken without Heracles' arrows. Then Agamemnon sent Odysseus and Diomedes to him as scouts. They persuaded him to come back into favour and help to take Troy, and took him with them.

CIII Protesilaus

Achivis fuit responsum, qui primus littora Troianorum attigisset periturum. cum Achivi classes applicuissent, c[a]eteris cunctantibus Iolaus Iphicli et Diomedeae filius primus e navi prosilivit: qui ab Hectore confestim est interfectus. quem cuncti appellarunt Protesilaum, quoniam primus ex omnibus perierat. — [Quod uxor Laodamia Acasti filia cum audisset eum perisse, flens petit a diis, ut sibi cum eo tres horas colloqui liceret. quo impetrato a Mercurio reductus[, tres horas cum eo colloquuta] est. quod * iterum cum obisset Protesilaus ⟨dolorem pati non potuit Laodamia.⟩]

103. Protesilaus

The Achaeans were told that whoever first touched the shores of the Trojans would perish. When the Achaeans had brought their fleets to land, while the others hesitated, Iolaus, son of Iphiclus and Diomedea, was the first to leap from his ship; he was killed at once by Hector. All called him Protesilaus, because he had perished first of all. — [When his wife Laodamia, daughter of Acastus, heard that he had perished, weeping she asked the gods that she might talk with him for three hours. Having obtained this, he was brought back by Hermes[, and she talked with him for three hours]. When Protesilaus * died again [Laodamia could not bear the grief.]]

⟨CIIII Laodamia⟩

[Laodamia Acasti filia amisso coniuge] cum tres horas consumpsisset, quos a diis petierat, fletum et dolorem pati non potuit. itaque fecit simulacrum cereum simile Protesilai coniugis et in thalamis posuit sub simulatione sacrorum et eum colere coepit. quod cum famulus matutino tempore poma ei attulisset ad sacrificium, per rimam aspexit viditque eam †ab amplexu Protesilai simulacrum tenentem atque osculantem: existimans eam adulterum habere Acasto patri nunciavit. qui cum venisset et in thalamos irrupisset vidit effigiem Protesilai. quae ne diutius torqueretur, iussit signum et sacra pyra facta comburi: quo se Laodamia dolorem non sustinens immisit atque usta est.

104. Laodamia

[Laodamia, daughter of Acastus, having lost her husband,] when she had used up the three hours she had begged from the gods, could not endure weeping and grief. So she made a wax image like her husband Protesilaus and set it in her chamber under the pretext of rites, and began to worship it. When a servant brought her fruit one morning for the sacrifice, he looked through a crack and saw her †ab amplexu holding the image of Protesilaus and kissing it; thinking she had a lover, he reported it to her father Acastus. He came and burst into the chamber and saw the effigy of Protesilaus. So that she should not be tormented any longer, he ordered the image and the sacred things to be burnt on a pyre; Laodamia, unable to bear the grief, threw herself in and was burnt.

CV Palamedes

Ulysses quod Palamedis Nauplii filii dolo erat deceptus, in dies machinabatur, quomodo eum interficeret. tandem inito consilio ad Agamemnonem militem suum misit, qui diceret ei, in quiete vidisse *, ut castra uno die moverentur. id Agamemnon verum existimans castra uno die imperat moveri. Ulysses autem clam noctu solus magnum pondus auri, ubi tabernaculum Palamedis fuerat, obruit; item epistolam conscriptam Phrygi captivo ad Priamum dat perferendam, militemque suum priorem mittit, qui eum non longe a castris interficeret. Postero die cum exercitus in castra rediret, quidam miles epistolam, quam Ulysses scripserat, super cadaver Phrygis positam ad Agamemnonem attulit. in qua scriptum fuit: PALAMEDI A PRIAMO MISSA, tantumque ei auri pollicetur, quantum Ulysses in tabernaculum obruerat, si castra Agamemnonis ut ei convenerat proderet. Itaque Palamedes cum ad regem esset productus et factum negaret, in tabernaculum eius ierunt et aurum effoderunt. quod Agamemnon ut vidit vere factum esse credidit. quo facto Palamedes dolo Ulyssis deceptus ab exercitu universo innocens occisus est.

105. Palamedes

Odysseus, because he had been outwitted by a trick of Palamedes, son of Nauplius, schemed day by day how to kill him. At last, having made his plan, he sent a soldier of his to Agamemnon to say that he had seen in a dream *, that the camp should be moved in a single day. Agamemnon, thinking this true, ordered the camp to be moved in a single day. Odysseus, however, secretly at night, alone, buried a great weight of gold where Palamedes' tent had been; likewise he gave a letter he had written to a Phrygian prisoner to take to Priam, and sent his own soldier ahead to kill him not far from the camp. The next day, when the army came back to the camp, a certain soldier brought to Agamemnon the letter that Odysseus had written, found lying on the body of the Phrygian. In it was written: SENT BY PRIAM TO PALAMEDES, and it promised him as much gold as Odysseus had buried in the tent, if he betrayed Agamemnon's camp as had been agreed with him. So when Palamedes was brought before the king and denied the deed, they went to his tent and dug up the gold. When Agamemnon saw it he believed the thing had really been done. After this Palamedes, deceived by Odysseus' trick, was killed, innocent, by the whole army.

