The Arrow's Graze

Cupid
Sculpture by Bertel Thorvaldsen

There came one day when Cupid, the god of desire and son of Venus, took up the arms of Apollo, lord of the Sun, mischief on his powerful mind. Stringing the bow of Leto's son, he loosed a bolt to and fro, merrily playing and readying his aim. But Apollo saw him, and was incensed to fury at the young spirit. "Thou lascivious boy", spake he, "are arms like these for children to employ?" The Sun god berated Cupid, denouncing him as inferior in strength of body and of mind, of aim and eye. Might had been the conquests of the Sun gods bow, mortal and monster alike, the great serpent which terrorised the Delphic vale and more beside. "What is the power of desire, beside the fatal barb of my shot?", he mocked. But wily Cupid, cunning within him beyond his size, rounded on the god. "Mine the fame shall be, of all thy conquests, when I conquer thee". Vowing vengeance upon Apollo for his curses, Cupid, flying high to the peak of Mount Parnassus, brandished his deadly gift.



                    " Two diff'rent shafts he from his quiver draws;
                      One to repel desire, and one to cause.
                      One shaft is pointed with refulgent gold:
                      To bribe the love, and make the lover bold:
                      One blunt, and tipped with lead, whose base allay
                      Provokes disdain, and drives desire away.
                      The blunted bolt against the nymph he drest:
                      But with the sharp transfixt Apollo's breast. "

                            - CUPID CURSES APOLLO

Taking the arrow fixed with lead, the youthful spirit took deadly aim, and loosed the barb at his target. Far below upon the plain, there danced a naiad, Daphne was her name, daughter of the river Peneus. A fair lady beyond all others, the nymph had always been plagued by the advances of weak hearted men. But, shunning the ways of ordinary maidens, Daphne preferred the hunt to the arts of grace. Faithful to Diana, the Lady of the Moon and Hunt, many a time could Daphne be found, stalking her quarry in the forests. As the goddess herself, she swore herself pure, never to be violated in body, or in mind. The title of bride she scorned, the glades of the trees, she embraced. Often did her father chide her ways, for such passions were not the ways of other ladies and nymphs. But strong willed Daphne cared not, throwing her arms around her father's neck. "Give me, my Lord", she cried, "to live, and die, a spotless mad, without the marriage tye. 'Tis but a small request; I beg no more than what Zeus the Thunderer, sire of Diana, gave before". His angered gaze softened, and he at last relented, seeing the daughter he held so dear, granting her destiny. He granted her wish, but gave her warning - her wish would one day prove her punishment. Her beauty was as a curse now. Her own face would be her doom. It was to Daphne now, that Cupid's leaden dart flew swift and true, soaring through the Heavens, over plain and field and brook, piercing the nymph's oblivious side, banishing desire from her once and for all, cursing her to despise the first being she looked upon.

Apollo and the Muses
Painting by Jan van Balen

Not a moment to delay, young Cupid seized the golden barb from his quiver, and took careful aim. Just yonder stood the Sun god himself, Apollo in his rage. Steady was his hand, and keen his eye. A flash of gold, and the arrow whipped into the Sun god's breast, bearing upon its burnished tip the sparks of desire , dooming its victim to deadly infatuation with the first being he looked upon. His eyes averted by the shock of the dart, Apollo opened his divine eye, and down upon the mortal plain he gazed. It was there that he caught sight of her. Tender arms, and flowing hair, she danced through the sylvan glade. As the parched field in the high summer, when the traveller casts his flaming brand upon the grass, that was how the god was now afire. The golden point within fuelled a fire without mercy or respite, seizing his mind, all thought and hope now bent upon the nymph. His eyes passed over her dishevelled hair, her eyes as heavenly lamps, her delicate hands, and in that moment he was doomed.


With the celerity no god could match, but a god filled with raw passion alone could know, Apollo thundered down from the heights of Mount Olympus, all thought of other things, all hopes, all fears, all duties, banished from his mind. Into the shade of the great forest the light of the Sun came, and it was in that moment that Daphne turned and saw her admirer for the first time. Hideous revulsion and disgust raw flooded her, as the leaden bolt burned bright within her. With horror at the hateful figure she saw before her, the naiad turned tail in flight. More swiftly than any spirit had moved before, Daphne fled. Anguish mingled with fear when the Sun god saw her run, would he lose her? No doubt in the mind of the god, he made hot pursuit. Both spirits of the immortal gods, both unmoved by fatigue, both raced across the world, one doomed never to reach his quarry, the other never to leave it. The huntress was now as the hunted. Through open plains, through meadows, through mountains, through rivers and through valleys god and naiad chased, no hint of sweat upon either brow, for god, no hint of capture, for naiad, no hint of evasion. "Stay Nymph", Apollo cried, "I follow not a foe... Thou shunn'st a God, and shunn'st a God that loves!". To Daphne Apollo called, begging her to stop:


                    " Abate thy speed, and I will bate of mine.
                      Yet think from whom thou dost so rashly fly;
                      Nor basely born, nor shepherd's swain am I.
                      Perhaps thou know'st not my superior state;
                      And from that ignorance proceeds thy hate.
                      Me Claros, Delphi, Tenedos obey;
                      These hands the Patareian scepter sway.
                      The King of Gods begot me: what shall be,
                      Or is, or ever was, in Fate, I see.
                      Mine is th' invention of the charming lyre;
                      Sweet notes, and heaven'ly numbers, I inspire.
                      Sure is my bow, unerring is my dart... "
                              - APOLLO CALLS TO DAPHNE


Not half of the Sun god's pleas did bold Daphne hear. Long ago had she voweda life of chastity, here was her greatest test, and she would not violate her oath now. "Fear gave her wings", and as she fled with haste anew, the wind blew her flowing hair, and Apollo, stricken by flame again, was fired anew.

