Diomedes

A commander from Argos

Diomedes is the son of Tydeus and Deipyle. Apollodorus, a later writer who retold the Greek myths, says his mother came from Argos and his father came to Argos as an exile.

In the Iliad, Homer’s epic poem of the war at Troy, Diomedes is one of three commanders of the men of Argos. The list of the Greek forces in the poem, known as the Catalogue of Ships, names their towns: Argos, walled Tiryns, Hermione, Asine, Troezen, Epidaurus, Aegina and Mases. Eighty ships carry them to Troy.

In the Iliad, his greatest deeds come with the help of the goddess Athena.

The mist Athena removes

In battle an arrow strikes Diomedes in the shoulder. He asks Sthenelus, who rides in his chariot, to pull it out, and blood runs over his armour. Then Diomedes prays to Athena. He asks her to bring the man who shot him within reach of his spear.

Athena answers. She makes his limbs light and gives him the strength she once gave his father, Tydeus. She also clears the mist from his eyes, so that in battle he can tell a god from a mortal.

The gift comes with a rule. He must not fight any of the immortal gods except Aphrodite.

This rule matters more than the clearer sight. Diomedes can now recognise powers that other warriors cannot see. But recognising a god does not give him power over one. His greatest deeds in the Iliad depend on when Athena lets him cross that line.

Aphrodite and Apollo

The goddess Aphrodite comes onto the battlefield to carry away her wounded son, Aeneas. Diomedes sees her and goes after her. He knows she is the one god Athena allowed him to fight. His spear pierces the skin between her wrist and palm, and ichor, the blood of the gods, flows from the wound.

Next he charges Aeneas, even though the god Apollo has taken the Trojan into his arms. Three times Diomedes attacks, and three times Apollo drives him back. At the fourth attempt the god warns him that mortals and immortals are not equals. Diomedes draws back.

These two meetings mark the edge of his power. He wounds Aphrodite because Athena has allowed it. He cannot get past Apollo, however fiercely he attacks. Seeing a god clearly means knowing when he may strike and when his permission has run out.

Athena drives against Ares

Later in Book 5, Diomedes gives ground when he sees the god Ares leading the Trojans. Athena finds him and tells him he falls short of his father, Tydeus. Diomedes answers that fear has not stopped him. He is obeying her order not to fight the other gods.

Now Athena changes the order. She tells him to drive at Ares. She removes Sthenelus from the chariot and takes the reins herself. Ares throws his spear, and Athena catches it and turns it aside. Diomedes throws next, and she guides his spear into the body of the god.

Ares roars and leaves the battle for Olympus. Diomedes has wounded a second god. Every part of the attack depends on the goddess beside him: the permission, the course of the chariot, his survival and the path of the spear. His obedience counts here as much as his courage.

The meeting with Glaucus

Between the two armies, Diomedes meets Glaucus, a warrior from Lycia, and asks who he is. Glaucus answers with the story of his family, going back to Bellerophon. Diomedes recognises a bond made before either of them was born. His grandfather Oeneus once welcomed Bellerophon as a guest for 20 days.

Diomedes plants his spear in the ground. The two men agree to keep away from each other in battle. They clasp hands and swap armour, so that both armies can see the friendship they have inherited. Homer notes that Glaucus gives gold for bronze. The uneven exchange does not undo their agreement.

Against the gods, Diomedes acts inside the limits that Athena keeps changing. With Glaucus, no god has to stop his hand. A story about their grandfathers is enough to turn an armed meeting into recognition.

The return and the shrine at Argos

In Homer’s Odyssey, the hero Nestor tells how the Greek fleet split up on the way home from Troy. Diomedes brings his men back to Argos on the fourth day after the parting.

Pausanias, a Greek travel writer, later records a shrine at Argos that Diomedes is said to have founded. It belongs to Athena Oxyderces, a name that means Sharp-sighted. The reason given for it goes back to the moment in Book 5 when the goddess clears the mist from his eyes.

The shrine fixes the gift of a goddess to the land Diomedes led. Argos remembers him for the sight that showed him who the gods were, more than for the wounds he gave Aphrodite and Ares.