#antheus

[dilutedh2so4]

Deiphobus' wife in Ukrainka's Cassandra is called Anthea, I'm personally deciding this is a reference to Antheus xD

[streets-in-paradise]

Some more screencaps for @kadieliz

[streets-in-paradise]

Currently watching the Hercules 2005 miniseries in terrible quality because I can't find it outside of Youtube

@kadieliz

Tyler played a secondary villain here, a bandit that kills Chiron.

[littlesparklight]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Erostober Day 6 - Rewards/Firsts

Rating: Mature Relationship: Antheus/Paris

Summary: Getting the newest (but not youngest) prince of Troy up to speed in his weapons' lessons is a communal effort. Antheus does his part, and Paris is very appreciative… but perhaps not particularly motivated anyway.

[dilutedh2so4]

Whos your favorite minor character from Greek mythology? Or characters if you can’t choose one

Let's see!

-Dardanus, founder of the Trojans, and by extension his wife Batea and her father Teucer! One of Zeus' favourite sons whom I wish we knew more about. He's Iasion's brother! His mother disappeared from the Pleiades constellation in grief! He survived Deucalion's flood by basically making a prototype life jacket — Noah who?!

-Hecuba, wife of Priam. Is she a minor character? I'm too deep in the Trojan rabbit hole to tell xD. I just love exploring her relationships with her children and with Helen, and in my mind she's safe with Apollo in Lycia with Hector's kids :)

-Antheus, Paris' lover whom he accidentally killed in a Hyacinthus-style accident. There was a whole love triangle between him, Paris, and Deiphobus which essentially caused all of their deaths… directly and indirectly!

-Lycaon, son of Priam. He lends Paris armour, he knows his way around his father’s orchard, and his death in the Iliad always makes me unbelievably sad. He was captured by Achilles, enslaved and sold, but then freed! He returned to Troy, to his family, only to be killed soon after whilst trying to supplicate Achilles

There's a LOT more (Iphis and Ianthe, Euphorbus, Perses, Polyxena, Pleisthenes and Aganus…) but it's late and I fear this post has gone on too long xD

[littlesparklight]

Paris, Antheus, and Deiphobos

A completely different love triangle than the usual one!

So, who is Antheus? He's certainly obscure, just like the scrap of myth attached to him. He is a(nother) son of Antenor, our (only, I believe) surviving source for this bit of info Tzetzes' scholia on Lycophron's Alexandra.

To start with, Antheus' mention in the Alexandra: "[...] nor thy love of Antheus [...]" (line 134)

The "thy" here is Paris. No Deiphobos (yet).

Here's the relevant bit of Greek text from Tzetzes' scholia, I've underlined it in red.

And then the (machine translated, from Topostext) relevant bit of translation I've marked out where my screencapped page starts in the translated scholia and then underlined again:

Here we've got Deiphobos!

As you can see, this is all there is. They both loved Antheus, and Paris accidentally kills the young man. Anything beyond this is someone own's adaptation or headcanon, and isn't supported. Given the way that lovers are usually the ones who are the accidental killers, in my opinion Paris is more likely to have been the one in an actual relationship with Antheus, with Deiphobos on the side. But that is speculation, of course.

Antheus' only afterlife, I think, might be in this anonymous Byzantine Trojan War account:

You can see the outline of the earlier version, though with the Menelaos element completely removed and Paris simply sent to Greece for having killed this relative. Why I believe this might be Antheus, or an adapted version of him, is that in Dictys, there's a (frankly impossible) bit of genealogy that makes Antenor related to the Trojan royal family via Ganymede's sister Kleomestra, if only because Ganymede's brother Assaracus is then made one of her sons, too. That genealogy might work on its own if one considers Assaracus the son of Kleomestra the nephew of Assaracus the son of Tros, however. Either way, that genealogy would make Antheus Paris' (and Deiphobos') kin.

