Diomedes

An Argive hero. Diomedes (Διομήδης) was the son of Tydeus, one of the seven leaders against Thebes, and Deïpyle (Deipyle) the daughter of Adrastus, king of Argos. He was married to Aegialeia, daughter of Adrastus or of Aegialeus. Together with the other sons of the Seven, called the Epigoni, he marched against Thebes. They razed Thebes in vengeance for their fathers' deaths.

Diomedes also went to Calydon, home of his father. When one of Oeneus' sons (Tydeus) was exiled for killing a relative and another was killed shortly after the famous boar hunt (Meleager), Oeneus was helpless when his nephews drove him from his kingdom and put their own father on the throne. Oeneus' nephews were the sons of Agrius, who was his brother. Diomedes, however, restored the kingdom to his grandfather after killing Agrius' sons. Agrius may have also been killed.

As one of the former suitors of Helen, he joined the Greek army and brought eighty ships with him from Argos, Tiryns, Epidaurus and Troezen. He was aided by two other Epigoni, Sthenelus and Euryalus, as lieutenants.

Next to Achilles, he was the mightiest of the Greek heroes at Troy. He was the favourite of Athena. To his reckless courage, the goddess added unparalleled strength, marvellous skill at arms, and unfailing valour. He was fearless and at times held off the Trojans single-handed. In a single day, he killed Pandarus, seriously wounded Aeneas, and then wounded Aeneas' mother, the goddess Aphrodite. When faced against Ares, aided by Athena, he caught the spear which Ares had hurled at him. In his turn, Diomedes hurled the god's own spear back at him, seriously wounding him and forcing the god of war to quit the battlefield. He was also one of the Greek leaders to volunteer to fight Hector's challenge in single combat, but was eliminated in the drawing of lots.

On the following day, when Zeus forced all of the other gods not to take part of the battle, Zeus caused the rout of the Greek forces. Only Diomedes stayed back to aid Nestor when the old man's horse was killed in the retreat. Together with Nestor, he pursued Hector and would have killed him, had not Zeus hurled several thunderbolts to dissuade them.

He volunteered with Odysseus in a nightly foray where they captured and killed a Trojan spy, Dolon; he also killed the Thracian king Rhesus and a dozen of his guards, also stealing the king's immortal horses. In the morning the next day, Paris wounded him with an arrow.

He joined Odysseus in another night raid to steal the Palladium in Troy. He was one of the leaders who hid in the wooden horse.

In Nostoi ("The Returns", from the Epic Cycle), Diomedes was one of the leaders who returned safely home. He and Euryalus were regents for the young king Cyannippus, son of Aegialeus. When Cyannippus died still young, Cylarabes, son of Sthenelus, had a better claim to the throne than Diomedes. Diomedes was later driven to exile by Sthenelus' other son Cometes, who at Nauplius' instigation was Aegialeia's lover.

According to Virgil's Aeneïd, Diomedes settled in Italy and founded the city of Argyripa in Apulia. When war broke out between Aeneas and Turnus, Turnus tried to persuade Diomedes to aid them in the war against the Trojans. Diomedes told them he had fought enough Trojans in his lifetime and urged Turnus that it was best to make peace with Aeneas than to fight the Trojans.

As far as I can tell, there are no records of Diomedes' death. In fact, Diomedes was said to have been given immortality by Athena, which she had not given to his father Tydeus during the war of the Seven Against Thebes. According to Pindar, with the help of Athena, Diomedes became a minor god in southern Italy or the Adriatic.