Telephus
In Greek mythology, Telephus was the son of Heracles and Auge, who was the daughter of king Aleus of Tegea. He was adopted by Teuthras, the king of Mysia, in Asia Minor, whom he succeeded as king. Telephus was wounded by Achilles when the Achaeans came to his kingdom on their way to sack Troy and bring Helen back to Sparta, and later healed by Achilles. He was the father of Eurypylus, who fought alongside the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War. Telephus' story was popular in ancient Greek and Roman iconography and tragedy. Telephus' name and mythology were possibly derived from the Hittite god Telepinu.
Birth to adulthood
Summary
Telephus' mother was Auge, the daughter of Aleus, the king of Tegea, a city in Arcadia, in the Peloponnese of mainland Greece. His father was Heracles, who had seduced or raped Auge, a priestess of Athena. When Aleus found out, he tried to dispose of mother and child, but eventually both ended up in Asia Minor at the court of Teuthras, king of Mysia, where Telephus was adopted as the childless king's heir.There were three versions of how Telephus, the son of an Arcadian princess, came to be the heir of a Mysian king. In the oldest extant account, Auge goes to Mysia, is raised as a daughter by Teuthras, and Telephus is born there. In some accounts Telephus arrives in Mysia as an infant with his mother, where Teuthras marries Auge, and adopts Telephus. In others, while Auge is delivered to the Mysian court where she again becomes wife to the king, Telephus is instead left behind in Arcadia, having been abandoned on Mount Parthenion, either by Aleus, or by Auge when she gave birth while being taken to the sea by Nauplius to be drowned. However Telephus is suckled by a deer found and raised by King Corythus, or his herdsmen. Seeking knowledge of his mother, Telephus consulted the Delphic oracle which directed him to Mysia, where he was reunited with Auge and adopted by Teuthras.
The silence of Telephus
Presumably Sophocles' Aleadae told how Telephus, while still in Arcadia, prior to going to Mysia in search of his mother, killed Aleus' sons, thereby fulfilling the oracle. Ancient sources confirm the killing, however virtually nothing is known of how this may have come about.The murder of his uncles would have caused Telephus to become religiously polluted, and in need of purification, and apparently, Greek religious practice required criminal homicides to remain silent until their blood-guilt could be expiated. Aristotle in the Poetics, in a reference to Telephus' appearance in some play he calls the Mysians, mentions "the man who came from Tegea to Mysia without speaking". And indeed, the silence of Telephus was apparently "proverbial". The comic poet Alexis writes about a voracious dinner guest who like "Telephus in speechless silence sits, / Making but signs to those who ask him questions", presumably too intent on eating to converse. And another comic poet Amphis, complains about fishmongers who "mute they stand like Telephus", going on to say that the comparison of the fishmongers to Telephus is apt since "they all are homicides".
King in Mysia
Summary
Attacked by the Greeks
Telephus was made the heir of Teuthras' kingdom of Teuthrania in Mysia, and eventually succeeded Teuthras as its king. During Telephus' reign, in a prelude to the Trojan War, the Greeks attacked Telephus' city mistaking it for Troy. Telephus routed the Greeks, killing Thersander, son of Polynices, and forcing the Greeks back to their ships.But Telephus was tripped by a vine and wounded in the thigh by Achilles' spear. According to Apollodorus, and a scholiast on Homer's Iliad, Telephus was tripped while fleeing from Achilles' attack. The scholiast says that Dionysus caused the vine to trip Telephus because Telephus had failed to properly honor him. Dionysus' involvement is attested by a late sixth-century or early fifth-century BC red-figure calyx krater. Philostratus and Dictys Cretensis give detailed elaborations of all these events.