The Metamorphosis of Daphne
Painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

"She urg'd by fear, her feet did swiftly move, but he more swiftly, who was urg'd by love". Now at last, the god gained pace, and the gap began to edge closer. With such fury did Apollo thunder across the plains, he spared not one spare reserve of divine effort calling to her, focused as he was on just touching her. A glance behind, and pure Daphne spied the god bearing closer down, and the naiad grew pale with terror. The labours of her long bid for freedom wore heavy upon her soft shoulders, but still she did not bow to what could have been inevitable. Desperate now, she called to her father, Peneus, lord of the river, "Oh help", she cried, "in this extremest need! If water gods are deities indeed, gape Earth, and this unhappy wretch intomb; or change my form, when all my sorrows come." With the utmost need did Daphne call, and the god heard her. Pitying her daughter, remembering how he had warned her that she would be forever cursed by her beauty, he bowed to her final wish. An incantation he spake aloud, words of power radiating from the river. Apollo reached out for her, and Daphne gasped:


                   " Scarce had she finish'd, when her feet she found
                      Benumb'd with cold, and fasten'd to the ground:
                      A filmy rind about her body grows;
                      Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs:
                      The nymph is all into a laurel gone;
                      The smoothness of her skin remains alone... "
                            - THE METAMORPHOSIS OF DAPHNE

With a howl of broken hope, Apollo looked on as the very pinnacle of his heart's desire changed to tree before his eyes, cursing the god that robbed him of his prize. Round her waist he threw his arms, but round a trunk his arms fell. Some warmth he found still, a heaving heart within. But in vain did he call her name, for once where there was naiad, there was now only the fair bark of a laurel tree, the first laurel tree. Apollo, stricken with tears, embraced the trunk and fixed his lips upon it. Wiping the tears from his eyes, the Sun god declared:


                   " Because thou canst not be
                      My mistress, I espouse thee for my tree:
                      Be thou the prize of honour, and renown;
                      The deathless poet, and the poem, crown.
                      Thou shalt the Roman festivals adorn,
                      And, after poets, be by victors be worn.
                      Thou shalt returning Caesar's triumph grace;
                      When pomps shall in a long procession grace;
                       Wreath'd on the posts before his palace wait;
                       And be the sacred guardian of the Gate.
                       Secure from thunder, and unharm'd by Jupiter,
                       Unfading as th' immortal Pow'rs above...
                       So shall perpetual green thy boughs adorn... "
                                - APOLLO'S PLEDGE TO THE LAUREL


Deep within the spirit of the tree, Daphne heard his words at last, and grateful was she, and the tree bowed respectfully to the god. Ever after was the laurel tree the symbol of victory, worn as a wreath upon the crown of champions, and never again did Apollo doubt the power of desire...


United Kingdom

Metamorphoses:
Metamorphoses: A New Verse Translation (Penguin Classics)
(The Source for many of the myths of ancient lore, written by a Roman poet)

United States

Metamorphoses:

Metamorphoses (Penguin Classics)
(The Source for many of the myths of ancient lore, written by a Roman poet)  

A Way of Life

Why stop at reforging a nation when you can remake its people? It was precisely this idea which gripped Lycurgus now. After so many years spent in exile, and so many years travelling the world, the onetime King of Sparta had singlehandedly built a country, raising her from the brink of destruction to greatness anew (for the first part of the this story, please click here).

Mount Taygetus - Where rejected infants were abandoned
Photograph taken by the author

But it is in the revolutionary education that Lycurgus made Sparta the envy of the world. Seeing the weak and passive boys of Athens, who reclined in their homes being tutored by foreign slaves, Lycurgus resolved to make the sons and daughters of Sparta the most fearsome in all the world. Unique among the nations which have lived in this world, the Spartans practised selective breeding and eugenics upon themselves. When a baby was born, be it a boy or a girl, they would be immediately examined by the senior elder. If the child was strong and healthy, then it would be allowed to live. If the infant displayed any sign of physical deformity or poor health, it would be destroyed, regardless of the parent’s wishes, as it was deemed better for both the child and the state if it were incapable of the formidable demands of the Spartan state. Infants were trained not to fear the dark or being left alone, to eat up their food without fussing, and fits of temper and crying were soon bred out of them. Boys that survived to the age of seven were divided into ‘herds’, and were inducted into the legendary agoge, the brutal path that would turn a boy into a Spartan. The boys exercised vigorously, and perpetually, carefully observed by the older citizens, who spurred them on to fight each other, to ready them for war. They learned to read and write “no more than was necessary”, focusing their training on “obedience, perseverance under stress, and victory in battle”. The older they grew, the more intensive the training. At twelve, each surviving boy was given the iconic red cloak to wear, for all other clothing was forbidden in Sparta. As others wasted fortunes on lavish clothing, Lycurgus reasoned that a powerful body showed the devotion of a man to wellbeing, and silken clothing a hideous corruption of it. Such practice would also harden the boys against the effects of cold and heat. Shoes were forbidden too, to toughen the boy’s soles, so that each was well accustomed to running in the wild. At night, torches were forbidden, so that each would be used to operating in the dark and would have no fear of it.

A Spartan Warrior
Marble statue of the 5th century BC

The ruthless agoge not only honed the body, but the mind too. All boys were allocated to a common mess, and frequently held discussion on important topics with the elders. Each boy was regularly asked to scrutinise his fellow comrades. “Answers had to be reasoned, supported by argument, and at the same time expressed with brevity and conciseness”, defying the stereotype of the Spartans as unthinking warriors. The Spartan’s quick wit and use of few words, from where our adjectives ‘laconic’ or indeed ‘Spartan’ come from, became legendary even in ancient times. Once a foreigner asked the Spartan Eurypontid King Ariston how many fighting men lived at Sparta. “Enough”, replied the King. Centuries later, when King Philip II of Macedon had conquered all the other cities of Greece, he sent an ultimatum to Sparta. “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people and raze your city”. The Spartans sent a reply of just a single word – “If”. Philip never again dared threaten the Spartans. Once, in a time of crisis, a Spartan who had been crippled in one leg eagerly enlisted with the fighting men. Some were determined to bar him from combat as a result of his injury, he answered, “But what is needed to fight our foes is a man who stands his ground, not one who runs away”. When once a foreign man bragged loudly of his wealth and riches, sneering as he asked where Sparta’s wealth lay, a nearby Spartan declared “Stranger, we are rich in valour and deeds”. During the dramatic Persian invasion of Greece, when just three hundred Spartans faced a Persian army numbering in the millions, the Persian Great King Xerxes sent a herald to the Spartans. “Spartans! Lay down your arms!”, he cried. “PERSIANS! COME AND GET THEM!” the Spartan King Leonidas roared back. When a terrified Greek scout declared that the Persians were so many that their arrows would block out the Sun, one of the three hundred declared, “Excellent, then we shall fight in the shade”. A Spartan ambassador in Athens was once mocked by the Athenians as hailing from an uneducated people. “It serves us well, for we have learned nothing wicked from you”, came the calm reply, wiping smiles clean from Athenian faces. When once a man was invited to a great meal on account of his legendary speeches, and remained silent throughout the entire meal, much criticism of him spread throughout the room. The Spartan King Archidamadas, puzzled by this reaction, pointed out “an expert at speaking also knows when to do so”. When the people of Elis received lavish praise once for their fair conduct of the Olympic Games, only the Spartan King Agis did not join in. The other Greeks angrily turned to him to ask why he was not offering praise. “What great or wonderful achievement is it on their part if they act fairly on just one day in every four years?”, the King retorted. When far away on campaign in Asia, a foreigner asked the Spartan King Agesilaus how far the boundaries of the Spartan domains extended. Seizing his spear, he replied “As far as this can reach”.


