InGreek mythology,Helenus (/ˈhɛlənəs/;Ancient Greek:Ἕλενος,romanized: Hélenos) was a gentle and clever seer.[2] He was also aTrojan prince as theson of KingPriam[3] and QueenHecuba ofTroy,[4] and the twin brother of the prophetessCassandra.
In the earliest sources, Helenus and his sister Cassandra were given the power of prophecy byApollo after their ears were licked by snakes.[5] In other sources, Helenus was taught the power by Cassandra, but others generally believed his predictions. After gaining foresight, he was renamed from Scamandrius to Helenus by a Thracian soothsayer.[6] Helenus predicted that ifAlexander (Paris) brought home a Greek wife (i.e.Helen), the Achaeans would pursue, and overpower Troy and slay his parents and brothers.[7]
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Trojans and allies |
Helenus is described by Homer as being the greatest ofaugurs. He advises Hector to challenge any Achaean to a duel, whichTelemonian Ajax accepts. Helenus led the third battalion of the Trojan forces along with his brotherDeiphobus. He was also part of the Trojan forces led by his brotherHector that beat theGreeks back from the plains west of Troy, and attacked their camp in theIliad. He is wounded in the hand byMenelaus and forced to retreat.
In the final year of the Trojan War, Helenus vied against his brotherDeiphobus for the hand of Helen after the death of their brotherParis, but Helen was awarded to Deiphobus. Disgruntled over his loss, Helenus retreated toMount Ida, whereOdysseus later captured him.[8] He tells Odysseus, perhaps after torture or coercion, how to capture Troy: they would win if they stole the TrojanPalladium, brought the bones ofPelops to Troy, and persuadedNeoptolemus (Achilles' son by theScyrian princessDeidamia) andPhiloctetes (who possessedHeracles' bow and arrows) to join the Greeks in the war.[9] Neoptolemus was hiding from the war atScyrus, but the Greeks retrieved him.
Neoptolemus had takenAndromache, Helenus's sister-in-law andHector's widow, as a slave and concubine after the fall of Troy, and fatheredMolossus,Pielus andPergamus with her. After the fall of Troy, Helenus went with Neoptolemus, according to Apollodorus' Epitome 6.13.[10] He traveled with Neoptolemus, Andromache and their children toEpirus, where Neoptolemus permitted him to found the city ofButhrotum.[11] After Neoptolemus left Epirus, he left Andromache and their sons in Helenus's care.
Neoptolemus was killed byOrestes, Agamemmon's son, in a dispute overHermione, the daughter ofMenelaus andHelen, 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. "Helenus, a son of Priam, was king over these Greek cities of Epirus, having succeeded to the throne and bed of Neoptolemus."[12][13]
Andromache bore him a son,Cestrinus,[14] who is identified with Genger or Zenter, a legendary Trojan king and father ofFrancus. Some mythographers alleged that Helenus was given the hand of both Deidamia[15] and Andromache[16] in marriage, which helped consolidate his claims to Neoptolemus' kingdom.[17] Helenus prophesiedAeneas' founding ofRome when he and his followers stopped at Buthrotum, detailed by Virgil inAeneid Book III.
In one account, Helenus got his mother Hecuba after theTrojan War and they crossed over to theChersonese where the queen was turned into a bitch. Helenus then buried her at the place now called the Bitch's Tomb.[18]
In one version of the myth,Agamemnon summoned all of the traitors who helped betray Troy and honored their promises to them after the sack of the Troy. Two of which were Helenus and Cassandra who had always pled with Priam for peace, and how Helenus had successfully urged the return of Achilles' body for burial. Accordingly, Agamemnon, following the advice of the council, gave Helenus and Cassandra their freedom. Then Helenus, remembering how Hecuba and Andromache had always loved him, interceded with Agamemnon in their behalf. The latter by advice of the council gave these their freedom. It is said that these four migrated to the Thracian Chersonese where they settled with twelve hundred followers.[19]
InGeoffrey of Monmouth'sHistoria Regum Britanniae (c. 1136) Helenus was captured by Neoptolemus along with many other Trojans, and taken in chains to Greece as revenge for the death ofAchilles in the Trojan War. Under Neoptolemus' orders, they and their descendants remained in slavery until the time of KingPandrasus several generations later, when they were liberated byBrutus of Troy.[20]
