Diomedes

Also known as: Diomed / Diomede / Tydeus' offspring · Family: Greeks · Role: warrior · First appears: Sophocles, Philoctetes — Scene 3

In Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Diomedes is named as Tydeus’ offspring, and he and Odysseus are sent under oath to bring Philoctetes back by force if persuasion fails: “These two men whom I have named, Diomedes and Odysseus, are set forth Engaged on oath to bring this man by force If reasons fail.” Tydeus’ offspring and Laërtes’ son are also described as living, though their deaths are wished for.

In Euripides’ Hercules Distracted, at Pelion, Heracles captures Diomedes’ man-eating horses on the command of Eurystheus, breaking “Diomedes’ furious coursers” to a stronger yoke. In Rhesus, Athena directs Diomedes and Odysseus to kill Rhesus before he can destroy the Greek camp, while warning them not to kill Hector, who must die by another hand. Diomedes and Odysseus then slay Rhesus, seize his horses, and escape at the dead of night after the Greek guards accept their watchword, “Apollo.”

In Orestes, Diomed argues that Orestes and Electra should not be killed, but punished with banishment. In Rhesus, he is connected with enemies Paris and Hector, while Athena first directs him as a mentor and later addresses Diomedes and Odysseus as her “real friends.”

Relationship record

Life events

• Diomedes and Odysseus set out under oath to bring Philoctetes back by force if persuasion fails.(Sophocles, Philoctetes — Scene 3)
  • With: Odysseus Philoctetes
  • “These two men whom I have named, Diomedes and Odysseus, are set forth Engaged on oath to bring this man by force If reasons fail.”
• Heracles captures Diomedes’ man-eating horses at Eurystheus’ command.(Euripides, Hercules Distracted — Scene 3 · 📍 Pelion)
  • With: Heracles Eurystheus
  • “O’er Hebrus’ silver tide at the command Of Argos’ unrelenting king Eurystheus, he these captive steeds did bring, Close to Anauros’ mouth on Pelion’s strand.”
• Athena orders Odysseus and Diomedes to kill Rhesus and seize his exceptional horses.(Euripides, Rhesus — Scene 4)
  • With: Athena Odysseus Rhesus
  • “With his victorious spear: him slay, and all Is yours; but go not to the couch of Hector, Nor hope to leave that chief a weltering trunk, For he must perish by another hand.”
• Odysseus and Diomede slew Rhesus and seized his horses.(Euripides, Rhesus — Scene 5)
  • With: Odysseus Rhesus
  • “For we have slain the Thracian chief, and seized His coursers”
• Odysseus and Diomede escaped after the Greek guards accepted their watchword.(Euripides, Rhesus — Scene 5)
  • With: Odysseus
  • “Apollo. 2nd SEMICHOR. Thou art right; let not a spear Be lifted up against him.”