Helenus
Encyclopedia
Helenus was a Trojan
soldier and prophet in the Trojan War
.
In Greek mythology
, Helenus (Ἕλενος) was the son of King Priam
and Queen Hecuba
of Troy
, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra
. He was also called Scamandrios. According to legend, Cassandra, having been given the power of prophecy by Apollo
, taught it to her brother. Like Cassandra, he was always right, but unlike her, others believed him.
Helenus was part of the Trojan forces led by his brother Hector
that beat the Greeks back from the plains west of Troy, and attacked their camp in the Iliad
. Though when the Myrmidons led by Achilles
turn the tide of battle and Hector is killed, foreshadowing Troy's imminent fall, Helenus - like most of the greatest heroes - survived the poem.
In the final year of the Trojan War, Helenus vied against his brother Deiphobus
for the hand of Helen of Troy after the death of their brother Paris
, but Helen was awarded to Deiphobus. Disgruntled over his loss, Helenus retreated to Mount Ida
, where Odysseus
later captured him. He told the Greek forces—probably out of his disgruntlement—under what circumstances they could take Troy. He said that they would win if they stole the Trojan Palladium
, brought the bones of Pelops
to Troy, and persuaded Neoptolemus
(Achilles
' son by the Scyrian princess Deidamia) and Philoctetes
(who possessed Heracles
' bow and arrows) to join the Greeks in the war. Neoptolemus was hiding from the war at Scyrus, but the Greeks retrieved him.
Neoptolemus had taken Helenus's sister-in-law, Andromache
, as a slave and concubine after Hector
's death, and fathered Molossus
, Pielus and Pergamus
on her. After the fall of Troy, Helenus became a sort of vassal to Neoptolemus. He traveled with Neoptolemus, Andromache and their children to Epirus
, where Neoptolemus permitted him to found the city of Buthrotum. After Neoptolemus left Epirus, he left Andromache and their sons in Helenus's care. Neoptolemus was killed by Orestes
, Agamemmon's son, in dispute over Hermione
, the daughter of Menelaus
and Helen, whom Orestes had been promised as wife, but whom Neoptolemus had taken. As the kingdom of Neoptolemus was partitioned, this led to Helenus acquiring the rule of Buthrotum, as king. Andromache bore him a son, Cestrinus
, who is identified with Genger or Zenter, a legendary Trojan king and father of Franco. Some mythographers alleged that Helenus married Neoptolemus's mother, Deidamia, as well as Andromache, in order to consolidate his claims on part of Neoptolemus' kingdom. Helenus prophesied Aeneas
' founding of Rome
when he and his followers stopped at Buthrotum, detailed by Virgil in Aeneid
Book III.
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
soldier and prophet in the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
.
In Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Helenus (Ἕλενος) was the son of King Priam
Priam
Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous".- Marriage and issue :...
and Queen Hecuba
Hecuba
Hecuba was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War, with whom she had 19 children. These children included several major characters of Homer's Iliad such as the warriors Hector and Paris, and the prophetess Cassandra...
of Troy
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra
Cassandra
In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy...
. He was also called Scamandrios. According to legend, Cassandra, having been given the power of prophecy by Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, taught it to her brother. Like Cassandra, he was always right, but unlike her, others believed him.
Helenus was part of the Trojan forces led by his brother Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
that beat the Greeks back from the plains west of Troy, and attacked their camp in the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
. Though when the Myrmidons led by Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
turn the tide of battle and Hector is killed, foreshadowing Troy's imminent fall, Helenus - like most of the greatest heroes - survived the poem.
In the final year of the Trojan War, Helenus vied against his brother Deiphobus
Deiphobus
In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris...
for the hand of Helen of Troy after the death of their brother Paris
Paris (mythology)
Paris , the son of Priam, king of Troy, appears in a number of Greek legends. Probably the best-known was his elopement with Helen, queen of Sparta, this being one of the immediate causes of the Trojan War...
, but Helen was awarded to Deiphobus. Disgruntled over his loss, Helenus retreated to Mount Ida
Mount Ida
In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete; and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia which was also known as the Phrygian Ida in classical antiquity and is the mountain that is mentioned in the Iliad of...
