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.
During 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. Alternatively, he told them that they would
win if
Troilus, Helenus's brother, were
killed before he turned twenty. Achilles's son
Neoptolemus ambushed Troilus and his sister,
Polyxena.
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. 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, instead of
Andromache.
Helenus prophesied Aeneas' founding of Rome
when he and
his followers stopped at Buthrotum.
References
See also
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