Idomeneus was described by the chroniclerMalalas in his account of theChronography as "above average height, dark-skinned, good eyes, well set, strong, good nose, thick beard, good head, curly hair, a berserker when fighting".[3]
InHomer'sIliad, Idomeneus is found among the first rank of the Greek generals, leading his troops and engaging the enemy head-on, and escaping serious injury. Idomeneus was one ofAgamemnon's trusted advisors. He was one of the primary defenders when most of the otherAchaean heroes were injured, and even foughtHector briefly and repulsed his attack.[9] Like most of the other leaders of the Greeks, he is alive and well as the story comes to a close. He was one of the Achaeans to enter theTrojan Horse. Idomeneus killed twenty men and at least three Amazon women, includingBremusa,[10] at Troy.[11]
Italian and German title pages of the original libretto of Mozart's opera, Idomeneo
A later tradition, preserved byServius the Grammarian in a commentary onVirgil'sAeneid,[12] continues the story as follows: after the war, Idomeneus's ship hit a terrible storm. He promisedPoseidon that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw when he returned home if Poseidon would save his ship and crew. The first living thing was his son, whom Idomeneus duly sacrificed. The gods were angry at Idomeneus's murder of his own son and sent a plague to Crete. The Cretans sent him into exile in Calabria (ancient name of theSalento inApulia),Italy[13] and thenColophon inAsia Minor where he died.[14] According toMarcus Terrentius Varro, the gens Salentini descended from Idomeneus, who had sailed from Crete toIllyria, and then together with Illyrians andLocrians from Illyria toSalento, seeGrecìa Salentina.[15]
Alternatively, in a tradition preserved byApollodorus, Idomeneus was driven out of Crete byLeucus, his foster son, who had seduced and then killed Idomeneus' wife Meda and usurped the throne of Crete.[16]
The tale is also covered by the French 17th century writerFrançois Fénelon.
Idomeneo, a 1781opera seria byMozart, is based on the story of Idomeneus's return to Crete. In this version, Poseidon (Neptune in the opera) spares Idomeneo's son Idamante, on condition that Idomeneo relinquish his throne to the new generation.
Achterberg, Winfried; Best, Jan; Enzler, Kees; Rietveld, Lia; Woudhuizen, Fred,The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor, Publications of the Henry Frankfort Foundation vol XIII, Dutch Archeological and Historical Society, Amsterdam 2004.
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