Teuthis (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Teuthis (Ancient Greek: Τεῦθις, romanized: Teûthis), also called Ornytus (Ancient Greek: Ὄρνυτος, romanized: Órnutos) is an Arcadian general from the city-state of Teuthis in the Peloponnese, southern Greece. Although not appearing in Homeric works, Teuthis is one of the Achaean leaders who gathered their armies to wage war against Troy in order to retrieve Helen, the queen of Sparta. Unlike the other Greek kings, Teuthis abandoned the war early when the armies were stuck at the port of Aulis and returned home, only to be severely punished by the goddess Athena for disrespecting her.

Mythology

Teuthis was a general of the Teuthians from Arcadia, a region in the Peloponnese. Like many other Greek leaders, he and his soldiers joined the expendition to take Helen from Troy and deliver her back to her husband Menelaus.^[1]

The Greeks were stationed at Aulis for a very long time due to the violent gales denying them the chance to sail off, so Teuthis quarrelled badly with Agamemnon, king of kings, and prepared to return home to Teuthis with his soldiers.^[2] Then the goddess Athena appeared to him in the disguise of Melas and pursued him to stay. But Teuthis in his anger, and not realising this was a goddess before him, hurled his spear against her and wounded her in the thigh.^[3]

He then returned home with his army, but Athena did not forget the insult; she sent a dream to him where she appeared with a wound on her thigh, and soon Teuthis was suffering from a terrible wasting disease, and the Teuthians alone among all Arcadians suffered from famine.^[4] Eventually the people received an oracle from Dodona, in which they was instructed to appease the goddess by crafting an image of her with a wound, swathed in a purple bandage, and thus the Teuthians' woes were finally lifted.^[5]

See also

• Mythology portal
• Ancient Greece portal

Other punishments in Greek myth include:

• Evenius
• Paraebius
• Erysichthon of Thessaly
• Phalanx
• Rhoecus of Cnidus