Who in Greek mythology, besides Paris and Oedipus, was prophecied to cause trouble and therefore abandoned on a mountainside? (Or otherwise disposed of in a way that was intended to prevent the prophecy from coming true.)
I’m sure there’s at least one more, but my knowledge of mythology has sadly declined from its heyday.
ETA: hmmm, it deleted my first edit. I was going to say, Romulus and Remus appear to fit the bill, but I welcome other suggestions.
Pentheus, I think?
I don’t think so. . . Pentheus was pretty valued by his grandfather Kadmos because he was inheritor to the throne of Thebes.
But I do think at least in the Bakkhai that Dionysos (Pentheus’ cousin) is sent to Asia to keep him from Hera’s wrath, but there wasn’t really a prophecy associated with it, I don’t think.
Not like Paris or Oedipus, but there’s Perseus: it was prophecied to Perseus’ grandfather that his daughter’s son would kill him, so he imprisoned her in a bronze chamber–only to see her impregnated by Zeus in the form of a golden shower.
Unwilling to kill a son of Zeus, the grandfather shoved Perseus and his mother into a box and threw them into the sea–hoping the sea would bear the blood-guilt of killing them both. Of course, they both survive…
Zeus, of course, is the classic disposed-of child who comes back to cause trouble for his parents (though arguably making things easier for the rest of the universe).
I was thinking of Perseus also.
Interestingly, I see this as Danae being disposed of to stop her making trouble (by giving birth)
I assumed “being disposed of” meant “kill”, otherwise I would have read it that way too.
I feel like there’s a really good one right on the tip of my brain that I just can’t think of.
Then again I may just be thinking about a video game character. . . which wouldn’t really help you at all.
Tony
Atalanta, I’m pretty sure.
EDIT: Actually, just looked it up on wikipedia. She was only exposed for convenience, according to the article, not to forestall any prophecies
Exposed for convenience? What a phrase. <g>
I feel the same way. It isn’t Perseus, and it isn’t Romulus and Remus, either.
This really makes me want to crack open my Robert Graves again. I also couldn’t find a perfect example, but…
Aegisthus — prophesized to slay his uncle but abandoned due to his incestuous birth
Pelias and Nelius — exposed on mountainside to die by mother Tyro.
Jason sent after Golden Fleece to prevent prophecy of man with one sandel overthrowing Pelias
Maybe it’s Jason I was trying to think of, though that isn’t quite exposure on a mountainside.
Hephaistos was thrown off Olympus, because Prometheus told Zeus one of his kids was going to kill him. Chronos ate all his children for the same reason and Zeus did for him in the end. Paris. Dionysus. Theseus.
Luke Skywalker (lol)
Athena was also covered by the ‘Zeus, one of your kids is gonna do to you what you did to Chronos’. Granted, that’s more of a ‘literally ate your mother while you were gestating’ rather than ditching the kid.
Theseus wasn’t exposed, was he?
Hercules?
Not exactly the same criteria but as an infant Hera tries to have him killed by sending snakes after him in his crib.