Lycurgus decreed that each boy was to be deliberately given rations that were not enough for one person, forcing them to fight and steal. If a boy was caught stealing, he would be savagely beaten and whipped, not for theft, but for incompetence at theft. Indeed, a story abounded how one young Spartan boy was caught after he had stolen a fox cub and hid it under his cloak, but refused to admit his crime, even as the frenzied beast clawed his abdomen open. The idea of retreat in battle was the most polluting shame a man could suffer in Sparta. Death was preferable. If any fled in war, they would be reduced to subhuman status, mocked and beaten in the streets, his family members forbidden from marrying and his name disgraced. Valour was everything, even if it led to death. To die fighting in battle was the highest honour a man could aspire to, and only those Spartan men who died in war were permitted to be buried in a marked grave, as a beacon of inspiration. One man expressed his fears for the safety of Sparta, as the city had no walls to defend it. Lycurgus retorted that “a city cannot be unfortified if it is ringed with brave men and not bricks”. To the end of its days, Sparta never built walls. Lycurgus fondly recalled the division of labour in Egypt, and decreed that all Spartan men were forbidden from practicing any craft, ensuring they focused their life on training for that thing which makes nations free - war - all day, all days. Only during times of war was training relaxed, so that the Spartans would see battle as a respite, and relish it more.

Spartan girls exercising
Painting by Edgar Degas

It was not only the males who trained. Unique among all the civilisations of the ancient world, in Sparta girls too would exercise and devote themselves to physical perfection, even competing in the arenas of sport. By their late teens, a Spartan girl would be more than a match even for the most battle hardened of men from other cities. Some even competed in the Olympic Games. The Spartan Princess Cynisca shocked the Greek world by triumphing in the chariot races, not once, but twice, at the Olympic Games of 396 and 392 BC, making a mockery of the men she raced against. “Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?” an envious Athenian lady once asked Queen Gorgo of Sparta. “Because we are the only ones who give birth to real men”, the Queen famously replied. Just as the supreme honour was for a man to die in war, for a lady to die in childbirth would warrant her name being immortalised in stone. Lycurgus reasoned that each had entailed the greatest sacrifice for the state, and was worthy of honour.


Lycurgus looked proudly upon the new state he had built, and the Spartan people eagerly accepted it. Summoning the people to assembly, he declared that Sparta was secure, but the greatest reform was yet to come. He volunteered to take the road to Delphi, and hear from the Oracle if his reforms were pleasing to the gods on high. In the meantime, he declared, the people must swear an oath to abide by the laws until his return. This the people readily did, awed by Lycurgus as they were. A path trodden by so many great souls, now Lycurgus followed in their wake to the Oracle’s Mount. ‘Will these laws secure the happiness and greatness of the state?’, spoke the exiled King. The Oracle was unusually forthright. The gods had decreed that Sparta would enjoy an everlasting legacy that would be the envy of the world, and that so long as she obeys the new way of life, she may never fall. Tearful with joy, Lycurgus wrote down the Oracle’s words, and sent them to Sparta. But Lycurgus was a prudent and pious man. Well did he know that many revolutionary ideas die with their creator, and decided to ensure the survival of his masterpiece. Lycurgus, the King who became an exile, and the exile who became the father of a nation, true to his own teachings until the end, decided to give the greatest sacrifice for the state. Ordering his friends to take his ashes and scatter them in the sea, the once exiled King took his own life, so as to never release Sparta from her oath, and to ensure the glory of his city lived forever...


United Kingdom

On Sparta:
On Sparta (Penguin Classics)
(A unique insight into the stories, customs and founding of the Spartan state, written in ancient times)

United States

On Sparta:
On Sparta (Penguin Classics)
(A unique insight into the stories, customs and founding of the Spartan state, written in ancient times)

The Fall of Croesus

Today we return to the story of Croesus, King of Lydia, paragon of wealth and eager for greatness (for the first part of the story, please click here). "No man may know if he has had a happy life until it is over", came the warning from Solon, but it had fallen upon deaf ears. Croesus had it all, how could it possibly go wrong?

The Summit of Mount Olympus
Photograph taken by 'Jkelly'

However, no man or woman could become too powerful or too beautiful without disaster befalling them. For it was always upon the tallest trees that the old gods hurled their thunderbolts. One night, soon after Solon departed, the gods sent a dream to Croesus, a dream with a dire prophecy, that his own son Atys would be slain by an iron spear. Roused, shaken, from his slumber, Croesus was afraid. Croesus had two sons, one deaf and dumb since birth, and Atys, the pride of the Kingdom. Desperate to ensure the dream would never come to pass, Croesus ordered all spears, swords, javelins and all manner of weapons removed from the men's quarters, and forbade his son to leave the Royal Palace. One day soon after, a delegation arrived from Mysia in Greece. They bowed before the King and pleaded with him to send Atys and his finest men to help them, for a monstrous boar had descended from Mount Olympus, spreading carnage wherever it went. Fearful of the dream, Croesus replied that Atys would have to remain behind, but he would send his finest warriors in his stead. The Mysians were disappointed, but gratefully accepted. Seeing the disheartened delegates, Atys implored his father, begging to be allowed with them. Seeing no way to delay so any longer, Croesus reluctantly told to his son the story of his vision, and how he could never let it come to pass. "What a dream!", Atys exclaimed. Though humble before the gods, Atys was a brave man, and he tried to console his father, explaining that the dream had referred to an iron spear, not a tusk, and he would march against boar, not man, and so he was quite safe. As the commander of the Lydian army, it was his duty to prove himself a man before it too. Delighted at this line of thought, Croesus, relented, and bade his son farewell.


