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Figures in the ancient sources

Scamander in the ancient sources

Ancient Sources / Figures / Scamander

16 passages from 8 ancient authors that tell of Scamander, in the original with English translation, author by author in the order the Greeks read them. Scamander was a river god in Greek mythology, son of the Titans gods Oceanus and Tethys, and personification of the eponymous river. He supported the... For the story in one place, read our article on Scamander.

Homer (5)

  1. Homer, Iliad 2.394–483Agamemnon's sacrifice; the army mustersAgamemnon sacrifices an ox to Zeus and prays that the sun may not set before he burns Priam's palace and slays Hector, but Zeus accepts the offering and increases their toil. After the feast Nestor urges them to arm, and the army pours out onto the plain of Scamander like flocks of birds and swarms of flies, with Athena moving among them holding the aegis. The poet compares Agamemnon to Zeus, Ares and Poseidon.
  2. Homer, Iliad 5.1–94Athena empowers DiomedesAthena fills Diomedes with strength and sets a flame burning from his helmet and shield, and he drives into the Trojans, killing Phegeus while Hephaestus saves Phegeus' brother Idaeus. Athena takes Ares out of the fighting, and the Achaeans turn the Trojans, each leader killing a man. Diomedes rages across the plain like a river in flood, and the Trojan ranks cannot stand before him.
  3. Homer, Iliad 5.711–792Hera and Athena ride down to the plainHera harnesses her chariot while Hebe fits the wheels, and she and Athena arm themselves, Athena taking the aegis and her great spear. The Hours open the gates of heaven, and Hera asks Zeus whether she may drive Ares from the battle, and he tells her to set Athena on him. They come to the plain where the Simois and Scamander meet, and Hera, in the voice of Stentor, shouts to shame the Achaeans.
  4. Homer, Iliad 21.233–325Scamander against AchillesPoseidon and Athena, in the likeness of men, take Achilles by the hand and promise him victory over Hector. The river goes on pursuing him, and Scamander calls on his brother Simois to help and rushes upon Achilles, raging on high with foam, blood and dead men.
  5. Homer, Iliad 21.326–382Hephaestus fights the riverThe flood towers over Achilles and is about to overwhelm him, and Hera calls on her son Hephaestus to turn his fire against the river. Hephaestus burns the dead on the plain and then scorches the elms, willows and tamarisks and the fish in the stream. Scamander begs him to stop and swears that he will no longer help the Trojans, and Hera calls her son off.

Aeschylus (1)

  1. Aeschylus, Eumenides 397–489Athena arrives and hears both sidesAthena arrives from the Scamander and is astonished at the strange group. The Furies tell her who they are and what their function is, and she says that only half of the case has been heard. Orestes tells her who he is, and says that he killed his mother by Apollo's command. Athena says that the case is too great for any single mortal, and decides to appoint judges from the citizens to try it.

Conon (1)

  1. Conon, Narrations 44.1–47.2Euangelus, Orpheus, Aeneas and AlthaemenesA captive's son becomes the first prophet of the Branchidae at Miletus, and Orpheus is torn apart by women and honored as a hero. Aeneas' travels end at Aenus, with a pointed remark on the Roman version of his story. Althaemenes, refusing both the Dorian and the Ionian colonists, settles Rhodes.

Herodotus (1)

  1. Herodotus, Histories 7.40–44The royal procession from Sardis to AbydosThe order of march is described: sacred Nesaian horses, the sacred chariot of Zeus, Xerxes in his chariot, and chosen spearmen with golden pomegranates. Near mount Ida thunder and lightning kill many men, and at the Scamander Xerxes sacrifices a thousand heifers to Athene of Ilion. At Abydos he watches a contest of ships won by the Phenicians of Sidon.

Lycophron (1)

  1. Lycophron, Alexandra 1253–1368Alexandra 1253–1368: The sow's colony and the Sibyl, and the chain of rapes and reprisals between the two continentsThe founder sets up a bronze image of the sow and her young and builds a shrine to Pallenis, putting his fathers' gods and his aged sire before his wife and goods, and, judged most pious even by his foes, founds a famous land near Circaeon and the Sibyl's cave. Cassandra then recounts the older quarrel: the carrying off of the ox-eyed girl from Lerne to the lord of Memphis, the reprisal on the Saraptian heifer taken to Crete, an expedition sent with Teucer and Scamandrus to the Bebryces, and the theft of the fleece by the leader of the single sandal. Further raids follow, a hero taking the girdle and an archer from Themiscyra, the Amazons' invasion of Attica, and a champion in a hide who levels the hill of Troy with the spade. The falcons from Tmolus then ravage Italy, and the fire-brand wakes the old strife again, so that the wronged side will repay the injury threefold and fourfold.

