Ch. 15: The Line of Tantalos
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♠ VH 14.40 – Aelianus, Varia Historia
Alexander tyrant of the Pheraens was thought to be extremely cruel. But when Theodorus the Tragic poet did with much passion act the Tragedy Aerope, he burst forth into tears, and rising up went out of the theater: He made an Apology to Theodorus, that he went not away through any slighting or disrespect of him, but that he was ashamed to discover compassion at a play, not shewing any to his subjects. Greek Text
♠ Fab 246 – Hyginus, Fabulae
THOSE WHO ATE THE FLESH OF THEIR CHILDREN AT BANQUETS: Tereus, son of Mars, his son Itys by Progne. Thyestes, son of Pelops, his children by Aerope — Tantalus and Plisthenes. Clymenus, son of Schoeneus, his son by his daughter Harpalyce. Latin Text
♠ Σ Or 4 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 95-96, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ Or 812-13 – Euripides, Orestes
when strife came to the sons of Tantalus over a golden ram Greek Text
♠ Or 997-1000 – Euripides, Orestes
brought to birth among the sheep by the son of Maia, when there appeared a baleful, baleful portent of a lamb with golden fleece, [1000] for Atreus, breeder of horses. Greek Text
♠ Σ Or 998 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 198-99, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ Σ Or 995 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 197-98, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ Byz Σ Or 812 – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta 4, p. 162, ed. S.L. Radt. Göttingen 1977.
♠ Σ Or 811 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 180-81, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ ApE 2.10 – Apollodoros, Epitome
Now the wife of Atreus was Aerope, daughter of Catreus, and she loved Thyestes. And Atreus once vowed to sacrifice to Artemis the finest of his flocks; but when a golden lamb appeared, they say that he neglected to perform his vow, [11] and having choked the lamb, he deposited it in a box and kept it there, and Aerope gave it to Thyestes, by whom she had been debauched. For the Mycenaeans had received an oracle which bade them choose a Pelopid for their king, and they had sent for Atreus and Thyestes. And when a discussion took place concerning the kingdom, Thyestes declared to the multitude that the kingdom ought to belong to him who owned the golden lamb, and when Atreus agreed, Thyestes produced the lamb and was made king. Greek Text
♠ ΣA Il 2.105 – Scholia A to Homer, Iliad – Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem I, pp. 79-80, ed. W. Dindorf and E. Maass. Oxford 1875.
♠ E: El 699-736 – Euripides, Elektra
Chorus
The story remains in old legends [700] that Pan, the keeper of wild beasts, breathing sweet-voiced music on his well-joined pipes, once brought from its tender mother on Argive hills [705] a lamb with beautiful golden fleece. A herald stood on the stone platform and cried aloud, “To assembly, Mycenaeans, go to assembly [710] to see the omens given to our blessed rulers.” . . . and they honored the house of Atreus. The altars of beaten gold were set out; and through the town the [715] altar fires of the Argives blazed; the flute, handmaid of the Muse’s song, sounded its note sweetly, and lovely songs of the golden lamb swelled forth, saying that Thyestes had the luck; for he [720] persuaded Atreus’ own wife to secret love, and carried off to his house the portent; coming before the assembly he declared that he had in his [725] house the horned sheep with fleece of gold. Then, it was then that Zeus changed the radiant paths of the stars, and the light of the sun, and the [730] bright face of dawn; and the sun drove across the western back of the sky with hot flame from heaven’s fires, while the rain-clouds went northward and Ammon’s [735] lands grew parched and faint, not knowing moisture, robbed of heaven’s fairest showers of rain. Greek Text
♠ Pol 269a – Plato, Politikos (Statesman)
Stranger
Oh no; I mean the change in the rising and setting of the sun and the other heavenly bodies, how in those times they used to set in the quarter where they now rise, and used to rise where they now set, but the god at the time of the quarrel, you recall, changed all that to the present system as a testimony in favor of Atreus. Greek Text
♠ Or 1001-6 – Euripides, Orestes
from which Strife changed the course of the sun’s winged chariot, fitting the westward path of the sky towards the single horse of Dawn; [1005] and Zeus diverted the career of the seven Pleiads into a new track. Greek Text
♠ Σ Or 811 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 180-81, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ ΣA Il 2.105 – Scholia A to Homer, Iliad – Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem I, pp. 79-80, ed. W. Dindorf and E. Maass. Oxford 1875.
♠ ApE 2.12-13 – Apollodoros, Epitome
But Zeus sent Hermes to Atreus and told him to stipulate with Thyestes that Atreus should be king if the sun should go backward; and when Thyestes agreed, the sun set in the east; hence the deity having plainly attested the usurpation of Thyestes, Atreus got the kingdom and banished Thyestes. [13] But afterwards being apprized of the adultery, he sent a herald to Thyestes with a proposal of accommodation; and when he had lured Thyestes by a pretence of friendship, he slaughtered the sons, Aglaus, Callileon, and Orchomenus, whom Thyestes had by a Naiad nymph, though they had sat down as suppliants on the altar of Zeus. And having cut them limb from limb and boiled them, he served them up to Thyestes without the extremities; and when Thyestes had eaten heartily of them, he showed him the extremities, and cast him out of the country. Greek Text
♠ Σ Or 998 – Scholia to Euripides, Orestes – Scholia in Euripidem 1, pp. 198-99, ed. E. Schwartz. Berlin 1887.
♠ Euripides, fr 861 N² – Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, p. 639, ed. A. Nauck, 2nd ed. Leipzig 1889.
Demonstrating the opposite path of the stars I saved the people and made myself ruler. (Transl. Timothy N. Gantz) Greek Text
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Edited by Elena Bianchelli, Retired Senior Lecturer of Classical Languages and Culture, Univ. of Georgia, April 2024.
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