Days passed, and then, a messenger appeared in Sardis, burdened and torn with grief. Atys, the man told Croesus, had been killed. "But how can this be?!" the enraged King shouted. Relating his tragic story, the man told the King that the party had tracked the boar to the very slopes of Olympus, after a long and gruelling chase. As their victory drew near, the boar made to gore the King's son, and, meaning to save him, one of the men had hurled his spear at the creature. But in the thrashing and chaos, the iron point flew far of its target, and transfixed Atys where he stood. Croesus, and Lydians far and wide mourned their heroic prince, and an ominous sense of foreboding gripped the land.

The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great
Map created by the author

For two whole years, Croesus mourned his son, until news was borne to Sardis that events in the East were moving fast. Far away in Asia, the once great land of the Medes had been overturned in a bloody rebellion, lead by a new man, spoken of far and wide as a divine prodigy. This man's name was Cyrus, and it would not be long before he would take the title of 'the Great'. The new nation that rose in his wake would one day become one of the world's greatest powers - the Persian Empire. Jarred from his grief, Croesus awoke to this new danger. Hearing rumours of Oracles around the world which could bear word of the future, Croesus resolved to send envoys to each, and find for himself which one was truly the greatest conduit to the gods. To the Oasis of Ammon in Libya, to the Sanctuary of Zeus at Dodona, to the Abae in Phocis, to the Pythia at Delphi, and to countless others Croesus sent messengers. Deciding upon a test for each, Croesus sent his men to ask each Oracle exactly what he was doing at that moment in time. Carefully working out on which day his messengers would arrive at the Oracles, Croesus lay in wait. Soon after, the answers of the Oracles began to flood in, and Croesus was disappointed. Just then, the messenger who had been sent to Delphi burst into the Palace with the Pythia's reply:


             " I know the number of grains of sand and the extent of the sea;
               I understand the deaf-mute and hear the words of the dumb.
               My senses detect the smell of tough-shelled tortoise
               Cooked in bronze together with the flesh of lambs;
               Beneath it lies bronze, and bronze covers it "
                                  - THE ORACLE ON CROESUS


Many in the court were deeply puzzled, but Croesus was stunned. For, as a test of the gods, on the day that his messengers came before the Oracle, Croesus decided to do something no person could predict. Going to the beach, he had cut up a tortoise ad a lamb and boiled them inside a bronze pot. The eyes of the Oracle were omniscient indeed if she had seen this. Delphi was declared the greatest Oracle under Heaven, and Croesus showered the sanctuary in his riches, with countless ingots of gold towering high in the treasuries of the Oracle. Croesus sent to the Oracle one last time. Sensing the time had come to face Cyrus at last, the King asked the Oracle whether, if there be war between Lydian and Persian, he would emerge triumphant. In one of the most famous prophecies ever to come from Delphi, the Pythia replied "If you make war on the Persians, you will destroy a great empire". Overjoyed, jubilant and relishing his coming victory, Croesus immediately made preparations for the coming storm. Soon Solon would surely have to concede he was the happiest man alive?


Marching with all haste towards the Halys River, the boundary between Lydia and Persia, Croesus sent gifts and an offer of alliance to the Spartans of Laconia, since the Oracle had advised him to march with the strongest nation in Greece. Sure that he needed no help, Croesus did not wait for assistance, but pressed on, eager for glory. One man who marched with the King, however, had a bad feeling. Speaking the words of the gods, Sandanis, as he was called, urged Croesus to turn back:


             " Their food consists of what they can get, not what they might want,
                because of the ruggedness of their land. They drink no wine, just water,
                and figs are the only good thing they have to eat. They have nothing!
                So if you win, what will you gain from them? But if you are defeated,
                think of all the good things you will lose!... "
                                      - SANDANIS URGES CROESUS TO WITHDRAW

Cyrus the Great
Image taken from a modern sculpture,
currently in Sydney

But Croesus was deaf to all warning. Bridging the Halys in haste, the Lydians and the might of Asia clashed. For a whole day the two powers fought, and thousands fell, both Lydian and Persian alike. As night fell, both sides withdrew to lick their wounds. Croesus, putting the stalemate down to lack of numbers, decided to withdraw to Sardis and await his allies there, assuming that Cyrus' losses were too great to pursue him. But the legions of Asia were without number, and the charisma of their leader was great. A spy in the Lydian camp informed the Persian Great King of Croesus' designs, and he set off in close pursuit. Before the very walls of Sardis, Croesus turned to fight once more, certain that whatever transpired, he would be victorious. The Lydian horseman charged, but were soon thrown into disarray. For as yet a Western horse had never before encountered a camel, and the sight and smell of the strange beasts struck panic into the hearts of the Lydian mounts. Scattering to and fro, the Lydians were thrown behind their walls, and the siege began.


Expecting the siege to be long and his allies to arrive soon, Croesus sat back, still confident of victory. For the great city of Sardis sat atop a dramatic plateau, surrounded by a vast wall but for the short stretch of near vertical cliff at the acropolis where the Palace stood. But, fourteen days later, Cyrus witnessed an opening. A Lydian soldier, who dropped his helmet, scrambled down the escarpment to reclaim it, and quickly climbed back up. Realising it was not as impregnable as it first seemed, Cyrus waited for nightfall, then offered a reward for the first man to reach the top. After an exhausting climb, chaos reigned, and Persian troops rampaged through the city, burning all in their path. Croesus lamented over the darkness of war, for "in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons". As Persian soldiers bore down upon him within his towering, glittering and golden halls, the terrible truth was at last revealed to Croesus. The Oracle had said that he would destroy a great empire if he marched on Cyrus. She had meant his own.

