#cleobis

[sculppp]

Carl Ernst von Stetten (1857–1942)

Cleobis and Biton, 1884, detail.

[eucanthos]

Kleobis and Biton, twin Kouroi (plural of kouros) statues by Polymedes of Argos (plinth inscription) dedicatied to Delphi ca. 580 BC. by the city of Argos Marble H 197 cm (6 ft. 5 ½ in.) Archaeological Museum of Delphi

"who is happiest (ὀλβιώτατοϛ) among humans?"

The meeting of Solon and king Croesus (Herodotus 1.29–33) is placed prominently at the beginning of the Croesus story and near the beginning of the whole work The Histories of Herodotus, completed 2nd half of 5th c. BC

Solon’s reply to Croesus:

Tellus (1.30.3–5): the happiest man is the one who has the greatest number of good things [big family included] through his life and then dies well (32.9). Solon chooses Tellus as happiest because he has both enjoyed continuous prosperity in a free country and died well.

Cleobis and Biton are second happiest, because of their glorious death when they expired after urgently transporting the heavy carriage of their mother-priestess during goddess Hera festivities (1.31); A good death is an essential element of the happiest life, and a crucial element would be lacking if the death were not good.

When Cyrus defeated Croesus and was ready to burn him alive, impressed by Croesus' cry "Solon, Solon, Solon!" allowed him to explain, heard Solon’s story, spared the life of the fallen king and honored him thereafter.

(PDF) Cleobis and Biton (Herodotus 1.31) [academia.edu]

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Hdt.+1.32

https://www.offlinepost.gr/2023/01/05/solon-kai-kroisos-mia-didaktikh-istoria-apo-ton-hrodoto/

[tanogabo]

[vcrfl-blog]

Cleobis and Biton

Cleobis and Biton were the sons of Cydippe, a priestess of Hera. They were poor, but strong of body, and won many fighting contests. Cydippe was traveling from Argos to a festival in honor of Argive Hera. The oxen which were to pull her cart were overdue and her sons, Cleobis and Biton, pulled the cart the entire way (45 stadia, that's more than 8 km or 5 miles). Cydippe was impressed with their devotion to her and her goddess and she prayed to Hera, asking her to give her children the best gift a god could give to a mortal. Hera attended the prayer. She ordained that the brothers would die in their sleep, right at that festival where they (and their mother, and the goddess of their mother, Hera) were all being appraised, so they would be remembered—and worshipped—eternally as heroes. So, after the feast, the youths lay down in the temple of Hera, slept and never woke. Herodotus, who relates the story, says that the citizens of Argos donated a pair of statues to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi.

[vcrfl-blog]

Jean-Simon Berthélemy: Cleobis and Biton, 1764. Cléobis et Biton tirant le char de leur mère au temple de Junon was the theme for the Prix de Rome in 1764. The winning entry was by Antoine-François Callet.