Protesilaus
heroΠρωτεσίλαος
First Greek to die at Troy
Protesilaus was the first Greek to set foot on Trojan soil — and the first to die.
The Myth
An oracle declared the first man ashore would die. Protesilaus leapt from his ship and was killed. His wife Laodamia embraced a wax image of him. The gods let him return for three hours; when he left again, she threw herself on a pyre.
Parents
Iphicles and Astyoche
Children
None recorded
Symbols
ship's prowfirst footprintelm treeswax image
Fun Fact
His tomb's elm trees were said to die when tall enough to see Troy, then regrow — forever reaching toward the city that killed him.