science

Telamon

Telamon is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Telamon rather than just read about it. In short: Telamon (; Ancient Greek: Τελαμών, Telamōn means "broad strap") in Greek mythology was the son of King Aeacus of Aegina, and Endeïs, a mountain nymph. The elder brother of Peleus, Telamon sailed alongside Jason as one of his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar.

Key takeaways

Telamon belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Telamon to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Telamon from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Telamon (; Ancient Greek: Τελαμών, Telamōn means "broad strap") in Greek mythology was the son of King Aeacus of Aegina, and Endeïs, a mountain nymph. The elder brother of Peleus, Telamon sailed alongside Jason as one of his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. In the Iliad, he was the father of Greek heroes Ajax the Great and Teucer by different mothers. Some accounts mention a third son of his, Trambelus. He and Peleus were also close friends of Heracles, assisting him on his expeditions against the Amazons and his assault on Troy (see below). In an earlier account recorded by Pherecydes of Athens, Telamon and Peleus were not brothers, but friends. According to this account, Telamon was the son of Actaeus and Glauce, with the latter being the daughter of Cychreus, king of Salamis; and Telamon married Periboea (Eriboea), daughter of King Alcathous of Megara.

Mythology After killing their half-brother, Phocus, Telamon and Peleus fled Aegina and made their way to the island of Salamis, where King Cychreus welcomed Telamon and befriended him. Telamon married Cychreus' daughter Periboea, who gave birth to Ajax; sometime later, Cychreus gave Telamon his kingdom. In other versions of the myth Cychreus' daughter is named Glauce, and Periboea is Telamon's second wife, and the daughter of Alcathous.

Trojan War Telamon also features in both versions of Heracles' sacking of Troy, which was ruled by King Laomedon (or Tros in the alternate versions). Before the Trojan War, Poseidon sent a sea monster to attack Troy.

Tros version In the King Tros version, Heracles (along with Telamon and Oicles) agreed to kill the monster if Tros would give him the horses he received from Zeus as compensation for Zeus' kidnapping Tros' son, Ganymede. Tros agreed; Heracles succeeded and Telamon married Hesione, Tros' daughter, by whom he sired Teucer.

Laomedon version In the King Laomedon version, Laomedon planned on sacrificing his daughter Hesione to Poseidon in the hope of appeasing him. Heracles rescued her at the last minute and killed both the monster and Laomedon and Laomedon's sons, except for Ganymede, who was on Mount Olympus, and Podarces, who saved his own life by giving Heracles a golden veil Hesione had made. Telamon took Hesione as a war prize and married her, and she gave birth by him to Teucer. When Ajax later committed suicide at Troy, Telamon banished Teucer from Salamis for failing to bring his brother home.

Bibliotheca version In Apollodorus' Library, Telamon was almost killed during the siege of Troy. Telamon was the first one to break through the Trojan wall, which enraged Hercules as he was coveting that glory for himself. Hercules was about to cut him down with his sword when Telamon began to quickly assemble an altar out of nearby stones in honor of Hercules. Hercules was so pleased, after the sack of Troy he gave Telamon Hesione as a wife. Hesione requested that she be able to bring her brother Podarces with her. Hercules would not allow it unless Hesione bought Podarces as a slave. Hesione paid for her brother with a veil. Podarces' name was then changed to Priam – which, according to Greek author Apollodorus, was derived from the Greek phrase "to buy".

In architecture In architecture, telamons are colossal male figures used as columns. These are also called atlantes (the plural of "Atlas"), or atlantids; they are the male versions of caryatids

The Telamon The "Telamon" (also "Song of Telamon", "Telamon Song", "Telamon-song") is an ancient Greek song (fl. 5th century BC) only found referred to by name in some ancient Greek plays and later scholia or commentaries. It is usually thought to be a warlike song about Telamon's son Ajax, though some other commentaries thought it to be a mournful song about Telamon himself. It began with: "Son of Telamon, warlike Ajax! They say you are the bravest of the Greeks who came to Troy, next to Achilles."

References

Sources

External links Media related to Telamon at Wikimedia Commons

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Telamon

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Telamon claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Telamon before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Telamon ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Telamon

In research: Telamon appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Telamon in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Telamon is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Argonauts, Characters in the Argonautica, Columns and entablature, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Telamon outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Telamon in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Telamon means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Telamon out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Telamon in simple terms?

Why does Telamon matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Telamon?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Telamon.