July 30: Travel Month

Herakles’ son Telephos had an eventful life and figures in at least four – lost – tragedies. His grandfather had exposed him at birth, because of a prophecy that his grandson would destroy his family. While Telephos’ mother finds refuge with king Teuthras of Pergamon (now Bergama, Türkye), Telephos grows up in the wild and eventually, fulfills the prophecy. (No reason given.) After this, he reunites with his mother, takes the Trojan princess Laodike as a bride and becomes Pergamon’s king. In the mean time, the Greek fleet is on its way to Troy, but they get lost and besiege Pergamon by mistake. Before he can clear things up, Telephos gets wounded by Achilles’ javelin. Eventually, the Greeks realise their mistake, but according to the oracle, Telephos can only be healed “by what hurt him”. So, Achilles puts some scrapes of rust of his javelin on the wound. Somehow, it works, and Telephos then agrees to lead the way to Troy. He doesn’t join the battle however, out of respect for his Trojan wife. Who says chivalry is dead?

Herakles finds Telephos, Fresco, National Archaeological Museum, Napoli, Italy

Hercules with Telephos, Statue, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Did you know?

• The city of Pergamon is not mentioned in Greek mythology, but Herakles’ son Telephos is. The link with Pergamon has been invented by the ruling Attalid dynasty (3d and 4th cent. BC), thus demonstrating a descent from Herakles.

• Pergamon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2014.

• The German city of Berlin houses a “Pergamon-museum” and the “Pergamon-panorama”.

• Telephos of Mysia was proverbially famous for his misfortunes. Aristophanes mentions him in his play “The Acharnians”; he features in Sophokles’ lost plays “Aleadai” and “Mysians”, and he has a part in Euripides lost piece “Auge”.

• The ancients saw the city of Pergamon as the birthplace of parchment (“pergamenos” in latin).

• Telephos’ mother was Auge, daughter of king Aleos of Tegea. The king didn’t want her to get pregnant, out of fear of the prophecy that his grandson would kill his sons. But she either had an affair with – or was assaulted by – Herakles (Hercules).

• After Telephos unalives his uncles, he has to be purified by the oracle and until then, he’s forbidden to speak. So, “silent like Telephos” became a proverb.

• To force Achilles to cure him, Telephos takes Orestes, son of the Greek king Agamemnon, as a hostage.