View source for Calchas

{{Short description|Seer in Greek mythology}}
{{about|the ancient Greek seer |the scorpion genus |Calchas (scorpion) |the Jovian asteroid|4138 Kalchas}}
{{distinguish|Calchus}}
{{Infobox character
| name              = Calchas Thestorides<br>Κάλχας Θεστορίδης
| series            = Trojan War
| image             = Fresco Iphigeneia MAN Naples.jpg
| image_upright     = 1
| alt               = A [[peristyle]] fresco from [[Pompeii]] showing Calchas presiding over the sacrifice of Agamemnon's daughter, [[Iphigenia|Iphigeneia]], as the divine price for winds to carry the fleet to Troy.
| caption           = Calchas presides at the sacrifice of [[Iphigenia|Iphigeneia]], the daughter of [[Agamemnon]], as the divine price of the winds required to carry the fleet to Troy,  in a [[peristyle]] fresco from [[Pompeii]].
| first_major       = Epic poetry
| first_minor       = Iliad
| first_date        =
| last_major        = 
| last_minor        = <!-- or |last_issue= -->
| last_date         = 
| creator           = Homer and his school
| based_on          = Character from a traditional story of the Trojan War
| adapted_by        = Greek oral poets presenting the story in poetry contests at festivals
| designer          = 
| portrayer         = 
| voice             = 
| motion_actor      = 
| full_name         = 
| nickname          = <!-- or |nicknames= -->
| alias             = <!-- or |aliases= -->
| species           = <!-- or |race=; for non-humans only -->
| gender            = <!-- if not obvious -->
| title             = Guide
| occupation        = Seer, Greek Mantis, in the sense of one who knows the divine will.<ref>Same root as English "mind:" {{cite encyclopedia | title=*men-<sup>1</sup> | chapter=Appendix I: Indo-European Roots | encyclopedia=The American Heritage Dictionary | edition=Fourth | year=2009 | location=Boston; New York | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt}}</ref>
| affiliation       = Achaean army
| fighting_style    = 
| weapon            = 
| family            = 
| spouse            = <!-- or |spouses= -->
| significant_other = <!-- or |significant_others= -->
| children          = 
| relatives         = 
| religion          = 
| origin            = Argos in the Peloponnesus
| nationality       = Achaean 
}}

'''Calchas''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|æ|l|k|ə|s}}; {{langx|grc|Κάλχας}}, ''Kalkhas'') is an [[Argive]] mantis, or "[[Divination|seer]]" in [[Greek mythology]]. Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the ''[[Iliad]]'', which is [[Historicity of the Iliad|believed]] to have been based on a [[Trojan War|war]] conducted by the Achaeans against the powerful city of [[Troy]] in the [[Late Bronze Age]].

A seer in the service of the Greek forces, Calchas is portrayed as a skilled augur, Greek ''oinópolos'' ('bird-savant'): "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp."<ref>[[Homer]], ''[[Iliad]]'' I, lines 68-72 ([[E.V. Rieu]] translation). The English word ''augur'', based on a [[Augur|Roman official]] of that name, is used to mean a person of any culture engaged in [[ornithomancy]].</ref> He had received knowledge of the past, present, and future from the god, [[Apollo]]. He had other mantic skills as well: [[Haruspicy|interpreting the entrails]] of the enemy during the tide of battle.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus|Quintus of Smyrna]],  ''[[Posthomerica]]'' IX (Alan James translation). The art is based on the Roman word for it. They inherited it from the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscans]], but in English it means of any culture. There were no Romans or Etruscans at Troy.</ref> His [[Greek divination|mantosune]], as it is called in the ''[[Iliad]]'', is the hereditary occupation of his family, which accounts for the most credible [[etymology]] of his name: “the dark one” in the sense of “ponderer,” based on the resemblance of pondering to melancholy, or being “blue.”<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=κάλχας (Calchas) | author1=Henry George Liddell | author2=Robert Scott | encyclopedia=A Greek-English Lexicon | publisher=Perseus Digital Library | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3D*ka%2Flxas}} Liddell and Scott, following the tradition of J.B. Hoffman, relate the name to κάλχη (kalkhe), the purple murex, exactly in the sense of the English mood word "blue". As there is no clear path to an Indo-European root, some suggest a loan word. Hoffman and some others also relate it to Old English gealg or gealh, from an East Germanic *galgaz, "grim", but there is no Indo-European root for that, either. In the most speculative suggestion, the darkness is not blueness but is the color of corroded bronze (kalkhos). Excluded is Old English gealga, "melancholy" from “gallows", with an Indo-European root "branch".</ref> Calchas has a long literary history after Homer. In the legendary time of the ''[[Iliad]]'', seers and divination are already long-standing.

