This article is about the ancient Greek seer. For the scorpion genus, see Calchas (scorpion). For the Jovian asteroid, see 4138 Kalchas.
Not to be confused with Calchus.
Fictional character
Calchas Thestorides Κάλχας Θεστορίδης
Trojan War character
Calchas presides at the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, the daughter of Agamemnon, as the divine price of the winds required to carry the fleet to Troy, in a peristyle fresco from Pompeii.
First appearance
"Iliad"
Epic poetry
Created by
Homer and his school
Based on
Character from a traditional story of the Trojan War
Adapted by
Greek oral poets presenting the story in poetry contests at festivals
In-universe information
Title
Guide
Occupation
Seer, Greek Mantis, in the sense of one who knows the divine will.[1]
Affiliation
Achaean army
Origin
Argos in the Peloponnesus
Nationality
Achaean
Calchas (/ˈkælkəs/; Ancient Greek: Κάλχας, Kalkhas) is an Argive mantis, or "seer," dated to the Age of Legend, which is an aspect of Greek mythology. Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the Iliad, which is believed to have been based on a war conducted by the Achaeans against the powerful city of Troy in the Late Bronze Age.
Calchas, a seer in the service of the army before Troy, is portrayed as a skilled augur, Greek ionópolos ('bird-savant'):[2] "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp."[3]
He received knowledge of the past, present, and future from the god, Apollo. He had other mantic skills as well: interpreting the entrails of the enemy during the tide of battle.[4] His mantosune, as it is called in the Iliad, is the hereditary occupation of his family, which accounts for the most credible etymology of his name: “the dark one” in the sense of “ponderer,” based on the resemblance of pondering to melancholy, or being “blue.”[5] Calchas has a long literary history after Homer. His appearance in the Iliad is no sort of “first” except for the chronological sequence of literature. In the legendary time of the Iliad, seers and divination are already long-standing.
^Same root as English "mind:" "Appendix I: Indo-European Roots". *men-1. The American Heritage Dictionary (Fourth ed.). Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2009.
^The English word augur, based on a Roman official of that name, is used to mean a person of any culture engaged in ornithomancy. There were no Romans at Troy, as Rome had not yet been founded.
^Homer, Iliad I, lines 68-72 (E.V. Rieu translation).
^Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica IX (Alan James translation). The art is based on the Roman word for it. They inherited it from the Etruscans, but in English it means of any culture. There were no Romans or Etruscans at Troy.
^Henry George Liddell; Robert Scott. "κάλχας (Calchas)". A Greek-English Lexicon. Perseus Digital Library. Liddell and Scott, following the tradition of J.B. Hoffman, relate the name to κάλχη (kalkhe), the purple murex, exactly in the sense of the English mood word "blue". As there is no clear path to an Indo-European root, some suggest a loan word. Hoffman and some others also relate it to Old English gealg or gealh, from an East Germanic *galgaz, "grim", but there is no Indo-European root for that, either. In the most speculative suggestion, the darkness is not blueness but is the color of corroded bronze (kalkhos). Excluded is Old English gealga, "melancholy" from “gallows", with an Indo-European root "branch".
Age. Calchas, a seer in the service of the army before Troy, is portrayed as a skilled augur, Greek ionópolos ('bird-savant'): "as an augur, Calchas had...
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acting upon the winds, so that Agamemnon's fleet cannot sail to Troy. Calchas the seer tells Agamemnon that to appease Artemis, he must sacrifice his...
subspecies of Icaricia shasta. I. s. charlestonensis Austin, 1980 I. s. calchas (Behr, 1867) I. s. minnehaha (Scudder, 1874) I. s. pallidissima (Austin...
immortality through poetry. Furthermore, when Achilles was nine years old, Calchas had prophesied that Troy could not again fall without his help. A number...
Prince, a warrior, the son of King Priam and wooer of Criseyde Criseyde, Calchas' daughter Achilles, a Greek warrior Antenor, a soldier held captive by...
the art of divination." The first known mantis in Greek literature is Calchas, the mantis of the first scenes of the Iliad. His mantosune, or "art of...
prophet Calchas correctly determines the source of the troubles but will not speak unless Achilles vows to protect him. Achilles does so, and Calchas declares...
the Trojan Horse. Alongside Amphilochus, Calchas, Leonteus and Polypoetes he traveled to Colophon, where Calchas died. Unlike his brother, Podalirius survived...
this way killed. In Seneca's version of The Trojan Women, the prophet Calchas declares that Astyanax must be thrown from the walls if the Greek fleet...
Army. The Prophet Calchas tells that the plague may be dispelled by returning Chryseis to her father. After bitterly berating Calchas for his painful prophecies...
the ocean. Through a subplot involving the gods and omens, the priest Calchas said the winds would be favorable if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter...
indigenous practice of divining by bird signs, familiar in the figure of Calchas, the bird-diviner to Agamemnon, who led the army (Iliad I.69), was largely...
Strabo record that the Pamphylians were descended from Greeks who came with Calchas and Amphilochos after the Trojan War. Additionally, Pausanias states that...
leader Antenor, another commander Calchas, a Trojan priest who is taking part with the Greeks Cressida, Calchas's daughter Alexander, servant to Cressida...
unable to depart due to a strange lack of wind. After consulting the seer Calchas, the Greek leaders learn that this is no mere meteorological abnormality...
Clarus (near ancient Colophon): According to the legend, the famous seer Calchas, on his return from Troy, came to Clarus. He challenged the seer Mopsus...
stilled the winds so that Agamemnon's fleet could not sail. A prophet named Calchas told him that in order to appease Artemis, Agamemnon would have to sacrifice...
who appears in the Iliad but has no connection with Troilus, Diomedes or Calchas. Indeed, the story of Troilus and Cressida does not appear in any Greek...
chooses Troilus. He is then killed by Calchas with a knife in the back. Diomedes sends his body back to Priam with Calchas in chains. It is now the Greeks who...
with the Roman de Troie, Briseis becomes Briseida and is the daughter of Calchas. She loves and is loved by Troilus and then Diomedes. She is later confused...
is told by the Fates and by Zeus through sending omens to seers such as Calchas. Men and their gods continually speak of heroic acceptance and cowardly...