A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DIOMEDES.
At the funeral games of Patroclus he conquered in
the chariot-race, and received a woman and a tripod as his prize. (xxiii. 373, &c.) He also conquered the Telamonian Ajax in single combat,
and won the sword which Achilles had offered as
the prize. (xxiii. 811, &c.) He is described in
the Iliad in general as brave in war and wise in
council (ix. 53), in battle furious like a mountain
torrent, and the terror of the Trojans, whom he
chases before him, as a lion chases goats. (v. 87,
xi. 382.) He is strong like a god (v. 884), and
the Trojan women during their sacrifice to Athena
pray to her to break his spear and to make him
fall. (vi. 306.) He himself knows no fear, and
refuses his consent when Agamemnon proposes to
take to flight, and he declares that, if all flee, he
and his friend Sthenelus will stay and fight till
Troy shall fall. (ix. 32, &c., comp. vii. 398, viii.
151; Philostr. Her. 4.)
The story of Diomedes, like those of other heroes
of the Trojan time, has received various additions
and embellishments from the hands of later writers,
of which we shall notice the principal ones. After the
expedition of the Epigoni he is mentioned among the
suitors of Helen (Hygin. Fab. 81; Apollod. iii. 10.
~ 8), and his love of Helen induced him to join
the Greeks in their expedition against Troy with
30 ships. (Hygin. Fab. 97.) Being a relative of
Thersites, who was slain by Achilles, he did not
permit the body of the Amazon Penthesileia to be
honourably buried, but dragged her by the feet
into the river Scamander. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 993;
Dict. Cret. iv. 3.) Philoctetes was persuaded by
Diomedes and Odysseus to join the Greeks against
Troy. (Soph. Philoct. 570, &c.; Hygin. Fab. 102.)
Diomedes conspired with Odysseus against Palamedes, and under the pretence of having discovered
a hidden treasure, they let him down into a well
and there stoned him to death. (Diet. Cret. ii. 15;
comp. Pans. x. 31. ~ 1.) After the death of
Paris, Diomedes and Odysseus were sent into the
city of Troy to negotiate for peace (Dict. Cret. v.
4), but he was afterwards one of the Greeks concealed in the wooden horse. (Hygin. Fab. 108.)
When he and Odysseus had arrived in the arx of
Troy by a subterraneous passage, they slew the
guards and carried away the palladium (Virg. Aen.
ii. 163), as it was believed that Ilium could not be
taken so long as the palladium was within its
walls. When, during the night, the two heroes
were returning to the camp with their precious
booty, and Odysseus was walking behind him,
Diomedes saw by the shadow of his companion
that he was drawing his sword in order to kill
him, and thus to secure to himself alone the honour
of having taken the palladium. Diomedes, however, turned round, seized the sword of Odysseus,
tied his hands, and thus drove him along before
him to the camp. (Eustath. ad Horn. p. 822.)
Diomedes, according to some, carried the palladium
with him to Argos, where it remained until
Ergiaeus, one of his descendants, took it away with
the assistance of the Laconian Leagrus, who conveyed it to Sparta. (Plut. Queest. Graec. 48.) According to others, Diomedes was robbed of the
palladium by Demophon in Attica, where he landed one night on his return from Troy, without
knowing where he was. (Paus. ii. 28. ~ 9.) A
third tradition stated, that Diomedes restored the
palladium and the remains of Anchises to Aeneias,
because he was informed by an oracle, that lihe

IDIOMEDES. 1025
should be exposed to unceasing sufferings unless he
restored the sacred image to the Trojans. (Serv.
ad Aen. ii. 166, iii. 407, iv. 427, v. 81.)
On his return from Troy, he had like other
heroes to suffer much from the enmity of Aphrodite, but Athena still continued to protect him.
He was first thrown by a storm on the coast of
Lycia, where he was to be sacrificed to Ares by
king Lycus; but Callirrhoe, the king's daughter,
took pity upon him, and assisted him in escaping.
(Plut. Parall. Gr. et Rom. 23.) On his arrival in
Argos he met with an evil reception which had
been prepared for him either by Aphrodite or
Nauplius, for his wife Aegialeia was living in adultery with Hippolytus, or according to others, with
Cometes or Cyllabarus. (Dict. Cret. vi. 2; Tzetz.
ad Lycoph. 609; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 9.) He therefore quitted Argos either of his own accord, or he
was expelled by the adulterers (Tzetz. ad Lyc.
602), and went to Aetolia. His going to Aetolia
and the subsequent recovery of Argos are placed in
some traditions immediately after the war of the
Epigoni, and Diomedes is said to have gone with
Alcmaeon to assist his grandfather Oeneus in Aetolia against his enemies. During the absence of
Diomedes, Agamemnon took possession of Argos;
but when the expedition against Troy was resolved
upon, Agamemnon from fear invited Diomedes and
Alcmaeon back to Argos, and asked them to take
part in the projected expedition. Diomedes alone
accepted the proposal, and thus recovered Argos.
(Strab. vii. p. 325, x. p. 462; comp. Hygin. Fab.
175; Apollod. i. 8. ~ 6; Paus. ii. 25. ~ 2.) According to another set of traditions, Diomedes did not
go to Aetolia till after his return from Troy, when
he was expelled from Argos, and it is said that he
went first to Corinth; but being informed there of
the distress of Oeneus, he hastened to Aetolia to
assist him. Diomedes conquered and slew the
enemies of his grandfather, and then took up his
residence in Aetolia. (Dict. Cret. vi. 2.) Other
writers make him attempt to return to Argos, but
on his way home a storm threw him on the coast
of Daunia in Italy. Daunus, the king of the
country, received him kindly, and solicited his
assistance in a war against the Messapians. He
promised in return to give him a tract of land and
the hand of his daughter Euippe. Diomedes defeated the Messapians, and distributed their territory among the Dorians who had accompanied him
In Italy Diomedes gave up his hostility against the
Trojans, and even assisted them against Turnus.
(Paus. i. 11; Serv. ad Aen. viii. 9.) He died in
Dannia at an advanced age, and was buried in one
of the islands off cape Garganus, which were called
after him the Diomedean islands. Subsequently,
when Daunus too had died, the Dorians were conquered by the Illyrians, but were metamorphosed
by Zeus into birds. (Antomn. Lib. 37; comp. Tzetz.
ad Lye. 602, 618.) According to Tzetzes, Diomedes was murdered by Daunus, whereas according
to others he returned to Argos, or disappeared in
one of the Diomedean islands, or in the country of
the Heneti. (Strab. vi. p. 284.) A number of
towns in thle eastern part of Italy, such as Beneventum, Aequumtuticum, Argos Hippion (afterwards Argyripa or Arpi), Venusia or Aphrodisia, Canusium, Venafrum, Salapia, Spina, Sipus,
Garganum, and Brundusium, were believed to
have been founded by Diomedes. (Serv. ad Aen
viii. 9, xi. 246; Strab. vi. pp. 283, 284; Pliu3 v