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47-571: Electra was connected with the legend of the Palladium , the sacred statue, which became the talismanic protector of Troy . Electra, along with the rest of the Pleiades, were transformed into stars by Zeus . By some accounts she was the one star among seven of the constellation not easily seen because, since she could not bear to look upon the destruction of Troy, she hid her eyes, or turned away; or in her grief, she abandoned her sisters and became

94-537: A comet. The Pleiades were said to be the daughters of Atlas , who was the son of the Titan Iapetos . No early source mentions their mother, but according to some late accounts she was the Oceanid Pleione . Hyginus ' De Astronomica says that Electra and her six sisters were called the Pleiades because, according to the 1st-century BC Greek scholar and historian Alexander Polyhistor , they were

141-546: A god cast it into the territory of Ilium, because it had been profaned by the hands of a woman who was not a virgin, or whether Elektra carried it herself or whether it was given directly to Dardanus vary in sources and scholia . In Ilion, King Ilus was blinded for touching the image to preserve it from a burning temple. During the Trojan War , the importance of the Palladium to Troy was said to have been revealed to

188-534: A hundred years. Once they came of age, they lived but a brief time, suffering because of their foolishness. They fought with one another and did not obey the gods. Angry at their impiety, Zeus destroyed the race; still, they are granted the honor of being called " chthonic blessed mortals". The Bronze Race was fearsome and warlike. Their weapons were bronze, they lived in bronze houses, and they wore bronze armor; black iron did not exist yet. They fell at each other's hands and came to an inglorious end. The race of heroes

235-505: A son Dardanus who left Samothrace and founded the city of Dardanus in the Troad . Through Dardanus, Electra was the progenitor of the Trojan royal line. She also had another son, by Zeus, Iasion (also called Eetion), who, because of an outrage against Demeter (or her statue), was blasted by Zeus' thunderbolt. The logographer Hellanicus also makes Electra the mother, by Zeus, of Harmonia

282-582: Is he who wishes to set himself against his betters: he lacks victory and suffers grief upon grief. The next section is composed largely of superstitions related to running a productive farm. There are also more general words of advice given for how to be successful, such as not putting off work for the next day. It gives instructions to tell slaves, indications on when is the right time to harvest certain plants, based in Greek Mythology, and examples of when to go sailing. Traditional Customs follows,

329-514: Is in dactylic hexameter and contains 828 lines. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of colonial expeditions in search of new land. In the poem, Hesiod also offers his brother extensive moralizing advice on how he should live his life. Works and Days

376-432: Is now "sole king". In answer to Electra's questioning, Cadmus tells her of the woeful abduction of his sister Europa , by Zeus, and order of his father Agenor to find his sister or never return home. Nonnus has Electra try to console Cadmus with the following speech: Palladium (classical antiquity) In Greek and Roman mythology , the Palladium or Palladion (Greek Παλλάδιον (Palladion), Latin Palladium )

423-416: Is perhaps best known for its two mythological aetiologies for the toil and pain that define the human condition —the story of Prometheus and Pandora , and the so-called Myth of Five Ages . In Works and Days , Hesiod describes himself as the heir of a farm bequeathed to his brother Perses and him. Perses, though, apparently squandered his wealth and came back for what is owned by Hesiod. Perses went to

470-403: Is quite blameworthy and provokes wars and disagreement among mankind; but the other is commended by all who know her, for she compels men to work honorably, rivaling each other: καὶ κεραμεὺς κεραμεῖ κοτέει καὶ τέκτονι τέκτων, καὶ πτωχὸς πτωχῷ φθονέει καὶ ἀοιδὸς ἀοιδῷ. And potter is ill-disposed to potter, and carpenter to carpenter, and the beggar is envious of the beggar, the singer of

517-519: The Fasti (c. AD 8), gives a similar account, but with a different explanation regarding Electra: The mythographer Apollodorus (first or second century AD), discussing the "legend" of the Palladium ", says that "Electra, at the time of her violation, took refuge at the image, and Zeus threw the Palladium along with Ate into the Ilian country; and Ilus built a temple for it, and honored it." Nonnus , in

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564-560: The Theogony , Works and Days begins with a hymnic invocation to the Muses , albeit much shorter (10 lines to the Theogony 's 115) and with a different focus. The poet invokes the " Pierian Muses" to sing of their father Zeus and his control of the fates of mankind. Through the power of Zeus, men might be famous or nameless; he easily strengthens and oppresses the strong, reduces

