August 3: Summer Month
Albatrosses at the Beach
If you should notice some albatrosses at the seashore, it’s fun to know they belong to the family of the “Diomedeidae”, referring to the ancient Greek hero Diomedes. He gained eternal fame during the Trojan War, as the only mortal ever to have wounded two gods, Ares and Aphrodite. He wasn’t bound by an oath to join the expedition to Troy, but volunteered and was greatly respected for it. Admittedly, he had some divine assistance. The goddess Athena acknowledged that Diomedes equalled her other favourite, Odysseus in discipline, bravery, courage, resourcefullness and cunningness, while surpassing him in nobility. After the Trojan war, Diomedes held on to his heroic lifestyle, fought on many fronts and founded numerous cities. Myths vary, but some say that he was granted immortality when he married the daughter of Helen of Sparta, Hermione. And when his companions – unaware of his divinisation – were mourning at the beach, they were transformed into albatrosses, or Diomedeidae in latin.
Athena and Diomedes, Albert Wolff, Schlossbrücke, Berlin, Germany
Mars wounded by Diomedes, Gabriel François Doyen, Musée Sainte-Croix,
Poitiers, France
Did you know?
About Diomedes: cfr “Spoiled”, “Albatrosses”,“Palladium”.
Hermione, daughter of Helen of Sparta, is also named as the bride of Orestes, son of Agamemnon, cfr. “Widows of War”.
About Athena: cfr. “Extra Vergine”.
About the love between Ares and Aphrodite: cfr. “Opposites Attract”.
About Odysseus: cfr. “The Lady in Blue”.