Automedon appears in the narrative world of the Trojan War as preserved in Homeric epic. In the Iliad he functions as Achilles' charioteer and companion during the war. Later mythographic tradition (the Fabulae, as reported in secondary summaries) attributes to him an origin on the island of Skyros and the command of a contingent of ships (ten ships) to the Trojan expedition; this later detail is separate from the depiction in Homer.
The primary sources do not supply a detailed physiognomic description. In narrative scenes Automedon is depicted in the role of a warrior-charioteer: driving Achilles' chariot, handling the immortal horses Balius and Xanthos, hurling spears, and handling armor in battle. No further specific features (height, hair, distinctive garments beyond standard warrior gear) are provided in the cited materials.
Automedon is portrayed as an expert mortal charioteer who controls Achilles' immortal horses Balius and Xanthos and as an able combatant in the Iliad. His recorded actions include driving into battle when Patroclus dons Achilles' armour, attempting to console the horses after Patroclus' death, resuming driving after divine intervention, recruiting Alcimedon as a driver so he can fight, repelling an attack by Hector, Aeneas, Chromios, and Aretos, killing Aretos and taking his armour, and being the first in one episode to hurl a spear and fell a Trojan. While his horses are described as immortal in the epic, Automedon himself is presented as a mortal human attendant rather than a supernatural controller.
Achilles
A legendary Greek heroic figure of epic poetry, son of the sea‑nymph Thetis and the mortal Peleus, celebrated as the greatest of the Greek warriors at Troy whose anger and fate shape events in the Trojan War cycle.
Alcimedon
Alcimedon is a personal name borne by several distinct figures in Greek myth and later literary tradition rather than a single supernatural entity. Attestations include a Tyrrhenian sailor metamorphosed into a dolphin for attempting to abduct the infant Dionysus; an Arcadian eponymous hero tied to a plain and family narratives; a Myrmidon commander under Patroclus in the Trojan War cycle; a skilled craftsman mentioned in Virgil's Eclogue 3; and a Locrian companion of Ajax the Lesser slain at Troy.
Antenor
Antenor is a Trojan elder and counsellor in the epic tradition of the Trojan War. Portrayed in Homeric passages and later literature as a prudent diplomat and host, he advocates negotiation (notably advising the return of Helen) and participates in Trojan public councils and hospitable rites.
Asteropaios
Asteropaios is a named Homeric Paeonian leader and warrior in the Iliad, grandson of the river-god Axios (son of Pelagon), noted for ambidexterity (throwing two spears at once), who wounds Achilles' forearm before being slain and whose arms are later awarded as prizes at Patroclus' funeral games.
Axylus
Axylus (Ancient Greek: Ἄξυλος) is a Trojan warrior featured in Homer's Iliad (Book VI). Portrayed as a wealthy and hospitable man from Arisbe, he is slain in battle by the Greek warrior Diomedes, a brief episode used by Homer to underscore themes of hospitality, mortality, and the costs of war.
Calesius
Calesius (Greek Καλήσιος) is a minor human figure in the Homeric epic: the attendant and charioteer of Axylus who is killed alongside his master on the Trojan battlefield in Book VI of the Iliad. He appears as a named mortal illustrative of loyalty and the human cost of war, with no supernatural attributes in the cited sources.
Cicones
The Cicones (Greek Κίκονες, Latinized Cicones or Ciconians) are a Homeric Thracian tribe associated with the town of Ismarus (Ismara) on the south coast of Thrace. In epic sources they appear as a martial human people who repel Odysseus' raiders after the sack of Ismarus (Odyssey Book IX) and are listed among allies in the Iliad; they are treated as a human ethnic/political group rather than as supernatural beings.
Dardanians (Trojan)
A named human people or subgroup in the Homeric Trojan tradition, repeatedly distinguished from the Trojans in epic formulae (e.g., the Iliad). Later Roman poets and classical writers used the ethnonym in genealogical and territorial discourse (Dardania, Dardanus).
Demoptolemus
Demoptolemus (Ancient Greek: Δημοπτόλεμος) is a mortal figure named among the suitors of Penelope in the Homeric epic tradition. He is listed as one of the suitors present in Odysseus’s hall and is reported in the narrative tradition to have been killed during Odysseus’s slaughter of the suitors (Odyssey Book XXII).
Euphorbus
Euphorbus is a named mortal Trojan youth in the Homeric epic tradition who wounds Patroclus and is later killed by Menelaus; in later classical anecdote he becomes a figure in stories of transmigration of souls in which his shield is said to be recognized in a temple.
Eurycleia
Eurycleia is a mortal household nurse and longtime attendant in the Homeric tradition, famed as the wet-nurse of Odysseus and a trusted domestic figure who recognizes Odysseus on his return by a scar and keeps his secret. She functions as an intimate caregiver, keeper of household memory, and an agent of domestic authority within Odysseus's household in Ithaca.
Eurycleia of Ithaca
Eurycleia is the aged wet-nurse and long-serving household attendant of Odysseus in the Homeric tradition. Portrayed as a loyal, discreet domestic servant, she functions as caretaker, keeper of household secrets, and intermediary within Odysseus's oikos on Ithaca rather than as a supernatural being.
Laertes
Laertes is the mortal father of Odysseus in the Homeric tradition, an aged Ithacan farmer/retired king who embodies ancestral authority, patronymic identity (Odysseus = Laertiades), and appears in the Odyssey's recognition and post-suitors conflict scenes.
Meriones
Meriones is a mortal Cretan hero of the Trojan War cycle in Greek epic tradition, known as a skilled warrior, charioteer and companion of Idomeneus. He appears in Homeric rosters and narratives (notably the Iliad) and was traditionally associated with a hero-tomb and local cult at Knossos (Cnosus).
Community Record
- [1]Automedon - Wikipedia. Wikipedia: Automedonwiki
- [2]The Iliad, Book XVII. Homer, Iliad (Book XVII) — online text summary linked in research notesliterary
- [3]The Trojan War from Homer's Iliad (Mythweb summary). Mythweb summary of Iliad Book XVII and related episodesliterary
- [4]Automedon - in ancient sources @ attalus.org. Attalus: Automedon in ancient sources (name-list and references)other
- [5]Automedon with the Horses of Achilles (Archive item). Archive item referenced in research notesother
- [6]Aeneid, Book II reference (later Roman appearance). Virgil's Aeneid (Book II, line 477) — cited in secondary summary (Wikipedia)literary