DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14696#0745
670 The double axes of Tenedos
thios1, though the latter calls the brother and sister Tenes and
Leukothea,and speaks of their step-mother as Philonome or Polyboia.
Diodoros2 adds a few details. It was a flute-player who had falsely
charged Tennes with attempting the honour of his step-mother: conse-
quently, when Tennes, after leading a life distinguished for virtue and
helpfulness, received divine honours, no flute-player was permitted to
enter his precinct3; nor might any man there mention the name of
Achilles, since it was Achilles who had slain him. Tzetzes4 too con-
tributes his quota. The name of the flute-player that denounced
Tenes was Molpos5 or, as a variant has it, Eumolpos6. Kyknos,
on discovering the facts of the case, slew Philonome, and himself
came and dwelt with his children in Tenedos. Here they were all
three found and attacked by Achilles on his way to Troy. It had
been fated that Achilles should die whenever he slew a son of
Apollon, and Thetis had given him as an attendant one Mnemon,
whose business it was to remind him of this special prohibition.
But Tenes, though in reality a son of Apollon, passed as the son of
Kyknos. Achilles, therefore, slew without hesitation both Kyknos
and Tenes, and, when he realised what he had done, slew Mnemon
into the bargain. He also pursued Hemithea, who fled from his
embraces and was swallowed by the earth7.
We fasten on this last statement as an indication that Hemithea
was originally an earth-power. A goddess of the same name pos-
sessed a famous sanctuary at Kastabos on the Carian Chersonesos.
According to local tradition8, Staphylos had by Chrysothemis
three daughters—Molpadia, Rhoio, and Parthenos. Finding that
Rhoio was with child (by a man, as he supposed, but in reality by
Apollon), he shut her up in a chest and flung her into the sea. The
chest came ashore at Delos, where Rhoio gave birth to Anios and
dedicated the babe on the altar of Apollon. The god hid the child,
and later taught him seercraft and brought him to great honour. As
to Molpadia and Parthenos, they were set to guard their father's
wine—a recent invention—but fell asleep at their post. The swine
they kept got in and broke the wine-jar. The maidens, fearing their
1 Eustath. in Dionys. fie?-. 536, in II. p. 33, 24 ff. Cp. schol. //. 1. 38 (codd. A. D. :
codd. B. L. have TeW?7s, 'H/uudea, and KaXiisTj as their step-mother) = Eudok. viol. 916.
2 Diod. 5. 83.
3 So too Herakleides Pont, de rebuspublicis 7. 1 {Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 213 Mtiller).
4 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 232 ff. = Eudok. viol, 549.
5 So also Plout. quaestt. Gr. 28.
6 So also Apollod. efiit. 3. 24.
7 See further Plout. quaestt. Gr. 28, Lyk. Al. 232 ff., Apollod. efiit. 3. 23 ff.
8 Diod. 5. 62 f. On the widely different account given by Parthen. narr. am. 1 (after
Nikainetos AvpKos and Ap. Rhod. Kavvos) see P. Friedlander in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. viii. 255.
thios1, though the latter calls the brother and sister Tenes and
Leukothea,and speaks of their step-mother as Philonome or Polyboia.
Diodoros2 adds a few details. It was a flute-player who had falsely
charged Tennes with attempting the honour of his step-mother: conse-
quently, when Tennes, after leading a life distinguished for virtue and
helpfulness, received divine honours, no flute-player was permitted to
enter his precinct3; nor might any man there mention the name of
Achilles, since it was Achilles who had slain him. Tzetzes4 too con-
tributes his quota. The name of the flute-player that denounced
Tenes was Molpos5 or, as a variant has it, Eumolpos6. Kyknos,
on discovering the facts of the case, slew Philonome, and himself
came and dwelt with his children in Tenedos. Here they were all
three found and attacked by Achilles on his way to Troy. It had
been fated that Achilles should die whenever he slew a son of
Apollon, and Thetis had given him as an attendant one Mnemon,
whose business it was to remind him of this special prohibition.
But Tenes, though in reality a son of Apollon, passed as the son of
Kyknos. Achilles, therefore, slew without hesitation both Kyknos
and Tenes, and, when he realised what he had done, slew Mnemon
into the bargain. He also pursued Hemithea, who fled from his
embraces and was swallowed by the earth7.
We fasten on this last statement as an indication that Hemithea
was originally an earth-power. A goddess of the same name pos-
sessed a famous sanctuary at Kastabos on the Carian Chersonesos.
According to local tradition8, Staphylos had by Chrysothemis
three daughters—Molpadia, Rhoio, and Parthenos. Finding that
Rhoio was with child (by a man, as he supposed, but in reality by
Apollon), he shut her up in a chest and flung her into the sea. The
chest came ashore at Delos, where Rhoio gave birth to Anios and
dedicated the babe on the altar of Apollon. The god hid the child,
and later taught him seercraft and brought him to great honour. As
to Molpadia and Parthenos, they were set to guard their father's
wine—a recent invention—but fell asleep at their post. The swine
they kept got in and broke the wine-jar. The maidens, fearing their
1 Eustath. in Dionys. fie?-. 536, in II. p. 33, 24 ff. Cp. schol. //. 1. 38 (codd. A. D. :
codd. B. L. have TeW?7s, 'H/uudea, and KaXiisTj as their step-mother) = Eudok. viol. 916.
2 Diod. 5. 83.
3 So too Herakleides Pont, de rebuspublicis 7. 1 {Frag. hist. Gr. ii. 213 Mtiller).
4 Tzetz. in Lyk. Al. 232 ff. = Eudok. viol, 549.
5 So also Plout. quaestt. Gr. 28.
6 So also Apollod. efiit. 3. 24.
7 See further Plout. quaestt. Gr. 28, Lyk. Al. 232 ff., Apollod. efiit. 3. 23 ff.
8 Diod. 5. 62 f. On the widely different account given by Parthen. narr. am. 1 (after
Nikainetos AvpKos and Ap. Rhod. Kavvos) see P. Friedlander in Pauly—Wissowa Real-
Enc. viii. 255.