Croesus on the Pyre
Image taken from a 6th century BC Attic Vase

Croesus was hurled to the floor before the Great King, and the two most powerful lords of Asia met at last. Resolving that he would leave the fate of the former Lydian King to the gods, Cyrus ordered that Croesus be bound atop a vast funeral pyre. If he was truly favoured, the gods would spare him. At the command of the Great King, torches were cast into the timbers, and the flames kindled. As the crackle of burning reached his ears, and sparks began to rise before his eyes, Croesus remembered the words of Solon. The old man had been right, fortune is fickle and only at his death does a man know that his life has been fortunate. Seeing the divine inspiration behind these words, Croesus sighed, and simply repeated the name "Solon" to the Heavens. Far below, Cyrus looked on, curious, and eager to know who it was this man called upon in his last moments. Cyrus's translators called up to him, asking him who Solon was. "Someone whom I would give a fortune to have every ruler in the world meet", Croesus solemnly replied. Stunned, Cyrus begged to know more, as the flames began to rise higher and higher. Accepting his fate, Croesus told Cyrus the story of Solon's lesson, of how he had dismissed all his wealth as meaningless, and how everything had transpired as it had been foretold. As the fire licked the soles of Croesus' feet, Cyrus took pity on him, seeing before him not a foe to be conquered, but another human being, who could just as easily be him. Desperately calling out, Cyrus ordered his men to douse the flames, but it was too late, and the conflagration roared. Embracing his end, Croesus raised his head to the skies, prepared to die. But Apollo, lord of prophecy, remembering Croesus' generosity toward his sanctuary of Delphi, took pity on him, and sent a cloud of rain to douse the fire.


Awed at the sight before him, Cyrus took the broken old man down, weeping that he had tried to destroy a man who was good at heart. "Who was it that persuaded you to invade my country, and be my enemy over my friend?" the Great King asked of him. "It was the god of the Greeks", he replied. So would be sown the first seeds of conflict between the East and the West...

United Kingdom

The Histories:
The Histories (Oxford World's Classics)
( I can not recommend this enough. The sheer number of the most gripping stories inside is formidable)

United States

The Histories:
The Histories (Oxford World's Classics)
(I can not recommend this enough. The sheer number of the most gripping stories inside is formidable)

The Wealth of Croesus

True happiness is not a thing to be measured by one's possessions. The idea that money alone cannot buy happiness is an ancient teaching, and remains today one of the great philosophical maxims which we preach but so rarely practice. It is folly to think that true serenity is something to be bought. This hasn't stopped many from trying however. One such man was Croesus of Lydia.

The Eastern Mediterranean c. 560 BC
Map created by the author

The land in which Croesus grew up was a nation which has largely been lost in the mists of time. For over five centuries, the Kingdom of Lydia had been powerful nation, enjoying the prosperity and envy only a far larger realm would normally bring, when the great King Alyattes died in the five hundred and sixtieth year before Christ. The ruling House of the Mermnadae had been blessed with strong rulers, and their domains had soared to heights of culture long forgotten now. It is testament to the wealth of Lydia that in fact, the first known coins were minted there. The most powerful cities in Asia Minor had all been subdued by the prowess of the Lydian Kings, and even the vast Median Empire in the East was at best an equal. Alyattes had lead the Lydians to war with the Medes at the River Halys, but, at the height of the battle, a solar eclipse occurred (this was indeed a real event), seeing this as an omen from the Heavens, both sides laid down their arms. Alyattes and King Cyaxares of Media decreed that the River Halys would henceforth be the natural boundaries of their realms, and both nations would trouble the other no more. Things were promising indeed when Alyattes son, Croesus, was crowned King of Lydia at the age of thirty five.

The Tribute to Croesus
Painting by Claude Vignon

Thirsty for treasures anew, Croesus turned West and sieged the great city of Ephesus, the greatest metropolis of the Greeks in Asia, and after a time, took the city. By so doing, Croesus became the first foreign foe to subject the Greeks to tribute. Wealth flowed into the coffers of Sardis, the great capital city of Lydia. One by one, the Greek cities of the coast fell to Croesus' might. Beaten, and humiliated, the Greeks in the West submitted to peace with Lydia, as the King overpowered more and more of the peoples of Asia. Soon, Croesus could count among his subjects the Phrygians, Mysians, Mariandynians, Chalybes, Paphlagonians, Thynian and Bithynian Thracians, Carians, Ionians, Dorians, Aeolians and Pamphylians. Wealth flowed into the coffers of Sardis. The prosperity of Croesus grew so great that Lydia became the first nation to ever mint coins in pure gold. Centuries later, the finest offerings stored at the Sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi were still the gifts which hailed from Lydia. The fame of Croesus spread throughout the known world, and the power of this foreign King became legend. People far and wide sought trade with the dazzling splendour of his domains. Wealth flowed into the coffers of Sardis. One day, when all the peoples West of the Halys bowed to the Lydian King, when the riches of Sardis were without number, when Croesus stood at the very height of his power, a stranger approached the mighty citadel which housed the royal palace. This man's name was Solon.

Solon comes before Croesus
Painting by Gerard van Honthorst

A native of Athens, a humble and learned man, Solon was himself a renowned statesman, poet and philosopher, who gave many laws to the people of Athens. In his latter days, retired from public life in Athens, Solon set out to see the world, visiting many of the great courts of the Orient. Having graced the court of Pharaoh Amasis in Egypt, at the invitation of Croesus, Solon now came to the palace of Sardis. Croesus gave Solon a lavish room in the palace, and granted him the most extravagant luxuries to furnish his chamber. Soon after his arrival, Croesus gave Solon a spectacular tour of the treasuries, and not a single splendid or shining thing was left unseen, desperate to impress Solon as the King was. Room after room of the most fabulous pearls, emeralds and sapphires stretched before them, as it was once said that Croesus counted his jewels as a man might count the grains of sand in a beach. When at last the glittering tour came to an end, Croesus, burning with pride, turned to his guest and spoke:


         " 'My dear guest from Athens', he said, 'we have often heard about you in Sardis:
            you are famous for your learning and your travels. We hear that you treasure
            knowledge and have journeyed far and wide, to see the world.
            So I really want to ask you whether you have ever come across anyone
            who is happier than everyone else? "
                                         - CROESUS SPEAKS TO SOLON


Solon, without hesitation, replied "Yes my lord: Tellus of Athens". Croesus, taken aback that he himself was not named, asked Solon with urgency to explain why. Solon proceeded to tell the story of Tellus of Athens, a modest man who had many fine sons, and watched them grow old and have many grandchildren, who all survived. At the peak of his life, having enjoyed the fruits of his times, he died a glorious death and was honoured highly by his city. In a war between Athens and Eleusis, Tellus had hurled himself into the breach, routing the Eleusinians at the cost of his own life. His name was remembered by Athens, and a magnificent funeral was granted to him on the spot of his final departure.