, where Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
later captured him. He told the Greek forces—probably out of his disgruntlement—under what circumstances they could take Troy. He said that they would win if they stole the Trojan Palladium
Palladium (mythology)
In Greek and Roman mythology, a palladium or palladion was an image of great antiquity on which the safety of a city was said to depend. "Palladium" especially signified the wooden statue of Pallas Athena that Odysseus and Diomedes stole from the citadel of Troy and which was later taken to the...
, brought the bones of Pelops
Pelops
In Greek mythology, Pelops , was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus. He was the founder of the House of Atreus through his son of that name....
to Troy, and persuaded Neoptolemus
Neoptolemus
Neoptolemus was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia in Greek mythology. Achilles' mother foretold many years before Achilles' birth that there would be a great war. She saw that her only son was to die if he fought in the war...
(Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
' son by the Scyrian princess Deidamia) and Philoctetes
Philoctetes
Philoctetes or Philocthetes according to Greek mythology, the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. He was a Greek hero, famed as an archer, and was a participant in the Trojan War. He was the subject of at least two plays by Sophocles, one of which is named after him, and one each by both...
(who possessed Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
' bow and arrows) to join the Greeks in the war. Neoptolemus was hiding from the war at Scyrus, but the Greeks retrieved him.
Neoptolemus had taken Helenus's sister-in-law, Andromache
Andromache
In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled...
, as a slave and concubine after Hector
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
's death, and fathered Molossus
Molossus
Molossus may refer to:*Molossus , genus of bats*Molossus , extinct breed of dog*Molossus , type of metrical foot*Molossus , in Greek mythology, the son of Neoptolemus and Andromache and ancestor of the Molossians...
, Pielus and Pergamus
Pergamus
In Greek mythology, Pergamus was the son of the warrior Neoptolemus and Andromache.In the Bible, Pergamus was quoted as an Asian kingdom where an unknown being from the Book of Revelation sends a message to the seven churches of Asia...
on her. After the fall of Troy, Helenus became a sort of vassal to Neoptolemus. He traveled with Neoptolemus, Andromache and their children to Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
, where Neoptolemus permitted him to found the city of Buthrotum. After Neoptolemus left Epirus, he left Andromache and their sons in Helenus's care. Neoptolemus was killed by Orestes
Orestes
Orestes was the son of Agamemnon in Greek mythology; Orestes may also refer to:Drama*Orestes , by Euripides*Orestes, the character in Sophocles' tragedy Electra*Orestes, the character in Aeschylus' trilogy of tragedies, Oresteia...
, Agamemmon's son, in dispute over Hermione
Hermione
Hermione may refer to:* Hermione , a female given name* Hermione Granger, a main character in the Harry Potter novels and films, seven ships of the Royal Navy...
, the daughter of Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
and Helen, whom Orestes had been promised as wife, but whom Neoptolemus had taken. As the kingdom of Neoptolemus was partitioned, this led to Helenus acquiring the rule of Buthrotum, as king. Andromache bore him a son, Cestrinus
Cestrinus
In Greek mythology, Cestrinus was the only son of Helenus and Andromache. According to Pausanias, Cestrinus was upset when Andromache's son Molossus succeeded Helenus to the throne of Epirus. Taking a group of Epirotian volunteers, he claimed the region of Epirus north of the River Thyamis and it...
, who is identified with Genger or Zenter, a legendary Trojan king and father of Franco. Some mythographers alleged that Helenus married Neoptolemus's mother, Deidamia, as well as Andromache, in order to consolidate his claims on part of Neoptolemus' kingdom. Helenus prophesied Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
' founding of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
when he and his followers stopped at Buthrotum, detailed by Virgil in Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
Book III.
See also
- List of King Priam's children
- The Golden Bough (mythology)The Golden Bough (mythology)The Golden Bough is one of the episodic tales written in the epic Aeneid, book VI, by ancient Roman poet Vergil , which narrates the adventures of the Trojan hero Aeneas after the Trojan War.-Story:...