Product Code Database
In the Aeneid of Virgil, Achaemenides (Greek: Ἀχαιμενίδης Akhaimenides) was a son of Adamastos of Ithaca, and one of Odysseus' crew. He was marooned on Sicily when Odysseus fled the Cyclopes Polyphemus, until Aeneas arrived and took him to Italy with his company of refugee Troy.Virgil, Aeneid 3.613–614 Ovid, Metamorphoses 14.158
His character seems to have been chosen by Virgil treating the Persian language-origin name Achaemenes as Greek language and extracting the meaning "he who waits with affliction".
Although not mentioned in the Odyssey of Homer, which the Aeneid is a sequel to, Achaemenides is significant for being one of two known members of Odysseus' crew in literature to survive the return journey to Ithaca, along with Macar (as every ship besides the flagship was destroyed by the giants, and those besides Odysseus on the last ship were drowned after his men devoured Helios's sacred cattle).
The episode also provides Virgil with an opportunity to show Aeneas' magnanimity in saving a member of Odysseus' crew, and bearing no grudge for Odysseus' major role in the destruction of Troy, Aeneas' home.
|
|