Cleobis and Biton
Painting by Nicolas Loir

Croesus listened with amusement at Solon's admiring words of Tellus, as he asked who the second happiest person he knew was, this time certain that he would gain the accolade. "Cleobis and Biton", came the reply, as not for the first or last time, Croesus' face fell. These men made enough to live adequately, and were blessed with great strength, which they put to good use in athletic games. Both brothers were devoted to their family, and earned their fame through their selfless actions. One day there was to be a festival to the goddess Hera at Argos, and the twins' elderly mother was desperate to go. The oxen that were to pull her cart, however, could not be found in the fields. Unfazed, the brothers harnessed themselves to the yoke, setting off with the cart - and their mother - in tow. The brother pulled the cart for forty five stades (a stade being the length of the stadium at Olympia, about 192 metres), all the way to the sanctuary. The gathered people looked on in amazement at the sight before them, as the brothers arrived at the sanctuary at last. The Argive men shouted their awe and congratulations to the brothers for their strength, whilst the Argive women praised the mother for the fortune she had been bestowed in her sons. Overcome with joy, the mother came before the statue of the goddess, and prayed that she would give her sons the finest reward humankind can receive. That night, with the ceremony complete, and the feasting subsided, the brothers at last laid down in the temple to rest. Drained by their immense feat, the brothers never again got up the next morning, as the goddess spirited both away to the Heavens. The Argives, glowing with admiration, raised statues to the twins and dedicated them at Delphi, and honoured them as the best of men.

Solon ended his remarkable story, as Croesus was angered that he had still not been named. "My dear guest from Athens, do you hold our happiness in utter contempt? Is that why you are ranking us lower than even ordinary citizens?" Wise Solon answered the King, "It follows, Croesus, that human life is entirely a matter of chance". A man may live for thirty thousand days, yet it takes but one to raise him to the towering heights, and an instant to hurl him to the deepest depths. Many a man is wealthy yet unlucky, and many a man of moderate means has the blessings of fortune. While the poor man is not as capable of coping with disaster, his good luck will watch over him, as he is stranger to disease and disfigurement and catastrophe, is blessed with fine looks and illustrious progeny. If in addition to all this he dies a heroic death, then he may truly be called happy. Call no man happy until he is dead, just fortunate, for the winds of Fate are fickle indeed. In the real world, no person is truly self sufficient, as one person possesses some things yet lacks others. Yet he "who retains more of these advantages than others, and then dies well, my lord, is the one who, in my opinion, deserves the description in question". Divinity may offer prosperity with one hand and ruin with the other.

These noble words, however, fell on deaf ears, as Croesus was furious that he had still not been confirmed as the happiest man on Earth. Sending Solon away with contempt, the King set about showing the world his true greatness. So began the chain of events which would change the course of civilisation forever...

To be continued...

NOTE: Something must be said about the book from which this story was taken (follow the links below to find it at Amazon). This work has lifetimes' worth of knowledge and understanding within it, with a series of carefully interconnected stories making one majestic tale. If you ever wanted to know where the true conflict between the East and the West began, read this. You will neither regret nor forget it.


United Kingdom

The Histories:
The Histories (Oxford World's Classics)
(I can not recommend this work enough. The sheer number of the most gripping stories inside, is formidable)

United States:

The Histories:
The Histories (Oxford World's Classics)
(I can not recommend this work enough. The sheer number of the most gripping stories inside, is formidable)

The Fall of Oedipus

We return today to the saga of Oedipus, the beleaguered King of Thebes (for the previous and first episode of the story, please click here). Having received word from the sacred Oracle at Delphi, King Oedipus discovered that in order for Apollo to lift the plague which stalks the streets of Thebes, he must hunt down and cast out the murderer of King Laius, Oedipus' predecessor. Vowing to exile the culprit himself, Oedipus embarked upon a campaign of discovery, piecing together the events surrounding his rise to the throne (when the Oracle had decreed that Oedipus would kill his own father and be wed to his own mother), and the murder of Laius. The blind prophet Tiresias denounced Oedipus himself as the murderer, much to the latter's disgust, yet Queen Jocasta sought to sooth her King's pain by reassuring him that Laius was killed at a crossroads by robbers, so it could not possibly have been Oedipus. Or could it?

The Corinthian lands
Photograph by the author.

Whilst urgently awaiting the arrival of the sole survivor of the massacre which took the life of Laius, Oedipus grows more and more agitated. Memories of his old life flood his mind, as his thoughts race, twist and turn to the time when he himself walked the road from Delphi to Thebes, and was himself assailed at a crossroads. Jocasta says that Laius was killed “at a place where three roads meet”, which reminds him all too ominously of where Oedipus slew that vulgar man and his entourage. Oedipus asks Jocasta to describe Laius:

                                    “ He was swarthy...

                                      And the gray had just begun to streak his temples,

                                      And his build... wasn’t far from yours... ”

                                                  - JOCASTA DESCRIBES LAIUS

Terror floods Oedipus, perhaps that blind seer could see? Just as he is about to resign himself to have fulfilled Apollo's terrible curse, a messenger suddenly arrives from Corinth. He tells Oedipus that his father, King Polybus is now dead, and that he is the rightful King of Corinth! Oedipus quickly demands to know how he died, was it murder? Sickness? What? Old age, the messenger assures him. Jocasta is relieved, there surely, is proof that the prophecy was false after all? Oedipus recovers a little of his former confidence. If it is as Jocasta and this man say, then he is in the clear.

The Messenger with the infant Oedipus
Sculpture by Antoine-Denis Chaudet.

