Like many other Greeks, Idomeneus ran into difficulties on his way home from Troy. During a fearsome storm, he promised Poseidon that, if he were delivered from the tempest, he would sacrifice the first being he saw on his return to Crete. Poseidon accepted the offer and calmed the storm, but the first person to greet Idomeneus when he reached dry land was his own son, Idamantes. There are several different versions of the subsequent events. In the Aeneid, by Roman poet Virgil (70—19 BCE), Idomeneus sacrificed his son, thus angering the gods, who drove him from Crete to Calabria in southern Italy. In another account, the sacrifice sparked a plague, which enraged the
Cretan people, who, in turn, forced Idomeneus off the island. In the second century BCE, Greek scholar Apollodorus related a third version of events. While Idomeneus was in Troy, his wife Meda took a lover, Leucus, who killed both Meda and her daughter before usurping the throne and forming alliances with 10 other cities. When Idomeneus returned home and attempted to sacrifice his son, a plague broke out. This event gave Leucus a perfect excuse to banish Idomeneus.
In all three versions, the story of Idomeneus is a sad one. His hasty oath to Poseidon and the subsequent sacrifice of his son cast a shadow over the reputation he had made for himself at Troy. However, a happy ending did come in the form of an opera by composer Mozart (1756-1791), Idomeneo, re di Creta (1781), in which Neptune (the Roman Poseidon) released Idomeneus from his vow.
Brian Seilstad
Bibliography
Homer, and Robert Fagles, trans. The Iliad. New York: Penguin, 2009.
Virgil, and Robert Fagles, trans. The Aeneid. New York: Penguin, 2009.
See also: Agamemnon; Ajax; Hector; Helen; Menelaus; Minos; Pasiphae; Patroclus.
World History
