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When the Spartan commander Phalanthos visited as
was customary Delphi, to help him with advice in order to establish a
colony in Italy, he received the oracle that when he will feel rain in a
cloudless day (aethra), only then he will succeed in his expedition.
Phalanthos finding the oracle incomprehensible, proceeded to his
expedition, but after many victorious battles with the barbarians, he was
still unable to colonize.
He was desperate and sad, thinking how correct was the prophesy, when his
wife feeling deeply his pain tried to take the lice from his hair. But
when she putted his head over her knees, she burst into tears that fell
over it.
Immediately Phalanthos understood the oracle and the following night he
attacked and conquered Tarentum, the largest and most prosperous
city of the coast.
The name of his wife was Aethra (clear sky). |