Rejoicing in the news, Oedipus tells the messenger that he must not face Queen Merope of Corinth, his mother, for the second line of the prophecy could still, however dreadful, come to pass. "What prophecy is this?", the messenger asks. Oedipus repeats the fateful verse, that he is fated to murder his father and be wed to his mother. "Why don't I rid you of that old worry now?" says the messenger. So the messenger begins his story, that once as a young man whilst tending his flocks in the mountain pastures of Mount Cithaeron, a stranger gave to him an infant. An infant whose ankles were painfully bound. Oedipus remembers the deformity in his own feet that had plagued his movement for as long as he could remember. That baby was given by the messenger to King Polybus, who adopted it as his own, and raised him as his own son. Who gave this baby to him? Another shepherd, the messenger remembers, a servant "he called himself a servant of... if I remember lightly - Laius". Jocasta sharply turns to the messenger, "the king of the land who ruled here long ago?". "That's the one", he assures her. Upon asking his court if anyone knows of this servant, they reply that he is in fact the same man who survived the attack at the place where three roads meet, whom Oedipus has sent for. Jocasta, dread realisation spreading through her, begs Oedipus to call off his investigation, for his own sake. Oedipus is adamant, he must discover the truth. He vowed before the gods themselves that he would cast out Laius' murderer, and he alone can do so. Ordering the servant to speed his way to the court, Queen Jocasta runs screaming to her bedroom, bemoaning the "man of agony" that is her son.

An old shepherd is brought to the palace, reluctantly coming before King Oedipus. The messenger from Corinth is exultant, "He's your man!" he tells Oedipus. Oedipus questions him closely, did he truly hand over a baby to the messenger? "What? Why rake that up again?" the shepherd wails. Desperatedly trying to evade questioning and revealing the truth, the shepherd screams for Oedipus to ask no more. Threatening him with torture, Oedipus forces him to go on. "Queen Jocasta gave the infant to me", he despairs. Oedipus asks why she would do this. Out of fear of a prophecy, the shepherd responds, "they said - he'd kill his parents...". But why did the shepherd give the infant to this Corinthian? "I pitied the little baby, master", he could not bear to leave it to die on the harsh mountain slopes, and hoped it would receive a better lot in life far away in a distant land. Realisation of the whole truth, the terrible truth, that he had been a pawn of the gods his whole life, now one dreadful curse, Oedipus chokes on the fact that his father was slain by his own hand and that his four children were sprung from his own mother and wife:

      

                  “ O god -

                    all come true, all burst to light!

                    O light - now let me look my last on you!

                    I stand revealed at last -

                    cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage,

                    cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands! ”

                                           - THE TERRIBLE TRUTH STRIKES OEDIPUS

Hurtling back into the depths of his palace, Oedipus curses his fate with a great cry. The courtiers all despair at how the Fates can fell even the greatest of men, remembering the old days when Oedipus had saved them all from the Sphinx, only now to taint the land with his terrible curse. A shout echoes from within the palace - Queen Jocasta has hanged herself. Oedipus breaks into her chamber howling with rage. Bellowing at the guards to bring him a sword so that he too might die, he circles the body of his wife and mother. Changing his mind, Oedipus tears two brooch pins from his mothers corpse. Holding them high, and looking straight down the sharp pins, he thrusts them into his eyes. As the dark blood flows from his sockets, Oedipus cries:

               

                 “ You,

                    You'll see no more the pain I suffered, all the pain I caused

                    Too long you looked on the ones you never should have seen,

                    blind to the ones you longed to see, to know! Blind

                    from this hour on! Blind in the darkness - blind! ”

                                         - OEDIPUS DRIVES THE PINS INTO HIS EYES



Oedipus in Exile
Painting by Fulchran-Jean Harriet.

 Emerging slowly from the palace, led by a boy, the blinded Oedipus begs Creon, his uncle and brother-in-law, to enact the decree which Oedipus himself laid out, and exile him. Creon vows to consult the gods to ask what to do, but Oedipus is relentless, he must go. Hearing sobbing behind him, Oedipus turns and hears the voices of Antigone and Ismene, his daughters yet also his sisters. Weeping for them to have been born into such an accursed family, Oedipus begs Creon to look after them, a promise Creon makes. Oedipus offers his hand to Creon, who swiftly backs away, loath to touch the polluted man. Resigned to despair, Oedipus sets out on the road once again, this time a cursed exile, destined to be despised by gods and men for the rest of his days.

So ends Oedipus the King, the first episode of the Three Theban Plays. Regarded as a master stroke of dramatic storytelling, and a model for all future tragedies even in ancient times, the story of Oedipus and his progeny is as potent today as it ever was before. As clichéd as 'on the edge of your seat drama' has become today, this is what started that very sentiment. The story of Oedipus is very easily available, for a nominal price from Amazon. I strongly urge you to give them a go:

United Kingdom

The Three Theban Plays (Oedipus the King, Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus):
The Three Theban Plays (Penguin Classics)
(A masterpiece. Accessible, readable, enjoyable)

The Library of Greek Mythology:
The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
(A much later book of mythology, containing the backstory of Oedipus)

United States

The Three Theban Plays (Oedipus the King, Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus):
The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus
(A masterpiece. Accessible, readable, enjoyable)

The Library of Greek Mythology:
The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
(A much later book of mythology, containing the backstory of Oedipus)

Oedipus the King

Some men were born to suffer. One such man was Oedipus. No matter how noble your heart, how skilled in war, how quick of wit or how reverent toward the skies, the gods cared nothing if you harboured pride within your soul. The gods were fickle. One moment you could be a broken pauper, another a great king, the most admired man in town, to an accursed blight on the land. This is the story of such a man.

Oedipus and the Sphinx
Painting by François-Xavier Fabre

One day, the young prince Oedipus hears a drunk man at a banquet shout at him that he is not the true son of King Polybus and Queen Merope of Corinth. Angered by the man's ill words, Oedipus questions the King and Queen, who are enraged at the accusation and the foolish man who spread it. Though reassured by their words, the slander and rumours spread, and Oedipus decides to make sure, setting off  with a limp (caused by an injury to his feet he could not remember) on the road to Delphi - the centre of the world and home to Apollo's most holy Oracle. Asking the priestess of the sanctuary if the rumours are true, Oedipus was horrified by her response. "You are fated to couple with your mother, you will bring a breed of children into the light no man can bear to see - you will kill your father, the one who gave you life!" Revulsion and terror coursing through his frame, Oedipus fled the sanctuary, and so that the terrible prophecy may never come to pass, Oedipus resolves never to return to Corinth and the court of his mother and father. Taking to the road, running, burdened with shame, Oedipus comes to a crossroads, where a wagon approaches, within which several people ride. Ordering the saddened man to make way, one of the men moves to strike Oedipus with his sceptre. Angered by this insult, Oedipus lashes out and fells the man and his companions, all but for one who escapes. Following the road onward, just before reaching the city of Thebes, a strange sight greets the eyes of Oedipus - a creature with the haunches of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the face and chest of a woman. A Sphinx, one of the dread brood of Typhon and Echidna (for more on this, click here), guarding the road to Thebes. The Thebans had once heard an oracle that they would be freed of the Sphinx if they could answer her riddle, and so many had debated and attempted to answer. All attempts so far had failed, and the Sphinx had slain and devoured all those who had failed to answer her riddle. The Sphinx now fixed Oedipus with her murderous stare and posed the cryptic question:

