Priam

Family: Troy · Role: king of Troïa · First appears: Aeschylus, Agamemnon — Scene 1

Priam, king of Troïa, was the father of Paris, Cassandra, Helenus, Polydorus, Polyxena, Hector, and Neoptolemus. When Paris was born, Cassandra urged that the child be killed, warning, “Let the child be slain; Kill him, or Priam’s empire is betrayed.” The princes ignored her warning. Priam was married to Hecuba.

Before Troy fell, Priam secretly sent Polydorus to Polymestor, his Thracian friend, with gold for safekeeping and upbringing. Rhesus was also his friend, while Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Helen were counted among his enemies; Helen is also linked to a song by Priam’s son celebrating her beauty.

When the Greeks destroyed Ilion, Agamemnon described the sack as vengeance against Priam’s city. Priam was slain at the altar by Achilles’ son, and was left uninterred after Troy’s fall. Later, Polymestor revealed that he had murdered Polydorus to prevent Troy’s revival, saying, “Him I put to death.”