Diomedes
Diomedes or Diomede is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.
He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax the Great and Agamemnon, after Achilles, as one of the best warriors of all the Achaeans in prowess. After the Trojan War he is said to have founded ten or more Italian cities and, after his death, was worshiped as a divine being in both Italy and Greece.
Description
In the account of Dares the Phrygian, Diomedes was illustrated as "stocky, brave, dignified, and austere. He was loud at the war-cry, hot-tempered, impatient, and daring."Early myths
Diomedes was, on his father's side, an Aetolian, and on his mother's an Argive. His father, Tydeus, was himself of royal blood, being the son of Oeneus, the king of Calydon. He had been exiled from his homeland for killing his relatives, either his cousins and a brother, a brother his own sons or his paternal uncle. In any case, Tydeus was exiled, and found refuge at Argos, where the king Adrastus, offered him hospitality, even giving him his daughter, Deipyle, to be his wife. The two had two children together—a daughter, Comaetho, and a son, Diomedes.At the same time Polynices, a banished prince of Thebes, arrived in Argos; Adrastus gave him his daughter Argia to wife. Later he approached Adrastus and pleaded his case to the king, as he requested his aid to restore him to his original homeland. Adrastus promised to do so and set out to gather an expeditionary force with which to march against Thebes. This force was made up of seven individual leaders, each assigned to lead an assault on one of the seven gates of the city; Tydeus, Polynices and Adrastus were among them. Together, these champions were known as the Seven against Thebes.
The expedition proved unsuccessful, however, as all seven of the Argive champions were killed in the ensuing battle, except for Adrastus, who escaped thanks to his horse Arion, who was the fastest of all of his brethren. Diomedes' father, Tydeus, was among those who had been slain.
Tydeus was Athena's favorite warrior at the time, and when he was dying she wanted to offer him a medicine that would make him immortal. However, she withdrew the intended privilege in apparent disgust when Tydeus gobbled down the brains of the hated enemy who had wounded him.
Diomedes was about four years old when his father was killed. At the funeral of their fathers, the sons of the seven fallen champions met and vowed to vanquish Thebes in order to avenge their fathers. These seven sons were known as the Epigoni.
Ten years later, the Epigoni set out to launch another expedition against Thebes, appointing Alcmaeon as their commander-in-chief. They strengthened their initial forces with contingents from Messenia, Arcadia, Corinth, and Megara. This army, however, was still small compared to that of Thebes.
The war of the Epigoni is remembered as the most important expedition in Greek mythology prior to the Trojan War. It was a favorite topic for epics; but all of these epics are now lost. The main battle took place at Glisas where prince Aegialeus was slain by King Laodamas, who was in turn killed by Alcmaeon. With their king dead, the Thebans, believing this to be the end for them, sought counsel from the seer Tiresias, who urged them to flee the city. They did so, and, faced with no opposition, the Epigoni entered the city, plundering its treasures and tearing down its great walls. Having achieved their objective, the Epigoni returned home, but not before they installed Thersander, son of the fallen prince Polynices, as the city's new ruler.
As Diomedes and the Argive forces travelled home, an elderly King Adrastus died of grief upon learning that his son Aegialeus had perished in the battle; as such, Diomedes was left as the last of Adrastus' male descendants. That being so, upon returning home to Argos, Diomedes ascended to the throne. In order to secure his grasp on the throne, Diomedes married Aegialeus' daughter, Princess Aegialia.
Diomedes ruled Argos for more than five years and brought much wealth and stability to the city during his time. He was a skilled politician and was greatly respected by other rulers. He still kept an eye on Calydonian politics, and when the sons of Agrius put Oeneus in jail and their own father on the throne, Diomedes decided to restore Oeneus to the throne.
Diomedes attacked and seized the kingdom, slaying all the traitors except Thersites, Onchestus and Agrius restoring his grandfather to the throne. Later, Oeneus passed the kingdom to his son-in-law, Andraemon, and headed to Argos to meet Diomedes. He was assassinated on the way by Thersites and Onchestus. Unable to find the murderers, Diomedes founded a mythical city called "Oenoe" at the place where his grandfather was buried to honour his death. Later, Thersites fought against the Trojans in the Trojan War and noble Diomedes did not mistreat him. In fact, when Thersites was brutally slain by Achilles, Diomedes was the only person who wanted to punish Achilles.
