The Mythology

Virgil Solis - http://www.latein-pagina.de/ovid_illustrationen/virgil_solis/buch7/vs7_11.htm Originalbild: Virgil Solis, P. Ovidi

The myths of the island of Aegina center around the Aeacids, the family of Aeacus who was the mythical founder of the island. He was the child of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, a minor goddess who originally hailed from Thebes (thus there are strong ties between the polis (city state) of Aegina and that of Thebes in the Archaic and Classical periods). Aeacus was known as a strong and fair king and he became one of the judges of the dead in Hades after his own death because of his impartiality. During his rule, a great drought struck Greece and the people of Greece thought he would be a fitting mediator between humankind and Zeus. He went to Mt. Oros on Aegina and asked his father for relief from the drought. The relief was granted, rain fell on the parched lands, and, thus, Aeacus was considered a savior for the Greeks; subsequently, there was a Panhellenic shrine to Zeus on the summit of Mt. Oros. Another story surrounding Aeacus concerns a plague that struck during his rule that killed almost all of the people of the island. This time his pleas to his father led to a fantastic transformation of ants into men (the Myrmidons, from the Greek word for ant, myrmex). Ovid tells the story with panache in his Metamorphoses. Yet another story relates that Aeacus helped Apollo and Poseidon build the walls of Troy and it was the section that he built that was able to be surmounted (by his descendants).

Aeacus had three sons: Peleus, Telamon, and Phocus. Much of their early mythology is fuzzy, but it appears Peleus and Telamon killed their brother Phocus and were exiled for it (by some accounts it was accidental). Telamon settled in Salamis, a nearby island while Peleus went to Thessaly. Both Peleus and Telamon were involved in the voyage of the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece and Telamon was a companion of Heracles as well. Ajax, the son of Telamon, and Achilles, the son of Peleus, were two of the most famous heroes who took part in the expedition to Troy recounted in the pages of Homer's Iliad. These figures appear often in the poetry of Pindar in order to explain the athletic prowess of the victors and were important for the self-definition and identity of the people of Aegina in the Classical period. The pedimental sculptures of the Temple of Aphaia showed Telamon and Heracles on the Eastern side and Ajax and Achilles on the West. In addition, there was a shrine to Aeacus located "in the most prominent part" of the town of Aegina, according to Pausanias (2.29.6). It was said that the ship that first engaged the Persians in the Battle of Salamis was carrying statues of the Aeacids (Herod. 8.84) and all the Greeks prayed to the Aeacids before the Battle of Salamis, as Herodotus reports: "The Greeks resolved to offer prayers to the gods and to call upon the Aeacids as allies. This was their decision, and they acted upon it: praying to all the gods, they called upon Ajax and Telamon there in Salamis, and sent a ship to Aegina for Aeacus and the other Aeacids" (8.64). The Aeginetans seemed to have almost divine protection at the period (in the Persian War, Aegina was unscathed while Athens suffered tremendously).

This identification with its heroic past is seen often in the poetry of Pindar, who extols the victories of athletes with an eye to the mythic past. A representative example is Pythian 8, for Aristomenes of Aegina (victorious in wrestling):

"Not distant from the Graces has

this righteous city's portion fallen,

the island of the Aeacids renowned

for deeds of prowess. Glory without blemish

is hers from earliest times, extolled in song for many

successes at the games, and as a nurse of heroes

supreme as well in battle's lightning shifts;

but also for her men she is distinguished." (trans. Miller)

Hesiod fragment 205

Hesiod, an archaic Greek poet, writes about Aegina as follows:

"And she (Aegina) conceived and gave birth to Aeacus, who fights from a chariot. Now when he came to the full measure of desired youth, he chafed at being alone. And the father of men and gods made all the ants that were in the lovely isle into men and wide-girdled women. These were the first who fitted with thwarts ships with curved sides, and the first who used sail, the wings of a sea-going ship." (Trans. H.G. Evelyn-White)

This early account already identifies Aegina with trade and even makes them inventors of sea-faring (!). It also details the idea that the people of Aegina were autochthonous, in as much as they were transformed from ants, although in this rendition there was no plague.

Pindar

(Museo Archaeologico Nazionale, Naples)

Much of what we learn about the mythology of Aegina comes from the epinician odes of Pindar. These poems were written for victors of the great games in Greece (Olympic Games, Nemean Games, etc.) and often feature mythological stories and exempla. Pindar wrote more odes for the athletes of Aegina than any other polis. For a readings of a Pindaric ode by Oberlin student Emily Hudson, go to the audio console in Mudd or click here.

Ovid

(Statue of Ovid in Costanza, Romania - the site of Ovid's exile)

Ovid's Metamorphoses (7.501ff.) preserves the story of the Myrmidons, the people of Aegina that were created from ants. After a brutal plague, Aeacus begged his father Zeus for help. Zeus transformed the ants of the island into men and thus the people of Aegina can be thought of as autochthonous (earth-born) much like the people of Athens. Thus, they embody the community, thrift, and work ethics of ants. A translation by Professor Trinacty can be found on the audio console.

"The Ant and the Maiden"

(Tortoise at the remains of the Aiakeion in Athens)

Professor Trinacty gave this talk as part of the Oberlin World Mythologies conference. The paper discusses the way that Aegina and Athens utilized mythology as part of their war against one another. Mythology can be seen as a sort of "soft power" for a polis; the myths of the Aeacids were wielded by both city-states for self-definition as well as PR. A video of talk can be found here.

Who is Aphaia?

This magnificent temple is dedicated to the local Aeginetan goddess Aphaia. Unfortunately, literary, archaeological, and epigraphic evidence for Aphaia is scant. Pausanias, who wrote a sort of traveler’s guide to Greece in the first century CE, identifies Aphaia with the Cretan goddess Britomartis. It is said that she was originally a nymph who escaped the amorous attentions of King Minos on Crete and escaped by jumping into the sea. She was brought to Aegina in the nets of fishermen and deified by Artemis. The dedications at the temple indicate that she is considered to be a kourotrophos goddess in Aegina, that is, associated with childbirth and raising children in general. These dedications come from individuals rich and poor, old and young, and show Aphaia’s ritual importance to the people of Aegina. One of our primary sources of evidence is an archaic inscription saying that a priest built “a house for Aphaia”, which may indicate the earlier temple. It seems that by the time of the Classical temple she may have also been associated with Athena in some respects as well and further dedications show that she was also associated with sea-faring.

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