Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/999

Rh TELAMON. Pall. 7o, &c., with Spanheim's note.) Another tra- dition acconnts for his blindness in the following manner. Once, when on Mount Cythaeron (others say C'llene), he saw a male and a female serpent together ; he struck at them with his staff, and as he happened to kill the female, he himself was metamorphosed into a woman. Seven years later he again saw two serpents, and now killing the male, he again became a man. It was for this reason tliat Zeus and Hera, when they Avere dis- puting as to whether a man or a woman had more enjoyments, referred the matter to Teire- sias, who could judge of both, and declared in favour of the assertion of Zeus that women had more enjoyments. Hera, indignant at the answer, blinded him, but Zeus gave him the power of pro- phecy, and granted him a life which was to last for seven or nine generations. (Apollod. I. c. ; Hygin. Faf). 75 ; Ov. Met. iii. 320, &c. ; Tzetz. ad Ly- 2<yph. 682 ; Pind. Kem, i. 91.) In the war of the Seven against Thebes, he declared that Thebes should be victorious, if Menoeceus would sacrifice himself (Apollod. I.e.; Hygin. Fah. 68); and during the war of the Epigoni, when the Thebans had been defeated, he advised them to commence negotiations of peace, and to avail themselves of the opportunity that would thus be afforded them, to take to flight. Ke himself fled with them (or, according to others, he was carried to Delphi as a captive), but on his way he drank from the well of Tilphossa and died. (Apollod. iii. 7. § 3 ; Paus. ix. 33. § 1 ; Diod. iv. 66,) His daughter Manto (or Daphne) was sent by the victorious Argives to Delphi, as a present to Apollo. (Diod. /. c. ; Apol- lod. iii. 7. § 4.) Another daughter of his is called Historis. (Paus. ix. 11. § 2.) Even in the lower world Teiresias was believed to retain the powers of perception, while the souls of other mortals were mere shades, and there also he continued to use his golden staff. (Hom. Od. x. 492, xi. 190, &c. ; Ly- coph. Casa. 682 ; Cic. de Div. i. 40 ; Paus. ix. 33. § 1.) His tomb was shown in the neighbourhood of the Tilphusian well near Thebes (Paus. ix. 18. § 3, 33. § 1, vii. 3. § 1), but also in Macedonia (Plin. H.N. xxxvii. 10); and the place near Thebes where he had observed the birds {oloivo- cTKditiov) was pointed out as a remarkable spot even in later times. (Paus. ix. 16. § 1 ; Soph. Oed. Tyr. 493.) The oracle connected with his tomb lost its power and became silent at the time of the Orcho- menian plague. (Plut. De Orac. Defect.) He was represented bv Polygnotus in the Lesche at Delphi. (Paus. x.'29. § 2.) The blind seer Tei- resias acts so prominent a part in the mythical history of Greece that there is scarcely any event with which he is not connected in some way or other, and this introduction of the seer in so many occurrences separated by long intervals of time, was facilitated by the belief in his long life. [L. S.] TE'LAMON {J^Xafidiv). 1. A surname of Atlas, describing him as the sufferer or bearer of heaven, fiom xAaw. (Serv. ad A en. i. 741, iv. 246.) 2. A son of Aeacus and Endeis, and a brother of Peleus. He emigrated from Aegina to Salamis. and was first married to Glauce, a daughter of Cenchreus (Diod. iv. 72), and afterwards to Peri- boea or Eriboea, a daughter of Alcathons, by whom he became the father of Ajax. (Pind. Isthm. vi. 65; Apollod. iii. 12. §6; comp. Ajax.) He TELCHINES. 9n7 was one of the Calydonian hunters and of the Ar- gonauts, (Apollod*. i. 8. § 2, 9. § 16. iii. 12. § 7 ; Paus. i. 42. § 4 ; Hygin. Fab. 173 ; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 175.) Miltiades traced his pedigree to Telamon. (Paus. ii. 29 § 4.) After Telamon and Peleus had killed their step-brother Phocus [Pho- cusl, they were expelled by Aeacus from Aegina, and Telamon went to Cychreus in Salamis, who bequeathed to him his kingdom. (Apollod. /.c. ; Paus. ii. 29. §§ 2, 7.) He is said to have been a great friend of Heracles (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i. 1289 ; Theocrit. Id. xiii. 38). and to have joined him in his expedition against Laomedon of Troy, which city he was the first to enter. He there erected to Heracles Callinicus or Alexicacus, an altar. Heracles, in return, gave to him Theaneira or Hesione, a daughter of Laomedon, by whom he became the father of Teucer andTrambelus. (Apol- lod. ii. 6. § 4. iii. 10. § 8, 12. § 7 ; Tzetz. ad lyy- coph. 468 ; Diod. iv. 32.) On this expedition Telamon and Heracles also fought against the Meropes in Cos, on account of Chalciope, the beau- tiful daughter of Eurypylus, the king of the Me- ropes, and against the giant Alcioneus, on the isthmus of Corinth. (Pind. JSem. iv. 40, &c., with the Schol.) He also accompanied Heracles on his expedition agfainst the Amazons, and slew Me- lanippe. (Pind. Nein. iii. 65, with the Schol.) Respecting his two sons, see Ajax and Teu- cer. [L. S.] TELCHIN (Tex'V), a son of Europs, andfather of Apis, was king of Sicyon (Paus. ii. 5, § 5). According to Apollodorus (ii. 1. § 1, &c,) Telchin, in conjunction with Thelsion, slew Apis, and was killed in consequence bv Argus Panoptes. [L. S. ] TELCHPNES (TfAx^»/es), a family, a class of people, or a tribe, said to have been descended from Thalassa or Poseidon. (Diod. v. 55 ; Nonn. Dionys. xiv. 40.) It is probably owing to this story about their origin, that Eustathius {ad Hom. p. 771) describes them as marine beings without feet, the place of the hands being occupied by fins, though in the same page he also states that originally they were the dogs of Actaeon, who were changed into men. The following are mentioned as tlie names of individual Telchines : — Mylas (Hesych. s. 7'.), Atabyrius (Steph. Byz. s. v. 'Ard€vpov)., Antaeus. Megalesius, Hormenus, Lycus, Nicon, Simon (Tzetz. Chil. vii. 124, &c.,xii.835 ; Zenob. Cent. 5, par. 41), Chryson, Argyron, Chalcon (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 772 ; Diod. v. 55). The accounts of the Telchines are very few and scanty, and in them they appear in three different relations: 1. As cultivators of tlie. soil and viinisters of the gods; and as such they came from Crete to Cyprus and from thence to Rhodes, or they proceeded from Rhodes to Crete and Boeotia. Rhodes, and in it the three towns of Cameirus, lalysos, and Lindos (whence the Telchines are called /alysii, Ov. Met- vii. 365), which was their principal seat and was named after them TeAx"'^^ (Sicyon also was called Telckinia^ Eustath. ad Horn. p. 291), was abandoned by them, because they foresaw that the island would be inundated, and thence they scattered in different directions: Lycus went to Lycia, where he built the temple of the Lycian Apollo. This god had been wor- shipped by them at Lindos ('AirSWuv TeXxivios)^ and Hera at lalysos and Cameiros ("H^ja xeAx'- pla) ; and Athena at Teumessus in Boeotia bore the surname of Telchinia. Nymphs also oie