Diomedes
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
Could not find Diomeden in Logeion dictionaries.
Diomeden Proper-name noun: masculine accusative singular of Diomedes
- A son of Tydeus, king of Aetolia, and Deipyle, the successor of Adrastus in Argos; a famous hero at the siege of Troy, after which he went to Apulia, where he founded Argyripa (Arpi), Ov. M. 13, 100 sq.; 14, 457; Verg. A. 1, 752; 8, 9; Hor. S. 1, 5, 92; id. A. P. 146 et saep.—As grandson of Oeneus called Oenides, Ov. M. 14, 512: Diomedis Campus, the region about Cannae in Apulia, on the Aufidus, Liv. 25, 10; cf. Paul. ex Fest. p. 75 Müll.—Deriv., Dĭŏmēdēus (-īus), a, um, adj., of Diomedes: enses, Ov. M. 15, 806: furtum, i.e. the rape of the Trojan Palladium, Stat. S. 5, 3, 179; called also, ausa, Claud. VI. Cons. Honor. 479: agri, i.e. Aetolian, Mart. 13, 93; on the contrary, arces, the cities founded by Diomedes in Italy, Stat. S. 3, 3, 163.—So too Diomedea (insula), an island or group of islands in the Adriatic, on the coast of Apulia, now St. Domenico, St. Nicola, and Caprara, Mel. 2, 7, 13; Plin. 3, 26, 30, § 151; cf.: Diomedis insula, id. 12, 1, 3, § 6; Paul. ex Fest. p. 75 Müll.—Hence, the birds of that place (acc. to the fable of the metamorphosed companions of Diomedes) are called Diomedeae aves, Plin. 10, 44, 61, § 126; cf. Serv. Verg. A. 11, 271; Isid. Orig. 12, 7, 28.—
- II A king of the Bistones in Thrace, who gave his captives to be eaten by his horses; overcome at last by Hercules, Serv. Verg. A. 8, 300; 1, 752.—Hence, Diomedei equi, Claud. Rapt. Pros. 2 praef. 12; Aus. Idyll. 19, 9; cf. Claud. in Rufin. 1, 254.
(Διομήδης).
1. A son of Tydeus and Deipyle, the husband of Aegialeia, and the successor of Adrastus in the kingdom of Argos, though he was descended from an Aetolian family. (Apollod. 1.8.5, &c.) The Homeric tradition about him is as follows :--His father Tydeus fell in the expedition against Thebes, while Diomedes was yet a boy (II. 6.222); but he himself afterwards was one of the Epigoni who took Thebes. (II. 4.405; comp. Paus. 2.20.4.) Diomedes went to Troy with Sthenelus and Euryalus, carrying with him in eighty ships warriors from Argos, Tiryns, Hermione, Asine, Troezene, Eionae, Epidaurus, Aegina, and Mases. (2.559, &c.) In the army of the Greeks before Troy, Diomedes was, next to Achilles, the bravest among the heroes ; and, like Achilles and Odysseus, he enjoyed the special protection of Athena, who assisted him in all dangerous moments. (5.826, 6.98, 10.240, 11.312; comp. Verg. A. 1.96.) He fought with the most distinguished among the Trojans, such as Hector and Aeneias (8.110, &c., 5.310, &c.), and even with the gods who espoused the cause of the Trojans. He thus wounded Aphrodite, and drove her from the field of battle (5.335, 440), and Ares himself was likewise wounded by him. (5.837.) Diomedes was wounded by Pandareus, whom, however, he afterwards slew with many other Trojans. (5.97, &c.) In the attack of the Trojans on the Greek camp. he and Odysseus offered a brave resistance, but Diomedes was wounded and returned to the ships. (11.320, &c.) He wore a cuirass made by Hephaestus, but sometimes also a lion's skin. (8.195, 10.177 At the funeral games of Patroclus he conquered in the chariot-race, and received a woman and a tripod as his prize. (23.373, &c.) He also conquered the Telamonian Ajax in single combat, and won the sword which Achilles had offered as the prize. (23.811, &c.) He is described in the Iliad in general as brave in war and wise in council (9.53), in battle furious like a mountain torrent, and the terror of the Trojans, whom he chases before him, as a lion chases goats. (5.87, 11.382.) He is strong like a god (5.884), and the Trojan women during their sacrifice to Athena pray to her to break his spear and to make him fall. (6.306.) He himself knows no fear, and refuses his consent when Agamemnon proposes to take to flight, and he declares that, if all flee, he and his friend Sthenelus will stay and fight till Troy shall fill. (9.32, &c., comp. 7.398, 8.151 : Philostr. Her. 4.)