611-536: The Epic Cycle . A scholion to the Iliad mentions the Pleiades escape from Orion by catasterism and says the following about Electra: De Astronomica is a Latin astronomical guide, attributed to Hyginus (died AD 17), containing the most complete surviving ancient compendium of astral mythology . It gives the following account of why only six of the seven Pleiades can be seen: The Latin poet Ovid , in his poem

658-729: The citadel in Troy by a secret passage and carried it off, leaving the desecrated city open to the deceit of the Trojan Horse . Odysseus, according to the epitome of the Little Iliad (one of the books of the Epic Cycle ) preserved in Proclus's Chrestomathia , went by night to Troy disguised as a beggar. There he was recognized by Helen , who told him where to find the Palladium. After some stealthy killing, he won back to

705-492: The "tribe of women" had been sent as a plague upon man in punishment for Prometheus's attempt to deceive Zeus of his deserved portion when men and gods were dividing a feast, and for his subsequent theft of fire. In the Works and Days, Hesiod proceeds directly to the theft of fire and punishment. Zeus instructed the gods to build an "evil" for mankind: that is, Pandora, whom Prometheus's brother Epimetheus accepted from Hermes despite his brother's warnings never to accept gifts from

752-640: The Elder said that Lucius Caecilius Metellus had been blinded by fire when he rescued the Palladium from the Temple of Vesta in 241 BC, an episode alluded to in Ovid and Valerius Maximus . When the controversial emperor Elagabalus (reigned 218–222 AD) transferred the most sacred relics of Roman religion from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium , the Palladium was among them. In Late Antiquity , it

799-466: The Greeks by Helenus , the prophetic son of Priam . After Paris ' death, Helenus left the city but was captured by Odysseus. The Greeks somehow managed to persuade the warrior seer to reveal the weakness of Troy: the city would not fall while the Palladium remained within its walls. The perilous task of stealing this sacred statue again fell upon the shoulders of Odysseus and Diomedes . The two stole into

846-526: The Palladium (or perhaps the credit for gaining it) for himself. He raised his sword to stab Diomedes in the back. Diomedes was alerted to the danger by glimpsing the gleam of the sword in the moonlight. He disarmed Odysseus, tied his hands, and drove him along in front, beating his back with the flat of his sword. From this action was said to have arisen the Greek proverbial expression "Diomedes' necessity", applied to those who act under compulsion. Because Odysseus

893-514: The Pleiades is mentioned in Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod 's Works and Days , however none of the stars are named. Hesiod calls the stars the Atlageneis , possibly meaning "born from Atlas", although linguistic considerations suggests that the epithet refers to some geographic location. The lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (c. 556–468 BC), is the first (datable) source to connect

940-575: The city's founding myth , was variously referred to by Greeks, from the seventh century BC onwards. The Palladium was linked to the Samothrace mysteries through the pre-Olympian figure of Elektra , mother of Dardanus , progenitor of the Trojan royal line, and of Iasion , founder of the Samothrace mysteries. Whether Elektra had come to Athena's shrine of the Palladium as a pregnant suppliant and

987-446: The conspicuous and raises up the inconspicuous; easily he straightens the crooked and withers the many. Hesiod then appeals to Zeus to guide his undertaking: "Hearken, seeing and hearing, and through justice put straight the laws; and may I speak the truth to Perses." Hesiod begins the poem proper by directly engaging with the content of the Theogony . There was after all not one Eris ( Ἔρις , "Strife"), as in that poem, but two: one

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1034-603: The daughters of Pleione. De Astronomica also says that, according to Musaeus , their mother was instead an Oceanid named Aithra, explaining that they were called the Pleiades because there were more ( pleion in Greek) of them than their sisters the Hyades . According to the mythographer Apollodorus , the Pleiades were born to Pleione "at Cyllene" ( Mount Cyllene ?) in Arcadia . On the island of Samothrace , Electra had, by Zeus ,

1081-761: The earth, leaving behind ills against which there will be no bulwark. The kings are now addressed, as Hesiod relates the fable of the nightingale and the hawk to them. A hawk flying high in the air had a nightingale in its talons. The smaller bird was shrieking and crying, to which the hawk responded: δαιμονίη, τί λέληκας; ἔχει νύ σε πολλὸν ἀρείων· τῇ δ᾽ εἶς ᾗ σ᾽ ἂν ἐγώ περ ἄγω καὶ ἀοιδὸν ἐοῦσαν· δεῖπνον δ᾽, αἴ κ᾽ ἐθέλω, ποιήσομαι ἠὲ μεθήσω. ἄφρων δ᾽, ὅς κ᾽ ἐθέλῃ πρὸς κρείσσονας ἀντιφερίζειν· νίκης τε στέρεται πρός τ᾽ αἴσχεσιν ἄλγεα πάσχει. You fool, why do you scream? Someone much your better has you. You go wherever I conduct you, songstress though you may be. I shall make you my dinner, if I wish, or let you go. Senseless