CVI Hectoris lytra

Agamemnon Briseidam Brisei sacerdotis filiam ex Mysia captivam, propter formae dignitatem quam Achilles ceperat, ab Achille abduxit eo tempore, quo Chryseida Chrysi sacerdoti Apollinis Zminthei reddidit. quam ob iram Achilles in praelium non prodibat, sed cithara in tabernaculo se exercebat. Quod cum Argivi ab Hectore fugarentur Achilles obiurgatus a Patroclo arma sua ei tradidit, quibus ille Troianos fugavit existimantes Achillem esse, Sarpedonemque Iovis et Europae filium occidit. postea ipse Patroclus ab Hectore interficitur armaque ei sunt detracta. Patroclo occiso Achilles cum Agamemnone redit in gratiam *Briseidamque ei reddidit. tum contra Hectorem cum inermis prodisset, Thetis mater a Vulcano arma ei impetravit, quae Nereides per mare attulerunt. quibus armis ille Hectorem occidit astrictumque ad currum traxit circa muros Troianorum. quem sepeliendum cum patri nollet dare, Priamus Iovis iussu duce Mercurio in castra Danaorum venit et filii corpus auro repensum accepit: quem sepulturae tradidit.

106. The ransom of Hector

Agamemnon took Briseis, daughter of the priest Briseus, a captive from Mysia, whom Achilles had taken because of her beauty, away from Achilles, at the time when he gave back Chryseis to Chryses, priest of Apollo Smintheus. In anger at this Achilles did not go out to battle but practised on the lyre in his tent. When the Argives were being routed by Hector, Achilles, rebuked by Patroclus, gave him his own arms, with which he put the Trojans to flight, thinking he was Achilles, and killed Sarpedon, son of Zeus and Europa. Afterwards Patroclus himself was killed by Hector and the arms were stripped from him. When Patroclus was dead Achilles returned to favour with Agamemnon * and Agamemnon gave Briseis back to him. When he then went out unarmed against Hector, his mother Thetis obtained arms for him from Hephaestus, which the Nereids carried over the sea. With those arms he killed Hector, and, tying him to his chariot, dragged him round the walls of the Trojans. When he did not want to give him to his father for burial, Priam, at Zeus' command, with Hermes as guide, came to the camp of the Danaans and received his son's body weighed against gold; he gave it burial.

CVII Armorum iudicium

Hectore sepulto cum Achilles circa moenia Troianorum vagaretur ac diceret, se solum Troiam expugnasse, Apollo iratus Alexandrum Parin se simulans talum, quem mortalem habuisse dicitur, sagitta percussit et occidit. Achille occiso ac sepulturae tradito Aiax Telamonius, quod frater patruelis eius fuit, postulavit a Danais, ut arma sibi Achillis darent: quae ⟨ei⟩ ira Minervae abiurgata sunt ab Agamemnone et Menelao, et Ulyssi data. Aiax iniuria accepta per insaniam pecora sua et se ipsum †vulneratum **occidit eo gladio, quem ab Hectore muneri accepit, dum cum eo in acie contendit.

107. The judgement of the arms

When Hector had been buried and Achilles was wandering round the walls of the Trojans, saying that he alone had taken Troy, Apollo in anger, pretending to be Alexander Paris, struck him with an arrow in the heel (talus), which is said to have been his only mortal part, and killed him. When Achilles had been killed and buried, Ajax, son of Telamon, because he was his cousin, demanded of the Danaans that they give him Achilles' arms: but through the anger of Athena they were refused him by Agamemnon and Menelaus and given to Odysseus. Ajax, having received this wrong, in madness killed his flocks and himself †vulneratum ** with the sword which he had received as a gift from Hector when he fought with him in the battle line.

CVIII Equus Troianus

Achivi cum per decem annos Troiam capere non possent, Epeus monitu Minervae equum mirae magnitudinis ligneum fecit; eoque sunt collecti Menelaus Ulysses Diomedes Thessander Sthenelus Acamas Thoas Machaon Neoptolemus; et in equo scripserunt DANAI MINERVAE DONO DANT castraque transtulerunt Tenedo. Id Troiani cum viderunt arbitrati sunt hostes abisse. Priamus equum in arcem Minervae duci imperavit, feriatique magno opere ut essent edixit. id vates Cassandra cum vociferaretur inesse hostes, fides ei habita non est. Quem in arcem cum statuissent et ipsi noctu lusu atque vino lassi obdormissent, Achivi ex equo aperto a Sinone exierunt et portarum custodes occiderunt, sociosque signo dato receperunt et Troia sunt potiti.

