Chersonese
The narrow Thracian peninsula (modern Gallipoli), site of Protesilaus' sanctuary and Hecuba's transformation.
The Story of Chersonese
The Thracian Chersonese was the finger of land where Europe nearly touches Asia across the Hellespont. It was here that Protesilaus — the first Greek to leap ashore at Troy and the first to die — had a shrine, where his ghost was said to still appear to pilgrims. At the far end of the peninsula, after Troy's fall, the captive Trojan queen Hecuba was being transported into slavery when she leaped overboard and was transformed into a black dog by the gods, who took pity on her grief. The site of her drowning was called Cynossema — the Dog's Tomb.
Parents
{Protesilaus (shrine),Hecuba (fate here)}
Children
{}
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Fun Fact
The ghost of Protesilaus was believed to be so powerful that a sacred precinct was established in his honour and crops planted near it were said to grow especially tall.
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