Demodocus

• a companion of Aeneas, Verg. A. 10, 413.

(Δημόδοκος).

1. The famous bard of the Odyssey, who according to the fashion of the heroic ages delighted the guests of king Alcinoüs during their repast by singing about the feats of the Greeks at Troy, of the love of Ares and Aphrodite, and of the wooden horse. (Od. 8.62, &c., 13.27.) He is also mentioned as the bard who advised Agamemnon to guard Clytaemnestra, and to expose Aegisthus in a desert island. (Od. 3.267; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 1466.) Eustathius describes him as a Laconian, and as a pupil of Automedes and Perimedes of Argos. He adds that he won the prize at the Pythian games and then followed Agamemnon to Mycenae. One story makes Odysseus recite Demodocus's song about the destruction of Troy during a contest in Tyrrhenia. (Ptolem. Heph. 7.) On the throne of Apollo at Amyclae, Demodocus was represented playing to the dance of the Phaeacians. (Paus. 3.18.7.) Later writers, who look upon this mythical minstrel as an historical person, describe him as a native of Corcyra, and as an aged and blind singer (Ov. Ib. 272), who composed a poem on the destruction of Troy (Ἰλίου πόρΔησις), and on the marriage of Hephaestus and Aphrodite. (Plut. de Mus. 3; Eudoc. p. 407; Phot. Bibl. p 152. ed. Bekker.) Plutarch (de Flurm. 18) refers even to the first book of an epic poem on the exploits of Heracles. (Ἠρακλεία.) But all such statements are fabulous; and if there existed any poems under his name, they were certainly forgeries.

2. A companion and friend of Aeneas, who was killed by Halesus. (Verg. A. 10.413.) [L.S]

(Δημόδοκος).

1.. Among the dialogues bearing the name of Plato there is one entitled Demodocus, from the person addressed therein; but whether this Demodocus is the friend of Socrates, and father of Theages, who is introduced as one of the interlocutors in the dialogue Theages, is uncertain. But the dialogue Demodocus is now acknowledged on all hands to be a fabrication of a late sophist or rhetorician. (C. F. Hermann, System der Platon. Philos. i. p. 414, &c.)

2. One of the Athenian generals, who commanded a fleet in the Hellespont, and in the spring of B. C. 424, recovered the town of Antanrus. (Thuc. 4.75.) Another person of this name is mentioned by Polybius. (5.95.) [L.S]

(Δμόδοκος) of Leros, the author of four epigrams in the Greek Anthology, containing bitter attacks upon the Chians, Cappadocians, and Cilicians. (Brunck, Anal. 2.56 ; Jacobs, 2.56, 13.698.) He is mentioned by Aristotle. (Ethic. Nicom. 7.9.) [P.S]

(Δημόδοκος). a physician of Crotona. [Democedes.]

(Δημοδόκος). (1) A blind musician at the court of Alcinoüs, who sang in the presence of Odysseus (Homer Od. viii. 44; De Mus.).

(2) A Trojan chief, who came with Aeneas into Italy, where he was killed (Verg. Aen. x. 413).

• attends Alcinous: Paus. 1.2.3, Paus. 3.18.11