The Monstrous Boar Hunt (Patriarchs of Story Pt 2)

     A long time ago in what we now call Turkey, there lived a wealthy and powerful king. This king was named Croesus, and he ruled a kingdom called Lydia.  Croesus was famous for his wealth and was known far and wide for it. He was so rich he thought that he was the happiest of men, and according to Herodotus this hubris (or arrogance) upset the gods to the point they decided to punish him. This is the story of Croesus' punishment.

    Croesus had a son named Atys, who was a very capable man. He fought in the army, and generally succeeded at whatever he decided to do. One day Croesus had a dream where Atys was wounded by an iron spear and shortly afterwards died. When the king awoke he immediately went about removing the iron spears from the palace, began taking away dangerous assignments from Atys and began looking for him a wife so he could settle down into a nice peaceful life.  All of this Croesus did with almost no problem and soon things were going well.

     A little while after Atys' wedding day, there came  a man named Adrastos, who had been banished from his home by his family after he accidentally killed his brother. Croesus however, knew his family and accepted him into his palace and placed him in high respect.

     Now let us listen to the words of Herodotus.  "And so Adrastos lived for some time at the court of Croesus. Meanwhile a monster of a boar appeared on Mt Olympus in Mysia (in northern Turkey) from which it would set out to ravage the fields of the people of Mysia. The people of Mysia went out to attack it, but could do it no harm and they suffered injuries from it instead."  So the people of Mysia sent a message to king Croesus begging him to send his son and a group of soldiers to help kill the monster of a boar. The king vehemently refused to send his son, but agreed to send soldiers and all was set to go off without a hitch, when Atys came to see his father.

     Atys accused his father of keeping him away from his former status as a good warrior. He said he could not handle being mocked by the people, and his wife was beginning to think he was a coward. The king now had to explain to his son the truth and he told him of his dream and how he would die of an iron spear and the king's great fear for his son.

    Atys replied " You said that in your dream I appeared to die by an iron spear. Well, what kind of hands does a boar have? Or what kind of spear could it use that you are so afraid?"

A boar with a spear? Did that guy just create a Ninja Turtles bad guy two millennium before the show came out?

     Seeing the reasoning of his son, the king agreed and also sent Adrastos, who was now indebted to the king because of his taking him in.  He solemnly vowed Adrastos to protect his son from any harm. Soon the party was off and they went to the mountain, found the boar and surrounded him. The party began throwing javelins at the boar and before the combat was done Adrastos' spear had found Atys and gave him a mortal blow.  The man sworn to protect him seemed to have permanent bad luck.  The party suceeded in killing the boar and they all returned home but with a heavy heart. Fortunately the king accepted Adrastos' apology, but still I wouldn't say the story ended happily.   Thus ends the Monstrous Boar Hunt by Herodotus...one fine story!

-Jason

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