Telephus

• A king of Mysia, son of Hercules and the nymph Auge. He was wounded before Troy by the spear of Achilles, but was afterwards oured by its rust, Ov. M. 12, 112; 13, 171; id. Tr. 5, 2, 15; Hor. A. P. 96; 140; id. Epod. 17, 8; Hyg. Fab. 101; Plin. 34, 15, 45, § 152; 25, 5, 19, § 42.—
• II A contemporary and friend of Horace, Hor. C. 3, 19, 26; 1, 13, 1; 4, 11, 21.

(Τήλεφος), a son of Heracles and Auge, the daughter of king Aleus of Tegea. He was reared by a hind (ἔλαφος), and educated by king Corythus in Arcadia. (Comp. Auge.) When Telephus had grown up, he consulted the Delphic oracle as to who his mother was. He was ordered to go to king Teuthras in Mysia. (Paus. 1.4.9.) He there found his mother. was kindly received, and married Argiope, the daughter of Teuthras, whom he succeeded on the throne of Mysia. (Apollod. 3.9.1; Diod. 4.33.) According to a different tradition in Hyginus (Fab. 100), king Teuthras being hard pressed by Idas, who wished to deprive him of his kingdom, solicited the aid of Telephus, who, accompanied by Parthenopaeus, had come into his kingdom, and promised him his throne and the hand of his daughter Auge, if he would deliver him from his enemy. Telephus did so, and thus unwittingly married his own mother Auge. She, however, without knowing her son, would hear nothing of the marriage, and resolved to murder her intended husband. A dragon sent by the gods prevented this crime; and as she confessed her intention to Telephus, he resolved to kill her; but as she invoked the aid of Heracles, the relation between them was discovered, and Telephus led his mother back to his own country. According to the common tradition, however, Telephus was king of Mysia at the time when the Greeks went to the Trojan war, and when they invaded Mysia, he repelled them, being of all the sons of Heracles the most like his father. (Pind. O. 9.112, &c., Isthm. 5.52; Paus. 10.28, in fin.) Dionysus, however, assisted the Greeks, and caused Telephus to stumble over a vine, in consequence of which he was wounded by Achilles. (Pind. Isthm. 8.109; Dict. Cret. 2.3; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 46; Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 206. 211 ; Hygin. Fab. 101.) Now it was discovered that Telephus himself was a Greek, and he was requested to join in the war against Priam. But he declined it on the plea that his wife Astyoche was a daughter of Priam. (Dict. Cret. 2.5.) Other accounts state that Astyoche was a sister of Priam (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1697) ; Hyginus calls his wife Laodice, and a daughter of Priam; and some, again, call his wife Hiera, by whom he is said to have been the father of Tarchon and Tyrrhenus. (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 1242, 1249 ; Pilostr. Her. 2.18.) The wound which Telephus had received from Achilles could not be cured (hence incurable wounds, proverbially Τηλέφεια τραύματα, Paul. Aegin. 4.46); and when he consulted the oracle he received the answer, that only he could cure him who had wounded him. Telephus, therefore, in a deplorable condition, went to seek Agamemnon; and on the advice of Clytaemnestra he carried off Orestes from his cradle, threatening to kill him unless his father would assist him in getting his wound cured. As the Greeks had received an oracle that without the aid of Telephus they could not reach Troy, a reconciliation was easily brought about, and Achilles cured Telephus by means of the rust of the spear by which the wound had been inflicted; Telephus, in return, pointed out to the Greeks the road which they had to take. (Dict. Cret. 2.10; Ov. Met. 12.112, Trist. 5.2, 15, Remed. Am. 47, Epist. ex Ponto 2.26; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. 2.14, &c.) Telephus was worshipped as a hero at Pergamus (Paus. 5.13.2), and on mount Parthenion, in Arcadia (Paus. 8.34.5; Apollod. 1.8.6), and on the temple of Athena Alea, in Tegea, he was represented fighting with Achilles. (Paus. 8.4, 5, in fin. ; Muller, Anc. Art and its Rem. § 410, 8.) [L.S]

(Τήλεφος).

