Polyxena
Trojan princess sacrificed on Achilles's tomb after the fall of Troy to appease his ghost.
The Legend of Polyxena
They slit a princess's throat on a dead man's grave — because his ghost demanded it. After Troy fell, Achilles's ghost appeared above his burial mound and demanded that Polyxena be sacrificed before the Greek fleet could sail home. Neoptolemus, Achilles's son, performed the killing. In some versions, Achilles had loved Polyxena and was killed while meeting her secretly at the temple of Apollo — making the sacrifice a grotesque consummation. Euripides's Hecuba shows Polyxena accepting her death with dignity, preferring it to slavery. She asked that no one hold her, and she fell like a statue. Hecuba, already broken by Polydorus's murder, lost her last remaining child.
Parents
Priam, Hecuba
Symbols
Fun Fact
Polyxena's willing death is often compared to Iphigenia's — both are royal girls sacrificed so fleets can sail.
Explore Further
Iphigenia
🗡 heroPrincess sacrificed for the Trojan War
Iphigenia was Agamemnon's eldest daughter, sacrificed at Aulis to gain winds for Troy — or rescued at the last moment by Artemis and whisked to Tauris.
Menoeceus
🗡 herosacrifice
Young Theban prince who killed himself to save Thebes after Tiresias prophesied the city needed royal blood.
Menoeceus
🗡 herosacrifice, prophecy
A young Theban nobleman who sacrificed himself by leaping from the city walls to fulfil Tiresias's prophecy that only royal blood could save Thebes from the Seven.
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.
Erechtheus
🗡 herokingship
Legendary king of Athens who sacrificed his own daughter to win a war and was killed by Poseidon's trident.
Haemon
🗡 heroNone recorded
Son of Creon and fiancé of Antigone who died beside her in defiance of his father
Androgeos
🗡 heroAthletics, sacrifice
Son of King Minos whose murder at Athens caused the tribute of seven youths and seven maidens to the Minotaur
Alcestis
🗡 heroWife who died for her husband
Alcestis was the devoted wife who volunteered to die in place of her husband Admetus — the only person willing to make the sacrifice.
Iphis of Argos
🗡 heroUnrequited Love, Class, Suicide
Poor Argive youth who died of unrequited love for Anaxarete, who was then turned to stone.
Absyrtus
🗡 herotragedy
Son of King Aeetes of Colchis, murdered and dismembered by his sister Medea to slow their father's pursuit.
Busiris
🗡 heroNone recorded
Egyptian king who sacrificed strangers to Zeus until Heracles broke free and killed him
Sarpédon
🗡 heroSon of Zeus who died at Troy
Sarpedon was a son of Zeus and the greatest Lycian warrior at Troy — his death forced Zeus to confront the limits of even divine power.