Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Two brothers

These two gorgeous creatures are, in a way, brothers, belonging to the same family of swallowtail butterflies. The first one is called Machaon, the second - Podalirius. Interestingly, in Greek mythology those two characters were brothers, too!


Here is a quote from Wikipedia, if you are interested.
In Greek mythology, Machaon was a son of Asclepius. With Podalirius, his brother, he led an army from Thessaly (or possibly Messenia) in the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks during the Trojan War. He, along with his brother, were highly valued surgeons and medics. In the Iliad he was wounded and put out of action by Paris. Machaon (or his brother) healed Philoctetes and Telephus during the war. He was killed by Eurypylus in the tenth year of the war. He was buried in Gerenia in Messenia, where he was worshiped by the people. The Papilio machaon (Old World Swallowtail) is named after Machaon.