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31-398: According to Euripides, Opheltes' parents were Lycurgus , the priest of Zeus at Nemea , and Euridice. However Hyginus' Latin text calls Opheltes' father "Lycus", rather than Lycurgus—probably an error—and here he is a king, rather than a priest. The Latin poet Statius , following Euripides, has Lycurgus and Euridice as the parents of Opheltes, however for Statius, Lycurgus is both

62-581: A brief account of Opheltes' story, in which Lycurgus is only mentioned as being the king of Nemea and the owner of Opheltes' nurse Hypsipyle. The 2nd-century geographer, Pausanias , while describing the site of the Nemean Games , mentions seeing there the "tomb of Lycurgus, the father of Opheltes". Nemean games Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

93-522: A sacrifice, and she leads the Seven to a spring. Hypsipyle brings Opheltes with her, and somehow, in a moment of neglect, Opheltes is killed by a serpent. Eurydice is about to have Hypsipyle put to death, when Amphiaraus arrives, tells Euridice that the child's death was destined, and proposes that funeral games be held in Opheltes' honor. Amphiaraus is able to convince Euridice to spare Hypsipyle's life, and

124-560: A serpent. The Seven kill the serpent, and the seer Amphiaraus , one of the Seven, renames the child Archemorus, meaning the "Beginning of Doom", interpreting the child's death as a harbinger of the Seven's own impending doom at Thebes. The Seven hold funeral games in the child's honor, which become the origin of the Nemean Games. Opheltes' story perhaps played an integral part of the lost Greek epic Thebaid (c. 8th century BC or early 7th century BC). The earliest surviving reference to

155-592: A substantial role in Statius ' version of the story. Here Lycurgus is the priest of Zeus (as in Euripides), and the king of Nemea (as in Hyginus). While Euripides has Lycurgus coming from "Asopia", a region west of Nemea, for Statius Lycurgus is from Argos . He refers to Lycurgus as "Inachian", i.e related to Inachus , the legendary first king of Argos , while Adrastus , the current king of Argos, and leader of

186-459: Is Nemea, presumably the eponymous nymph of Nemea. The infant Opheltes, killed by a serpent, is part of the story of the Seven against Thebes , and the origin of the Nemean Games . On their way to Thebes , the Seven, in need of water, stop at Nemea , where they encounter Hypsipyle , who is the nurse of Opheltes. While helping the Seven to get water, Hypsipyle sets Opheltes down, and he is killed by

217-486: Is a king in later accounts, there is no indication of that in the surviving fragments of Euripides' play. In a later scene we learn that Lycurgus is away, and a fragmentary hypothesis of the play refers to guests of his household being "lodged with Lycurgus' wife", further suggesting Lycurgus' absence. Hyginus refers to Opheltes' story, in Fabulae 15, 74, and 273. In all three, our received Latin text has "Lycus" as

248-618: Is more likely that the Lycurgus in the scene described by Pausanias was different from the Lycurgus who was the father of Opheltes. The earliest mention of Lycurgus occurs in Euripides ' partially preserved play Hypsipyle . Hypsipyle, the former queen of Lemnos and lover of Jason , has in Euripides' play, come to be a slave of Lycurgus, and nursemaid of Lycurgus and his wife Eurydice's infant son Opheltes. The surviving fragments of

279-448: Is the earliest source to involve Hypsipyle in Opheltes' story, and may well have been a Euripidean invention. Here Hypsipyle, the former queen of Lemnos and lover of Jason , has come to be a slave, and nursemaid of the infant Opheltes, who is the son of Lycurgus, the priest of Zeus at Nemea , and his wife Eurydice. The Seven against Thebes, having just arrived at Nemea, encounter Hypsipyle. Amphiaraus tells her that they need water for

310-465: Is the priest of Zeus (as in Euripides), and the king of Nemea (as in Hyginus). As in Euripides, Hypsipyle, the nurse of Lycurgus and Eurydice's son Opheltes, encounters the Seven against Thebes, who are in urgent need of water. However, in Statius' account, Hypsipyle, does not take Opheltes with her to the spring, instead, in her haste to provide water for the Seven, she leaves the child behind, lying on

341-569: The Amyclae throne of Apollo , which depicted Adrastus and Tydeus , two of the Seven against Thebes , stopping a fight between Amphiaraus , another of the Seven, and "Lycurgus the son of Pronax". If this refers to an event during the Seven's stop at Nemea, then this would presumably mean that in some version of the story, Opheltes' father Lycurgus, was the son of Pronax , rather than the son of Pheres, as in Apollodorus' account. However it