Anyway, that's it for this tragic gay love story!

[littlesparklight]

Was thinking a little about Paris' love interests, and how there are only three named ones - Helen, Oinone, and Antheus - and these three are the only ones we can say with certainty that he's actually been sexually/romantically involved with, in one version of a story or other. To be sure, Paris' letter to Helen in Ovid's Heroides includes the (bragging) note that other (specifically royal) women have shown interest in him, and that "even" nymphs (or at least one) has done so.

When it comes to Ovid specifically, compared to Oinone, who basically all three letters confirm Paris has been involved with/married to, I'm not sure those other, unnamed women are supposed to be imagined as actual romantic/sexual incidents/relationships. Paris clearly brings them up in the letter as a way to apparently seem more attractive (to Helen), and so the women's (supposed) interest in him, not any actual realization of either his or theirs attraction, is what's the point. The Iliad has a couple other mentions that could be interpreted as some sort of "generalized womanizing behaviour" I suppose (Hektor and Diomedes' insults). But given the culture of the time, I think that's unlikely. And given the context of the circumstances, the war in general and Paris backing away from any duel with Menelaos in particular, him being called woman-mad (or ahem, driving women mad) and a seducer would make more sense if it's not about any random amount of women, but specifically the one instance and particular woman that has led to the circumstances of the war, and the war being ongoing.

I. Helen Helen is undoubtedly love interest that is the oldest, most important, and, frankly, for the story the only one that matters and is necessary. Since I've already talked about it elsewhere I don't want to go on about the point of how Helen's interest in Paris is basically constant (even when in some later sources she is explicitly kidnapped) and her complicity, if not outright action, in her leaving Sparta with Paris is almost always a factor in their story. The Trojan war in general but Paris' character in specific does not need any other relationship to both show what sort of character he is (willing, at the very least, to seduce/sleep with a married woman showing interest in him and then convince her to leave, and at the most to kidnap her against her will; either way he will be willing to break xenia and refuse to give her up).

Honestly, the fact that Paris refuses to give Helen up no matter what is just as much potential proof of his loyalty to Helen/the relationship and the earnestness of his feelings, as it can be proof of, as many likes to look at it, him being arrogant and refusing to give up ~his prize~. (With the implication he doesn't view her as anything else, but if so that is no different or worse from the majority of men in the tradition.)

II. Oinone Oinone's most important function story-wise (aside from adding background to both her and Paris' lives prior to the war), is as part of one of the methods of Paris' death. One of, which is why I don't actually consider Oinone necessary to the story. In the Epic Cycle's Little Iliad, Paris dies right there on the battlefield to Philoctetes' arrows. Which means that the first textual survival of Paris' death does not require Oinone. Doesn't necessarily mean Oinone and her part in Paris' life in some matter is much later; she could well be just as ancient! But the point rather is, that for the story to happen at all, up to Paris' death, she isn't actually "necessary". Oinone is first potentially mentioned by Bacchylides (5th century), referring to her probable death, but the fragment is uncertain so it could be about Althaia instead. Hellanicus also has some part of her story around the same time, we just don't know exactly if all the parts were present yet.

Oinone is a nymph, and presumably older than Paris (potentially by a lot). She marries a teenaged boy (not that girls weren't married teenaged, either, but given the probable timelines involved with Judgement/recognition/Paris leaving for Sparta, Paris wouldn't have been particularly old at the time of any potential marriage). He's also a slave at this point. Oinone and Paris only seem to exist as a pair on Mount Ida; Oinone never comes permanently to (if one wants to pay attention to a mention of her having met Kassandra in her Heroides letter)/settles in Troy, unlike most other nymphs that marry mortal men (kings and princes). They live in her realm, basically. And Oinone, as a nymph, has no "need" of Paris like a mortal woman marrying a mortal man would. She has a life, a home, a family she can (and does!) go back to when Paris leaves her. She isn't shamed, and is not without recourse or resources to keep living as she did before she got involved with Paris.

