Apollodorus, Library and Epitome (ed. Sir James George Frazer)

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[3]  But Ilus went to Phrygia, and finding games held there by the king, he was victorious in wrestling. As a prize he received fifty youths and as many maidens, and the king, in obedience to an oracle, gave him also a dappled [p. 39] cow and bade him found a city wherever the animal should lie down; so he followed the cow. And when she was come to what was called the hill of the Phrygian Ate, she lay down; there Ilus built a city and called it Ilium.¹ And having prayed to Zeus that a sign might be shown to him, he beheld by day the Palladium, fallen from heaven, lying before his tent. It was three cubits in height, its feet joined together; in its right hand it held a spear aloft, and in the other hand a distaff and spindle.² [p. 41]

The story told about the Palladium is as follows:³ They say that when Athena was born she was brought up by Triton,⁴ who had a daughter Pallas; and that both girls practised the arts of war, but that once on a time they fell out; and when Pallas was about to strike a blow, Zeus in fear interposed the aegis, and Pallas, being startled, looked up, and so fell wounded by Athena. And being exceedingly grieved for her, Athena made a wooden image in her likeness, and wrapped the aegis, which she had feared, about the breast of it, and set it up beside Zeus and honored it. But afterwards Electra, at the time of her violation,⁵ took refuge at the image, and Zeus threw the Palladium along with Ate⁶ into the Ilian [p. 43] country; and Ilus built a temple for it, and honored it. Such is the legend of the Palladium.

And Ilus married Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus, and begat Laomedon,⁷ who married Strymo, daughter of Scamander; but according to some his wife was Placia, daughter of Otreus, and according to others she was Leucippe; and he begat five sons, Tithonus, Lampus, Clytius, Hicetaon, Podarces,⁸ and three daughters, Hesione, Cilla, and Astyoche; and by a nymph Calybe he had a son Bucolion.⁹

¹ This legend of the foundation of Ilium by Ilus is repeated by Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 29. The site of Thebes is said to have been chosen in obedience to a similar oracle. See above, Apollod. 3.4.1. Homer tells us (Hom. Il. 20.215ff.) that the foundation of Dardania on Mount Ida preceded the foundation of Ilium in the plain. As to the hill of Ate, compare Stephanus Byzantius, s.v. Ilion.

