Calchas- Greek FigureMortal"Seer of the Greeks"

The Sacrifice at Aulis

The Greek fleet gathered at Aulis, a thousand ships bound for Troy, and the wind stopped. Artemis had stilled the air. Calchas, son of Thestor, the seer who Homer says "knew things that were, that would be, and that had been before," declared the cause: Agamemnon had boasted he could outhunt the goddess herself. The price for the fleet's passage was Iphigenia, the king's eldest daughter. Agamemnon chose the war over his child.

At the same gathering, a serpent slid from beneath the altar, climbed a plane tree, and devoured a mother sparrow and her eight chicks before turning to stone. Calchas read the omen: nine birds consumed meant nine years of war. Troy would fall in the tenth.

The Plague

In the war's tenth year, Apollo sent a plague through the Greek camp. Calchas knew the cause but feared to speak it: Agamemnon had seized Chryseis, daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses, and refused to ransom her back. A seer who embarrassed a king could expect the worst.

Achilles swore to protect him. Only then did Calchas name the offense. Apollo wanted Chryseis returned. Agamemnon complied, but took Briseis from Achilles as compensation. Achilles withdrew from the fighting. Without him, the Greeks were driven back to their ships.

Mopsus at Claros

After Troy fell, Calchas traveled to Claros in Asia Minor and met Mopsus, son of Manto and grandson of Tiresias. Calchas challenged him to count the figs on a wild fig tree. Mopsus answered exactly. Then Mopsus asked Calchas how many piglets a pregnant sow carried. Calchas could not answer.

An old prophecy held that he would die when he met a seer greater than himself. Calchas died of grief at Claros. The prophet who had read the whole war from a serpent and nine sparrows could not count the piglets in a sow.