13 Facts About Calchas

Calchas is an Argive mantis, or "seer, " dated to the Age of Legend, which is an aspect of Greek mythology.

Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the Iliad, which is believed to have been based on a war conducted by the Achaeans against the powerful city of Troy in the Late Bronze Age.

Calchas received knowledge of the past, present, and future from the god, Apollo.

Calchas had other mantic skills as well: interpreting the entrails of the enemy during the tide of battle.

Calchas was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "short, white, all grey, including the beard, hairy, a very fine seer and omen-reader".

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Calchas was the son of Polymele and Thestor; grandson of the seer Idmon; and brother of Leucippe, Theonoe, and Theoclymenus.

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

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.

Calchas said that if they were brief, they could convince Achilles to fight.

Calchas tells the Argives that the city is more easily taken by strategy than by force.

Calchas foresees that Aeneas will survive the battle and found the city, and tells the Argives that they will not kill him.

Calchas did not join the Argives when they boarded the ships, as he foresaw the impending doom of the Kapherean Rocks.

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