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372-747: The University of California , discovered the likely site of the hero shrine ( heroön ) of Opheltes in 1979. The excavations have uncovered an open-air precinct, located some 100 meters southwest of the Temple of Zeus, founded in the Archaic period . According to John Tzetzes , there were two mountains on Euboea , one of which was named after Opheltes, and the other after Zarex . Lycurgus (of Nemea) In Greek mythology , Lycurgus ( /laɪˈkɜːrɡəs/ ; Ancient Greek : Λυκοῦργος Lykoûrgos , Ancient Greek: /lykôrɡos/ ), also spelled Lykurgos or Lykourgos ,

403-465: The Argive heroes, known as the Seven against Thebes, established the Nemean Games in honor of Archemorus, whom a "fiery-eyed monstrous" serpent killed while he was sleeping, with his death taken as an omen "of the slaughter to come", i.e. the disaster awaiting the Seven at Thebes. Pindar 's (c. 518 – 438 BC) Nemean Odes contain several allusions to the founding of the Nemean Games, by Adrastus , one of

434-598: The Argives, and Lycurgus and his followers nearly breaks out, but finally Adrastus is able to calm both sides, and the seer Amphiaraus , another one of the Seven, is able to appease Lycurgus, by telling him that Ophelts's death was preordained by the gods, and that his son is now a god, and will be "accorded lasting honors". According to the mythographer Apollodorus , Lycurgus, the son of Pheres of Thessaly , migrated to Nemea, married Eurydice (or as he adds "some say, Amphithea") and fathered Opheltes. Apollodorus also gives

465-529: The Seven intercede on Hypsipyle's behalf, but with Lycurgus, rather than Eurydice. Hyginus also says that the Nemean Games, established by the Seven on their way to sack Thebes, were held for Opheltes (here called Archemorus). Statius , in his epic poem, the Thebaid —which tells the story of the Seven against Thebes—also gives an account of Opheltes' story. In the Thebaid , Opheltes' father Lycurgus

496-467: The Seven to a nearby spring. Meanwhile, left unattended, Opheltes is killed by the serpent who guards Zeus' sacred grove. Unlike in Euripides' play, where it is Eurydice who must be restrained, here, as in Hyginus, it is Lycurgus. When he hears of his son's death, Lycurgus flies into a rage, intending to kill Hypsipyle with his sword, but the Seven intervene to defend Hysipyle. A pitched battle between

527-400: The Seven's war with Thebes is due to priestly duties, and oracular warnings: Here the "first death" will turn out to be Lycurgus' son Opheltes. Passing through Nemea, on their way to Thebes, the Seven, in urgent need of water, encounter Hypsipyle with her nursling, the infant Opheltes. In her haste to provide water for the Seven, Hypsipyle leaves Opheltes lying on the ground, while she takes

558-404: The Seven, but does not say why. Aeschylus (c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) apparently dealt with the story, perhaps in his lost play Nemea , since Pindaric scholia tell us that Aeschylus attributed the origin of the Nemean Games to the funeral games of Archemorus. The most complete account of Opheltes' story occurs in Euripides' partially preserved play Hypsipyle (c. 411–407 BC). This play

589-426: The Seven, says of Lycurgus, "our ancestry is one". This raises the question why Lycurgus has not joined his fellow Argives in their war against Thebes, and in fact the hero Tydeus , one of the Seven, calls Lycurgus a "coward", saying "when your countrymen from every quarter have flocked to arms, you only amid the hurrying columns are at peace". However, Statius provides an explanation saying that Lycurgus' absence from

620-505: The games are held. Hyginus tells of an oracle that had warned that Opheltes should not be put on the ground until he had learned to walk, and says that, to avoid setting the child directly on the ground, Hypsipyle put him on a bed of wild celery where he is killed by a serpent who guarded the spring. Hyginus connects this with the tradition of the celery crowns awarded to the winners at the Nemean games . According to Hyginus, as in Euripides,

651-492: The ground until he had learned to walk. In contrast with Euripides' play, where it is the enraged mother Eurydice, to whom the Seven appeal on Hypsipyle's behalf, and who needs to be appeased, in Hyginus' account it is Lycurgus. The Latin poet Statius ' epic poem, the Thebaid —which tells the story of the Seven against Thebes— also gives an account of Lycurgus' infant son Opheltes' death. While only passing references to Lycurgus are found in earlier sources, he has