== Description ==
Calchas was described by the chronicler [[John Malalas|Malalas]] in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "short, white, all grey, including the beard, hairy, a very fine seer and omen-reader".<ref>[[John Malalas|Malalas]], ''Chronography'' [https://topostext.org/work/793#5.105 5.105]</ref>

== Family ==
Calchas was the son of [[Polymele]] and [[Thestor (mythology)|Thestor]]; grandson of the seer [[Idmon]];<ref>[[Tzetzes]], ''Homeric Allegories'', Prologue, 639</ref> and brother of [[Leucippe]], [[Theonoe (daughter of Thestor)|Theonoe]], and [[Theoclymenus]].<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'', 190</ref>

==Career==
It was Calchas who [[prophesied]] that in order to gain a favourable wind to deploy the Greek ships mustered in [[Avlida|Aulis]] on their way to [[Troy]], [[Agamemnon]] would need to sacrifice his daughter, [[Iphigenia|Iphigeneia]], to appease [[Artemis]], whom Agamemnon had offended. The episode was related at length in the lost ''[[Cypria]]'', of the [[Epic Cycle]]. He also states that Troy will be sacked on the tenth year of the war.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus|Quintus of Smyrna]]. ''[[Posthomerica]]'', Book VIII (Alan James translation).</ref>

In Sophocles' ''[[Ajax (Sophocles)|Ajax]]'', Calchas delivers a prophecy to [[Teucer]] suggesting that the protagonist will die if he leaves his tent before the day is out.

=== ''Iliad'' ===
In the ''Iliad'', Calchas' most powerful skeptic is [[Agamemnon]] himself. Before the events of the ''Iliad'', at the beginning of the expedition, Agamemnon had to sacrifice his daughter [[Iphigenia]] to receive favorable sailing winds. At the beginning of the ''Iliad'' Calchas delivers another blow to him.

In open assembly, Calchas prophesied that the captive [[Chryseis]], a spoil of war awarded to Agamemnon, must be returned to her father [[Chryses]] in order to propitiate [[Apollo]] into lifting the plague he sent as punishment for Agamemnon's disrespect of Chryses, Apollo's priest. Agamemnon exploded in anger and called the prophet a "visionary of hell" (Fitzgerald translation) and accused Calchas of rendering unfair prophecies. Fearing Agamemnon, Calchas had already secured a champion in Achilles, who spoke against Agamemnon in heated terms in assembly. Agamemnon grudgingly accepted the edict of Apollo (supported by the Assembly) that he give up his prize, but, as an insult to Achilles, threatens to take Achilles’ own female prize as recompense. There follows "the wrath of Achilles," part righteous anger, part galling resentment over the unjustified overreaching of Agamemnon, part love for his war bride. This dispute is a central focus of the epic.

Later in the story, [[Poseidon]] assumes the form of Calchas in order to rouse and empower the Greek forces while [[Zeus]] is not observing the battle.

=== ''Posthomerica'' ===
Calchas also plays a role in [[Quintus Smyrnaeus|Quintus of Smyrna's]] ''[[Posthomerica]]''. Calchas said that if they were brief, they could convince Achilles to fight. It is he rather than [[Helenus]] (as suggested in Sophocles' ''[[Philoctetes (Sophocles)|Philoctetes]]'') that predicts that Troy will only fall once the Argives  are able to recruit Philoctetes.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus|Quintus of Smyrna]]. ''[[Posthomerica]]'', Book IX (Alan James translation).</ref> It is by his advice that they halt the battle, even though [[Neoptolemus]] is slaughtering the Trojans. He also tells the Argives that the city is more easily taken by strategy than by force. He endorses [[Odysseus]]' suggestion that the [[Trojan Horse]] will effectively infiltrate the Trojans. He also foresees that [[Aeneas]] will survive the battle and found the city, and tells the Argives that they will not kill him. He did not join the Argives when they boarded the ships, as he foresaw the impending doom of the [[Cape Caphereus|Kapherean Rocks]].<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus|Quintus of Smyrna]]. ''[[Posthomerica]]'', Book XIV (Alan James translation).</ref>

In medieval and later versions of the myth, Calchas is portrayed as a Trojan defector and the father of Chryseis, now called [[Cressida]].

Calchas is a character in [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''.

== Death ==
Calchas died of shame at [[Colophon (city)|Colophon]] in Asia Minor shortly after the [[Trojan War]] (as told in the Cyclic ''[[Nostoi]]'' and ''[[Melampodia]]''): the prophet [[Mopsus]] beat him in a contest of soothsaying,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Apollodorus, Epitome, book E, chapter 6, section 4 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%20Epit.%20E.6.4&lang=original |access-date=2025-05-20 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref> although [[Strabo]]<ref>[[Strabo]]. ''Geography'', 6.3.9.</ref> placed an oracle of Calchas on [[Monte Gargano]] in [[Magna Graecia]].

It is also said that Calchas [[died of laughter]] when he thought another seer had incorrectly predicted his death. This seer had foretold Calchas would never drink from the wine produced from vines he had planted himself; Calchas made the wine, but holding the cup he died of laughter, before he could inform them they had drunk it the previous night.<ref>[[Maurus Servius Honoratus]], ''Commentary on the Eclogues of Vergil'' 6.72</ref>

==References==
{{EB1911 poster|Calchas}}
{{Commons category|Calchas}}
{{wiktionary|Calchas}}
{{reflist}}
{{Characters in the Iliad}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calchas}}
[[Category:Achaean Leaders]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek seers]]
[[Category:Metamorphoses characters]]
[[Category:Mythological Argives]]