 | This articlerelies excessively onreferences toprimary sources. Please improve this article by addingsecondary or tertiary sources. Find sources: "Neoptolemus" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Neoptolemus | |
|---|---|
Prince ofSkyros | |
 Neoptolemus killing Priam | |
| Other names | Pyrrhus, Achillides, Pelides,Aeacides |
| Abode | Skyros |
| Genealogy | |
| Parents | (a)Achilles andDeidamia (b) Achilles andIphigenia |
| Siblings | Oneiros |
| Consort | (1)Andromache (2)Hermione |
| Offspring | (1)Molossus,Pielus,Pergamus andAmphialus |
.svg)
InGreek mythology,Neoptolemus (/ˌniːəpˈtɒlɪməs/;Ancient Greek:Νεοπτόλεμος,romanized: Neoptólemos,lit. 'new warrior'), originally calledPyrrhus at birth (/ˈpɪrəs/;Πύρρος,Pýrrhos, 'red'), was the son of the mythical warriorAchilles and the princessDeidamia, and the brother of Oneiros.[1] He became the progenitor of the ruling dynasty of theMolossians of ancientEpirus. In a reference to his pedigree, Neoptolemus was sometimes calledAchillides (from his father Achilles' name)[2] or, from his grandfather's or great-grandfather's names,Pelides orAeacides.[3] According toPlutarch, Neoptolemus was the ancestor ofPyrrhus of Epirus.[4]
In hisChronography the chroniclerMalalas described Neoptolemus as "of good stature, good chest, thin, white, good nose, ruddy hair, wooly hair, light-eyed, big-eyed, blond eyebrows, blond beginnings of a beard, round-faced, precipitate, daring, agile, a fierce fighter".[5] Meanwhile, in the account ofDares the Phrygian, he was described as "large, robust, and easily irritated. He lisped slightly, and was good-looking, with a hooked nose, round eyes, and shaggy eyebrows".[6]
InCypria, Achilles sails toSkyros after a failed expedition toTroy, marries princess Deidamia and fathers Neoptolemus with her before being called to arms yet again.[7]
In a non-Homeric version of the story, Achilles's motherThetis had a vision many years before Achilles's birth that there would be a great war, and that her only son was to die in it if he partook. She tried to prevent him from being called to fight in theTrojan War byhiding him, disguised as a woman, in the court ofLycomedes, the king of Skyros. During his stay, Achilles had an affair with the princess, Deidamea, who then gave birth to Neoptolemus (originally called Pyrrhus, because his father had called himself Pyrrha, the female version of that name, while disguised as a woman).
Most accounts mention Deidamia being Neoptolemus's mother, but in some accounts, he was the son of Achilles byIphigenia instead.[8] In those accounts, his father transported him to the island of Skyros after the sacrifice of his mother.
The Greeks captured the Trojan seerHelenus and forced him to tell them under what conditions they could take Troy. Helenus revealed to them that they could defeat Troy if they could acquire the poisonous arrows ofHeracles (then in the possession ofPhiloctetes); steal thePalladium (which led to the building of the famous woodenhorse of Troy); and put Achilles' son in the war.
The Greeks then sent Odysseus to retrieve Neoptolemus, then a mere teenager, from Skyros. The two then went toLemnos to retrievePhiloctetes (years earlier, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes had been bitten by a snake onChryse Island). Agamemnon had advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering and smelled bad. Philoctetes's retrieval is the plot ofPhiloctetes, a play bySophocles.
Some sources portray Neoptolemus as brutal. He killed at least six on the field of battle[9] and several more during the subsequent fall of Troy (Priam,Eurypylus,Polyxena,Polites andAstyanax (Hector and Andromache's infant son) among others). He captured Helenus, and madeAndromache hisconcubine. The ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding the Trojan princessPolyxena to be sacrificed before anybody could leave for home; Neoptolemus was the one to carry out the sacrifice. (In scene (ll 566–575) ofEuripides's playHekabe (also known asHecuba) Neoptolemus is shown as a torn young man who killsPolyxena in the least painful way possible, contrasting with his usual brutal and uncompassionate image.) With Andromache, Helenus andPhoenix, Neoptolemus then sailed to theEpirot Islands and became the king ofEpirus.
By the enslavedAndromache, daughter ofCilician kingEëtion, Neoptolemus was the father ofMolossos (and, according to the myth, therefore an ancestor ofOlympias, the mother ofAlexander the Great),Pielus,Pergamus[10] andAmphialus.[11]
Hyginus has a section on Amphialus:
Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, begat Amphialus by captive Andromache, daughter of Ēëtion. But after he heard that Hermione his betrothed had been given to Orestes in marriage, he went to Lacedaemon and demanded her from Menelaus. Menelaus did not wish to go back on his word, and took Hermione from Orestes and gave her to Neoptolemus. Orestes, thus insulted, slew Neoptolemus as he was sacrificing to Delphi, and recovered Hermione. The bones of Neoptolemus were scattered through the land ofAmbracia, which is in the district of Epirus.[11]
By Lanassa, granddaughter ofHeracles, he fathered eight children.[12]
Like in Euripides'sHekabe,Sophocles'sPhiloctetes also shows him as a much kinder man, who honours his promises and shows remorse when he is made to trick Philoctetes.
There are two differing accounts of Neoptolemus's death: he was either killed after he attempted to takeHermione fromOrestes, or after he denouncedApollo, the murderer of his father. In the first case, he was killed by Orestes; in the second, theDelphic priest of Apollo namedMachaereus took revenge.
After Neoptolemus's death his kingdom was partitioned. According to Virgil'sAeneid, Helenus (who later marriedAndromache) took part of it: "Helenus, a son of Priam, was king over these Greek cities of Epirus, having succeeded to the throne and bed of Pyrrhus ...".[13]
Mentioned briefly in Euripides's playsTrojan Women andHecuba, simply stating that Andromache, wife of Hector, was his promised spear bride.
Media related toNeoptolemus at Wikimedia Commons