Wound and healing
The Mysians were victorious, and the Greeks returned home, but Telephus' wound would not heal. Telephus consulted the oracle of Apollo which gave the famous reply ὁ τρώσας ἰάσεται. So Telephus went to Argos to seek a cure, and was healed there by Achilles. In return Telephus agreed to guide the Greeks to Troy. Apollodorus and Hyginus tell us that rust scraped from Achilles' spear was the healing agent. The healing of Telephus was a frequent theme in Augustan age and later Roman poetry. The Pharmacologia of John Ayrton Paris identifies verdigris, which has medicinal properties, as the healing rust of the spear.Wives and offspring
The earliest mention of Telephus, which occurs in Homer's Odyssey, says that Telephus had a son Eurypylus, who died at Troy. Nothing is said there about who Eurypylus' mother was, but all ancient sources that do mention Eurypylus' mother say that she was Astyoche, who was Priam's sister. Eurypylus led a large force of Mysians to fight on the side of Troy during the final stages of the Trojan War. Eurypylus was a great warrior, and killed many opponents, including Machaon and Nireus, but was finally killed by Achilles' son Neoptolemus. The irony of Achilles' son killing Telephus' son using the same spear that Achilles had used to both wound and heal Telephus, apparently figured in Sophocles' lost play Eurypylus. According to Servius, Eurypylus had a son, Grynus, who became king in Mysia and was known as the eponym of Gryneion and the founder of Pergamon. Another son of Telephus, according to Servius was Cyparissus, who later became one of Apollo's male lovers.Three other wives are given for Telephus, with no mention of offspring. According to Hyginus Telephus' wife was Priam's daughter Laodice. According to Diodorus Siculus, Telephus married Agriope a daughter of Teuthras. While Philostratus says that Hiera, the leader of a contingent of Mysian women cavalry, killed in battle by Nireus, was the wife of Telephus. The Amazon-like Hiera had already been portrayed, on horseback, leading the Mysian women into battle, on the second-century BC Telephus frieze of the Pergamon Altar.
Three other offspring of Telephus are given which link Telephus with Italian myths. In Lycophron's Alexandra, the legendary founders of the Etruscan Dodecapolis, Tarchon and Tyrensus are the sons of Telephus. That Tyrrhenus was said to be the son of Telephus is also reported by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. Neither Lycophron nor Dionysius mention the name of their mother, although apparently according to some, their mother was Hiera. Plutarch says that, according to one account, Telephus was the father of a daughter, Roma, from whom the city of Rome took its name.
Iconography
Over a hundred entries for Telephus are cataloged in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Most representations associated with Telephus are late, with only a few earlier than the fourth century BC. Early examples include Attic red-figure pottery from as early as c. 510 BC, and East-Ionian engraved gems. Scenes showing Telephus suckled by a deer or holding Orestes hostage were particularly popular. Other scenes include either his wounding or his healing by Achilles. The most complete single account of the life of Telephus is depicted in the first-century BC Telephus frieze.Telephus frieze
The Telephus frieze formed part of the decoration of the Pergamon Altar. The frieze adorned the inside walls of the colonnade that surrounded the raised interior court containing the sacrificial altar. It was nearly 60 meters in length, and was composed of around 74 marble panels each 1.58 meters high, of which 47 panels are completely or partially preserved.The panels depict scenes from the life of Telephus, from events preceding his birth, to perhaps his death and heroizing. Panels have been interpreted as showing Heracles' first glimpse of Auge in an oak grove ; carpenters building the vessel in which Auge will be cast into the sea ; Teuthras finding Auge on the shore in Mysia ; Heracles discovering the abandoned Telephus being suckled by a lioness ; Telephus receiving arms from Auge, and leaving for the war against Idas ; Teuthras giving Auge to Telephus in marriage ; and Auge and Telephus, being startled by a serpent, and recognizing each other on their wedding night. The next several panels have been interpreted as depicting the battle between the Mysians and the Greeks on the Caicus plain, including Hiera, Telephus' Amazon-like wife, leading a group of Mysian women cavalry into battle and Achilles, aided by Dionysus, wounding Telephus. Scenes follow which have been interpreted as showing Telephus consulting the oracle of Apollo regarding the healing of his wound ; Telephus arriving at Argos, seeking a cure for his wound ; his welcome there ; a banquet at Argos during which Telephus' identity is revealed ; Telephus threatening the infant Orestes at an altar ; and presumably his healing by Achilles. Two final panels perhaps depict Telephus' death and heroizing.