Kassandra

Information about it is very numerous and often contradictory. The daughter of the last Trojan king Priam and his second wife Hekuba ^[11] , the sister of other children of the royal couple: Hector , Paris , Polyxena and the rest ^{[ specify ]} .

The most popular version of her appearance of a prophetic gift is given in the tragedy of Aeschylus “ Agamemnon ”, where Cassandra tells the choir that she promised Apollo to answer his love, and received from God the ability to broadcast about the future, but deceived him, rejecting him, and thereby incurred him anger: Apollo made so that no one believed her prophecies ^{[12] [13]} . In Servius' story, this is displayed in symbolic form: Apollo spits in the girl's mouth (having persuaded her to kiss ) ^[14] .

According to a later non-widespread version of the myth, once in childhood, being forgotten during the festival by adults, Cassandra, together with her twin brother Gelen fell asleep in the temple of Apollo Fimbreysky (on the Trojan plain), and there the sacred snakes licked her ears so cleanly that she could “Hear” the future ^{[16] [17]} .

According to Homer , she was the most beautiful of Priam’s daughters, but he does not mention her prophetic gift ^[13] . Already in cyclical poems, she appears as a prophetess, whose predictions no one believes ^[17] . Cassandra did not heed the tragic prophecies, they laughed at her and mistook her for being crazy. But the predicted was embodied in the death of her family and the destruction of Troy ^[10] .

A number of authors call Cassandra, in connection with Apollo, a virgin ^[18] , Pindar calls her "the virgin-prophetess." There is a version that Apollo also doomed her to celibacy ^[19] .

Appearance

Homer confines himself to calling Cassandra “the most beautiful ” ^[20] and comparing her with the “golden Aphrodite ” ^[21] . Ivik also speaks of her beauty, and she is called "a blue-eyed maid in magnificent curls " ^[22] . Euripides speaks of “ braid gold ^[23] . According to Lucian , Polygnot in Delphi depicted Cassandra with remarkable eyebrows and a blush on her cheeks ^[24] .

Portrait characteristics appear already in early medieval texts. At Dareth, she is “of small stature, with a delicate mouth, red-haired, with sparkling eyes, knowing the future ” ^[25] . Malala gives the following description:

short (?), with round eyes, fair-skinned, with a masculine build, with a beautiful nose, beautiful eyes, black-eyed, with light brown hair, curly, with a beautiful neck, big breasts, small legs, calm, noble, priestess, a prophetess truthful and all predictive, chaste virgin ^[26]

John Tzets in the description of the appearance of Cassandra follows Malale, slightly reducing it ^[27] .

Trojan War

Soon after the events of the Court of Paris - in a dispute of three goddesses for the title of the most beautiful - Paris participates in competitions in Troy, defeating everyone. Even before his birth, it was predicted that he would be responsible for the death of Troy, which is why the royal parents left him on Mount Ide. But the boy survived and now descended from her like an unknown shepherd, in whom Cassandra was the first to recognize Paris ^{[28] [29]} and wished him death, foreseeing the misfortunes that he would bring ^{[30] [31]} . However, he solemnly returned to the royal house.

Sailing to Sparta, Paris, Cassandra predicts a bitter future ^[32] and upon his return calls Helen the culprit of impending misfortunes for Troy, but they do not believe her ^[33] . Everyone laughed at her like mad ^[13] , and Priam ordered her daughter to be locked up ^{[19] [34]} .

Cassandra was the first to see the body of her brother Hector when Priam brought him, and raised a cry. ^[35]

According to Homer, the hero Ofrionaeus came to the aid of Three, promising to expel the Danians , and asked Cassandra for a wife. Priam agreed, but Ofrionaeus died in battle ^[36] . Many authors call the bridegroom of Kassandra Koreba ^[37] , who died on the night of the capture of Troy. According to Virgil , he was in love with the prophetess, but did not believe her words ^[38] .

After the fall of Troy

Kassandra vainly opposed the introduction of a wooden horse into the city, warning of the danger lurking in it ^{[39] [7]} , no one listened to it ^{[17] [40]} .

When the Achaeans captured Troy, she sought refuge in the temple of Athena at the wooden statue of the goddess. Locrik Eant ( Ajax Small ) dragged Cassandra from her ^[41] and raped ^[42] . The eyes of the statue turned to heaven, not wanting to look at this shame ^[43] , Athena became angry and subsequently took revenge on the Greeks (see Lokri virgins ). Ajax was killed on the way home.

Philostratus notes that Ajax did not rape her, but took him to his tent. When Agamemnon saw Cassandra, then, struck by her beauty, wished to take her from Ajax and accused him of sacrilege. Ajax escaped ^[44] . Earlier authors write that Kassandra went to Agamemnon during the division of the loot ^[42] and became his captive ^{[45] [46] [17] [47]} (slave) ^[6] .

Quintus of Smyrna narrates that captured Trojans wept and looked at Cassandra, recalling her prophecies, which they did not believe, and she laughed ^[48] .

The Achaeans discussed whether to sacrifice Achilles Cassander or Poliksen ^[49] , but chose the latter, since Kassandra had already visited Agamemnon’s bed. Pausanias also writes that Cassandra left a casket depicting Dionysus in misfortune to the one of the Hellenes who would find him, and he went into the spoils of Euriphilus, son of Evemon ^[50] .

Doom

While Agamemnon was at war, his wife Clytemnestra cheated on her husband with Aegisthus . According to an unknown tragedy retold by Gigin , Palameda Oyax’s brother, to avenge him, lied to Clytemnestra as if Agamemnon was taking Cassandra a concubine, thus causing her jealousy ^[51] . The remaining authors have no doubt that Cassandra became a concubine of the king.

