Diomedes was one of the greatest Greek champions in the
Trojan War. In the Iliad, the poet Homer describes him as
Second only to Achilles, and makes frequent
References to “Diomedes of the great war cry”
In other versions, Diomedes is even braver
Than Achilles, whose petulant behavior when
His slave girl Briseis is taken from him
Almost costs the Greeks victory
Diomedes killed many Trojans in
Battle and, with the assistance of the
Goddess Athena, injured two deities.
He wounded Aphrodite when she
Intervened to rescue her son, the
. Trojan hero Aeneas, from *
Diomedes’ onslaught. In 1 the same battle Diomedes fought
1 Hector, Paris’s brother and a favorite
1 of Ares, the god of war. Athena helped
Diomedes thrust his spear at Ares, wounding the god and causing him to flee the battle.
Diomedes’ natural cunning and his partnership with Odysseus had an even more significant impact on the course of the war. Two episodes in particular illustrate the pair’s capacity for deception. In one story they tricked the hermit Philoctetes out of his magic bow and arrows,
. which he had inherited from Heracles.
The weapons allowed the Greeks to fulfill one prophecy of victory over
DIOMEDES
Above: In this painting by Erasmus Quellinus (1607—1678), Odysseus and Diomedes give presents to the daughters of Lycomedes. One of the “girls” is Achilles in disguise; he gives himself away by seizing the weapons.
The Trojans. Diomedes and Odysseus fulfilled another when they stole the Palladium, a wooden statue to Athena, from inside Troy. Both the Greeks and the Trojans believed that, as long as the Palladium remained inside its walls, Troy was safe. However, disguised as beggars, the pair passed unnoticed into the city and stole the statue. These stories demonstrate the importance of sacred objects to the morale of the side that possessed them.
World History