Plato (2)

  1. Plato, Cratylus 391a–394eHomer on names: Xanthus and Scamander, Astyanax and HectorHermogenes cannot easily give up his conviction, and Socrates tells him that the Sophists, whose teaching he cannot afford, are not the only source, so he should turn to Homer. Homer says that the river which fought with Hephaestus is called Xanthus by the gods and Scamander by men, and a bird chalcis by the gods and cymindis by men. Socrates then examines the names of Hector's son, Scamandrius and Astyanax, and notes that Astyanax (lord of the city) and Hector (holder) have almost the same meaning though they share almost no letters. He draws the principle that offspring should keep the name of the kind, as a lion's offspring is a lion, while the syllables may differ if the meaning stays.
  2. Plato, Protagoras 338a–340eAn arbiter of the debate; the poem of Simonides to ScopasCallias refuses to let Socrates go, and the company decides that no single arbiter is needed, but that all shall act as judges, and Protagoras agrees to ask questions and answer in his turn. Protagoras says that the greatest part of education is to be skilled in verse, to understand what a poet says and judge whether it is right, and takes up a poem of Simonides addressed to Scopas the son of Creon the Thessalian. He quotes the lines that it is hard to become truly good, and then Simonides' blame of the saying of Pittacus that it is hard to be good, and claims that the poet contradicts himself. Socrates, wanting time to think, calls on Prodicus as the fellow-countryman of Simonides, as in Homer the river Scamander calls on the Simois against Achilles.

Plutarch (1)

  1. Plutarch, Greek Questions 40–48Questions 40-48: Eunostus of Tanagra, Sisyphus and Anticlea, Zeus with the axe, Odysseus at SpartaQuestion 40 tells the story of the hero Eunostus of Tanagra and Ochna, whose false accusation led her brothers to kill him, and why women may not enter his grove. Other questions explain the Boeotian river Scamander and the proverb 'Let this prevail'. Question 43 gives two versions of why the city of the Ithacans is called Alalcomenae, one involving Sisyphus and Anticlea. Question 45 explains why the statue of Zeus Labradeus in Caria holds an axe taken from Hippolyta by Heracles, and Question 48 why Odysseus has a temple beside the monument of the Leucippides in Sparta.

Strabo (4)

  1. Strabo, Geography 13.1.43–45Mount Ida and the rivers Scamander and AesepusStrabo describes the springs of Ida, where the Scamander, Granicus and Aesepus rise close together, and asks why Homer gives the Scamander a hot and a cold spring. He goes through the rivers Rhesus, Heptaporus, Caresus and Rhodius and the river valleys beside them. He also reports the great pitch tree measured by Attalus and criticises Demetrius over the supposed silver mines and Halizoni.
  2. Strabo, Geography 13.1.33–37The plain of Troy and where Homer's city stoodStrabo describes the plain between Mount Ida and the sea, Dardania and Cebrenia, and the tomb of Paris and Oenone. With Demetrius of Scepsis as guide, he tests Homer's battle scenes against the geography, including Callicolone, Thymbra, the Erineos, the Scaean gates, and the Greek camp and its wall. He concludes that the present Ilium cannot be Homer's Troy, because the distances and the pursuit of Hector round the city do not fit it.
  3. Strabo, Geography 13.1.28–32The Troad coast: Rhoeteium, Sigeium and the Achaean campStrabo follows the shore from Abydos to Dardanus, noting the Cynos-sema across the strait, said to be the sepulchre of Hecuba, and the grove of Hector at Ophrynium. He goes on to Rhoeteium, with the monument of Ajax, and to Sigeium and the mouths of the Scamander. The monuments of Achilles, Patroclus and Anthlochus are honoured by the Ilienses, who refuse to worship Heracles (Hercules) because he ravaged their country. Strabo notes how the rivers have silted up the shore.
  4. Strabo, Geography 1.3.16–23Earthquakes, changing coasts and migrationsStrabo lists changes in the land, among them the island thrown up between Thera and Therasia, the quakes of Phoenicia, and the springs of the Scamander in Homer. He adds drowned or altered places such as Bura, Helice, Arne, Mideia, the Echinades, Leucas and Homer's Asteris, and says changes may explain why Homer's descriptions no longer fit. He closes with migrations of peoples, including the Kimmerians, Midas' death, the Heneti, and the Greek tribes.