The story of Diomedes, like those of other heroes of the Trojan time, has received various additions and embellishments from the hands of later writers, of which we shall notice the principal ones. After the expedition of the Epigoni he is mentioned among the suitors of Helen (Hyg. Fab. 81; Apollod. 3.10.8), and his love of Helen induced him to join the Greeks in their expedition against Troy with 30 ships. (Hyg. Fab. 97.) Being a relative of Thersites, who was slain by Achilles, he did not permit the body of the Amazon Penthesileia to be honourably buried, but dragged her by the feet into the river Scamander. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 993 ; Dict. Cret. 4.3.) Philoctetes was persuaded by Diomedes and Odysseus to join the Greeks against Troy. (Soph. Philoct. 570, &c.; Hyg. Fab. 102.) Diomedes conspired with Odysseus against Palamedes, and under the pretence of having discovered a hidden treasure, they let him down into a well and there stoned him to death. (Dict. Cret. 2.15 ; comp. Paus. 10.31.1.) After the death of Paris, Diomedes and Odysseus were sent into the city of Troy to negotiate for peace (Dict. Cret. 5.4), but he was afterwards one of the Greeks concealed in the wooden horse. (Hyg. Fab. 108.) When he and Odysseus had arrived in the arx of Troy by a subterraneous passage, they slew the guards and carried away the palladium (Verg. A. 2.163), as it was believed that Ilium could not be taken so long as the palladium was within its walls. When, during the night, the two heroes were returning to the camp with their precious booty, and Odysseus was walking behind him, Diomedes saw by the shadow of his companion that he was drawing his sword in order to kill him, and thus to secure to himself alone the honour of having taken the palladium. Diomedes, however, turned round, seized the sword of Odysseus, tied his hands, and thus drove him along before him to the camp. (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 822.) Diomedes, according to some, carried the palladium with him to Argos, where it remained until Ergiaeus, one of his descendants, took it away with the assistance of the Laconian Leagrus, who conveyed it to Sparta. (Plut. Quaest. Graec. 48.) According to others, Diomedes was robbed of the palladium by Demophon in Attica, where he landed one night on his return from Troy, without knowing where he was. (Paus. 2.28.9.) A third tradition stated, that Diomedes restored the palladium and the remains of Anchises to Aeneias, because he was informed by an oracle, that he should be exposed to unceasing sufferings unless lie restored the sacred image to the Trojans. (Serv. ad Aen. 2.166, 3.407, iv, 427, 5.81.)