1. A Greek grammarian, a native of Pergamus. He lived in the time of Hadrianus, and was one of the instructors of Verus. (Capitol. Ver. 2.) He was the author of a considerable number of works, none of which, however, have come down to us. Suidas gives the following list of them: -- 1. Περὶ τῶν παῤ Ὁμήρψ σχημάτων ῥητορικῶν, in two books. 2. Περὶ συντάξεως λόγου Ἀττικοῦ, in five books. 3. Περὶ τῆς καθ̓ Ὅμηρον ῥητορικῆς. 4. Περὶ τοῦ Ὁμήρου καὶ Πλάτωνος συμφωνίας. 5. Ποικίλης φιλομαθίας βιβλία β̓. 6. Βίοι τραγικῶν καὶ κωμικῶν. 7. Βιβλιακὴ ἐμπειρία, in three books (containing a list of books worth getting). 8. Ὡς μόνος Ὅμηρος τῶν ἀρχαίων ἑλληνίζει. 9. Περιήγησις Περγάμου. 10. Περὶ τοῦ ἐν Περγάμῳ Σεβαστίου, in two books. 11. Περὶ τῶν Ἀθήνͅησι δικαστηρίων. 12. Περὶ τῶν Ἀθήνῃσι νόμων καὶ ἐθῶν. 13. Περὶ τῶν Περγάμου βασιλέων, in five books. 14. περὶ χρήσεως, a sort of dictionary, arranged in alphabetical order, of things in common use, words, dress, &100.15. Περὶ τῆς Ὀδυσσέως πλάνης, 16. Ὠκυτόκιον, in ten books. This quaint title was given to a dictionary of synonymous words, designed to give copiousness and facility in speaking. (Suid. s.v. Vossius, de Hist. Gr. p. 264; Fabric. Bib. Gr. vol. i. p. 525, vol. vi. p. 380.)

2. The father of the grammarian Philetas of Cos. He lived much earlier than the preceding, in the time of Philip of Macedon. [C.P.M]

(Τήλεφος). The son of Heracles and Augé, the daughter of King Aleus of Tegea, and priestess of Athené. As soon as he was born he was exposed by his grandfather, who was angry because his daughter had broken the vows of her office. In some accounts she was set adrift, like Danaë, with her child and cast on the Mysian coast. In other versions of the story Telephus was reared by a hind (ἔλαφος), and educated by King Corythus in Arcadia. On reaching manhood, he consulted the Delphic Oracle to learn his parentage, and was ordered to go to King Teuthras in Mysia (Apollod. iii.9.1; Diod. iv. 33; Hyg. Fab. 100). He there found his mother, and succeeded Teuthras on the throne of Mysia. He married Laodicé or Astyoché, a daughter of Priam; and he attempted to prevent the Greeks from landing on the coast of Mysia. Dionysus, however, caused him to stumble over a vine, whereupon he was wounded by Achilles (Pind. Ol. ix. 112; Isth. v. 52; viii. 109; Pausan. x. 28; Dict. Cret. ii. 3). Being informed by an oracle that the wound could only be cured by “the wounder,” Telephus repaired to the Grecian camp; and as the Greeks had likewise learned from an oracle that without the aid of Telephus they could not reach Troy, Achilles cured Telephus by means of the rust of the spear by which he had been wounded (Dict. Cret. ii. 10; Hor. Epod. xvii. 8; Ov. Met. xii. 112; Rem. Am. 47). Telephus, in return, pointed out to the Greeks the road which they ought to take. According to one story, Telephus, in order to induce the Greeks to help him, went to Argos, and suatching Orestes from his cradle threatened to kill him unless Agamemnon would persuade Achilles to heal the wound.