Idomeneus fought with distinction throughout the hostilities in Troy. According to the Iliad, he slew Phaestus, the son of Borus the Maeonian, before volunteering—one of only nine men to do so—to fight the Trojan champion Hector in single combat. This task, however, fell to Ajax. Later in Homer’s account, Idomeneus instructs the aged Nestor to save the wounded healer Machaon from battle. Idomeneus’s most fearsome fighting is described in Book 13 of the Iliad: urged on by the sea god Poseidon and accompanied by Meriones, he stands firm against an onslaught from the Trojan ranks led by Deiphobus and Aeneas. Later still, Idomeneus fought for the body of Patroclus, the beloved companion of the Greek champion Achilles. Idomeneus accompanied Odysseus, Nestor, and Phoenix when they went to comfort Achilles. Finally,
Above: This engraving by Luigi Schiavonetti (1765—1810) depicts a kneeling Mentor, a valued friend of Odysseus, giving advice to Idomeneus.
Pausanias and Idomeneus
Idomeneus was descended from Helios, the sun god, through the god's daughter Pasiphae. This was made clear by Greek travel writer Pausanias (143-176 CE), who described his visit to the temple of Zeus at Olympia. There Pausanias saw eight of a set of nine statues representing the warriors who rose to fight Hector at Troy—the ninth had apparently been taken to Rome by the emperor Nero. Although the only statue with an inscribed name was that of Agamemnon, Pausanias decided that another of the monuments must represent Idomeneus, because the shield of the statue in question bore the image of a rooster. The rooster was the sacred bird of the sun god Helios.
Above: The Greek fleet sails toward Troy, from an illustration in a 15th-century French book. According to Homer, Idomeneus took part in all the Trojan War’s main battles and related events.
During the funeral games to honor Patroclus, Idomeneus quarreled with Ajax while watching the chariot race. In classical art, most of the surviving representations of Idomeneus show him during the Trojan War: for example, leading a sacrifice with Agamemnon, or during Patroclus’s funeral games. However, much of his fame derives not from the Trojan War itself, but from his journey back to Crete.
World History
