1. Mythological traditions

Telephus was the son of Hercules and Auge, daughter of Aleus, king of Tegea, and Neaera. He originated from Arcadia, however his deeds are mainly placed in Mysia of Asia Minor, where his mother arrived pursued by her father Aleus. Aleus had received an oracle that a son born to his daughter Auge would slay his own sons. To avert the oracle’s fulfilment, he forced Auge to become a priestess of Athena Alea and warned her that she was to remain a virgin on pain of death.¹

Hercules passed through Tegea en route to the palace of Augeas or to Lake Stymphalia and, not knowing Auge to be a priestess or in a state of heavy intoxication, he raped her.² Aleus discovered Auge’s pregnancy and doubted his daughter’s explanation about the perpetrator of the rape, delivering her to his friend Nauplius to drown her in the sea. Close to Mt. Parthenion, Auge went into labour and secretly gave birth to a boy which she abandoned at the spot. The exposed infant was nurtured by a doe.

The motif of an exposed infant suckling a wild animal (it is found in other myths as well, of Paris, Atalante, Romylus and Remus) is first attested in Ionic miniature art of the early 5^th cent. BC and becomes very widespread. It appears on Tegean coins from 370 BC. In Hellenistic era accounts, the boy and the doe are eventually discovered by Hercules himself. Hercules accompanied by young Telephus appears on coins from Asia Minor and in sculptural compositions, especially in the 2^nd and 3^rd cent. BC.

In the literary tradition, the infant is found by shepherds of king Corythus who adopts him. Corythus names the boy Telephus, because it had suckled on the nipple of a doe. Arriving at the port of Nauplia, Nauplius decides not to murder Auge but hands her over to a group of Carians about to set sail for Asia. They deliver her to Teuthras, the king of Mysia.³ According to another version, Aleus discovers Telephus after Auge has given birth in secret and has hidden him in Athena’s sanctuary, where she was a priestess. The goddess sends famine and infertility and the oracles instruct Aleus to discover the reason in the goddess’ sanctuary. He discovers the infant and exposes it on Mt. Parthenion. The gods sent a doe to suckle it, then a group of shepherds find him and decide to raise him (the name ‘Telephus’ is again derived from the words “nipple” and “doe”). Aleus delivers his daughter to Nauplius to be sold in a distant land, and he brings her to Teuthras of Mysia.⁴ The king marries,⁵ or adopts her.⁶

The first tradition separates Telephus from Auge, laying the foundations for a second adventure that will lead to the encounter, recognition and reunification of mother and child. As a theme it is given to dramatic climaxes and reversals and was mainly expounded in the tragic works of the 5^th cent. BC. In general, the episodes of Telephus’ life inspired several tragic poets, including the three great dramatists, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.⁷ According to an earlier epic tradition, Telephus is born and raised in Mysia, in the court of king Teuthras.

In the Hesiodic tradition (7^th/6^th cent. BC), the gods command Teuthras to adopt a daughter, with which Hercules sleeps on his way to Troy through Teuthrania. Thus Telephus, king of the Mysians, is born; yet origins in Arcadia are ascribed to him.⁸ The anonymous daughter, therefore, should be identified with Auge, although in this case we are not told why her father banished her, for her encounter with Hercules occurs after her adoption.

The logographer Hecataeus (early 5^th cent. BC) unifies the two traditions: while passing through Tegea, Hercules mates with Auge, who later gives birth to Telephus in Arcadia. When Aleus finds out, he has the boy and his mother shut in a larnax and thrown into the sea, and they drift to Mysia. There Teuthras takes them in, and marries Auge.⁹

The tradition that has Telephus raised in Arcadia adopted by shepherds or king Corythus continues like this: When he comes of age, Telephus seeks out his birth parents and consults the Oracle at Delphi. The response leads him to Mysia and to king Teuthras. There he discovers his mother, is adopted by Teuthras and inherits his dominion.¹⁰

2. The myth of Telephus in dramaturgy

In Sophocle’s Mysians and Aleadai and in Aeschylus’ Mysians, works now non-extant, whose content one can only partially reconstruct on the basis of fragments and allusions in later sources, this storyline is enriched with dramatic details. In search of his parents, Telephus arrives at Tegea, where he quarrels with his uncles; they call him a bastard and Telephus, ignorant of their identity, slays them. Aleus recognises his grandson and realizes the futility of his efforts to avert the fulfilment of the oracle.¹¹ Telephus receives a prophecy from the Oracle at Delphi to sail to Mysia to be purified by Teuthras; during his voyage he must not utter a word. Upon his arrival there he finds Teuthras waging war against Idas of the Argonauts. The king requests Telephus’ aid, promising his kingdom and the hand of his adopted daughter, Auge, in return.

