Hesione
Trojan princess chained to a rock as sacrifice to a sea monster, rescued by Heracles, then given to Telamon as a war prize.
The Legend of Hesione
She was chained to a rock like Andromeda — but her rescue started a war rather than ending one. Hesione was offered to Poseidon's sea monster to atone for her father Laomedon's treachery. Heracles saved her, but Laomedon refused the promised reward. When Heracles sacked Troy, he gave Hesione to his companion Telamon of Salamis. She bore Teucer, half-brother of Ajax the Great. Priam never forgave the Greeks for taking his sister — some sources say recovering Hesione was the original reason he sent Paris to Greece, where Paris instead took Helen. Hesione's abduction is the first link in the chain that leads to the Trojan War.
Parents
Laomedon
Children
Teucer
Symbols
Explore Further
Andromeda
🗡 heroPrincess chained to a rock, saved by Perseus
Andromeda was an Ethiopian princess chained to a sea cliff as sacrifice to a monster — rescued by Perseus, who petrified the beast with Medusa's head.
Andromeda
🗡 herorescue
Ethiopian princess chained to a rock as sacrifice to a sea monster, rescued by Perseus, and placed among the stars.
Cepheus
🗡 herotragedy
Ethiopian king who chained his own daughter Andromeda to a rock to appease Poseidon's sea monster.
Cepheus
🗡 heroNone recorded
King of Aethiopia who nearly sacrificed his daughter Andromeda to a sea monster
Briseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Captured woman taken from Achilles by Agamemnon, whose seizure caused Achilles to withdraw from the Trojan War.
Aethra
🗡 heroMotherhood, Captivity, Loyalty
Princess of Troezen, mother of Theseus, who became a captive slave in Troy.
Chryseis
🗡 herocaptivity
Daughter of Apollo's priest Chryses whose capture by Agamemnon triggered the plague and quarrel that opens the Iliad.
Theseus
🗡 heroheroism
Athenian prince who entered the Cretan Labyrinth, killed the Minotaur with Ariadne's help, then abandoned her on Naxos.
Anaxibia
🗡 heroMarriage, royalty
Mycenaean princess who married Strophius of Phocis and raised the young Orestes in secret
Cassiopeia
🗡 heroQueen whose vanity endangered her daughter
Cassiopeia was the queen who boasted her beauty exceeded the sea nymphs — provoking Poseidon to demand her daughter Andromeda as sacrifice.
Ino
🗡 heromadness
Theban princess who raised the infant Dionysus, was driven mad by Hera, and leaped into the sea to become the goddess Leucothea.
Oreithyia
🗡 heroabduction
Athenian princess abducted by the North Wind Boreas, mother of the winged Argonauts Zetes and Calais.