Troilus
heroYoung Trojan prince killed by Achilles at the temple of Apollo, whose death was prophesied to seal Troy's doom.
The Myth
He had to reach twenty years old for Troy to survive — Achilles killed him at the altar of Apollo, and he was maybe fifteen. A prophecy stated that if Troilus reached the age of twenty, Troy would never fall. Achilles hunted the boy down and killed him at the altar of Apollo Thymbraios, committing sacrilege. Some later sources say Achilles was attracted to the youth and killed him when rejected. Apollo's rage over the desecration of his temple became one of the reasons the god guided Paris's arrow into Achilles's heel. The murder of Troilus was one of the most depicted scenes on Greek pottery. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida reimagines him as a lover rather than a victim.
Symbols
Fun Fact
Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida transformed a child-murder victim into a romantic hero.
Explore Further
Achilles
heroThe greatest warrior in the Greek army at Troy, nearly invulnerable thanks to being dipped in the...
Hecuba
heroHecuba was the queen of Troy who watched her husband, sons, and city destroyed — embodying the...
Hecuba (Revenge)
heroQueen of Troy who survived the fall, witnessed the sacrifice of Polyxena, and took savage revenge...
Paris
heroParis was the Trojan prince whose judgement of three goddesses and abduction of Helen ignited the...
Priam
heroPriam was the aged king of Troy, father of fifty sons including Hector and Paris, whose night...
Apollo
godGod of light, music, poetry, and prophecy. Apollo embodied the Greek ideal of youthful masculine...
Apollo (Light)
godApollo was the most complex Olympian — god of light, music, poetry, prophecy, healing, plague, and...
Apollo Loxias
godAn epithet of Apollo meaning "the Oblique One," referring to the deliberately ambiguous nature of...
Trojan Horse
conceptThe hollow wooden horse used by the Greeks to infiltrate and destroy Troy. Devised by Odysseus, it...
Trojan War
conceptThe Trojan War was the central event of Greek mythology — a ten-year siege of Troy by a Greek...
Troy
placeThe legendary city in Asia Minor besieged by the Greeks for ten years in the Trojan War. Troy's...
Troy (Hisarlik)
placeHisarlik in Turkey is the archaeological site identified as Homer's Troy — multiple cities layered...