TFBT: Research Topics, Part V

Recently, I asked a friend familiar with the work on my blog and active in the forms here, what topics I had been missing (avoiding) in my research. She suggested;

• The Absence of the Heraclidae at Troy
• Meleager
  • And subsequently the suicides of his kinswomen
• Otus and Ephialtes

Here are some insights. 

The Absence of the Heraclidae at Troy   
I came up with some ludicrous reasons why only three of Heracles descendants sailed off to Troy, but I could find no authorities to address the issue. The only hint I found was that after the death of Hyllus;

“They now retired to Tricorythus, where they were allowed by the Athenians to take up their abodes. . During the period that followed (ten years after the death of Hyllus) the Trojan War took place.” (A new Classical Dictionary of…William Smith, Charles Anthon, 1880)

I will have to see if Tricorythus is listed in the catalogue of ships. Maybe upon those ships there were Heraclidae at Troy who “went nameless to the dank house of chill Hādēs’” (W&D 153)

Meleager
S.C.R. Swain suggests that Meleager’s story is part of the earliest and pre-Homeric cycle in Greek myth; the Aetolian-Elean-Pylian Cycle, in addition to the Trojan Cycle, Theban Cycle and (an earlier)  Iolcus Cycle.  Meleager is often compared to Achilles, thanks to Phoenix’s story in the Iliad’s Embassy Scene.  But, Meleager and Achilles are not the same character.  The characters of the Theban Cycle are motivated by revenge particularly the Epigoni.  Whereas the heroes of the Homeric portion of the Trojan Cycle are motivated by a quest for unwilting glory. How could we know Meleager’s motivation until we know more about the genre? I hope to learn more about the Aetolian-Elean-Pylian Cycle and earlier Iolcus Cycle.  Can anyone help me there?  See Swain’s paper here;
A Note on Iliad 9.524-99: The Story of Meleager

Marpessa, Cleopatra, and Polydora 
Meleager’s’ mother-in-law Marpessa, wife Cleopatra, and daughter Polydora (sometimes called Laodamia) all committed suicide upon the deaths of their husbands. This looks similar to something called “suttee”.  Suttee is an Indo-European tradition famous in Vedic traditions and Norse mythology.  Philostratus the Elder at 2.30 tells us about Evadne, wife of Capeneus,  mother of Sthenelus. At her husband’s funeral she threw herself on his pyre and died.  Philostratus mentions other widows who committed suicide upon the husband’s death, but lists no names and tells no stories.
Apparently, I was in denial, but it appears that suttee is also an Ancient Greek tradition, but maybe is primarily an Aetolian tradition. Again I need to learn more about the Aetolian-Elean-Pylian Cycle

Otus and far-famed Ephialtes 
There are enough possibly parents and conflicting tales for two sets of twins.So here is the insight; strong Ephialtes and Otus were either
proto-Hesiods, founding-fathers and heroes in the Ancient and contemporary sense…
or…
giants like the nine year olds of Hesiod Silver Age;

“A child was brought up at his good mother’s side… an utter simpleton, playing childishly in his own home. But when they were full grown and were come to the full measure of their prime, they lived only a little time in sorrow because of their foolishness,”

Part I; Suitors of Helen versus Suitors of Penelope.  

Part IIA: Meleager

Part IIB; Polydora, Marpessa, and Cleopatra,

Part III; Absence of the Heraclidae at Troy

Part IV; Otus &Ephialtes

Part V: Insights