We left Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, on his return to Phthia, after he had put his grandfather Peleus back on the throne. Andromache, Hector’s widow, was given to him as a share of the spoils.
On the other hand, during the war, Menelaus promised him his daughter Hermione, having changed his mind after having engaged her to Orestes.
Eight or nine years passed before the marriage could be celebrated, for it was necessary to wait for the return of Menelaus, who then sent Hermione to Phthia, to Neoptolemus.
The same day, Telemachus, son of Odysseus (Ulysses), arrived in Sparta to consult Menelaus.
It was therefore just before the return of Odysseus (Ulysses) to Ithaca.
The accounts of the end of Neoptolemus’ life are very diverse.
According to most authors, this hero found death in Delphi, either at the hand of Apollo who would not have forgiven him for the desecration of his sanctuary or the murder of Priam, or more generally that of Machaereus. (According to Virgil, Orestes was the murderer).
According to Sophocles, after the death of her husband, Hermione fled with Orestes to Sparta where they married and had a son, Tisamenos.
The new yoga begins on the basis of the achievements of the old one, liberation in the spirit (Neoptolemus takes as his share of booty Andromache “who fights man”) and total mastery (he took on board Helenus who married Deidameia “who killed that which tames”, the mother of Neoptolemus).
It continues in parallel with the acquisition of the elements necessary for its development (Menelaus’ wandering and the accumulation of gold and food).
Simultaneously, the seeker completes the personal yoga marked by the end of the ego and prepares his entry into the yoga of the body (the death of the “lesser” Ajax and the journey of Odysseus (Ulysses)).
This period, the duration of which is difficult to determine, continues until the return of Menelaus, which marks, as we have just seen, beyond psychic realization, the end of the period of active contemplation.
Just before the arrival of Odysseus (Ulysses) in Ithaca, the last hero to accomplish his “return”, the path is directed towards the spiritualization of the mind, result of an aspiration and a will towards more freedom: Neoptolemus “the new struggles” unites with Hermione “the evolution in the intuitive mind towards the overmind”, daughter of Menelaus and Helen, in the lineage of Tantalus.
The only way to understand the death of Neoptolemus is to consider that “these new struggles” only concern an intermediate stage of yoga, before the beginning of the body’s transformation. For some, it is Machaereus “the one who slices” who puts an end to the movement.
And it is through a union of the respective children of Agamemnon and Menelaus – Orestes “the right movement of sincerity” and Hermione “evolution towards the overmind” – that yoga would continue (as the result of a powerful aspiration for progress and an unfailing determination to achieve it).
The interpretation given to the name Hermione is based on its proximity to the name Hermes, and thus a progression towards the overmind.
Their son Tisamenos “he who pays what he owes” or “fulfils an obligation” represents the task that the soul has set itself in this incarnation or the collective karma to be resolved.
<< Previous: The Return of Menelaus