² As to the antique image of Pallas, known as the Palladium, see Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.68ff., ii.66.5; Conon 34; Paus. 1.28.9; Paus. 2.23.5; Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iv.47, p. 42, ed. Potter; Malalas, Chr. v. pp. 108ff., ed. L. Dindorf; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 355; Suidas, s.v. Palladion; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. Palladion, p. 649-50; Scholiast on Hom. Il. vi.311; Verg. A. 2.162ff.; Ovid, Fasti vi.417-436; Ov. Met. 13.337-349; Silius Italicus, Punic. xiii.30ff.; Dictys Cretensis v.5; Serv. Verg. A. 2.166; Scriptores rerum mythicarum Latini, ed. Bode, i. pp. 14ff., 45 (First Vatican Mythographer 40, 142). The traditions concerning the Palladium which have come down to us are all comparatively late, and they differ from each other on various points; but the most commonly received account seems to have been that the image was a small wooden one, that it had fallen from heaven, and that so long as it remained in Troy the city could not be taken. The Greek tradition was that the Palladium was stolen and carried off to the Greek camp by Ulysses and Diomedes (see Apollod. E.5.10 and Apollod. E.5.13), and that its capture by the Greeks ensured the fall of Troy. The Roman tradition was that the image remained in Troy till the city was taken by the Greeks, when Aeneas succeeded in rescuing it and conveying it away with him to Italy, where it was finally deposited in the temple of Vesta at Rome. These two traditions are clearly inconsistent with each other, and the Roman tradition further conflicts with the belief that the city which possessed the sacred image could not be captured by an enemy. Hence in order to maintain the genuineness of the image in the temple of Vesta, patriotic Roman antiquaries were driven to various expedients. They said, for example, that an exact copy of the Palladium had been publicly exposed at Troy, while the true one was carefully concealed in a sanctuary, and that the unsuspicious Greeks had pounced on the spurious image, while the knowing Aeneas smuggled away the genuine one packed up with the rest of his sacred luggage (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. i.68ff.). Or they affirmed that the thief Diomedes had been constrained to restore the stolen image to its proper owners (First Vatican Mythographer 40, 142); or that, warned by Athena in a dream, he afterwards made it over to Aeneas in Italy (Silius Italicus, Punic. xiii.30ff.). But the Romans were not the only people who claimed to possess the true Palladium; the Argives maintained that it was with them (Paus. 2.23.5), and the Athenians asserted that it was to be seen in their ancient court of justice which bore the very name of Palladium. See Paus. 1.28.8ff.; Harpocration, s.vv. bouleuseôs and epi palladiôi; Suidas, s.v. epi palladiôi; Julius Pollux viii.118ff.; Scholiast on Aeschin. 2.87, p. 298, ed, Schultz; Bekker's Anecdota Graeca, i. p. 311, lines 3ff. The most exact description of the appearance of the Palladium is the one given by Apollodorus in the present passage, which is quoted, with the author's name, by Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 355). According to Dictys Cretensis v.5, the image fell from heaven at the time when Ilus was building the temple of Athena; the structure was nearly completed, but the roof was not yet on, so the Palladium dropped straight into its proper place in the sacred edifice. Clement of Alexandria, Protrept. iv.47, p. 42, ed. Potter, mentions a strange opinion that the Palladium “was made out of the bones of Pelops, just as the Olympian (image of Zeus was made) out of other bones of an Indian beast,” that is, out of ivory. Pherecydes discussed the subject of palladia in general; he described them as “shapes not made with hands,” and derived the name from pallein, which he considered to be equivalent to ballein, “to throw, cast,” because these objects were cast down from heaven. See Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 355; Etymologicum Magnum, s.v. Palladion, p. 649.50. Apollodorus as usual confines himself to the Greek tradition; he completely ignores the Romans and their claim to possess the Palladium.

³ The following account of the origin of the Palladium was regarded as an interpolation by Heyne, and his view has been accepted by Hercher and Wagner. But the passage was known to Tzetzes, who quotes it (Scholiast on Lycophron 355) immediately after his description of the image, which he expressly borrowed from Apollodorus.

⁴ Apparently the god of the river Triton, which was commonly supposed to be in Libya, though some people identified it with a small stream in Boeotia. See Hdt. 4.180; Paus. 9.33.7; Tzetzes, Scholiast on Lycophron 519; compare Scholiast on Ap. Rhod., Argon. i.109.

⁵ See above, Apollod. 3.12.1.

⁶ Homer tells (Hom. Il. 19.126-131) how Zeus in anger swore that Ate should never again come to Olympus, and how he seized her by the head and flung her from heaven.

⁷ Compare Hom. Il. 20.236. Homer does not mention the mother of Laomedon. According to one Scholiast on the passage she was Eurydice, daughter of Adrastus, as Apollodorus has it; according to another she was Batia, daughter of Teucer. But if the family tree recorded by Apollodorus is correct, Batia could hardly have been the wife of Ilus, since she was his great-grandmother.

⁸ Compare Hom. Il. 20.237ff., with whom Apollodorus agrees as to Laomedon's five sons. Homer does not mention Laomedon's wife nor his daughters. According to a Scholiast on Hom. Il. iii.250, his wife's name was Zeuxippe or Strymo; for the former name he cites the authority of the poet Alcman, for the latter the authority of the historian Hellanicus. Apollodorus may have followed Hellanicus, though he was acquainted with other traditions. According to Tzetzes (Scholiast on Lycophron 18), Priam and Tithonus were sons of Laomedon by different mothers; the mother of Priam was Leucippe, the mother of Tithonus was Strymo or Rhoeo, daughter of Scamander. The Scholiast on Hom. Il. xi.1, speaks of Tithonus as a son of Laomedon by Strymo, daughter of Scamander.

⁹ Compare Hom. Il. 6.23ff., who says that Bucolion was the eldest son of Laomedon, but illegitimate and one of twins.

This text is based on the following book(s):
Apollodorus. Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. Includes Frazer's notes.
OCLC: 28280131
ISBN: 0674991354, 0674991362

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