Main Menu | List of entries | finished

THELOPUS. Telephus was a son of Hercules and king of Mysia. The Greeks landed at Mysia on their way to Troy and, in the battle that ensued, Achilles wounded Telephus with his spear. When his wound would not heal, he consulted the Delphic Oracle, which counseled Telephus that the wounder would be the healer, so he followed Achilles to Troy. Here Achilles and the sons of Aesculapius healed his wound with rust from the spear (Dictys, Ephemeridos belli Troiani, II.1-12). Dante mentions the healing spear, Inf XXXI.4-6.

The magic sword reminds the people at Cambyuskan's court of Achilles's spear, which wounded and healed Thelopus the king, SqT 236-240. [Achille]

Thelopus, the ME variant of medieval Latin Thelephus in Guido's Historia XIII, occurs medially, SqT 238. Intrusive h after t was not pronounced.

Dante, The Divine Comedy, ed. and trans. C.S. Singleton, I, 1: 325-326; Dictys Cretensis, Ephemeridos belli Troiani, ed. W. Eisenhut, 20-29; Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis, The Trojan War, trans. R.M. Frazer, 37-44; Guido delle Colonne, Guido de Columnis: HDT, ed. N.E. Griffin, 110-112; ibid., HDT, trans. M.E. Meek, 107-114.
From CHAUCER NAME DICTIONARY
Copyright © 1988, 1996 Jacqueline de Weever
Published by Garland Publishing, Inc., New York and London.
Main Menu | List of entries | finished