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682-564: The ground, "lest she be too slow a guide". Hypsipyle takes the Seven to the spring, and when they have drunk their fill, they ask Hypsipyle to tell them who she is. Hypsipyle, then tells the Seven her story: the massacre of the men by the Lemnian women, her saving her father Thoas, the visit to Lemnos by the Argonauts, her twin sons, Euneus and Thoas, by Jason, and how she came to be the nurse of Opheltes. Meanwhile, with Hypsipyle long delayed at

713-465: The king of Nemea, and the priest of Zeus. In agreement with Euripides, Apollodorus also says that Opheltes, "afterwards called Archemorus", was the son of Lycurgus (his father being Pheres , the son of Cretheus ) and Eurydice, adding "or, as some say, Amphithea", but like Hyginus, Apollodorus has Lycugus as king of Nemea. Scholia to Pindar 's Nemean Odes , say that in Aeschylus , Opheltes' mother

744-480: The name of Opheltes' father—however, this is probably a confusion of "Lycurgus", either originally by Hyginus, or perhaps more likely, in the transmission of the Latin text. And, unlike Euripides' account, in Hyginus' version of the story, he is a king, not a priest. Hyginus also tells of an oracle—perhaps given to Lycurgus, although Hyginus does not say—that had warned that Opheltes should not be put on

775-567: The origin of the Nemean Games and Lycurgus' tomb was said to be in the grove of Nemean Zeus . According to Euripides , Lycurgus was from the Asopus river valley to west of Nemea, and he and his wife Euridice, were the parents of Opheltes. Hyginus also has Eurydice as the mother of Opheltes, however Hyginus' Latin text has Opheltes' father being a king of Nemea named "Lycus", rather than Lycurgus—probably an error. The Latin poet Statius , following Euripides, has Lycurgus and Euridice as

806-520: The parents of Opheltes, however for Statius, Lycurgus is from Argos , and is both the king of Nemea, and the priest of Zeus. According to Apollodorus , Opheltes' father Lycurgus was the son of Pheres , who was the son of Cretheus and the founder of Pherae in Thessaly . Pheres had another son Admetus . Lycurgus migrated to Nemea and married Eurydice ("or as some say Amphithea"), by whom he fathered Opheltes . Pausanias describes an image on

837-474: The play contain only a few brief references to Lycurgus. In an early scene, Amphiaraus , one of the Seven against Thebes , having just arrived at Lycurgus' house in Nemean Zeus' sacred grove, asks Hypsipyle, whose house it is, and she answers: That is, Lycurgus is a priest of Nemean Zeus, from Asopia, a region of the Asopus river valley containing Phlius and located to the west of Nemea. Although he

868-440: The spring telling her story, and "oblivious (so the gods would have it) of her absent charge", Opheltes has fallen asleep in the grass, and though unnoticed, he is killed by an unwitting swish of the tail of the enormous serpent who guards Zeus' sacred grove. Hypsipyle is again saved, by the Seven, from being executed, but here, as in Hyginus, it is the king who is restrained. Apollodorus , generally follows Euripides' account of

899-446: The story occurs in a fragment of Simonides (c. 556–468 BC), preserved by Athenaeus , which describes Opheltes (referred to by Athenaeus as "the hero Archemorus") as a "suckling child", mourned as he dies. His mother (unnamed in the lines provided by Athenaeus) seems to have been described by Simonides as "violet-crowned" ( ἰοστεφάνου ). The next earliest mention occurs in a mid-fifth-century BC poem by Bacchylides , which says that

930-442: The story, however according to Apollodorus, as in Statius' account, Hypsipyle left Opheltes behind when she led the Seven to the spring. The 2nd-century AD geographer Pausanias describes seeing a shrine at Nemea, which he calls the "grave of Opheltes", and which he describes as containing altars enclosed by a stone wall, and nearby a mound of earth which he identifies as the tomb of Opheltes' father Lycurgus. Excavations at Nemea, by

961-482: Was the son of Pheres , and the husband of Eurydice (or Amphithea ) by whom he was the father of Opheltes . In the earliest account, Lycurgus was a priest of Nemean Zeus , while in later accounts he was a king of Nemea . When the army of the Seven against Thebes was passing through Nemea on its way to Thebes , Lycurgus' infant son Opheltes was killed by a serpent, through the negligence of his nursemaid Hypsipyle . The child's funeral games were said to have been

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