                “ What speaks with one voice, walks with four feet in the morning,

                   Two at midday and three in the evening? ”

                                    - THE RIDDLE OF THE SPHINX                                                

Boldly confident and possessed of a sharp intellect, Oedipus replies:

                “ A man, for he is four footed as a baby when he crawls on all fours,

                  two footed as an adult and takes on a third limb as a walking stick in old age. ”

                                    - OEDIPUS SOLVES THE RIDDLE

Furious that her scheme was unveiled, the Sphinx hurls herself from her rock to her death. The Thebans rejoice, and hail Oedipus as their saviour, rewarding him with their throne and the hand of their Queen Jocasta, whose husband King Laius had recently been killed.

The Plague of Thebes
Painting by Charles François Jalabert.

One day, many years later, plague once again strikes the city of Thebes. The people suffer and die. A priest ventures to the palace of Thebes, to the court of King Oedipus and Queen Jocasta, and their two daughters, Antigone and Ismene, and their two sons, Eteocles and Polynices. Begging for Oedipus to save the Theban people once again, the priest see the concern in his King's eyes. Oedipus expresses sorrow for the lot of the people, and reveals he had already sent his brother-in-law, Creon, to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi to determine how they are to be rid of this pestilence, and that even now he awaits his return. Just then, Creon returns, bearing grave news. Asking to go inside and discuss it privately, Oedipus joyfully rebukes him, telling him to reveal the god's words here, in front of the people and before him, for after all, it was he and he alone who saved the people from the Sphinx and he vows to do so again. Creon reveals that Apollo demands that the killer of King Laius, who was murdered shortly before Oedipus's arrival, be brought to justice. Vowing to bring divine wrath upon the culprit and cursing him for the plague he spreads, Oedipus enquires as to Laius' murder. "He went to consult an oracle, Apollo said, and he set out and never came home again", Creon tells him. Was there no one who saw this most heinous crime? asked King Oedipus. "No, they were all killed but one", came the reply, and word that the lone survivor had fled in terror, claiming they had been ambushed by robbers. Calling himself Apollo's champion, Oedipus declares that he will not stop in his pursuit of the truth.

Promising that if the culprit comes forward, he will face only exile, Oedipus sends for the blind prophet Tiresias, through whom the visions and knowledge of Apollo flow. Oedipus asks him what he knows of Laius' killer and the blind prophet trembles, begging the King to allow him to go. But quick-witted Oedipus bids him stay and tell all he knows. When the prophet stubbornly refuses to speak, Oedipus' temper begins to wear, shouting at Tiresias for allowing the city to fall to doom. Accusing Tiresias himself of slaying Laius, the prophet then cracks, and speaks in anger:

                              “ Is that so!

                                I charge you, then, to submit to that decree

                                You just laid down: from this day onward

                                Speak to no one, not these citizens, not myself.

                                You are the curse, the corruption of the land! ”

                                              - TIRESIAS NAMES OEDIPUS AS THE MURDERER

The Road to Delphi
Photograph by the author.

Furious at his unfounded charge, Oedipus sends the old prophet away, mocking his blindness. Tiresias turns to him, "I pity you, flinging at me the very insults each man here will fling at you so soon". Ridiculing Oedipus' accusation that he is plotting against the throne, the blind prophet tells the King not to forget his words, and departs. Still reeling with anger, and suspicious of all around him, Oedipus turns to greet his Queen, Jocasta, who enters. Asking her husband what is wrong, Oedipus tells her of Tiresias' words. Her face relaxing, Jocasta smiles and begs Oedipus be reassured. A long time ago, she tells him, an oracle came to Laius, declaring that "doom would strike him down at the hands of a son", but Laius was killed by robbers on his way to Delphi "at a place where three roads meet". Not only that, Laius ordered his infant son's feet bound, and the baby cast onto the mountainside, abandoned to die. "There you see? Apollo brought neither thing to pass", Jocasta assures Oedipus. But Oedipus's mind was racing, he had always limped from a forgotten injury, and "a place where three roads meet", that couldn't possibly be the crossroads where he had been assailed by that vile man could it? But the messengers had said Laius was set upon by robbers, not just one man. Quickly asking Jocasta if the man who escaped the murder still lives, she confirms that he does, though far away. Oedipus sends for the man with all haste. Everything depends on his confirmation that there was more than one robber, he thought. If he confirms his old story, his conscience can rest. But if he doesn't, the consequences could be terrible. The fate of Oedipus hung in the balance...

Oedipus the King, widely renowned and lauded as the greatest tragedy ever written, both by contemporaries and modern critics alike, is a masterpiece of theatre. Winning first prize in the theatrical festival in Athens when it was first staged in ancient times, it is the perfect study in tension, drama and suspense. The first act of a grand trilogy, the powerful story of the House of Oedipus is epic indeed. In future posts, we will continue with the saga, from Oedipus' frantic inevstigations to its bitter end. The Trilogy, known as The Three Theban Plays is easily available, at a good price, from Amazon. Read them. They're pretty good.

United Kingdom

The Three Theban Plays (Oedipus the King, Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus):
The Three Theban Plays (Penguin Classics)
(A masterpiece. Accessible, readable, enjoyable)

The Library of Greek Mythology:
The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
(A much later book of mythology, containing the backstory of Oedipus)

United States

The Three Theban Plays (Oedipus the King, Antigone and Oedipus at Colonus):
The Three Theban Plays: Antigone; Oedipus the King; Oedipus at Colonus
(A masterpiece. Accessible, readable, enjoyable)

The Library of Greek Mythology:
The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
(A much later book of mythology, containing the backstory of Oedipus)