Original scientific paper

The birds of Diomedes

Jelena Marohnić

Abstract

The myth of the birds of Diomedes is placed in the context of the
Greek mythological system by way of a comparison with the myths
of the birds of Meleager, Achilles and Memnon. The identifications
of the Diomedean birds proposed in the scholarship are evaluated
on the basis of the ornithological data about the more remote
Adriatic islands. Reports of Greek sailors about two types of
seabirds, the Scopoli’s shearwater and the northern gannet,
probably fit into the myths of metamorphosis into birds at the time
of mourning over a hero and thus the aetiological myth of birds
emerged about the Diomedean shrine on Palagruža.

Keywords

island of Diomedes; Palagruža; mythology; Diomedes; Achilles; Memnon; Meleager; birds; Scopoli’s shearwater; northern gannet

Hrčak ID:

62227

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/62227

Publication date:

1.11.2010.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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