In Greek mythology, Pylaeus (Ancient Greek: Πύλαιος), son of Lethus, son of Teutamides, descendant of Pelasgus.[1] He was one of the allies to King Priam in the Trojan War; he commanded the Pelasgian contingent together with his brother Hippothous.[2][3] Pylaeus is hardly ever mentioned separately from his brother; they are said to have fallen in battle together by Dictys Cretensis[4] and to have been buried "in a garden" according to the late Latin poet Ausonius.[5]
Strabo, in his comment on the Homeric passage referenced above, mentions that according to a local tradition of Lesbos, Pylaeus also commanded the Lesbian army and had a mountain on the island named Pylaeus after him.[6]
Pylaeus is also an epithet of Hermes.[7]
Notes[edit]
- ^ Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities 1.28.3 (citing Hellanicus, Phoronis) = Hellanicus fr. 4 Fowler, pp. 156–176.
- ^ Homer, Iliad 2.840–843
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, 2.35
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, 3.14
- ^ Ausonius, Epitaph of Heroes Who Participated in The Trojan War 21
- ^ Strabo, 13.3.3
- ^ Scholia on Homer, Iliad 2.842; Eustathius on Iliad 358.19; Diogenes Laërtius, 8.1.31: Pylaios was one of the three epithets that Hermes bore as the conveyor of the souls of the dead to the Underworld.
References[edit]
- Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities. English translation by Earnest Cary in the Loeb Classical Library, 7 volumes. Harvard University Press, 1937-1950. Online version at Bill Thayer's Web Site
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, Vol I-IV. . Karl Jacoby. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1885. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. ISBN 978-0674995796. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. ISBN 978-0198145318. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.