Messenger
mythological figure · 14 works · 17 mentions · 32 anchored passages
also in the atlas: Messenger the group
the messenger · Meletius · Servant · a servant of Hippolytus · boy · fellow-thrall · herald of evil · herdsman · his servant · our fellow-presbyter
spoken of as
2 expressionsMeletius“messenger”1 mention
Letters (Greek)
For this very reason we have sent our most reverent and most genuine brother and fellow-worker in the Gospel, Meletius, my fellow-presbyter, who will set before you the longing we have for you and the care we feel for your souls;
in the texts
Iphigenia in Aulis
An unnamed messenger who arrives ahead of Clytemnestra's party to announce their arrival at Aulis.
for the army knows already of your daughter’s arrival, so quickly did the rumor spread;
and her mother, your wife Clytemnestra, is with her, and the child Orestes, a sight to gladden you after your long absence from your home;
Come, then, begin the rites, that is the next step, by getting the baskets ready;
Hippolytus
Unnamed palace servant who discovers and reports Phaedra's suicide by hanging.
Messenger:
Messenger:
Messenger:
Letters
Presbyter sent by Basil to visit the ascetics under his charge.
For this very reason we have sent our most reverent and most genuine brother and fellow-worker in the Gospel, Meletius, my fellow-presbyter, who will set before you the longing we have for you and the care we feel for your souls;
Bacchae
A herdsman from Mount Kithairon who reports at length the miraculous rites and violent frenzy of the Theban Bacchae.
Pentheus’ mother Agave out from the Bacchic revelry and do the king a favor?
Some people in rage took up arms, being plundered by the Bacchae, and the sight of this was terrible to behold, lord.
Agave happened to be leaping near me, and I sprang forth, wanting to snatch her, abandoning the ambush where I had hidden myself.
Electra
A servant of Orestes who reports the killing of Aegisthus at the sacrificial feast in a long narrative speech.
Aegisthus took from a basket a long straight knife, and cutting off some of the calf’s hair laid it with his right hand on the sacred fire, and then cut the calf’s throat when the servants had lifted it upon their shoulders, and said this to your brother:
he chose Pylades as an assistant in the work and drove back the servants;
So if strangers must join in the sacrifice with citizens, Aegisthus, we are ready and will not refuse, lord.
Helen
An old servant of Menelaos who brings news from the shipwrecked comrades and reports the phantom Helen's disappearance into the sky.
Catching sight of Helen Welcome, daughter of Leda, were you here after all?
Messenger:
Messenger:
Heracleidae
A distinct messenger who brings the bound Eurystheus onstage and explains to Alcmena the Athenian rulers' decision to spare captives taken alive.
Messenger:
Messenger:
Messenger:
Ion
A household servant, distinct from the Old Servant, who rushes in to warn the Chorus that the poisoning plot has been discovered and then narrates the entire banquet scene in a long messenger speech.
Thereon came servants bending’neath the weight of goblets chased with silver and golden chalices;
and in the midst of the banquet-hall he set goblets of gold, while a herald hasted and invited to the feast all citizens who would come.
So was he detected, and under strong constraint declared Creusa’s daring deed and all the trick of the poisoned draught.
Medea
One of Jason's household servants who reports, in a long eyewitness narrative, the deaths of the princess and Creon by Medea's poisoned gifts.
Messenger:
Messenger:
Messenger:
Orestes
An unnamed servant loyal to Agamemnon's house who witnesses the Argive assembly and reports its verdict and debate to Electra.
He was for stoning you and Orestes to death, but it was Tyndareus who kept suggesting arguments of this kind to him as he urged the death of both of you.
He said that they should crown Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, for showing his willingness to avenge a father by the murder of a wicked and godless woman who would prevent men from taking up arms and going on foreign service, if those who remain behind, corrupt and seduce wives left at home to keep house.
Yet, for all he seemed to speak well, he did not persuade the assembly;
Phoenissae
Unnamed attendant(s) who report first the battle at the seven gates to Jocasta, and later the brothers' duel and the deaths of Jocasta, Eteocles, and Polyneices to Creon.
for Polyneices, who had fallen first, was still faintly breathing, and having in his grievous fall kept his sword, he made a last effort and drove it through the heart of Eteocles.
Eteocles, in kicking aside a stone that rolled beneath his tread, exposed a limb outside his shield, and Polyneices, seeing a chance of dealing him a blow, aimed at it, and the Argive shaft passed through his leg;
And then we hastened to other gates, after stopping the affliction there.
Suppliants
An escaped prisoner and former servant of Capaneus who reports Theseus's victory and the recovery and burial of the Argive dead.
My hands I lift at meeting of the dead, and pour forth a tearful dirge to Hades, calling on my friends, whose loss I mourn in wretched solitude;
And the twain, clashing their shields together as they met in the midst of the assembled host, were dealing death and courting it, shouting loudly each to his fellow the battle-cry:
Messenger:
Antigone
The herald who reports the deaths of Haemon and Eurydice and narrates the events at the tomb.
The doors of the palace are opened, and the corpse of Eurydice is disclosed.
I attended your husband as his guide to the furthest part of the plain, where unpitied the body of Polyneices, torn by dogs, still lay.
Enter the Messenger from the house.
Oedipus at Colonus
The Messenger is the dramatic reporter who narrates Oedipus' mysterious end and the arrival of the mourning daughters.
But when we had gone off, very soon we looked back and saw that Oedipus was nowhere any more and our lord was alone, holding his hand in front of his face to screen his eyes, as if he had seen some terrifying sight, one that no one could endure to behold.
Messenger:
And if in anyone’s eyes I seem to speak senselessly, I would not try to win his belief when he counts me senseless.