Meriones

A son of Molus,1 conjointly with Idomeneus, led the Cretans in eighty ships against Troy,2 where he was one of the bravest heroes, and usually acted together with his friend Idomeneus.3 He slew Phereclus,4 Hippotion, and Morys,5 Adamas,6 Harpalion,7 Acamas,8 Laogonus,9 and wounded Deiphobus.10 He also offered to fight with Hector, who afterwards slew his charioteer, Coeranus.11 He offered to accompany Diomedes on his exploring expedition into the Trojan camp; but when Diomedes chose Odysseus for his companion, Meriones gave to the latter his bow, quiver, sword, and famous helmet.12 He and Ajax protected the body of Patroclus;13 and at the funeral games of Patroclus he won the fourth prize in the chariot-race, in shooting with the bow the first, and in throwing the javelin the second.14

Later traditions state that on his way homeward he was thrown on the coast of Sicily, where he was received by the Cretans who had settled there;15 whereas, according to others, he returned safely to Crete, and was buried and worshiped as a hero, together with Idomeneus, at Cnossus.16

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References

Notes

  1. Homer. Iliad xiii, 249.
  2. ibid. ii, 651; iv, 254.
  3. ibid. viii, 264; x, 58; xiii, 275, 304; xv, 302; xvii, 258.
  4. ibid. v, 59.
  5. ibid. xiv, 514.
  6. ibid. xiii, 567.
  7. ibid. xiii, 650.
  8. ibid. xvi, 342.
  9. ibid. xvi, 603.
  10. ibid. xiii, 528.
  11. ibid. vii, 165; xvii, 610.
  12. ibid. x, 662 ff.
  13. ibid. xvii, 669.
  14. ibid. xxiii, 351, 528, 614, 860 ff.
  15. Diodorus Siculus. Historical Library iv, 79.
  16. ibid. v, 79.

Source

  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.