This article is about the mythological Trojan War figure. For other mythological figures of the same name, seeAntenor (mythology). For the historical sculptor, seeAntenor.
Antenor was described by the chroniclerMalalas in his account of theChronography as "tall, thin, white, blond, small-eyed, hook-nosed, crafty, cowardly, secure, a story-teller, eloquent".[1] Meanwhile, in the account ofDares the Phrygian, he was illustrated as "...tall, graceful, swift, crafty, and cautious."[2]
Antenor was one of the wisest of the Trojan elders and counsellors.[29] In theHomeric account of theTrojan War, Antenor advised the Trojans to returnHelen toher husband and otherwise proved sympathetic to a negotiated peace with theGreeks.[30] In later developments of the myths, particularly perDares andDictys,[29] Antenor was made an opentraitor, unsealing the city gates to the enemy. As payment, his house—marked by apanther skin over the door—was spared during the sack of the city.[30]
His subsequent fate varied across the authors. He was said to have rebuilt a city on the site ofTroy; to have settled atCyrene;[30] the shore of theTyrrhenian Sea;[31] or to have foundedPatavium (modernPadua),[32][33]Korčula,[34] or other cities in eastern Italy.[30]According to the origin legend of the Franks (according to the 'Liber historiae Francorum' and the 'Grandes Chroniques de France'), he is said to have led a group of Trojans north and settled near theMaeotian Swamp, and the Maeotian lake, now known as theSea of Azov. Other sources such as the 'Compendium sive breviarium primi voluminis annalium sive historiarum de origine regum et gentis Francorum' of Johannes Trithemius attempt to show that they are the same as theCimmerians.
Antenor appears briefly inHomer'sIliad. In Book 3 he is present whenHelen identifies forPriam each of the Greek warriors from the wall of Troy; when she describesOdysseus, Antenor confirmed her account, alluded to how he entertainedOdysseus andMenelaus and got to know both.
On this Antenor said, "Madam, you have spoken truly.Ulysses once came here as envoy about yourself, andMenelaus with him. I received them in my own house, and therefore know both of them by sight and conversation. When they stood up in presence of the assembled Trojans,Menelaus was the broader shouldered, but when both were seatedUlysses had the more royal presence. After a time they delivered their message, and the speech ofMenelaus ran trippingly on the tongue; he did not say much, for he was a man of few words, but he spoke very clearly and to the point, though he was the younger man of the two;Ulysses, on the other hand, when he rose to speak, was at first silent and kept his eyes fixed upon the ground. There was no play nor graceful movement of his sceptre; he kept it straight and stiff like a man unpractised in oratory- one might have taken him for a mere churl or simpleton; but when he raised his voice, and the words came driving from his deep chest like winter snow before the wind, then there was none to touch him, and no man thought further of what he looked like."
In the same book, he accompaniedPriam to the front line and bore witness of the King's speech before the duel betweenMenelaus and his son,Paris. In Book 7, as mentioned above, he advises the Trojans to give Helen back, butParis refuses to yield.
Antenor is mentioned inVergil'sAeneid in book 1, line 243, when Venus tells Jupiter that Antenor had escaped from the fall ofTroy and founded Patavium, modern Padua.
InDictys Cretensis'Ephemeris belli Troiani, Antenor and Aeneas betray the Trojans to help the Greeks, ruling over the remains of Troy once the Greeks have left.
InDares Phrygius'de excidio Trojae historia, Antenor betrays Troy to the Greeks.
InGeoffrey Chaucer'sTroilus and Criseyde, Antenor appears as a minor, non-speaking, character who has been taken prisoner by the Greeks but is returned by them in exchange forCriseyde.
The circleAntenora is named after him in the poemInferno inDante Alighieri'sDivine Comedy. It is located inHell's Circle of Treachery which is reserved for traitors of cities, countries, and political parties.
Antenor is ironically misidentified by Albert Bloch, a bumbling, pretentious character inMarcel Proust's novelThe Guermantes Way (Le Côté de Guermantes) as the son of the river godAlpheus, probably confusing him withAntinous, with whom Alpheus is associated.
Mikhail Lomonosov in his "Ancient Russian History" deduced Antenor as a progenitor of the Slavs and Russians: "Cato has the same in mind when theVenetians, asPliny testifies, are descended from theTrojans tribe. All this the great and authoritative historianTitus Livy shows and carefully explains. "Antenor," he writes, "came after many wanderings to the inner extremity of theAdriatic gulf with a multitude of theEnenites, who had been driven out ofPaphlagonia and at Troy had lost their kingPilimenes: to move to that place they sought a leader. After the expulsion of theEuganeans, who lived between the sea and the Alpine mountains, the Henites and Trojans occupied these lands. That is why the name of the settlement was Troy, and the whole nation was called the Venetians".[35]
^Apollodorus,Epitome3.34 ff seeGreek version: "Ἀρχέλοχος καὶ Ἀκάμας Ἀντήνορος καὶ Θεανοῦς, Δαρδανίων ἡγούμενοι" is translated as "Archelochus and Acamas, sons of Antenor and Theano, leaders of the Dardanians"
^Tzetzes, John (2015).Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 61,Prologue 806–807, p. 219, 11.44–46.ISBN978-0-674-96785-4.
^abTzetzes, John (2015).Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 219, 11.44–46.ISBN978-0-674-96785-4.
^Tzetzes, John (2015).Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 61,Prologue 806–807.ISBN978-0-674-96785-4.
^Tzetzes, John (2015).Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 283, 15.193.ISBN978-0-674-96785-4.
^Tzetzes, John (2015).Allegories of the Iliad. Translated by Goldwyn, Adam; Kokkini, Dimitra. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, England: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library. pp. 155, 5.38.ISBN978-0-674-96785-4.
Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003),Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (5th ed.), New York: Springer Verlag, p. 293,ISBN3-540-00238-3
Tzetzes, John,Allegories of the Iliad translated by Goldwyn, Adam J. and Kokkini, Dimitra. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, Harvard University Press, 2015.
