Polydorus of Troy
Youngest son of Priam, sent away from Troy with gold for safekeeping, only to be murdered by his host.
The Legend of Polydorus of Troy
His host murdered him for gold — one of the most damning violations of xenia in all Greek myth. Priam sent young Polydorus to King Polymestor of Thrace along with treasure, hoping to protect his youngest son from the war. When Troy fell, Polymestor killed the boy and threw his body into the sea. Hecuba discovered her son's corpse washed up on the shore near the Greek camp. Her revenge was terrible: she lured Polymestor into her tent, blinded him, and killed his children. Euripides made this the climax of his Hecuba, showing how grief transforms a queen into something Agamemnon himself feared.
Parents
Priam, Hecuba
Symbols
Explore Further
Procne
🗡 herovengeance
Athenian princess married to Tereus who killed her own son Itys to avenge her sister Philomela's rape.
Aerope
🗡 heroAdultery, royalty
Queen of Mycenae whose adultery with Thyestes caused the devastating curse upon the House of Atreus
Hecuba
🗡 heroQueen of Troy
Hecuba was the queen of Troy who watched her husband, sons, and city destroyed — embodying the total devastation that war inflicts on women.
Clytemnestra
🗡 heroQueen who murdered Agamemnon
Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon on his return from Troy, driven by rage over Iphigenia's sacrifice.
Phaedra
🗡 heroQueen consumed by forbidden love
Phaedra was the wife of Theseus who was cursed by Aphrodite to fall hopelessly in love with her stepson Hippolytus — her suicide and false accusation destroyed him.
Chrysippus
🗡 heroNone recorded
A son of Pelops whose abduction by Laius of Thebes brought a curse upon the house of Laius and introduced the theme of transgression that haunted the Oedipus cycle
Hecuba
🗡 herovengeance
Queen of Troy who survived the fall, witnessed the sacrifice of Polyxena, and took savage revenge on the man who murdered her son Polydorus.
Itys
🗡 herotragedy
Young son of Tereus and Procne murdered by his own mother and served as food to his father in revenge for Philomela's rape.
Megara
🗡 heroNone recorded
First wife of Heracles, given to him as a reward and later killed in his madness
Agamemnon
🗡 heroKing of Mycenae
Agamemnon led the Greek coalition against Troy but was murdered upon return by his wife Clytemnestra.
Perseus
🗡 heroHero who slew Medusa
The son of Zeus and Danae who beheaded Medusa, rescued Andromeda, and founded the Perseid dynasty of Mycenae.
Hippolytus
🗡 heroSon of Theseus destroyed by Aphrodite
Hippolytus was the chaste son of Theseus who rejected Aphrodite and was destroyed when his stepmother Phaedra fell in love with him.