#corythus

"conveyed to him secret threats" -> brings to mind this story from Conon...

Conon's Narrations 23: Korythos was born to Alexandros of Paris and Oinone, whom he married before kidnapping Helen. He excelled his father in beauty. His mother sent him to Helen, arousing the jealousy of Alexandros and plotting something bad against Helen.

“[…] all which things the jealous spouse shall bring to light, sending her son to indicate the land, angered by her father's taunts, for her bed's sake and because of the alien bride. And herself, the skilled in drugs, seeing the baleful wound incurable of her husband wounded by the giant-slaying arrows of his adversary, shall endure to share his doom, from the topmost towers to the new slain corpse hurtling herself head foremost, and pierced by sorrow for the dead shall breathe forth her soul on the quivering body.”

- Lycophron, Alexandra (C3rd B.C.)

“From the second book of Hellanikos' Troika [historian of Mytilene C5th B.C.], and from Kephalon of Gergitha: Of the union of Oenone and Alexandros [Paris] was born a boy named Corythus. He came to Troy to help the Trojans, and there fell in love with Helene. She indeed received him with the greatest warmth--he was of extreme beauty--but his father discovered his aims and killed him.”

- Parthenius, Love Romances (C1st B.C.)

“The 23rd, how the boy Korythos was born to Alexandros of Paris and Oinone, whom he married before kidnapping Helen. He excelled his father in beauty. His mother sent him to Helen, arousing the jealousy of Alexandros and plotting something bad against Helen. As usual, Korythos went to Helen, and Alexandros passing into the room and seeing Korythos sitting beside Helen, was inflamed by suspicion and killed him straightaway. After this outrage to her and killing of her son Oinone cursed Alexandros, and prayed (for she was inspired with prophecy and the knowledge of preparing potions) that he would be wounded by the Achaeans and, unable to find treatment, would ask for her. And she went home. Later Alexandros was wounded by Philoctetes in the battle for Troy with the Achaeans. Suffering terribly, he was taken to Mt. Ida in a wagon, and sending ahead a herald asked for Oinone. She insultingly rejected the herald, saying Alexandros should go to Helen instead. And Alexandros died of his wound on the road. She meanwhile not knowing of his end, had repented and wa feeling terrible. Having harvested herbs she was hastening to reach him. How she learned from the herald that he had died and that she killed him, and she killed the herald, smashing his head with a stone for the insult. After draping herself over the dead Alexandros and reproaching their shared daimon, she hanged herself with her belt.”

- Conon, Narrations (C1st B.C.-C1st A.D.)

“[…] she passed the place where Corythus's father lies interred in shallow sand and those fields where the eerie sound of Maera's barking makes men afraid.”

- Ovid, Metamorphoses (C1st A.D.)

“"Heavy with jealousy" is Oenone, the wife of Alexander, who was the daughter of Cebren or Oeneus. Alexander had her before Helen, and they had a son, Corythus, whom she sent to lead the Greeks to Troy, […] "Sorceress": They say that Oenone, wanting to heal the wounded Alexander, was prevented by her father. But after he died, when she later brought the drugs, she found him already dead and killed herself, either by throwing herself into Alexander's funeral pyre, according to Quintus, or by hanging herself, according to Dictys, or by falling from the tower, according to this Lycophron.”

- Tzetzes, Scholia to Lycophron's Alexandra (C12th)

As far as I'm aware, there's no versions where Korythos has another father. No matter whether the mother is Helen or Oinone, Paris is always the father.

As for whether he was aware that Oinone gave birth to Korythos... I think you could go either way, but it depends a bit on which version you use.

Paris goes to Sparta generally between 20-21, based on the general agreement of him having come to young manhood when he's recognized + Euripides' Alexandros specifying 20 for his recognition, and that, whenever any not-Byzantine source notes how long after his recognition he goes to Sparta, it's numbered in weeks/months. (Exception here for Philostratus' Heroicus, where Paris goes to Sparta at 18, and a few Byzantine versions where he goes to Sparta at, like 31/32 - especially for the latter Oinone is definitely not a factor at all.)

So, looking at his general age at this point of the story, you run into a very obvious problem when it comes to the versions of Korythos' story where he's not a son of Helen and Paris. And that is that Korythos is either old enough already at the second muster to be sent off by Oinone to the Achaeans to give them intel of the route/the land (but that could mean 14-15, depends on how young Oinone is willing to send him off); OR he's old enough at some later point in the war to be sent to aid the Trojans, or specifically to seduce Helen and do something "evil" to her.

All of these would require Korythos to be born when Paris is in his mid-teens, basically, no matter if you're going with a full twenty years from Helen and Paris arriving in Troy and the tenth year of the actual war or not.

In which case, obviously Paris would know Korythos exists.

If we say a full twenty years and go with the "he goes to help/is sent by his mother to make trouble" and he only comes in the last year of the war, Oinone could have been pregnant (but not showing) when Paris goes to Sparta/gets recognized in Troy, and in that case Paris wouldn't know Oinone bore their son.

But, idk. In literally all versions of the Oinone version of Paris' death, she always still loves him and regrets refusing him healing.

Went down a rabbit hole of sources on Paris’ son Corythus and decided I would summarise what I’ve found :)

Lycophron’s Alexandra notes a son of Oenone who was sent to help the Achaeans after Oenone’s river-god father taunted her for losing Paris to Helen.

The first named mention I could find is quite late in the game, Parthenius’ Love Romances of the 1st century BC (though the author does mention he got his information from the earlier Hellanicus of Lesbos and Cephalon of Gergitha). Here we are told he is the son of Paris and his first wife (the nymph Oenone), who came to Troy and fell in love with Helen. She is said to have received him with the “greatest warmth,” then Paris ends up killing him… Parthenius does note at the end of his telling that there is an alternate version of a Corythus - recounted by the poet Nicander - where he is a son of Helen and Paris, though no further details are given. I suppose in that version Corythus wouldn’t have tried seducing Helen, since, yk, he was her son!

Conon’s Narrations (as recorded in the 9th c. CE Biblioteca of Photius) is also of the 1st century BC. Here, Oenone explicitly sends Corythus to make Paris jealous as well as to plot “something bad” against Helen. Paris is suspicious when he sees Corythus with his second wife, so he kills him.

Our next entry is the Trojan War Chronicle, supposedly written by Dictys Cretenis, of the 4th century CE. In this, Corythus is one of Helen and Paris’ three sons who all die when a roof collapses in Troy.

John Malalas’ 6th century Chronographia also says Corythus was one of the three sons of Helen and Paris. He and his brothers were the last faces Paris saw before he succumbed to his injuries.