|
The Trojan princess Hesione 2, sister of
Priam 1, was about to be
devoured by a monster when
Heracles 1 saved her.
But either because her father refused to reward
him, or because of some marvellous horses, or
because of both, Heracles
1 sacked the city and, having killed the king,
gave Hesione 2 to Telamon, who took her to Hellas
as a prize. And whereas some see in this story what
they fancy to file as the
"rescue-of-a-maiden-by-a-hero theme", others assert
that it was because of the Achaeans' refusal to
gave Hesione 2 back, that
Paris was sent to abduct
Helen.
|
|
Finding good reasons for war
|
War is never honoured for its own merits, and
those who plead for war usually feel compelled to
call upon other deities, such as
Justice or
Peace, in whose name
they might fight; and it is not before they have
prayed to these goddesses (or others like them)
that they feel qualified to ask for the favours
that Victory and
Fortune may provide. For
Fortune, it is believed,
would not help those who give way to wickedness and
greed, and Victory tastes
differently depending on what has been defeated,
either good or bad things. That is why even the
most cruel among men fall on their knees before the
altars of Justice and
Peace, pretending or
even wishing to be their worshippers; for they know
that the laws of these goddesses are imperishable,
whereas war is ruled by Necessity, who knows no law
and upon whom alone nothing can be built.
|
|
Claims
|
Accordingly when the Achaeans launched their
expedition against Troy,
they claimed that they had been wronged by the
Trojans in the person of
Paris who, breaking all
rules of hospitality, seduced his host's wife and
took her with him to his city. And so, for the sake
of Helen, many kingdoms
from Hellas and from the vast territories of Asia,
engaged in a huge conflagration that caused
permanent disturbances in some of them and utterly
ruined others. For the wounds caused by war
sometimes may turn into a cicatrice, but at other
times they prove incurable, forcing men to start
all over from the beginning.
But some say that the Trojans were wronged
first, when Heracles 1
took the city by surprise and abducted Hesione 2,
in what may be called the first Trojan war,
suggesting that the Trojans' plight concerning
Hesione 2, resembles that of the Achaeans with
regard to Helen.
|
|
First and Second Trojan wars
|
The second Trojan
War, lasted ten years, although the invading
host that had sailed from Hellas in more than one
thousand ships was of an unprecedented size. And
despite many efforts in the fields of military
action, divination, negotiation, and intrigue,
Troy could not be taken for
all those years. Yet, only one generation before,
Heracles 1, with a
force that could be carried in 6 ships (or 12 as
others say), sacked the city, which at the time was
ruled by King Laomedon 1. Nevertheless, both times
Troy was taken by the
arrows of Heracles 1,
as an oracle had declared, even though the second
time it was
Philoctetes who held
the bow.
|
|
The trouble with Laomedon 1
|
King Laomedon 1, whom the Trojan statesman
Antenor 1 considered to
be guilty of ill-considered acts, came first into
conflict with the gods. For it was during his time
that Apollo and
Poseidon, disguised as
mortal men, came to fortify
Troy, being refused their
wages when they had completed their work. Or else,
as others say, they came as gods and, having done
their work, Laomedon 1 did not offered them,
through avarice, the sacrifices he had promised.
Whatever the case, in order to punish the king's
dishonesty, Apollo sent a
pestilence and Poseidon
a sea-monster that snatched away the people of the
plain. And it was Apollo
himself, some say, who (angrily) advised Laomedon 1
to bind Trojan maidens and offer them to the
monster as a remedy allowing deliverance from the
calamities.
|
|
"Hero rescues maiden"
|
Following these oracles, Laomedon 1 let many
girls be devoured before the lot fell on his own
daughter Hesione 2, who was also bound to the rocks
to be the prey of the sea-monster. But then the
ARGONAUTS, who were on
their way to Colchis, put ashore in the Troad; and
Heracles 1, who was
among them, killed the monster and delivered
Hesione 2, on condition that when they returned
they should take her with them to Hellas, along
with the mares with which
Zeus had compensated
Laomedon 1 for having ravished
Ganymedes. Wonderful
mares indeed; for they could run over water and
over the heads of standing grain. Others have said
that Heracles 1 just
claimed these splendid mares, and that Hesione 2,
after having been given the choice to stay with
whomever she desired, chose to leave her country
(where new monsters might appear). But for the time
being both the girl and the mares remained in the
king's keeping, since
Heracles 1 and the
ARGONAUTS had other
labours to accomplish.
|
|
The king cheats again
|
Now Laomedon 1, having already wronged the gods,
found no difficulty in wronging mortals, and when
time came for him to reward the foreigners'
services at their return from Colchis, he refused.