1128-554: The goddess and was accorded the highest respect. It was placed under a bronze likeness of a palm tree and a gold lamp burned in front of it. The centerpiece of the grand feast of the Panathenaea was the replacement of this statue's woolen peplos (a garment) with a newly woven one. It was also carried to the sea by the priestesses and ceremonially washed once a year, in the feast called the Plynteria ("washings"). Its presence

1175-622: The gods. Before Pandora's arrival, man had lived free from evils, toil and illness, but she had been given a jar which contained all these curses; this she opened, releasing all its contents but Elpis ( Ἔλπις , "Hope" or "Expectation"). The Myth of the Ages follows. In the Hesiodic scheme, there were five ages of mankind: the Golden Age , Silver Age , Bronze Age, Heroic Age , and the present age, that of Iron. The race of gold man lived in

1222-468: The law and bribed the lords to judge in his favour. The poem contains a sharp attack against unjust judges like those who decided in favour of Perses; they are depicted as pocketing bribes as they render their unfair verdicts. Hesiod seems to have thought that instead of giving him money or property, which he will again spend in no time, teaching him the virtues of work and impart his wisdom, which can be used to generate an income, would be better. Like

1269-522: The locals called her Strategis. She had two sons by Zeus, Dardanus, and Eetion, who was also called Iasion. She also had a daughter Harmonia by Zeus, who was the bride of Cadmus , the founder of Thebes , and that because of this, the Thebans named one of the city gates (the Electran gates) after her. The story of Electra and her sisters being transformed into stars may also have been told somewhere in

1316-424: The most famous portion of the poem—comprise a series of mythological examples and gnomic statements outlining Hesiod's conception of justice and the necessity of work, with the ostensible goal of persuading Perses to follow a proper path in life. The first lesson is about why the immortals keep an easy livelihood hidden from mankind: the story of Prometheus and Pandora is the answer. In the Theogony , Pandora and

1363-586: The most illustrious of which was of the Athena Poliás , " protectress of the city". The cult image of the Poliás was a wooden effigy, often referred to as the " xóanon diipetés " (the "carving that fell from heaven"), made of olive wood and housed in the east-facing wing of the Erechtheum temple in the classical era. Considered not a man-made artefact but of divine provenance, it was the holiest image of

1410-687: The name of the star-cluster with the seven daughters of Atlas. The names of the seven Pleiades are first attested in a scholion on Pindar , which quotes three hexameter lines from an unattributed poem, probably from the Hesiodic corpus : Electra is also mentioned in the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women , where apparently she was said to be the mother of Dardanus and Eetion. The fifth-century Greek logographer Hellanicus of Lesbos provides more details. According to Hellanicus, Electra (called Electryone by Hellanicus) lived on Samothrace , where

1457-641: The period after the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I , and later spread to the Western church. Palladia were carried in procession around the walls of besieged cities and sometimes carried into battle. The Trojan Palladium was said to be a wooden image of Pallas (whom the Greeks identified with Athena and the Romans with Minerva) and to have fallen from heaven in answer to

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1504-483: The prayer of Ilus , the founder of Troy . "The most ancient talismanic effigies of Athena", Ruck and Staples report, "were magical found objects, faceless pillars of Earth in the old manner, before the Goddess was anthropomorphized and given form through the intervention of human intellectual meddling." The arrival at Troy of the Palladium, fashioned by Athena in remorse for the death of Pallas, as part of

1551-555: The ships. He and Diomedes then re-entered the city and stole the sacred statue. Diomedes is sometimes depicted as the one carrying the Palladium to the ships. There are several statues and many ancient drawings of him with the Palladium. According to the Narratives of the Augustan period mythographer Conon as summarised by Photius , while the two heroes were on their way to the ships, Odysseus plotted to kill Diomedes and claim

1598-558: The singer. Hesiod encourages Perses to avoid the bad Eris and not let her persuade him to frequent the arguments in the agora , but to focus on working for his livelihood. Family business follows, as Hesiod implores his brother to join him in sorting out their fraternal discord through the "justice of Zeus". It comes out that they had previously divided their patrimony, but that Perses claimed more than his fair share by influencing "bribe-devouring kings" ( δωροφάγοι βασιλεῖς , dōrophagoi basileis ). The following few hundred verses—by far