Obviously it hurts to be left behind when you still love someone and they leave you for whatever reason. And Oinone clearly loves Paris to the very end, so much so she regrets not saving him, thus causing his death, and kills herself for him. (Which is part of why I, personally, go with the Little Iliad's version of Paris' death.) But relationships can end (and divorce is a thing, was even back then and in the myths themselves), and with Oinone not being mortal, the "only" damage to Oinone is her injured heart.

I think what's interesting with the Oinone-Paris-Helen connection is that Paris seems to be basically just as serially monogamous as Helen is (Blondell in her book uses this phrase for Helen). He goes from one wife/relationship to another, and does not keep sleeping with the previous woman. "Not cheating" on either woman involved here is, ahem, certainly a low, low bar to clear, but given the general sexual behaviour and licenses of male characters in Ancient Greek myth, it's a bar seldom cleared.

III. Antheus I've seen the full version of Oinone and Paris' story being called a product of Hellenistic (heterosexual) romanticism, and while that may or may not be true since we can't exactly know if all the necessary parts weren't existant before the Hellenistic age, Antheus' story seems to me to be exactly this.

His earliest mention (and only surviving such, as far as we have it) is in Lycophron's Alexandra, firmly Hellenistic era. Antheus and his story seems to be tied into either an alternate way for, or maybe an additional explanation how, Paris goes to Sparta. The Judgement can certainly still exist in their story, but when you look at the extent of it I've vaguely begun to wonder if later audiences/authors didn't think the vague potential of simply going off on a guest-friendship journey was enough explanation/incentive, and came up with something else.

The full version is basically this (mind the slight repeats), explained by Tzetzes' scholia on the Alexandra:

The only thing that doesn't make sense, really, is that Troy then takes Paris back; usually expiation exiles do not get to go back home, but the tradition of course needs Paris and Helen (in one form or another) in Troy, and so he will be welcomed back.

I know I'm not alone in having delighted in taking advantage of Antheus as a potential love interest, but I have to point out that as we see here, there is nothing that actually implies Deiphobos was involved with Antheus before Paris (or, as happens in my own spin on this, that he is the one Antheus eventually chooses). All we have vouchsafed for us is their common interest in the same young man, and Paris accidentally killing him.

(You'd think male characters in myth would stop playing discus around or with their male lovers/love interests after the first time someone died that way...)

Antheus is as unnecessary to the story as Oinone can be. Even more so, really, as much as I love each and every instance of proof of same-sex desire in Greek myth. His function in this version of things actively interferes with the more common version of the story of how Paris goes to Sparta, compared to that Oinone is basically a past relationship and then a future end and can easily be slotted into what exists as the "mainstream".

[gangly-25]

Cannot be ill. Yet cannot be good.

Paris weighs the benefits and complications of loving Antheus.

1.

When Paris first saw Antheus, it was his fourth week in Troy, standing out in front of the walls with Hector at his side. He heard his laugh before anything else. It was loud, drawing Paris’ attention away from Hector and their conversation as it echoed up the hill. Paris could almost feel the vibrations in his own chest even if he stood several feet away from him.

The pair appeared: Deiphobos and Antheus. He watched as Deiphobos wrapped his arm around Antheus' neck and the man laughed again, muffling his sound in the Deiphobos’ shoulder as they climbed up the hill.

There was something infectious about it, the pure energy that seemed to radiate off of Antheus to others around him that Paris couldn't stop himself from asking, “Who is that companion of Deiphobus?” whilst he pushed down the stirring in his stomach.

Hector frowned, visibly irritated. “Does it matter?”

"Please." Paris grinned

Hector shook his head but conceded, “Fine. He is Antheus. A noble, son of Antenor.”

“Antheus,” Paris repeated. The name stuck closely to his chest.

Hector raised an eyebrow but if he had any reservations he remained silent.