InGreek mythology,Protesilaus (/ˌprɒtɪsɪˈleɪəs/;Ancient Greek:Πρωτεσίλᾱος,romanized: Prōtesilāos) was ahero in theIliad who was venerated atcult sites inThessaly andThrace. Protesilaus was the son ofIphiclus, a "lord of many sheep"; as grandson of the eponymous Phylacos, he was the leader of thePhylaceans.[1]Hyginus surmised that he was originally known as Iolaus—not to be confused withIolaus, the nephew ofHeracles—but was referred to as "Protesilaus" after being the first (πρῶτος,protos) to leap ashore atTroy, and thus the first to die in the war.[2]
In the account ofDares the Phrygian, Protesilaus was illustrated as ". . .fair-skinned, and dignified. He was swift, self-confident, and even rash."[3]
Protesilaus was one of thesuitors of Helen.[4] He brought forty black ships with him to Troy,[5] drawing his men from "flowering"Pyrasus, coastal Antron andPteleus, "deep in grass", in addition to his nativePhylace. Protesilaus was the first to land: "the first man who dared to leap ashore when the Greek fleet touched theTroad",Pausanias recalled, quoting the author of the epic tale called theCypria.[6] Anoracle byThetis had prophesied that the first Greek to walk on the land after stepping off a ship in theTrojan War would be the first to die,[2] and so, after killing four men,[7] he was himself slain byHector. Alternate sources have him slain by eitherAeneas,Euphorbus,Achates, orCycnus.[8] Another legend claims thatOdysseus threw his shield on the beach and jumped upon it. Tricked Protesilaus, thinking that Odysseus was the first who stepped on Trojan soil, jumped second and died afterwards[citation needed]. After Protesilaus's death, his brother,Podarces, joined the war in his place.[9] The gods had pity on his widow,Laodamia, daughter ofAcastus, and brought him up from Hades to see her. She was at first overjoyed, thinking he had returned from Troy, but after the gods returned him to the underworld, she found the loss unbearable.[10] She had a bronze statue of her late husband constructed, and devoted herself to it. After her worried father had witnessed her behavior, he had it destroyed; however, Laodamia jumped into the fire with it.[11] Another source claims his wife wasPolydora, daughter ofMeleager.[12]
According to legend, the Nymphs plantedelms on the tomb, in theThracian Chersonese, of "great-hearted Protesilaus" («μεγάθυμου Πρωτεσιλάου»), elms that grew to be the tallest in the known world; but when their topmost branches saw far off the ruins of Troy, they immediately withered, so great still was the bitterness of the hero buried below.[13][14] The story is the subject of a poem byAntiphilus of Byzantium (1st century A.D.) in thePalatine Anthology:
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Only twosanctuaries to Protesilaus are attested.[16] There was a shrine of Protesilaus atPhylace, his home in Thessaly, where his widow was left lacerating her cheeks in mourning him,[17] and games were organised there in his honour,Pindar noted.[18] The tomb of Protesilaus atElaeus in theThracian Chersonese is documented in the 5th century BCE, when, during thePersian War, votive treasure deposited at his tomb was plundered by the satrap Artayctes, under permission fromXerxes. The Greeks later captured and executed Artayctes, returning the treasure.[19] The tomb was mentioned again whenAlexander the Great arrived at Elaeus on his campaign against thePersian Empire. He offered a sacrifice on the tomb,[20] hoping to avoid the fate of Protesilaus when he arrived in Asia. Like Protesilaus before him, Alexander was the first to set foot on Asian soil during his campaign.[21]Philostratus writing of this temple in the early 3rd century CE,[22] speaks of acult statue of Protesilaus at this temple "standing on a base which was shaped like the prow of a boat." Coins of Elaeus from the time ofCommodus with Protesilaus on the prow of a ship, in helmet,cuirass and shortchiton on the reverse probably depict this statue.[23][24]Strabo also mentions the sanctuary.[25]
A founder-cult of Protesilaus at Scione, inPallene, Chalcidice, was given anetiology by the Greek grammarian and mythographer of the Augustan-eraConon[26] that is at variance with theepic tradition. In this, Conon asserts that Protesilaus survived the Trojan War and was returning with Priam's sister Aethilla as his captive. When the ships go ashore for water on the coast of Pallene, between Scione and Mende, Aethilla persuaded the other Trojan women to burn the ships, forcing Protesilaus to remain and found the city of Scione. A rare tetradrachm of Scione ca. 480 BCE acquired by theBritish Museum depicts Protesilaus, identified by the retrograde legendPROTESLAS.[27]
Protesilaus, speaking from beyond the grave, is the oracular source of the corrected eye-witness version of the actions of heroes at Troy, related by a "vine-dresser" to a Phoenician merchant in theframing device that gives an air of authenticity to the narratives ofPhilostratus'sHeroicus, a late literary representation ofGreek hero-cult traditions that developed independently of the epic tradition.[28]
Among very few representations of Protesilaus,[29] a sculpture byDeinomenes is just a passing mention inPliny'sNatural History;[30] the outstanding surviving examples are two Roman copies of a lost mid-fifth century Greek bronze original representing Protesilaus at his defining moment, one of them in a torso at theBritish Museum,[31] the other at theMetropolitan Museum of Art.[32] The Metropolitan's sculpture of a heroically nudehelmeted warrior stands on a forward-slanting base, looking down and slightly to his left, with his right arm raised, prepared to strike, would not be identifiable, save by comparison made byGisela Richter[33] with a torso of the same model and its associated slanting base, schematically carved as the prow of a ship encircled by waves: Protesilaus about to jump ashore.
Euripides had a tragedy named after Protesilaus, but it is not one of his extant plays.[34]
The poem in thePalatine Anthology (VII.141) on Protesilaus byAntiphilus of Byzantium in turn inspiredF. L. Lucas's poem "The Elms of Protesilaus" (1927).[35]