According to Hyginus and Pseudo-Apollodorus, Diomedes became one of the suitors of Helen and, as such, he was bound by the oath of Tyndareus, which established that all the suitors would defend and protect the man who was chosen as Helen's husband against any wrong done against him in regard to his marriage. Accordingly, when the Trojan prince Paris stole Menelaus' wife, all those who had sworn the oath were summoned by Agamemnon, so that they would join the coalition that was to sail from Aulis to Troy in order to retrieve Helen and the Spartan property that was stolen. However, Hesiod does not include Diomedes in his list of suitors. It's possible that labelling Diomedes a suitor of Helen was a later addition, extrapolated from his name being listed in the Catalogue of Ships. If, in fact, Helen ruled Sparta with her husband Menelaus for ten years before her abduction, Diomedes would have still been a child at the time of their marriage and thus a very unlikely suitor.
Trojan War
Diomedes is known primarily for his participation in the Trojan War. According to Homer, Diomedes entered the war with a fleet of 80 ships, third only to the contributions of Agamemnon and Nestor. Both Sthenelus and Euryalus fought under his command with their armies. Sthenelus was the driver of Diomedes' chariot and probably his closest friend. All the troops from Argos, Tiryns, Troezen and some other cities were headed by Diomedes.Although he was the youngest of the Achaean kings, Diomedes is considered the most experienced leader by many scholars; he had fought more battles than others, including the war of the Epigoni, the most important war expedition before the Trojan War – even old Nestor had not participated in such military work. Second only to Achilles, Diomedes is considered to be the mightiest and the most skilled warrior among the Achaeans. He was overwhelming Telamonian Ajax in an armed sparring contest when the watching Achaeans bade the men to stop and take equal prizes because they feared for Ajax's life. Ajax gave Diomedes the prize because Diomedes drew the first blood. He once vanquished Aeneas — the second best of the Trojan warriors — and could have struck him down. He and Odysseus were the only Achaean heroes who participated in covert military operations that demanded discipline, bravery, courage, cunning, and resourcefulness.
Diomedes received the most direct divine help and protection. He was the favorite warrior of Athena. He was also the only hero except Heracles, son of Zeus, that attacked Olympian gods. He even wounded Ares, whom he struck with his spear. Once, he was even granted divine vision in order to identify immortals. Only Diomedes and Menelaus were offered immortality and became gods in post-Homeric mythology.
The god Hephaestus made Diomedes' cuirass for him. He was the only Achaean warrior apart from Achilles who carried such an arsenal of gear made by Hera's son. He had also a round shield with the mark of a boar. In combat, he carried also a spear, which, unlike his father's sword, was not enchanted. His golden armor bore a crest of a boar on the breast. It was created by a mortal smith but was blessed by Athena, who gave it to Tydeus. When he died, it passed to Diomedes. A skilled smith created the sword for Tydeus, which bore designs of a lion and a large boar.
In Aulis
In Aulis, where the Achaean leaders gathered, Diomedes met his brother in arms Odysseus, with whom he shared several adventures. Both of them were favorite heroes of Athena and each shared characteristics of their patron goddess – Odysseus her wisdom and cunning, and Diomedes her courage and skill in battle; though neither was wholly bereft of either aspect. They began to combine their efforts and actions already when being in Aulis.When the sacrifice of Iphigenia became a necessity for the Achaeans to sail away from Aulis, King Agamemnon had to choose between sacrificing his daughter and resigning from his post of high commander among Achaeans. When he decided to sacrifice his daughter to Artemis, Odysseus carried out this order of Agamemnon by luring Iphigenia from Mycenae to Aulis, where murder, disguised as wedding, awaited her. According to Hyginus, Diomedes went with Odysseus to fetch Iphigenia, making this the two companions' first mission together. However, Pseudo-Apollodorus has Agamemnon send Odysseus and Talthybius instead. According to Euripides, neither of the two went to fetch Iphigenia, though he calls the plan Odysseus' idea in Iphigenia at Tauris.
Palamedes
Once in Troy, Odysseus murdered Palamedes, drowning him while he was fishing. According to other stories, when Palamedes advised the Achaeans to return home, Odysseus accused him of being a traitor and forged false evidence and found a fake witness to testify against him, whereupon Palamedes was stoned to death.Some say that both Diomedes and Odysseus drowned Palamedes. Another version says that he 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. Others say that, though Diomedes guessed or knew about the plot, he did not try to defend Palamedes, because Odysseus was essential for the fall of Troy.