1645-430: The sisters and placed them among the stars. And by way of explanation for the fact that only six of the seven stars in the constellation were readily visible, it was said that Electra, unable to behold the destruction of Troy, hid her eyes, or turned away; or, in another version, Electra, in mourning, let down her hair, and left her sisters altogether and became a "long haired star" (i.e. a "comet"). A constellation called

1692-423: The son of Electra and Zeus. There are two stories involving Electra. One concerns the Palladium , the sacred statue of Pallas Athena , considered to be the divine protector of Troy (and later Rome ). According to Apollodorus , Electra, seeking protection from Zeus, took refuge at the divine statue, but Zeus in his anger threw the statue from heaven. It landed near Troy, where Ilus , the founder of Troy, found

1739-423: The statue and built a temple to house and honor it. According to another version of the story Electra herself gave the statue to Dardanus as protection for Troy. Another story involving Electra, concerns her, and her six sisters transformation into stars. The reason for their transformation varied. According to one account, the Pleiades were being pursued by the huntsman Orion , intent on rape, but Zeus took pity on

1786-431: The third book of his Dionysiaca (c. fifth century AD), has the wandering Cadmus land on Samothrace where he will find his bride to be, Electra's foster-daughter Harmonia . He arrives at the palace, "that masterly work of Hephaistos, which the industrious god once built for Electra as a bride", where he is received by Electra, the queen of Samothrace, and her son Emathion, who, with the departure of his brother Dardanus,

1833-602: The time of Cronus , an age of plenty and peace, for the earth gave for all their needs of its own accord and rivalries of any kind were thus unknown. Men of the Golden Age never aged, and when they died they went as though to sleep. When this age came to an end, its population became guardians of mankind, protecting them from evils and granting them wealth. The Silver Age was much worse than the Golden, both in stature and temperament. People lived as children with their mothers for

1880-521: The wife of Cadmus , although usually Harmonia is the daughter of Ares and Aphrodite . Nonnus also makes Electra the mother of Emathion , who succeeded his brother Dardanus as king of Samothrace. According to an Italian tradition, Electra was the wife of the Etruscan king Corythus . Her sons Dardanus and Iasion were born in Italy, with Iasion being the son of Electra and Corythus, and Dardanus being

1927-494: Was a cult image of great antiquity on which the safety of Troy and later Rome was said to depend, the wooden statue ( xoanon ) of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to the future site of Rome by Aeneas . The Roman story is related in Virgil 's Aeneid and other works. Rome possessed an object regarded as the actual Palladium for several centuries; it

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1974-482: Was either brought by Aeneas, the exiled Trojan (Diomedes, in this version, having only succeeded in stealing an imitation of the statue) or surrendered by Diomedes himself. An actual object regarded as the Palladium was undoubtedly kept in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum for several centuries. It was regarded as one of the pignora imperii , sacred tokens or pledges of Roman rule ( imperium ) . Pliny

2021-582: Was essential for the destruction of Troy, Diomedes refrained from injuring him. Diomedes took the Palladium with him when he left Troy. According to some stories, he brought it to Italy; others say that it was stolen from him on the way. According to various versions of this legend the Trojan Palladium found its way to Athens , Argos , Sparta (all in Greece ) or Rome in Italy . To this last city it

2068-590: Was in the care of the Vestal Virgins for nearly all this time. Since around 1600, the word palladium has been used figuratively to mean anything believed to provide protection or safety, and in particular in Christian contexts a sacred relic or icon believed to have a protective role in military contexts for a whole city, people or nation. Such beliefs first become prominent in the Eastern church in

2115-481: Was last mentioned by the Church Father Tertullian who described it derisively as nothing but "a rough stake, a shapeless piece of wood". Earlier descriptions of the statue have not survived. Works and Days Works and Days ( Ancient Greek : Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι , romanized :  Érga kaì Hēmérai ) is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. It

2162-674: Was more just and noble. Though demigods , they too fell in war, most notably those at Thebes and Troy . After death, they were transported to the Isles of the Blessed where they lived a postmortem life of plenty similar to the Golden Age. Hesiod then laments that he lives during the Iron Age, which is characterized by toil and hardship. He predicts that Zeus will destroy his race, too, when men are born gray-haired, and all moral and religious standards are ignored. Aidos and Nemesis will depart

2209-564: Was rumored that the Palladium was transferred from Rome to Constantinople by Constantine the Great and buried under the Column of Constantine in his forum. Such a move would have undermined the primacy of Rome, and was naturally seen as a move by Constantine to legitimize his reign and his new capital. The goddess Athena was worshipped on the Acropolis of Athens under many names and cults,

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