This broken promise, some say, was the reason of
the first Trojan war. A short one, for
Heracles 1 easily
sacked the city, killed the king (with arrows some
say), put Priam 1 on the
throne, and gave Hesione 2 as a prize to Telamon.
|
|
Intermission: A curious case of worship
|
It has been noticed that the inhabitants of the
Troad offered sacrifices (long after the end of the
war) to several Achaean warriors of the second
Trojan War, such as
Achilles,
Patroclus 1, and
Ajax 1, whereas they
refused to honour Heracles
1, giving as their reason his sacking of
Troy. But it is argued (for
there are often many controversies about the myths)
that Heracles 1 left
Troy still a city, whereas
those who repeated his prowess in the second war
razed it to the ground. Yet the inhabitants of the
Troad thought fit in later times to honour as gods
and worship with sacrifices precisely those who
utterly ruined their city, and not him who left it
standing, even though damaged. And since reason is
always looked for when investigating the behaviour
of mortals, some have conjectured that the
inhabitants of the Troad acted in such an amazing
way because they thought that
Heracles 1, though
sparing their city, waged and unjust war (claiming
possession of the girl he had saved, or waging the
war "on account of the horses
of Laomedon" [Hom.Il.5.640]), whereas the
Achaeans, though destroying it, waged a just one
(since they had been robbed of
Helen and the Spartan
property).
|
|
Heracles 1's
punitive expedition
|
According to the mysterious mythographer Dares,
the ARGONAUTS, on
their way to Colchis, landed in the Troad merely
looking for rest and were thence expelled by the
menacing forces of Laomedon 1, who deemed them to
pose a threat to the country. And since this
mythographer does not believe in sea-monsters, he
says instead that the cause of
Heracles 1's punitive
expedition against Troy, is
to be found in Laomedon 1's disrespect for
hospitality and in his violent threats. On his
return to Hellas, Heracles
1 resolved to punish the king for his outrage;
and with this purpose in mind he organized an
expedition, requesting help from the
DIOSCURI, Telamon,
Peleus, and
Nestor (all former
ARGONAUTS). Having
then coordinated their forces they sailed against
the city with 12 ships arriving to cape Sigeum in
the Troad by night.
|
|
Hesione 2 given to Telamon
|
There Heracles 1
left Nestor and the
DIOSCURI to guard the
ships while he himself marched against
Troy. Not knowing this, but
being warned of the landing, King Laomedon 1 came
with an army and attacked those who were in the
beach; but in the meantime the city was sacked by
the forces led by Heracles
1. When Laomedon 1 learned that he had been the
victim of a stratagem he returned to
Troy but, as the enemy met
him on the road he and his sons were defeated and
killed by Heracles 1.
Having pillaged the city, and plundered and
murdered its citizens, and taken many riches, they
went back to the ships carrying with them Laomedon
1's daughter Hesione 2, whom Telamon received as a
prize for having been the first to come into the
city.
|
|
King Priam 1
|
Now, some have said that
Priam 1 became great and
king of kings from a small beginning, and others
add that he was not killed because he was
campaigning elsewhere in
Phrygia, disagreeing
with yet others who say that it was
Heracles 1 himself who
put him on the throne. In any case
Priam 1 inherited his
father's throne and, being determined not to let
himself be lured by enemies as his father had been,
walled the city, and built a palace, and opened a
number of gates.
|
|
Antenor 1 claims
Hesione 2 back
|
And when he had thus restored and strengthened
the city, he sent Antenor
1 to Hellas to demand the restoration of
Hesione 2, whom Telamon had taken with him as a
prize. Antenor 1 met
several Achaean leaders; yet none of them showed a
conciliatory disposition; and having thus failed in
his purpose, which was to have the girl restored
through negotiation,
Antenor 1 returned to
Troy.
|
|
Hesione 2's son fights the Trojans.
|
It is now, some say, that the abduction of a
lady from Hellas was planned at
Troy, as a way of forcing
Telamon to restore Hesione 2. And despite the
warnings of the Trojan seers, a fleet was sent,
armed with troops commanded by
Paris, who, seizing
opportunity, abducted or seduced
Helen. In the war that
ensued (which is the second and well known
Trojan War), Teucer 1,
son of Hesione 2 and half brother of
Ajax 1, led the
Salaminians against Troy.
After the war he became king of Cyprian Salamis,
but his mother has not been mentioned ever since.
|
|
Others with identical name
|
Hesione 1 has been called mother of
Palamedes.
Hesione 3 (or Plesione) is the same as
Pleione, mother, by Atlas,
of the PLEIADES.
|
|