On his return from Troy, he had like other heroes to suffer much from the enmity of Aphrodite, but Athena still continued to protect him. He was first thrown by a storm on the coast of Lycia, where he was to be sacrificed to Ares by king Lycus; but Callirrhoe, the king's daughter, took pity upon him, and assisted him in escaping. (Plut. Parall. Gr. et Rom. 23.) On his arrival in Argos he met with an evil reception which had been prepared for him either by Aphrodite or Nauplius, for his wife Aegialeia was living in adultery with Hippolytus, or according to others, with Cometes or Cyllabarus. (Dict. Cret. 6.2; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 609; Serv. ad Aen. 8.9.) He therefore quitted Argos either of his own accord, or he was expelled by the adulterers (Tzetz. ad Lyc. 602), and went to Aetolia. His going to Aetolia and the subsequent recovery of Argos are placed in some traditions immediately after the war of the Epigoni, and Diomedes is said to have gone with Alcmaeon to assist his grandfather Oeneus in Aetolia against his enemies. During the absence of Diomedes, Agamemnon took possession of Argos ; but when the expedition against Troy was resolved upon, Agamemnon from fear invited Diomedes and Alcmaeon back to Argos, and asked them to take part in the projected expedition. Diomedes alone accepted the proposal, and thus recovered Argos. (Strab. vii. p.325, x. p. 462; comp. Hyg. Fab. 175; Apollod. 1.8.6; Paus. 2.25.2.) According to another set of traditions, Diomedes did not go to Aetolia till after his return from Troy, when he was expelled from Argos, and it is said that he went first to Corinth; but being informed there of the distress of Oeneus, he hastened to Aetolia to assist him. Diomedes conquered and slew the enemies of his grandfather, and then took up his residence in Aetolia. (Dict. Cret. 6.2.) Other writers make him attempt to return to Argos, but on his way home a storm threw him on the coast of Daunia in Italy. Daunus, the king of the country, received him kindly, and solicited his assistance in a war against the Messapians. He promised in return to give him a tract of land and the hand of his daughter Euippe. Diomedes defeated the Messapians, and distributed their territory among the Dorians who had accompanied him In Italy Diomedes gave up his hostility against the Trojans, and even assisted them against Turnus. (Paus. 1.11; Serv. ad Aen. 8.9.) He died in Daunia at an advanced age, and was buried in one of the islands off cape Garganus, which were called after him the Diomedean islands. Subsequently, when Daunus too had died, the Dorians were conquered by the Illyrians, but were metamorphosed by Zeus into birds. (Ant. Lib. 37; comp. Tzetz. ad Lyc. 602, 618.) According to Tzetzes, Diomedes was murdered by Daunus, whereas according to others he returned to Argos, or disappeared in one of the Diomedean islands, or in the country of the Heneti. (Strab. vi. p.284.) A number of towns in the eastern part of Italy, such as Beneventum, Aequumtuticum, Argos Hippion (afterwards Argyripa or Arpi), Venusia or Aphrodisia, Canusium, Venafrum, Salapia, Spina, Sipus, Garganum, and Brundusium, were believed to have been founded by Diomedes. (Serv. ad Aen 8.9, 11.246; Strab. vi. pp. 283, 284; Plin-H. N. 3.20; Justin, 12.2.) The worship and service of gods and heroes was spread by Diomedes far and wide : in and near Argos he caused temples of Athena to be built (Plut. de Flum. 18; Paus. 2.24.2); his armour was preserved in a temple of Athena at Luceria in Apulia, and a gold chain of his was shewn in a temple of Artemis in Peucetia. At Troezene he had founded a temple of Apollo Epibaterius, and instituted the Pythian games there. He himself was subsequently worshipped as a divine being, especially in Italy, where statues of him existed at Argyripa, Mctapontum, Thurii, and other places. (Schol. ad Pind. Nem. 10.12 ; Scylax, Peripl. p. 6; comp. Strab. v. p.214, &c.)
There are traces in Greece also of the worship of Diomedes, for it is said that he was placed among the gods together with the Dioscuri, and that Athena conferred upon him the immortality which had been intended for his father Tydeus. It has been conjectured that Diomedes is an ancient Pelasgian name of some divinity, who was afterwards confounded with the hero Diomedes, so that the worship of the god was transferred to the hero. (Böckh, Explicat. ad Pind. Nem. x. p. 463.) Diomedes was represented in a painting on the acropolis of Athens in the act of carrying away the Palladium from Troy (Paus. 1.22.6), and Polygnotus had painted him in the Lesche at Delphi. (10.25.2, 10.2.) Comp. Brandstäter, Die Gesch. des Aetol. Land p. 76, &c.
