Likewise Seneca the Younger, in his play Agamemnon, has her prophesize why Agamemnon deserves the death he got: In Book 2 of the Aeneid, unlike Homer, Virgil presents Cassandra as having fallen into a mantic state and her prophecies reflect it. In Virgil's work, Cassandra appears in book two of his epic poem titled Aeneid, with her powers of prophecy restored. In Homer's work, Cassandra is mentioned a total of four times "as a virgin daughter of Priam, as bewailing Hector's death, as chosen by Agamemnon as his slave mistress after the sack of Troy, and as killed by Clytemnestra over Agamemnon's corpse after Clytemnestra murders him on his return home. Each author depicts her prophetic powers differently. Since the enraged Apollo could not revoke a divine power, he added a curse that nobody would believe Cassandra's prophecies.Ĭassandra appears in texts written by Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus and Euripides. According to Aeschylus, Cassandra promised Apollo favors, but, after receiving the gift, went back on her word and refused Apollo. One of the oldest and most common versions of her myth states that Cassandra was admired for her beauty and intelligence by the god Apollo, who sought to win her with the gift to see the future. She is the fraternal twin sister of Helenus, as well as the sister to Hector and Paris. 1474.Ĭassandra was one of the many children born to the king and queen of Troy, Priam and Hecuba. Woodcut illustration of Cassandra's prophecy of the fall of Troy (at left) and her death (at right), from an Incunable German translation by Heinrich Steinhöwel of Giovanni Boccaccio's De mulieribus claris, printed by Johann Zainer at Ulm ca. Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, she was illustrated as ".of moderate stature, round-mouthed, and auburn-haired. "Ĭassandra was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "shortish, round-faced, white, mannish figure, good nose, good eyes, dark pupils, blondish, curly, good neck, bulky breasts, small feet, calm, noble, priestly, an accurate prophet foreseeing everything, practicing hard, virgin". The name also has been connected to kekasmai "to surpass, excel. form of Greek andros "of man, male human being." Watkins suggests PIE *(s)kand- "to shine" as source of second element. The Online Etymology Dictionary states "though the second element looks like a fem. Beekes cites García Ramón's derivation of the name from the Proto-Indo-European root * (s)kend- "raise". Hjalmar Frisk ( Griechisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg, 1960–1970) notes "unexplained etymology", citing "various hypotheses" found in Wilhelm Schulze, Edgar Howard Sturtevant, J. Later versions on the contrary describe her falling asleep in a temple, where snakes licked (or whispered into) her ears which enabled her to hear the future. In other sources, such as Hyginus and Pseudo-Apollodorus, Cassandra broke no promise to Apollo but rather the power of foresight was given to her as an enticement to enter into a romantic engagement, the curse being added only when it failed to produce the result desired by the god. As the enraged Apollo could not revoke a divine power, he added to it the curse that nobody would believe her prophecies. According to Aeschylus, she promised him her favours, but after receiving the gift, she went back on her word. The older and most common versions of the myth state that she was admired by the god Apollo, who sought to win her love by means of the gift of seeing the future. Her elder brother was Hector, the hero of the Greek-Trojan war. In modern usage her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate prophecies, generally of impending disaster, are not believed.Ĭassandra was a daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. "Cassandra and Ajax" depicted on a terracotta amphora, circa 450 BCĬassandra or Kassandra ( / k ə ˈ s æ n d r ə/ Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, pronounced, also Κασάνδρα, and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be believed.
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