Pyrrhus (son of Achilles)

Also known as: Neoptolemus / Pyrrhus · Family: Epirote · Role: warrior; son of Achilles · First appears: Book 1 · Chapter 4

In Book 1, Chapter 4, Pyrrhus (son of Achilles) is named as the son of Achilles and one of three warriors who pressed the Galati hard at Delphi, alongside Hyperochus and Amadocus. The Delphians began sacrificing to him for this aid, though previously they had dishonoured his tomb as that of an enemy. In Book 1, Chapter 11, he is said to have had no son by Hermione, but to have had Molossus, Pielus and Pergamus by Andromache; later, Helenus married Andromache and became regent for Pyrrhus’s sons.

In Book 2, Chapter 5, one account says Pyrrhus burned a temple of Apollo near Corinth; Book 10, Chapter 7 also says he plundered Apollo’s temple at Delphi and seized its treasures. In Book 4, Chapter 17, under the name Neoptolemus, he is said to have killed Priam at the altar of Household Zeus and then been killed at Delphi in Apollo’s temple. Book 10, Chapters 24 and 26 describe his death at the hand of a priest of Apollo and depict him killing Elasus and striking Astynous with his sword. At Delphi, a priest killed him at an altar; accounts also say Lycomedes called him Pyrrhus, while Phœnix gave him the name Neoptolemus because he was very young when he first went to war.