Phoenix (son of Amyntor)

For other uses, see Phoenix (Greek myth).
According to some sources,[1] Briseis serves wine to Phoenix. Red-figure kylix by the Brygos Painter (c. 490 BC) Louvre G152.

In Greek mythology, Phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ Phoinix, gen. Φοίνικος Phoinikos) was the son of king Amyntor. Because of a dispute with his father, Phoenix fled to Phthia, where he became king of the Dolopians, and tutor of the young Achilles, whom he accompanied to the Trojan War. After Achilles had in anger withdrawn from the war, Phoenix tried to persuade Achilles to return.[2]

Phoenix appears as a character in the Iliad, where Homer has him tell his story. He is also mentioned several times in the Epic Cycle. There were several lost 5th-century BC tragedies titled Phoenix, which presumably told his story, and he appeared as a character in several others. Mentions of Phoenix occur in Pindar, the Palatine Anthology, Lycophron, Ovid and Hyginus, and a brief account of his story is given by the mythographer Apollodorus. Phoenix also appears in many works of ancient art from as early as the 6th century BC.[3]

  1. ^ Matheson 2009, pp. 192 Fig. 3, 195; Beazley Archive 203900; LIMC 241; AVI Web 6490.
  2. ^ Brill's New Pauly, s.v. Phoenix 2; Tripp, s.v. Phoenix 2; Grimal, s.v. Phoenix 3; Oxford Classical Dictionary, s.v. Phoenix 1; Smith s.v. Phoenix 2; Parada, s.v. Phoenix 2.
  3. ^ For discussions of the ancient sources which mention Phoenix, see Gantz, pp. 581, 582, 609, 613, 618, 640, 658, 688.