Gorgus

Family: Messenian · Role: son of Aristomenes · First appears: Book 4 · Chapter 19

At eighteen, in Book 4, Chapter 19, Gorgus married the maiden who had saved Aristomenes. At Eira in Chapter 21, he joined Aristomenes, Theoclus, Manticlus and Euergetidas in defending the city. When Aristomenes ordered a retreat the next morning, he appointed Gorgus and Manticlus to lead the women and children.

In Chapter 23, Aristomenes, refusing to found a colony himself, gave Gorgus and Manticlus leadership of the settlers. After Anaxilas conveyed them to Sicily, Gorgus and Manticlus pleaded with him not to force them to harm Greeks who had been treated shamefully by their own countrymen. At Zancle, they prevented the slaughter of suppliants, and the two peoples settled together; the colonists renamed the town Messene.

Book 6, Chapter 14, mentions a different Gorgus: son of Eucletus, a pentathlon victor whose statue was made by Theron.

Relationship record

Life events

• Gorgus married the maiden who had saved Aristomenes, when he was eighteen.(Book 4 · Chapter 19)
  • “And Gorgus the son of Aristomenes took the maiden to wife. And thus Aristomenes requited to the damsel her saving of his life, and Gorgus was only 18 when he married her.”
• The Messenian leaders rushed to defend Eira after the enemy entered the walls.(Book 4 · Chapter 21 · 📍 Eira)
  • With: Aristomenes Theoclus Manticlus Euergetidas
  • “The first who noticed that the enemy had got inside the walls, and who rushed up to the fray, were Gorgus the son of Aristomenes, and Aristomenes himself, and Theoclus the seer and Manticlus his son, and with them Euergetidas”
• Aristomenes ordered a retreat and appointed Gorgus and Manticlus to lead the withdrawing women and children.(Book 4 · Chapter 21 · 📍 Eira)
  • With: Aristomenes Manticlus
  • “To the command of this portion of the army he appointed Gorgus and Manticlus: and himself took up a position in the front rank”
• Aristomenes refused to found the colony and appointed Gorgus and Manticlus its leaders.(Book 4 · Chapter 23)
  • With: Aristomenes Manticlus
  • “But he said that for his part as long as he lived he would fight against the Lacedæmonians, and that he knew very well that Sparta would always have trouble through him: but he gave them Gorgus and Manticlus as their leaders.”
• Anaxilas conveyed the Messenians to Sicily after they accepted his offer of land and assistance.(Book 4 · Chapter 23 · 📍 Sicily)
  • With: Anaxilas Manticlus
  • “And as they eagerly accepted his offer, Anaxilas conveyed them over into Sicily.”
• Gorgus and Manticlus prevented the slaughter of Zancle's suppliants, enabling both peoples to dwell together.(Book 4 · Chapter 23 · 📍 Zancle)
  • With: Manticlus Anaxilas
  • “And after that they took the people of Zancle from the altars, and having mutually given and received pledges dwelt together as one people.”
• The colonists changed the town's name from Zancle to Messene.(Book 4 · Chapter 23 · 📍 Messene)
  • With: Manticlus Cratæmenes Perieres
  • “But the name of the town they changed from Zancle to Messene.”

Book 4 · Chapter 19

• parent: Aristomenes “And Gorgus the son of Aristomenes took the maiden to wife.”

Book 4 · Chapter 21

• parent: Aristomenes (Aristomenes is Gorgus's father.) “Gorgus the son of Aristomenes, and Aristomenes himself”
• with Aristomenes (Aristomenes appointed Gorgus to command a portion of the army.) “To the command of this portion of the army he appointed Gorgus and Manticlus”

Book 4 · Chapter 23

• with Aristomenes (Aristomenes appointed Gorgus as a leader.) “but he gave them Gorgus and Manticlus as their leaders.”
• with Anaxilas (Gorgus opposed Anaxilas's demand to treat the people of Zancle cruelly.) “But Gorgus and Manticlus begged that Anaxilas would not compel them, who had been shamefully treated by their fellow-countrymen, to act with equal cruelty to Greeks.”

Book 6 · Chapter 14

• parent: Eucletus (Eucletus is Gorgus's father.) “And Gorgus the Messenian, the son of Eucletus, who won the victory in the pentathlum has a statue by the Bœotian Theron,”
• with Theron (Theron made Gorgus's statue.) “Gorgus the Messenian, the son of Eucletus, who won the victory in the pentathlum has a statue by the Bœotian Theron,”

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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.