Theano (wife of Antenor)
In Greek mythology, Theano (/θiˈænoʊ/; Ancient Greek: Θεανώ) was the wife of Antenor and a priestess of Athena at Troy during the Trojan War.
Family
Theano was a daughter of King Cisseus and Queen Telecleia of Thrace,[1] and thus the sister of Queen Hecuba, wife of King Priam of Troy. She was the wife of Antenor[2] and by him, mother of many sons, including: Archelochus, Acamas, Glaucus, Helicaon, Laodocus, Polybus, Agenor, Iphidamas, Coon, Laodamas, Demoleon, Eurymachus and Medon; and a daughter, Crino.[3]
Mythology
The household of Antenor and Theano advocated for peace and advised Helen's return to the Greeks. Because of their support— which some claimed was treason— the Greeks spared their household when they sacked the city.[4][5] In Book VI of the Iliad, alongside Hecuba and other Trojan women, Theano offered a gift and plea to Athena for the survival of the city, but was rebuffed.[6]
After the sack of Troy, one story has Theano and Antenor sailing with Aeneas to Italy and founding the city of Padua.[7] Another story has her taking the Palladium, an image of Athena that had fallen from the sky and supposedly provided Troy its protection, with her.[8]
Notes
- ^ Scholia on Euripides, Hecuba 3
- ^ Apollodorus, Epitome 3.34 ff see Greek version: "Ἀρχέλοχος καὶ Ἀκάμας Ἀντήνορος καὶ Θεανοῦς, Δαρδανίων ἡγούμενοι" is translated as "Archelochus and Acamas, sons of Antenor and Theano, leaders of the Dardanians"
- ^ Homer, Iliad 6.298–300 & 11.221
- ^ Tzetzes on Lycophron, 340–347
- ^ Dictys Cretensis, 5.5; Pausanias, 10.27.3
- ^ Homer, Iliad, 6.300 ff.
- ^ Servius ad Virgil, Aeneid 1.242
- ^ Scholia on Homer, Iliad 6.331; Suda s.v. Palladion; Dictys Cretensis, 5.8
References
- Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
- Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
- Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
- Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.