2. A son of the great Diomedes by Euippe, the daughter of Daunus. (Ant. Lib. 37.)
3. A son of Ares and Cyrene, was king of the Bistones in Thrace, and was killed by Heracles on account of his mares, which he fed with human flesh. (Apollod. 2.5.8; Diod. 4.15; Serv. ad Aen. 1.756.) Hyginus (Hyg. Fab. 250) calls him a son of Atlas by his own daughter Asteria. [L.S]
(Διομήδης), a Greek grammarian, who wrote a commentary or scholia on the grammar of Dionysius Thrax, of which a few fragments are still extant. (Villoison, Anecd. pp. 99, 126, 172, 183, 186; Bekker, Anecd. ii.) He seems also to have written on Homer, for an opinion of his on Homer is refuted by the Venetian Scholiast on Homer (ad Il. 2.252). [L.S]
the author of a grammatical treatise De Oratione et Partibus Orationis et Vario Genere Metrorum libri III. We are entirely ignorant of his history, but since he is frequently quoted by Priscian (e. g. lib. ix. pp. 861, 870, lib. 10.879, 889, 892), he must have lived before the commencement of the 6th century. The work is dedicated to a certain Athanasius, of whom we know nothing whatsoever. It is remarked elsewhere [Charisius], that a close correspondence may be detected between the above work and many passages in the Institutiones Grammaticae of Charisius, and the same remark applies to Maximus Victorinus. Editions
Diomedes was first published in a collection of Latin Grammarians printed at Venice by Nic. Jenson, about 1476. It is to be found in the Grammaticae Latinae Auctores Antiqui of Putschius, 4to. Hanov. 1605, pp. 170-527. Further Information
For critical emendations, consult Scioppius, Suspect. Lect. and Reucens, Collectanea Litteraria, Leyden, 1815. See also Osann, Beiträge zur Griech. u. Röm. Lit. Gesch. ii. p. 331. [W.R]
ST. (Διομήδης), a physician, saint, and martyr, was horn at Tarsus in Cilicia, of Christian parents. He lived at Tarsus for some time, and practised as a physician, but afterwards removed to Nicaea in Bithynia, where he continued till his death. We are told that he practised with great success, and used to endeavour, whenever he had an opportunity, to convert his patients to Christianity. For his efforts in this cause he was ordered to be brought before the emperor Diocletian, who at that time happened to be at Nicomedeia in Bithynia, but died on his way thither, about the beginning of the fourth century after Christ. A church was built at Constantinople in his honour by Constantine the Great, which was afterwards adorned and beautified by the emperor Basil I. in the ninth century. He is commemorated by the Romish and Greek churches on the 16th of August. (Acta Sanct. ; Bzovius, Nomenclator Sanctoruum Professione Medicorm, Carpzovius, de Medicis ab Ecclesia pro Sanctis habitis ; Menolog. Graecorum.) [W.A.G]
(Διομήδης). (1) The son of Tydeus and Deïpylé. He was king of Aetolia, and one of the bravest of the Grecian chiefs in the Trojan War, ranking next to Achilles and Aiax. Homer represents him as one of the favourites of Athené. Among his exploits, it is recorded of him that he engaged in single combat with Hector and Aeneas; that he wounded Ares, Aeneas, and Aphrodité; and that, in concert with Odysseus, he carried off the horses of Rhesus and the palladium, and secured the arrows of Philoctetes. Diomedes was deprived of the affection of his wife Aegialé through the wrath and vengeance of Aphrodité, by whose influence, during his absence at the war, she had become attached to Cyllabarus, the son of Sthenelus. Diomedes was so afflicted at the estrangement of Aegialé that he abandoned Greece and settled at the head of a colony in Magna Graecia, where he founded a city, to which he gave the name of Argyripa, and married a daughter of Daunus, prince of the country. In the progress of his voyage to Italy, Diomedes was shipwrecked on that part of the Libyan coast which was under the sway of Lycus , who seized and confined him. He was, however, liberated by Callirrhoé, the tyrant's daughter, who became so fond of him that upon his quitting the African shores she put herself to death. Diomedes, according to one account, died in Italy at a very advanced age; while another legend makes him to have been slain by his father-in-law Daunus. His companions were so much afflicted by his death that they were changed into birds. Vergil, however, makes this transformation earlier in date, and to have taken place during the lifetime of Diomedes (Aen. xi. 272). He seems to have followed the tradition recorded by Ovid (Met. xiv. 457), that Agnon, one of Diomedes's companions in his voyage from Troy, insulted Aphrodité with contemptuous language, and that the goddess, in revenge, transformed not only Agnon, but many others of Diomedes's followers into birds. (See Diomedeae Insulae.)
