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Diodorus Siculus · Bibliotheca Historica §4.35.1-4.35.4

Birth of Tydeus and Heracles' Diversion of the Achelous

Passage 271 of 406 · Greek

Summary

Hipponous sends his daughter Periboea to Oeneus to be executed, but Oeneus marries her instead, and they have Tydeus. Heracles' engineering feat of diverting the Achelous River to reclaim fertile land is explained alongside its mythological allegorization by poets as the Horn of Amaltheia.

§4.35.1ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις Ἱππόνουν ἐν Ὠλένῳ πρὸς τὴν θυγατέρα Περίβοιαν, φάσκουσαν αὑτὴν ἐξ Ἄρεος ὑπάρχειν ἔγκυον, διενεχθέντα πέμψαι ταύτην εἰς Αἰτωλίαν πρὸς Οἰνέα καὶ παρακελεύσασθαι ταύτην ἀφανίσαι τὴν ταχίστην.
At the same time that these things were being done, Hipponous in Olenus, having quarreled with his daughter Periboea, who claimed that she was pregnant by Ares, sent her to Aetolia to Oeneus and ordered him to make away with her as quickly as possible.
§4.35.2ὁ δʼ Οἰνεὺς ἀπολωλεκὼς προσφάτως υἱὸν καὶ γυναῖκα, τὸ μὲν ἀποκτεῖναι τὴν Περίβοιαν ἀπέγνω, γήμας δʼ αὐτὴν ἐγέννησεν υἱὸν Τυδέα.
But Oeneus, having recently lost his son and his wife, decided against killing Periboea, and marrying her, he begat a son, Tydeus.
τὰ μὲν οὖν περὶ Μελέαγρον καὶ Ἀλθαίαν, ἔτι δʼ Οἰνέα τοιαύτης ἔτυχε διεξόδου.
So, the matters concerning Meleager and Althaea, and also Oeneus, met with such an outcome.
§4.35.3Ἡρακλῆς δὲ τοῖς Καλυδωνίοις βουλόμενος χαρίσασθαι τὸν Ἀχελῷον ποταμὸν ἀπέστρεψε, καὶ ῥύσιν ἄλλην κατασκευάσας ἀπέλαβε χώραν πολλὴν καὶ πάμφορον, ἀρδευομένην ὑπὸ τοῦ προειρημένου ῥείθρου.
And Heracles, wishing to do a favor to the Calydonians, diverted the Achelous River, and having constructed another channel, he reclaimed a large amount of highly fertile land which was irrigated by the aforementioned stream.
§4.35.4διὸ καὶ τῶν ποιητῶν τινας μυθοποιῆσαι τὸ πραχθέν· παρεισήγαγον γὰρ τὸν Ἡρακλέα πρὸς τὸν Ἀχελῷον συνάψαι μάχην, ὡμοιωμένου τοῦ ποταμοῦ ταύρῳ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν συμπλοκὴν θάτερον τῶν κεράτων κλάσαντα δωρήσασθαι τοῖς Αἰτωλοῖς, ὃ προσαγορεῦσαι κέρας Ἀμαλθείας.
Wherefore also some of the poets mythologized this deed; for they introduced Heracles joining battle with the Achelous, the river having likened itself to a bull, and say that in the conflict Heracles broke off one of its horns and gave it as a gift to the Aetolians, which they called the Horn of Amaltheia.
ἐν ᾧ πλάττουσι πλῆθος ὑπάρχειν πάσης ὀπωρινῆς ὥρας, βοτρύων τε καὶ μήλων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν τοιούτων, αἰνιττομένων τῶν ποιητῶν κέρας μὲν τοῦ Ἀχελῴου τὸ διὰ τῆς διώρυχος φερόμενον ῥεῖθρον, τὰ δὲ μῆλα καὶ τὰς ῥόας καὶ τοὺς βότρυς δηλοῦν τὴν καρποφόρον χώραν τὴν ὑπὸ τοῦ ποταμοῦ ἀρδευομένην καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν καρποφορούντων φυτῶν· Ἀμαλθείας δʼ εἶναι κέρας οἱονεί τινος ἀμαλακιστίας, δι’ ἧς τὴν εὐτονίαν τοῦ κατασκευάσαντος δηλοῦσθαι.
In this they imagine there exists an abundance of every autumn fruit, both of grapes and of apples and of other such things, the poets hinting that the horn of Achelous is the stream flowing through the canal, while the apples, pomegranates, and grapes signify the fertile land irrigated by the river and the abundance of fruit-bearing plants; and that it is the Horn of Amaltheia, as if of "un-softness," through which the robustness of the one who constructed it is indicated.

Notes

  1. 4.35.1ἅμα δὲ τούτοις πραττομένοις — The preposition ἅμα governs the dative, meaning "at the same time as." Here, the dative pronoun τούτοις is modified by the dative present middle-passive participle πραττομένοις, forming a temporal dative phrase equivalent to a temporal clause.
  2. 4.35.1Ἱππόνουν ... διενεχθέντα πέμψαι — Syntactically, an unexpressed verb of saying or reporting (such as μυθολογοῦσιν from the preceding section) is understood to govern this accusative and infinitive construction (indirect discourse). The accusative Ἱππόνουν acts as the subject of the infinitives πέμψαι and παρακελεύσασθαι.
  3. 4.35.4Ἀμαλθείας δʼ εἶναι κέρας οἱονεί τινος ἀμαλακιστίας — Diodorus here offers a folk etymology, linking the name "Amaltheia" (Ἀμάλθεια) to a coined word, ἀμαλακιστία ("un-softness" or "untiring energy," derived from the alpha-privative and μαλακία / μαλακίζομαι "to grow soft/weak"). The infinitive εἶναι is part of the indirect discourse continued from the genitive absolute αἰνιττομένων τῶν ποιητῶν, with κέρας as its subject.

Cite this passage

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica §4.35.1-4.35.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0060.tlg001.humanitext-grc5:4.35.1-4.35.4

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