Son of Aeacus and Endeïs and brother of Peleus, who with his brother slew their half-brother Phocus and went into exile from Aegina. Telamon settled in Salamis and there fathered Ajax by Periboea; sailing with Heracles against Troy he won Hesione daughter of Laomedon as his prize, and by her begat Teucer — so that both his famous sons sprang from him.1
Apollodorus makes him a son of Aeacus by Endeïs, daughter of Sciron, with Peleus for his brother. When their half-brother Phocus, born to Aeacus of the Nereid Psamathe, surpassed them at athletic sports, the two plotted his death; the lot fell on Telamon, and in a match he killed Phocus by hurling a quoit at his head, then with Peleus hid the body in a wood. The murder discovered, Aeacus drove both sons from the island. Hyginus tells the same descent but names their mother Endeïs daughter of Chiron, and likewise sends the brothers from Aegina for the slaughter of Phocus to seek homes apart — Peleus to Phthia, Telamon to Salamis.2
Apollonius gives the exile its sea-going form: the sons of Aeacus came to the Argo not together nor from the same place, for they had settled far from Aegina after slaying their brother Phocus in their folly — Telamon dwelling in the Attic island, Peleus in Phthia. Pausanias, walking the Argolid, confirms that no son of Aeacus stayed on the island, since to Peleus and Telamon befell exile for the murder of Phocus.3
He bore his part on the voyage as a fighter. When the Argonauts came to blows with the Bebrycians after Polydeuces had killed their king Amycus, Apollonius shows the sons of Aeacus charging into the thick of them beside warlike Jason, falling on the enemy like grey wolves loosed among the sheepfolds.4
In Salamis Telamon came to the court of Cychreus, son of Poseidon, who had won the island by killing a ravaging snake and, dying childless, left the kingdom to him. He married Periboea, daughter of Alcathous son of Pelops, and named the son she bore him Ajax: for when Heracles had prayed that Telamon might get a manful child, an eagle appeared in answer, and from the bird (aietos) the boy was called. Then, joining Heracles' expedition against Troy, Telamon received as his prize Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, and by her had a son, Teucer.5
Homer never recounts Telamon's own deeds, but holds him fast as a father: through the whole Iliad the bulwark of the Achaeans is 'Aias son of Telamon,' and the bowman who shelters beneath his half-brother's shield is 'Teucer son of Telamon' — the two sons standing for the absent sire.6
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the spine ignites as you read · hover a bond on the card — every mention of them lights in the story