(2) A king of the Bistones, in Thrace, son of Ares and Cyrené. His mares fed on human flesh. Heracles sailed to this quarter, having been ordered, as his eighth labour, to bring these mares to Mycenae. The hero overcame the grooms of Diomedes and led the mares to the sea. The Bistones pursued with arms. Heracles, leaving the mares in charge of Abderus, one of his companions, went to engage the foe. Meantime the mares tore their keeper to pieces; and the hero, having defeated the Bistones and slain Diomedes, built a city by the tomb of Abderus, which he called Abdera after him. Heracles brought the mares to Eurystheus, who turned them loose, and they strayed to Mount Olympus, where they were destroyed by the wild beasts (Apollod.ii.5.8). Another account makes Heracles to have given Diomedes to be devoured by his own mares, and Eurystheus to have consecrated them to Heré (Diod. Sic.iv. 15).
(3) A Roman grammarian of the fourth century A.D., whose work, entitled Ars Grammatica, has come down to us in three books. It is taken from the same sources as the contemporary work by Charisius (q.v.), and is chiefly valuable for the notices on literary history contained in the third book and taken from the De Poetis of Suetonius. The best text of Diomedes is that in Keil, Grammatici Latini (i. 298). On his Latinity see the treatise of Paucker (Berlin, 1883).
- Hdt. 2.116
- goes to wars of Thebes and Troy: Apollod. 1.8.5; Paus. 2.20.5
- one of the Epigoni: Apollod. 3.7.2
- suitor of Helen: Apollod. 3.10.7
- son of Tydeus, kills the sons of Agrius: Apollod. 1.8.5
- gives the kingdom of Calydon to Andraemon: Apollod. 1.8.5
- marries Aegialia: Apollod. 1.8.5
- guardian of Cyanippus: Paus. 2.30.10
- leads Argives to Troy: Apollod. E.3.11; Paus. 1.11.7, Paus. 2.30.10
- fights Aeneas: Paus. 5.22.2
- wounds Aphrodite, exchanges arms with Glaucus: Apollod. E.4.1
- sent as spy with Odysseus, kills Dolon and Rhesus: Apollod. E.4.1, Apollod. 1.3.3
- wounded: Apollod. E.4.4
- victor in chariot race: Apollod. E.4.7
- goes with Odysseus to Lemnos to fetch Philoctetes: Apollod. 2.5.11
- steals bow of Philoctetes: Paus. 1.22.6
- goes with Odysseus to Troy and helps to steal the Palladium: Apollod. 2.5.11
- has a prosperous voyage from Troy: Apollod. 2.6.3
- drowns Palamedes: Paus. 10.31.2
- kills Coroebus: Paus. 10.27.1
- on return from Troy lands in Attica: Paus. 1.28.9
- returns to Peloponnese: Paus. 4.35.1
- dedicates sanctuary of Sharp-sighted Athena: Paus. 2.24.2
- dedicates image of Athena of the Winds: Paus. 4.35.8
- founds temple of Seafaring Apollo: Paus. 2.32.2
- the first to celebrate Pythian games, 2.32.2
- first to sacrifice to Hippolytus: Paus. 2.32.1
- invites Oeneus king of Aetolia to Argos and buries him at Oenoe: Paus. 2.25.2
- does not fight Aeneas in Italy: Paus. 1.11.7
- his statue at Delphi: Paus. 10.10.4
- son of Ares, king of the Bistones, slain by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.7; Paus. 3.18.12, Paus. 5.10.9
- his man-eating mares brought by Herakles to Eurystheus: Apollod. 2.5.7, Apollod. 2.5.8