Laomedon

Also known as: Phrygian king · Family: mortal · Role: father of Antigone · First appears: Fable 55

Laomedon, the Phrygian king, is the father of Antigone, whose contest with the wife of Jupiter led Juno to change her into a bird; neither Ilion nor Laomedon protected her from assuming wings. Troy later saw Hercules punish Laomedon for his perfidious conduct.

At Troy, Laomedon employed Apollo and Neptune to build the city’s walls for an agreed payment, then refused the promised reward. Neptune answered, “Thou shalt not escape unpunished,” inundating Troy and demanding Laomedon’s daughter Hesione for a sea monster; Hercules rescued her, but Laomedon denied him the promised horses as well. In revenge, Hercules captured Troy’s walls and carried off Hesione. Laomedon was the son of Ilus and father of Priam, while Æsacus belonged to the succeeding line through Priam.

Relationship record

Life events

• Apollo and Neptune build the walls of Troy for Laomedon.(Fable96 · 📍 Troy)
  • With: Apollo Neptune
  • “Apollo and Neptune build the walls of Troy for king Laomedon”
• Laomedon refuses the promised reward, and Neptune inundates Troy in punishment.(Fable96 · 📍 Troy)
  • With: Neptune
  • “The work is {now} finished; the king refuses the reward, and, as a completion of his perfidy, adds perjury to his false words. ‘Thou shalt not escape unpunished,’ says the king of the sea; and he drives all his waters towards the shores of covetous Troy.”
• Neptune’s punishment forces Laomedon to chain Hesione to rocks for a sea monster.(Fable96)
  • With: Hesione Neptune
  • “Nor is this punishment sufficient: the daughter of the king, is also demanded for a sea monster. Chained to the rugged rocks”
• Laomedon denies Hercules the promised horses as his reward.(Fable96)
  • With: Hercules
  • “the recompense of so great a service being denied him”
• Hercules captures the walls of Troy in revenge for Laomedon’s betrayal.(Fable96 · 📍 Troy)
  • With: Hercules
  • “he captures the twice-perjured walls of conquered Troy”

Fable 55

• child: Antigone “She depicts, too, Antigone,[12] who once dared to contend with the wife of the great Jupiter; {and} whom the royal Juno changed into a bird; nor did Ilion protect her, or her father Laomedon, from assuming wings”

Fable 78

• enemies with Hercules “Troy had already seen them, when Hercules punished Laomedon, its king, for his perfidious conduct.”

Fable 96

• with Apollo (Apollo builds Troy's walls for Laomedon in exchange for a promised reward.) “Apollo and Neptune build the walls of Troy for king Laomedon, who refuses to give the Gods the reward which he has promised”
• with Neptune (Neptune punishes Laomedon for breaking his promise.) “Apollo and Neptune build the walls of Troy for king Laomedon, who refuses to give the Gods the reward which he has promised: on which Neptune punishes his perjury by an inundation of his country.”
• child: Hesione (Hesione is identified as Laomedon's daughter.) “Laomedon is then obliged to expose his daughter to a sea monster, in order to appease the God. Hercules delivers her; and Laomedon defrauds him likewise of the horses which he has promised him. In revenge, Hercules plunders the city of Troy, and carries off Hesione”
• with Hercules (Laomedon denies Hercules his promised reward, and Hercules retaliates.) “Hercules delivers her; and Laomedon defrauds him likewise of the horses which he has promised him. In revenge, Hercules plunders the city of Troy”
• servant: Apollo (Laomedon contracts Apollo to build the walls.) “And {then}, with the trident-bearing father of the raging deep, he assumes a mortal form, and for the Phrygian king they build the walls,[16] a sum of gold being agreed on for the defences.”
• servant: Neptune (Laomedon contracts Neptune to build the walls.) “And {then}, with the trident-bearing father of the raging deep, he assumes a mortal form, and for the Phrygian king they build the walls,[16] a sum of gold being agreed on for the defences.”
• enemies with Neptune (Neptune punishes Laomedon's perjury.) “The work is {now} finished; the king refuses the reward, and, as a completion of his perfidy, adds perjury to his false words. ‘Thou shalt not escape unpunished,’ says the king of the sea; and he drives all his waters towards the shores of covetous Troy.”
• enemies with Hercules (Laomedon defrauds Hercules, who retaliates by capturing Troy.) “Chained to the rugged rocks, Alcides delivers her, and demands the promised reward, the horses agreed upon; and the recompense of so great a service being denied him, he captures the twice-perjured walls of conquered Troy.”

Fable 98

• with Æsacus (Laomedon is identified as an ancestor of Æsacus.) “his ancestors are Ilus, and Assaracus, and Ganymede,[59] snatched away by Jupiter, and the aged Laomedon, and Priam, to whom were allotted the last days of Troy.”
• parent: Ilus (Ilus is Laomedon's father.) “Ilus was the father of Laomedon, whose son was Priam, the father of Æsacus.”
• child: Priam (Laomedon is Priam's father.) “Ilus was the father of Laomedon, whose son was Priam, the father of Æsacus.”
• younger kin: Æsacus “And, if you want to come down to him in one lengthened series, his ancestors are Ilus, and Assaracus, and Ganymede,[59] snatched away by Jupiter, and the aged Laomedon, and Priam, to whom were allotted the last days of Troy.”

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Extracted from the original text of The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Made with Rho MD.