When Telephus is victorious, Teuthras respects his promise, cedes the throne and marries him to Auge. Yet Auge, having mated with Hercules, cannot bring herself to sleep with a mortal, and decides to kill Telephus; to this end she hides a sword in the bridal chamber. The gods send a snake to slither between them, and their timely intervention averts incest or child murder. Seeing the snake, Auge drops her sword and reveals her plan to Telephus, who in turn seeks to kill her. In agony, Auge calls upon Hercules and thus Telephus recognizes her as his mother.¹² After their reunification, Telephus and Auge (or Auge only) return to Arcadia, or, according to a more prevalent version, remain at Mysia. Telephus becomes king¹³ and marries Teuthras’ daughter, Argiope (or Laodice, or Astyoche, daughter and sister of Priam respectively, or the Amazon Hiera, who fought bravely and fell in a battle between the Mysians and the Greeks).¹⁴

3. Telephus clashes with the Greeks, becomes wounded and is healed by Achilles

Already in the Iliad we can trace echoes of an abortive Greek campaign in Teuthrania.¹⁵ In their first attempt to set out against Troy, just two years after Helen’s abduction, due to miscalculations the Greeks land in Mysia. They begin pillaging the land believing to be in Ilion.¹⁶ King Telephus confronts the invaders and chases them off,¹⁷ but when Achilles comes out of the ranks Telephus is defeated and falls back. While Achilles is pursuing him, Telephus trips on a vine,¹⁸ allowing Achilles to catch up and wound him with his spear in the thigh. The duel between Achilles and Telephus was depicted in the west pediment of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea (mid-4^th cent. BC). The Greeks sail off, but a violent storm strikes them in open waters and scatters their ships; thereupon each makes his separate make way to his homeland.

In the meantime, Telephus’ wound will not heal. Apollo Lyceus prophesizes that the wound will be healed by the person that inflicted it. Thus Telephus sails for Argos to seek out Achilles. Eight years after the battle at Mysia and while the Greeks have gathered at Aulis, Telephus arrives in rags and beseeches Achilles to heal him. In return he promises to show the Greeks the way to Troy. Achilles heals Telephus by placing some rust from his spear on the wound and he leads them to Troy.¹⁹

According to another narrative, which can be traced back to Euripides’ Telephus, getting Achilles to heal him was not so straightforward. Initially the Greeks refuse to aid him, because of their old enmity, and threaten him. On the advice of Clytemnestra, Telephus takes the young Orestes hostage and seeks refuge in the altar at Agamemnon’s home as a supplicant, threatening to kill the boy if Achilles refuses to heal him. Achilles responds that he is not versed in the art of medicine, but Odysseus intervenes deciphering the meaning of the oracle: what it means is not that Achilles himself, but his spear, will provide the cure. The spear’s rust causes Telephus’ wound to heal instantly.

The scene of Telephus being a supplicant at the altar, alone or, in most cases, with Orestes as a hostage, is depicted on numerous vases, from Attica (5^th and 4^th cent. BC) and, more predominantly, on pottery from Lower Italy (4^th cent. BC). The same theme is depicted on Etruscan mirrors and cinerary urns of the 3^rd/2^nd cent. BC. Telephus being cured by Achilles was also the subject of a painting by Parrhasius (second half of the 5^th cent. BC). Telephus shows the Greeks the way to Troy but refuses to join them in their campaign, because he is related to the house of Priam.²⁰ He promises, however, to not fight against them as an ally of the Trojans.²¹ But Eurypylus, Telephus’ son by Astyoche and heir to the throne of Mysia, responds to the call of his uncle Priam. Priam had bribed his sister Astyoche, getting her to dispatch her son to join in the war on the Trojan side, thus violating Telephus’ agreement with the Greeks.²²

4. Interpretation of the myth

The myth of Telephus can be said to echo the conflicts between the successive waves of Greek colonists in Asia Minor. The Arcadians arrive first in Mysia; they impose their rule on the local population and clash with a second wave of Greek colonists who attempt to settle in the area. The people of Pergamum claimed descent from the Arcadians that reached Asia Minor together with Telephus.²³ On some inscriptions they are called Telephidai. The claimed that Pergamum was founded by Telephus, who was considered the forefather of the Attalid dynasty. Various episodes in the life of Telephus and his mother Auge decorated the interior frieze of the famous Altar of Pergamum.

Mithridates VI Eupator appears in art in the guise of Hercules and Telephus (in fact, in terms of Telephus’ relation to Hercules). In the years of Mithridates’ reign in Pergamum (Mithridates as a descendant of Alexander the Great claimed to belong to Hercules’ lineage) political considerations lead to attempts to further underline his connection with Telephus, the fabled first king of Pergamum who also descended from Hercules.