Deiphobos 1

vol. IV p.2404-2406

Deïphobos (Δηίφοβος, cf. Curtius Griech. Etym.⁵ 520).

1)

Son of Priam and Hekabe (Il. XII 95. XXIV 251. Apollod. III 5, 12, 7. Hyg. fab. 90. Tzetz. Hom. 447. Myth. Vat. I 204). At the battle at the ships, he lead one of the columns of men against the walls of the Achaeans with Helenos and Asios (Il. XXI 94ff. XIII 156ff.). <60> After Asios had fallen, he held his ground against Idomeneus, at first alone, then with Aeneas. Twice he hurled his spear against Idomeneus, but instead of him he struck Hypsenor and Askalaphos, one of Ares’s sons (XIII 402ff. 516ff. Hyg. 115 and 113, according to which he also killed Autonoos; cf. however Il. XI 221). Finally, he was wounded by Meriones (cf. XIII 159ff.) and was lead out of battle by his brother Polites (527ff. 758f.). <page break 2404/2405> Later, when Athena was plotting Hektor’s doom, she approached him in the form of Deiphobos, his closest brother, and advised him to stand against Achilles (Il. XXII 226ff. 294ff.). According to the account of the Odyssey, which says that Deiphobus followed Helen in secret when she snuck to the wooden horse (IV 276ff., cf. Apollod. epit. 5, 19), and that Menelaos hurred to Deiphobus’s house with Odysseus after the horse was taken in (VIII 517ff.), <10> it is probable that Deiphobus should be seen as Helen’s consort [or husband - the German word can mean both], and although the scholiast (VIII 517) stresses that Deiphobus followed her as στρατηγός, not as a consort, the μεταγενέστεροι already imply that he was her consort (cf. also Schol. IV 276).

Proklos very clearly attests for the little Iliad that, after Paris had fallen, Deiphobus took Helen home (Deiphobus as Helen’s fourth husband, Lycophr. 168. Schol. Eurip. Androm. 229). <20> In Euripides, Helen says in her defense that he took her by force, against the will of the Trojans (Troad. 959). The fact that he was already in love with her while Paris was alive is in Ibykos and Simonides (Schol. and Eustath. Il. XII 517, cf. Dict. I 10). Another poet reports that after the death of Paris, Deiphobus and Helenus quarrelled for possession of Helen. Helenus, who had lost, left the city and was captured by the Greeks, which according to the little Iliad had already happened previously. <30> Since he revealed to them τοὺς ῥυομένους τὴν πόλιν χρησμούς, Helen’s new marriage then became the reason for them to take over the city (Apollod. epit. 5, 9 according to Stesichoros? cf. Wagner Apollod. epit. Vatic. 218ff. Con. 34. Quint. Smyrn. X 345ff. Triphiod. 45f. Tzetz. Posthom. 600f.). According to Tzetzes, Priam had made Helen a prize τῷ ἀριστεύσαντι κατὰ πόλεμον, like Thetis had done with the weapons of Achilles, and Deiphobus whom them (Tzetz. Lycophr. 168. Schol. Il. XXIV 251). <40>

At any rate, since he was second to Hektor in bravery according to Lycophr. 170, after his brother’s death he became the leader of the Trojans (Hor. carm. IV 9, 22. Schol. Od. VIII 517. Tzetz. Posthom. 50. 158. 353ff. 176f.). Particularly in Quintus Smyrnaeus, many heroic deeds are told of him (VI 318. 508. VIII 300. IX 80ff. 149ff. XI 86. 338ff.); he even intended to fight against Neoptolemus, but he was carried away by Apollo (IX 234ff.). <50> At the duel over Polyxena, during which Achilles was unfairly killed by Paris, he appeared to help his brother (Hyg. fab. 110. Dict. IV 11. Tzetz. Posthom. 395). The fact that he was killed by Menelaos and Odysseus when the city was stormed after a difficult battle is implied by Od. VIII 517 (cf. Apollod. epit. 5, 22. Quint. Smyrn. XIII 355f. Tzetz. Posthom. 730); <60> also, the final fate of Troy was handled in Accius’s Deiphobus (Ribbeck Röm. Trag. 410f.). In the underworld, his savagely mutilated shade met Aeneas, and told him how Helen herself had handed him over to Menelaos (Verg. Aen. VI 494ff. Hyg. fab. 240. Dict. V 12; cf. Senec. Agam. 749. Martial. III 95. Auson. epitaph. her. 13). His house was burnt (Aen. II 310), his unburied corpse was turned into the plant akephalon (Eustath. 894, 24), <page break 2405/2406> but Aeneas set up a tumulus for him in Rhoiteion (Aen. VI 505). In contrast, he fell at the hands of Philoktetes in battle at the house of Dares (28, cf. also 4, 7-9. 12. 18). Tzetz. Lycophr. 132 names him as a lover of Antheus, a descendent of Antenor; other references are in Prop. IV 1, 28. Ovid. her. 5, 92; met. XII 542. <10>

Deiphobus also took part in the funeral games which Priam gave for Paris whom he thought had been killed (Hyg. fab. 273). In the competitions, which later lead to Paris’s recognition, he and his brothers were beaten by Paris, and he drew his sword against him, making Paris flee to the altar of Zeus Herkeios (Hyg. fab. 91. Ovid. her. 15, 256). This scene is often depicted on Etruscan ash-jars (Overbeck Gal. her. Bildw. 258ff. Taf. XII 3. Brunn Urne I 4). <20> Deiphobus also appears sometimes as a background character in Trojan scenes in vase paintings, eg. at the battle over the body of Troilos (CIG 7675. Gerhard A. V. III 223. Overbeck loc. cit. Taf. XV 12, see Deithynos) and at Hektor’s departure from Hekabe (CIG. 7379), as well as in a sculpture group from Lykios in Olympia depicting the battle between Achilles and Memnon as the opponent of Ajax of Telamon (Paus. V 22, 2). A painting by Aristophon places Priam, Helen, Ulixes, and Deiphobus alongside Credulitas and Dolus (Plin. n. h. XXXV 138. O. Jahn Arch. Ztg. 1847, 127). <30> Robert sees the body of Deiphobus, killed by Menelaos, in the Iliupersis on the Brygos-bowl, the Vivenzio-vase, and the Euphronius-fragment (image and poem 63. 68; Arch. Ztg. XL 44f.). On the Brygos-bowl, people previously read the name Andromachos, but Robert completes it as Deimachos.

([Wagner.])