Editing Protesilaus (section)

==Cult of Protesilaus==
[[File:Statue of Protesilaos, British Museum (26889637992).jpg|thumb|Roman statue of Protesilaus from [[Cyzicus]], now in the [[British Museum]].]]

Only two [[Temenos|sanctuaries]] to Protesilaus are attested.<ref>Ludo de Lannoy, ed. Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean and Ellen Bradshaw Aitken, trs.,''Flavius Philostratus: On Heroes'' (1977, 2002) Introduction, liii.</ref> There was a shrine of Protesilaus at [[Phylace (Magnesia)|Phylace]], his home in Thessaly, where his widow was left lacerating her cheeks in mourning him,<ref>''Iliad'' II.</ref> and games were organised there in his honour, [[Pindar]] noted.<ref>Pindar. ''First Isthmian Ode'', 83f.</ref> The tomb of Protesilaus at [[Elaeus]] in the [[Thracian Chersonese]] is documented in the 5th century BCE, when, during the [[Greco-Persian Wars|Persian War]], votive treasure deposited at his tomb was plundered by the satrap Artayctes, under permission from [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]]. The Greeks later captured and executed Artayctes, returning the treasure.<ref>[[Herodotus]]. ''[[Histories (Herodotus)|The Histories]]'', 9.116-120; see also 7.23.</ref> The tomb was mentioned again when [[Alexander the Great]] arrived at Elaeus on his campaign against the [[Persian Empire]]. He offered a sacrifice on the tomb,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Oredsson |first=Sverker |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/170881839 |title=Gustav II Adolf |date=2007 |publisher=Atlantis |isbn=978-91-7353-157-3 |location=Stockholm |pages=302 |language=sv |oclc=170881839}}</ref> hoping to avoid the fate of Protesilaus when he arrived in Asia.  Like Protesilaus before him, Alexander was the first to set foot on Asian soil during his campaign.<ref>[[Arrian]]. ''The Campaigns of Alexander'', 1.11.</ref> [[Philostratus III|Philostratus]] writing of this temple in the early 3rd century CE,<ref>Philostratus. ''Heroikos'' ("Dialogue Concerning Heroes"). "Protesilaos" is set in the sanctuary; elms were planted at the sanctuary by the nymphs; the [[chthonic]] hero has given advice to athletes in the form of oracular dreams; see Christopher P. Jones, "Philostratus' Heroikos and Its Setting in Reality", ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' '''121''' (2001:141-149).</ref> speaks of a [[cult statue]] of Protesilaus at this temple "standing on a base which was shaped like the prow of a boat." Coins of Elaeus from the time of [[Commodus]] with Protesilaus on the prow of a ship, in helmet, [[cuirass]] and short [[chiton]] on the reverse probably depict this statue.<ref>C. Jones, ''New Heroes in Antiquity'' 2010, 72</ref><ref>Image of the coin from ''RPC Online:'': {{cite web |title=RPC IV, 10954 |url=https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/4/10954 |website=Roman Provincial Coinage Online |publisher=Ashmolean Museum |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref> [[Strabo]] also mentions the sanctuary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://topostext.org/work/144#7.8.51|title=ToposText|website=topostext.org}}</ref>
 
A founder-cult of Protesilaus at Scione, in [[Pallene, Chalcidice]], was given an [[etiology]] by the Greek grammarian and mythographer of the Augustan-era [[Conon (mythographer)|Conon]]<ref>Conon's abbreviated mythographies are known through a summary made by the ninth-century [[Photios I of Constantinople|patriarch Photius]] for his ''Biblioteca'' (Alan Cameron, ''Greek Mythography in the Roman World'' [Oxford University Press) 2004:72).</ref> that is at variance with the [[Epic Cycle|epic tradition]]. In this, Conon asserts that Protesilaus survived the Trojan War and was returning with Priam's sister Aethilla as his captive. When the ships go ashore for water on the coast of Pallene, between Scione and Mende, Aethilla persuaded the other Trojan women to burn the ships, forcing Protesilaus to remain and found the city of Scione. A rare tetradrachm of Scione ca. 480 BCE acquired by the [[British Museum]] depicts Protesilaus, identified by the retrograde legend <small>PROTESLAS</small>.<!--PROTESLAS is correct--><ref>G. F. H., "Protesilaos at Scione" ''[[British Museum Quarterly|The British Museum Quarterly]]'' '''1'''.1 (May 1926):24).</ref>

Protesilaus, speaking from beyond the grave, is the oracular source of the corrected eye-witness version of the actions of heroes at Troy, related by a "vine-dresser" to a Phoenician merchant in the [[framing device]] that gives an air of authenticity to the narratives of [[Philostratus]]' ''[[Heroicus]]'', a late literary representation of [[Greek hero|Greek hero-cult]] traditions that developed independently of the epic tradition.<ref>See Casey Dué and Gregory Nagy, "Preliminaries to Philostratus's ''On Heroes''", in Maclean and Aitken 2002.</ref>