Editing Trophonius

{{Short description|Greek mythological character}}
{{For|the racehorse|Trophonius (horse)}}

'''Trophonius''' ({{IPAc-en|t|r|ə|ˈ|f|oʊ|n|i|ə|s}}; [[Ancient Greek]]: Τροφώνιος ''Trophōnios'') was a [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[Greek hero cult|hero]] or [[daemon (mythology)|daimon]] or [[god]]—it was never certain which one—with a rich mythological tradition and an oracular cult at [[Livadeia|Lebadaea]] (Λιβαδειά; ''Levadia'' or ''Livadeia'') in [[Boeotia|Boeotia, Greece]].

==Etymology and parallel cults==
The name is derived from τρέφω ''trepho'', "to nourish". [[Strabo]] and several inscriptions refer to him as [[Zeus]] Trephonios. Several other [[chthonic]] [[Zeus]]es are known from the Greek world, including Zeus Μειλίχιος ''Meilikhios'' ("honeyed" or "kindly" Zeus), and Zeus Χθόνιος ''Chthonios'' ("Zeus beneath-the-earth"), which were other names for [[Hades (god)|Hades.]]

Similar constructions are also found in the [[Roman mythology|Roman]] world. For example, a shrine at [[Lavinium]] in [[Lazio]] was dedicated to [[Aeneas]] under the title ''Iuppiter Indiges'' ([[Jupiter (god)|Jupiter]] in-the-earth).

== Family ==
Trophonius was a son of [[Erginus]], king of [[Minyans|Minyan]] [[Orchomenus (Boeotia)|Orchomenus]] and brother of [[Agamedes]]. But [[Apollo]] is said to be his actual divine father.<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.37.5 9.37.5].</ref>

==Mythology==
[[File:Trophonius.jpg|thumb|Trofonio (Trophonius (Τροφώνιος), ''Historia Deorum Fatidicorum'', Geneva, 1675.]]

=== Temple of Apollo ===
According to the [[Homer]]ic Hymn to [[Apollo]], he built Apollo's temple at the [[oracle]] at [[Delphi]] with [[Agamedes]]. [[Pindar]] relates how, once finished, the oracle told the brothers to do whatsoever they wished for six days and, on the seventh, they would get their reward. They did and were found dead on the seventh day.<ref>[[Pindar]] according to [[Plutarch]] ''Consolation to Apollonius'' 14.</ref> Cicero mentions the same story, only shortening the number of days to three.<ref>[[Cicero]], ''[[Tusculanae Quaestiones]]'' 1.47.</ref> The maxim by Menander, "those whom the gods love die young", may have come from this story.<ref name="Graves1990">{{cite book|author=Robert Graves|title=The Greek Myths|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PuXnAe6STUYC&dq=%22those+whom+the+gods+love+die+young%22+%22trophonius%22&pg=PT450|volume=1|date=1 December 1990|publisher=Penguin Group US|isbn=978-1-101-55498-2|page=450|chapter=Cleobas and Briton}}</ref>

=== Treasury of King Hyrieus ===
Alternatively, according to [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] they built a [[treasure]] chamber (with a secret entrance only they knew about) for King [[Hyrieus]] of [[Boeotia]]. Using the secret entrance, they stole Hyrieus' fortune. The king was aware but did not know who the thief was; he laid a snare. Agamedes was trapped in it; Trophonius cut off his head so that Hyrieus would not know whose body it was. He was then immediately swallowed up by the earth and was turned into an immortal subterranean god.<ref>Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio'' [http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.39.4 9.39.4].</ref>

The cave of Trophonius was not discovered again until the Lebadaeans suffered a plague and consulted the [[Delphic Oracle]]. The [[Pythia]] advised them that an unnamed hero was angry at being neglected, and that they should find his grave and offer him worship forthwith. Several unsuccessful searches followed, and the plague continued unabated until a shepherd boy followed a trail of bees into a hole in the ground. Instead of honey, he found a ''daimon'', and Lebadaea lost its plague while gaining a popular oracle.

=== Other myths ===
The childless [[Xuthus]] in [[Euripides]]'s ''Ion'' consults Trophonius on his way to [[Delphi]].

[[Apollonius of Tyana]], a legendary wise man and seer of [[Late Antiquity]], once visited the shrine and found that, when it came to philosophy, Trophonius was a proponent of sound [[Pythagoras|Pythagorean]] doctrines.

[[Plutarch]]'s ''De Genio Socratis'' relates an elaborate dream-vision concerning the cosmos and the afterlife that was supposedly received at Trophonius' oracle.

==Cult==
[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], in his account of Boeotia ([http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0525.tlg001.perseus-eng1:9.39 9.39]), relates many details about the cult of Trophonius. Whoever desired to consult the oracle would live in a designated house for a period of days, bathing in the River Herkryna (also ''Erkina''), named after his daughter who was a childhood friend of [[Persephone]]'s, and living on [[sacrifice|sacrificial]] meat. He would then sacrifice, by day, to a series of gods, including [[Cronus]], [[Apollo]], [[Zeus]] the king, [[Hera]] the Charioteer, and [[Demeter]]-[[Europa (mythology)|Europa]]. At night, he would cast a ram into a pit sacred to [[Agamedes]], drink from two rivers called [[Lethe]] and [[Mnemosyne]], and then descend into a cave. Here, most consultees were frightened out of their wits, and forgot the experience entirely upon coming up.

Afterward, the consultee would be seated upon a chair of Mnemosyne, where the priests of the shrine would record his ravings and compose an oracle out of them.

==In the classical tradition==
"To descend into the cave of Trophonios" became a proverbial way of saying "to suffer a great fright". This saying is alluded to in [[Aristophanes]]' ''Clouds''.

Several ancient philosophers, including [[Heraclides Ponticus]], wrote commentaries on the cult of Trophonios that are now lost. Trophonios has been of interest to classical scholars because the rivers of [[Lethe]] and [[Mnemosyne]] have close parallels with the [[Myth of Er]] at the end of [[Plato]]'s [[Republic]], with a series of [[Orpheus|Orphic]] [[Totenpass|funerary inscriptions on gold leaves]], and with several passages about Memory and forgetting in [[Hesiod]]'s [[Theogony]]. [[The Hellfire Club]] once constructed a "Cave of Trophonius" with obscene wall-paintings in which to conduct their revels. The philosopher [[Søren Kierkegaard]] references "the cave of Trophonius" when discussing his childhood and later philosophical revelations in his work [[Either/Or (Kierkegaard book)|Either/Or]]. The philosopher [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] makes a reference to "Trophonius" in the preface to his ''[[The Dawn of Day|Daybreak]]'', alluding to his labor in the "underground" of moral prejudices.

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==

* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'' with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. {{ISBN|0-674-99328-4}}. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0160 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]
* Pausanias, ''Graeciae Descriptio.'' ''3 vols''. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0159 Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library].

==External links==
{{Commons category|Trophonius}}

* [http://www.losttrails.com/pages/Hproject/Lebadeia/Lebadeia.html Black-and-white photo essay of the Oracle of Trophonius at Lebadaea]

{{Greek mythology (deities)}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Greek mythological heroes]]
[[Category:Princes in Greek mythology]]
[[Category:Children of Apollo]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Classical oracles]]
[[Category:Minyans]]
[[Category:Daimons]]
[[Category:Livadeia]]
[[Category:Epithets of Zeus]]
[[Category:Chthonic beings]]