When reading the Iliad and the Odyssey, and the Greek myths, we often think of the golden past, the Age of Heroes, of super human endeavors and exploits. These were the men and women of that time in history when fact and folk tale are so intricately woven that it is almost impossible to discriminate between the two. For the Greeks of the classical era however, these were very real people and there was unequivocal evidence of their existence, even though more than 750 years had passed since their time.
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Let’s have a look at Theseus, the son of Aegeus king of Athens and Aethra. Theseus ruled Athens one generation before the Trojan War which is estimated to have taken
place the 12 th or 13 th century BC (his sons Demophon and Akamas participated in the Trojan War on the side of the Achaeans). He was also second cousin to the hero Herakles. Later in his life as a middle-aged man Theseus took part in the kidnapping of Helen (later to be known as Helen of Troy) who was only a child then. This triggered a confrontation with Sparta and he lost the love and respect of the Athenians, wherefore he left Athens in exile to the island of Skyros. He was not cordially welcomed there but considered a threat by King Lykomedes and he was killed and buried on the island 1.
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During the time of Kimon (507-449 BC), son of Miltiades, this famed politician and military commander decided to carry out an oracle from the past advising the Athenians to return the bones of Theseus to Athens to be honored as a hero.
Kimon took it upon himself to find them on the island of Skyros. It is said that while searching on the island he noticed an eagle pecking at the earth with its beak and scratching with its feet. Taking it as a divine indication he dug there and uncovered the grave of a very tall man buried together with his weapons. Convinced this was the grave of Theseus he took the bones back to Athens where they were received with great ceremony and a sanctuary was built, the Theseion, to house his bones 2.
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As further proof of the existence of Theseus, the thirty-oared galley that he had sailed to Crete with to face the indomitable Minotaur was safely preserved in Athens down to the time of Demetrius of Phaleron (317-307 BC). This artifact of Athens’ heroic past was painstakingly cared for, replacing old timbers of the ship that had rotted with new ones.
It was also during Theseus’ rule in Athens when the Amazons, that fierce tribe of all-women warriors from the north, entered Athens in reprisal for the abduction of Antiope whom Theseus had married. Plutarch 3 refers to the tombs (still pointed out in his time, 45-120 AD) of many of these Amazons who fell in battles in Athens, Megara, Chaeronia, and Thessaly.
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Two other very famous and important characters in ancient Greek literature and mythology are Helen and Menelaus. Helen was the exquisitely beautiful wife of the king of Sparta Menelaus. She was later known as Helen of Troy or “the face that launched a thousand ships” after having run off with Paris (the son of Priam, king of Troy), a scandal which aroused the outrage of the Achaeans who set sail for Troy and revenge. As one version of the story goes, after the fall of Troy, Helen and Menelaus both returned to Sparta where they lived peacefully until their deaths 4. What is interesting is that Pausanias (a Greek writer and traveler of the second century AD) reported that he had visited the site of both their graves in Therapni of Laconia (Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece 3.19.9).
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Another story in Greek folk tradition concerns Orestes, the ill-fated son of Klytemnestra and Agamemnon, frequently portrayed in many ancient Greek plays and myths. He is best known as the son who killed his mother and her lover Aegisthus in revenge for his father’s murder. Orestes was said to have died of a snake bite and was buried in the town of Tegea in Arcadia. A Delphic oracle had told the Spartans that the bones of Orestes should be returned to Sparta. This is recorded to have occurred in 560 BC after solving an encrypted message given by Pythia as to the whereabouts of his grave.
Much later during the Persian Wars, when Aristides had gone to the Spartans to ask for their assistance in the impending battle at Plataea, he was informed that 5,000 Spartans had already arrived at the tomb of Orestes in Arcadia.
Therefore, the original site of Orestes’ burial was a well-known landmark. Furthermore, Pausanias confirms the transfer of Orestes’ bones to Sparta when he states that when the bones of Orestes were brought from Tegea in accordance with an oracle, they were buried in a tomb next to the sanctuary of the Moirai (Fates) in the
market-place of Sparta (Pausanias 3.11.10).
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Achilles, the son of the mortal Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis was the great hero and warrior at Troy, destined to die young but in glory. His death is not recorded in the Iliad but alluded to. He was buried together with his childhood friend Patroclus in a
grave mound at Troy. This grave monument was a well-known landmark for travelers in the past. Alexander the Great had stopped at Achilles’ tomb to pay his respects, as
recorded by the two Greek historians Plutarch and Arrian. Plutarch states: “At Achilles tomb Alexander poured fragrant oil and then ran around the tomb naked with his friends, as was the custom. While walking in the town of Troy observing the sites, someone asked him if he wished to see the lyre of Alexander (as Paris was called in the Iliad). Alexander replied that he didn’t care to see that lyre but he would like to see the lyre of Achilles on which he sang of the deeds of the brave.” 5 For Alexander the Great, visiting Achilles' tomb was a reality, a logical action based on his desire to pay his respects. He did not question the existence of Achilles’ grave. It makes one wonder about the relationship between myth and historical reality.
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footnotes
1 Joanna T. Karachristos, “Some well-known ancient Athenians” Walls, Rivers, and Demes in Ancient
Athens (2021), pages 65-66.
2 Joanna T. Karachristos, “Some well-known ancient Athenians” Walls, Rivers and Demes in Ancient Athens
(2021), page 70.
3 Plutarch, “Theseus” The Rise and Fall of Athens: Nine Greek Lives (Middlesex, England: Penguin Books
Ltd 1960), page 34.
4 Joanna T. Karachristos, Anna Bletsa 2021, “Plants and Myths” An Introduction to Plants, Myths, Magic, and Witches in the Greek World. Unpublished manuscript.
5 Plutarch, “Alexander” Parallel Lives.
Article by Joanna Karachristos