108. The Trojan Horse

When the Achaeans could not take Troy for ten years, Epeus, on Athena's advice, made a wooden horse of marvellous size; in it were gathered Menelaus, Odysseus, Diomedes, Thessander, Sthenelus, Acamas, Thoas, Machaon, Neoptolemus; and on the horse they wrote THE DANAANS GIVE THIS AS A GIFT TO ATHENA, and moved their camp to Tenedos. When the Trojans saw it, they thought the enemy had gone away. Priam ordered the horse to be taken up to Athena's citadel, and proclaimed a holiday to be kept with great energy. When the seer Cassandra cried out that enemies were inside, she was not believed. When they had set it up in the citadel and had fallen asleep at night, tired with games and wine, the Achaeans, with the horse opened by Sinon, came out and killed the gate-keepers, and at a given signal let in their comrades and took Troy.

CVIIII Iliona

Priamo Polydorus filius ex Hecuba cum esset natus, Ilionae filiae suae dederunt eum educandum, quae Polym[n]estori regi Thracum erat nupta. Quem illa pro filio suo educavit, Deipylum autem, quem ex Polym[n]estore procreaverat, pro fratre suo educavit, ut, si alteri eorum quid foret, parentibus * praestaret. Sed cum Achivi Troia capta prolem Priami extirpare vellent, Astyanacta Hectoris et Andromachae filium de muro deiecerunt et ad Polym[n]estorem legatos miserunt, qui ei Agamemnonis filiam nomine Electram pollicerentur in coniugium et auri magnam copiam, si Polydorum Priami filium interfecisset. Polym[n]estor legatorum dicta non repudiavit Deipylumque filium suum imprudens occidit arbitrans, se Polydorum filium Priami interfecisse. Polydorus autem ad oraculum Apollinis de †parentibus suis sciscitatum est profectus: cui responsum est, patriam incensam patrem occisum matrem in servitute teneri. cum inde rediret et vidit aliter esse ac sibi responsum fuit * se Polym[n]estoris esse filium, ab sorore Iliona inquisivit, quid ita aliter sortes dixissent. cui soror quid veri esset

patefecit et eius consilio Polym[n]estorem luminibus privavit atque interfecit.

109. Iliona

When Priam's son Polydorus was born of Hecuba, they gave him to be brought up to their daughter Iliona, who was married to Polymestor, king of the Thracians. She brought him up as her own son, and Deipylus, whom she had borne to Polymestor, she brought up as her brother, so that, if anything happened to one of them, she would * for the parents. But when the Achaeans, after the capture of Troy, wanted to root out Priam's offspring, they threw Astyanax, the son of Hector and Andromache, from the wall and sent envoys to Polymestor who promised him in marriage Agamemnon's daughter named Electra and a great quantity of gold if he killed Priam's son Polydorus. Polymestor did not reject the envoys' words and unknowingly killed his own son Deipylus, thinking that he had killed Polydorus, son of Priam. Polydorus went to the oracle of Apollo to enquire about †his parents; he was told that his country was burnt, his father killed, his mother held in slavery. When he came back from there and saw that it was otherwise than he had been told * that he was Polymestor's son, he asked his sister Iliona why the oracle had said otherwise. His sister [told him] what was true

revealed to him, and by her advice he put out Polymestor's eyes and killed him.

CX Polyxena

Danai victores cum ab Ilio classem conscenderent et vellent in patriam suam quisque reverti et praedam quisque sibi duceret, ex sepulcro vox Achillis dicitur praedae partem expostulasse. itaque Danai Polyxenam Priami filiam, quae virgo fuit formosissima, propter quam Achilles, cum eam peteret et ad colloquium venisset, ab Alexandro et Deiphobo est occisus, ad sepulcrum eius eam immolaverunt.

110. Polyxena

When the Danaans, victorious, were boarding their fleet at Ilium, and each wished to return to his own country and to take his own booty with him, the voice of Achilles from his tomb is said to have demanded a share of the spoils. So the Danaans sacrificed Polyxena, Priam's daughter, a most beautiful maiden, on whose account Achilles — when he was asking for her and had come to a conference — was killed by Alexander and Deiphobus, at his tomb.

CXI Hecuba

Ulysses Hecubam Cissei filiam, vel ut alii au⟨c⟩tores dicunt Dymantis, Priami uxorem, Hectoris matrem in servitutem cum duceret, illa in Hellespontum mare se praecipitavit et canis dicitur facta esse, unde et cyneum est appellatum.

111. Hecuba

When Odysseus was leading Hecuba, daughter of Cisseus or, as other authors say, of Dymas, wife of Priam, mother of Hector, into slavery, she threw herself into the sea of the Hellespont and is said to have been turned into a dog, from which the place was called Cyneum (the Dog's place).

People and places in this passage

English translation by GreekMythology.com (2026). Original text: Moritz Schmidt (ed.), Hygini Fabulae, Jena: Hermann Dufft, 1872.

Text layer: Latin text: public domain (Schmidt, 1872; our OCR correction of the Internet Archive scan bub_gb_g5QlAAAAMAAJ). English translation © GreekMythology.com.. Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.