When Agamemnon and Cassandra arrived in Mycenae , Clytemnestra asked her husband to walk on the purple carpet (the color symbolizes the gods) ^[52] . Agamemnon initially refused, but eventually set foot on him ^[53] . The king does not heed the prediction of Cassandra ^[54] , who foresees his death, the death of the king and Orestes revenge for them.

Then Clytemnestra and Aegisthus killed Agamemnon, and Cassandra was killed by Klitemnestra herself (according to Homer, together with the king, according to Aeschylus - a little later) ^[55] .

Some sources mention that either Cassandra and Agamemnon had a son, Teledem ^[56] , or twin boys - Teledam and Pelop, who were also killed by Aegisthus ^[57] .

Subsequent tradition

Cassandra’s grave was shown in Amiklah , and the grave of her children in Mycenae ^[57] . However, in Euripides, Cassandra predicts that animals will eat her body ^[58] (which explained the absence of a grave at the place of death). In Amiklah and Levktra ( Laconic ) in ancient times there were temples with statues of Kassandra, revered here under the name of Alexandra ^[59] . Her sanctuary was in Davonia , where she was revered as a goddess ^[60] . Plutarch gives an interpretation according to which Kassandra died in Talam (Lakonika) and received the name Pasiphae , under which she was revered (so she was identified with the local deity whose prophet was in Talam) ^[61] .

Cassandra is named after asteroid 114 , discovered in 1871 ^[62] .

One of the scenes in Kipsel’s casket showed Ajax pulling Kassandra away from Athena’s statue, and included a poetic line about it from Pausanias ^[63] . The following episode was depicted in the Polygnot painting in Delphi : Ajax takes the oath on the altar, and Cassandra sits on the ground with Athens' ksoan , which he holds in his hands ^[64] . The violence of Ajax over Kassandra was also the plot of the picture of Panan, who was in Olympia ^[65] . According to Pliny , the painter Theor (or Theon; end of IV – beginning of III century BC) ^[66] created the painting “Cassandra”, which later could be seen in the Roman temple of Concord ^[67] . The poet Christodore described the statue of Cassandra, depicted as silent ^[68] .

In the literature

Drama

The protagonist of the tragedy of Aeschylus “ Agamemnon ”, the tragedies of Euripides “ Alexander ” and “ Trojans ”, the tragedy of the unknown author “Kassandra”, the tragedy “Clytemnestra” action , Seneca “ Agamemnon ”. The monodrama of Lycophron " Alexander " almost entirely consists of a monologue of a prophetess, who mysteriously predicts future events up to the campaigns of Alexander the Great .

• The tragedy of G. Eilenberg "Kassandra."
• The tragedy of Lesia Ukrainka "Kassandra".
• The tragedy of P. Ernst "Cassandra."

Poetry

• F. Schiller , the ballad "Kassandra."
• V.K. Kyukhelbeker , the poem "Kassandra".
• Merezhkovsky , “Kassandra” (1922) ^[69]

Alterations from Aeschylus:

• A. F. Merzlyakov , "Cassandra in the Halls of Agamemnon."
• A. N. Maykov , “Kassandra”.

Prose

• 1947 - the story of Hans Erich Nossack "Kassandra"
• 1984 (Russian 1988) - Krista Wolf ’s short story “ Cassandra ”, where the presentation is in the first person.
• 1986 - the novel by M.Z. Bradley " Smut " (The Firebrand). In the works of Wolf and Bradley, Aeneas speaks to Cassandra's lover.
• 2005 - Lindsay Clark’s novel, Return from Troy.
• 2005-2007 - David Gemmel Trilogy " Troy ."
• 2006 - the story of Z. Yuryev "Hand of Cassandra."

Works using the name or image of Cassandra:

• 1978 - The story of Caroline Cherry "Cassandra" ( Cassandra )
• 1996 - Roman Chingiz Aitmatov "Kassandra Brand".
• 2007 - Cassandra's Dream (film) .
• 2009 - Bernard Verber ’s novel “The Mirror of Cassandra” ( French: Le Miroir de Cassandre )

In music

• 1982 - The Swedish band ABBA recorded the song “Cassandra”, in which the main character, a resident of Troy, addresses her. The song came out as B-side on their latest single, “ The Day Before You Came ”
• 1967 - Vladimir Vysotsky "Song of Things Kassandra."
• 1974 - an essay by the English composer Brian Fernihou, “Song of the Dream (Dreams) of Cassandra”.
• 1993 - the work of Michael Jarrel "Cassandra."
• 1998 - the album of the Norwegian rock band Theater of Tragedy " Aégis " begins with the composition " Cassandra ".
• 2001 - song of the German group Blind Guardian " And then there was Silence " about Cassander, the Trojan War, the death of Hector and the ruin of Troy.
• 2008 - Russian rock band Origami released the album "Cassandra's Syndrome" with the song of the same name on the disc.
• 2008 - Russian rock band Bi-2 released the single "Muse", which included a song with the name "Kassandra".
• 2019 - pyrokinesis "kassandra"

In the cinema

• 1956 - “Elena Troyanskaya” by Robert Weiss; Cassandra - Janet Scott
• 1961 - The Trojan War by Giorgio Ferroni ; the role of Cassandra was played by Lydia Alfonsi.
• 1971 - The Trojans by Michalis Kakoyannis ; the role of Cassandra was played by Genevieve Bujo .
• 2003 - mini-series " Elena Troyanskaya " by John Kent Harrison; Cassandra was performed by Emilia Fox .
• 2018 - mini-series “ The Fall of Troy ”; in the role of Cassandra - Amy-Fion Edwards .

In astronomy

In honor of Cassandra, the asteroid (114) Cassandra was discovered, discovered July 23, 1871 by the German-American astronomer K. G. F. Peters in Clinton , USA