Diomedes… for me, the strongest of them all!
He was born of Tydeus, prince of Calydon, and Deipyle. That is why in the Odyssey he is called the Tydides. Tydeus fell during the expedition against Thebes. Years later, Diomedes himself took part in the campaign of the Epigoni, who reconquered Thebes (I’ll spare you the details of that not-so-edifying epic). He became king of Argos after marrying the king’s daughter, Aegialeia, of whom he was madly in love.
He joined the expedition against Troy with eighty ships and proved himself among the bravest, on par with Achilles and Ajax the Great (the giant king of Salamis). I consider him the most complete of the three, for to Achilles’ reckless courage and Ajax’s brute strength, he added a perseverance and determination like no other.
In the Iliad it is told that he fought in many battles against Trojan heroes such as Paris and Aeneas. He even faced and wounded Aphrodite (Venus) and Ares (Mars, god of war). Now I shall tell you how that happened.
The gods would descend to the battlefield, invisible to mortals, to aid their protégés. Athena, who shamelessly favored Diomedes and the Greeks in general, granted him the ability to lift the veil that prevented men from seeing the gods in battle. Thus, the king of Argos wounded Aphrodite and also her companion Ares, who had come to her aid, and forced them both to flee. Mars was wounded in the side (both had come to defend Paris). Aphrodite, as we shall see, remembered this episode—and that act of courage would cost our hero dearly.
Diomedes performed many great deeds during the war. The most famous he accomplished together with the cunning Odysseus (Ulysses), to whom he was deeply bound. The Palladium was a statue of Athena that had fallen from heaven by Zeus’s will, depicting a woman holding a spear in her right hand and a spindle and distaff in her left (instruments for spinning). It was said to represent Athena herself; others said it portrayed Pallas, a friend whom Athena had accidentally killed. The prophecy declared that if the statue were ever removed from the city, Troy would fall.
The Trojans made several copies, but Greek intelligence identified the true one. Perhaps Helen helped, but in any case, the two heroes, risking their lives, entered the city by night and stole the sacred image. It was already the ninth year of war, and there was no sign of Trojan surrender.
In the Iliad it is said that Diomedes and Odysseus, who had set out as close friends on that mission, never spoke again upon their return. The Palladium also vanished. Some say Odysseus tried to kill Diomedes on the way back to claim all the glory for himself (and knowing the man, it wouldn’t be surprising!).
Diomedes took part in the fall of Troy but refrained from shameful acts. When the time came to return, he too set sail for Argos with his fleet. But Aphrodite had not forgotten him. She made Diomedes’ wife, Aegialeia, fall in love with a young man and conspire against him.
Diomedes reached the shores of Argos, in the Peloponnese, at a high point overlooking the sea. He dropped anchor and sent his charioteer and lieutenant, Sthenelus, to scout the area. Sthenelus returned at dusk with a grim face and told him that many women, including his wife, had been unfaithful, and that returning to the city would be dangerous and lead to bloodshed.
“Ten years is a long time,” Diomedes reflected, “and all this is probably the will of the gods.” He called a general assembly and offered anyone who wished to stay the chance to take their share of the spoils and a number of ships, advising them to remain united and vigilant. He set sail with about half his companions and headed toward Aetolia. In truth, he had no fixed destination. He wandered northward, stopping at various points along the Adriatic, founding several cities (Ancona among them), and teaching the people to tame horses and cultivate the olive and the vine.
Years later, nostalgia drove him to return to Argos, but a storm wrecked his ship on the coast of Daunia, present-day Puglia. There he founded Brindisi, Manfredonia, Vieste, and other cities. The king of the Daunians gave him his daughter Evippe in marriage, and there the Hero of Heroes remained until his death. He was buried on one of the Tremiti Islands, which in ancient times were called the Diomedean Islands.
A complete hero. First, he avenged his father Tydeus by accomplishing what the latter had not achieved (the campaign of the Seven against Thebes), and then he even faced and forced to flee two deities: Venus, mother of Aeneas, and none other than Mars, the god of war. And you speak to me of Achilles or Ajax? Unthinkable!
And what of the Palladium? A feat worthy of modern naval commandos. Let me ask you something: how many of us, possessing such qualities, would renounce returning home to avoid a massacre after ten years of war? I’ll answer for you—only a Just Hero! And do you know many like that? I, very few.
However, I must tell you that the great Dante disagrees, for he places Diomedes in the eighth ditch of the eighth circle of Hell, alongside that rascal Ulysses, with whom he had undertaken his most daring exploits, including the theft of the Palladium. According to Dante, they deserved this punishment for being cunning and deceitful (that circle was for fraudulent counselors). I do not share that opinion—at least not regarding Diomedes. But there it is!
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