last king of Troy in Greek mythology
Priam
Priam is the king of Troy during the Trojan War in Greek myth. Father of heroes such as Hector and Paris and of the prophetess Cassandra, he embodies the grief of a city that falls, and his meeting with Achilles is one of the most admired passages of the Iliad.
The myth
According to Apollodorus, the future king was first named Podarces, meaning "swift-footed". He was the son of Laomedon, who refused to pay Heracles the reward promised for saving the city from a sea monster sent by Poseidon. Heracles attacked Troy and killed nearly the entire royal family. Podarces survived because his sister Hesione paid for his life with her veil, and from then on he was known as Priam, a name ancient writers linked to the verb priamai, "to buy". Apollodorus also says he fought with the Phrygians against the Amazons.
As king, he extended his power across the region, so that Troy came to be known as the "mistress of Asia". He first married Arisbe, who bore him Aesacus, and then Hecuba, with whom he had a very large family; the Iliad speaks of fifty sons. During the war he was too old to fight and mainly presided over councils. According to Herodotus, the Trojans refused to return Helen. In the Iliad he does not blame Helen for the war and is portrayed as just and kind.
He saw his sons die one after another. When Achilles killed Hector and dragged his body, the old king went alone to the enemy camp to beg for its return. Moved, Achilles agreed, and a truce was granted for Hector's funeral. According to Apollodorus and Hyginus, Priam died when Troy fell: he tried to defend the city with weapons, but Hecuba drew him to the altar of Zeus for protection, and there Neoptolemus, Achilles' son, cut his throat. According to Virgil, Neoptolemus had earlier killed his son Polites before his eyes.
Legacy
He appears in many paintings of the death of Priam and of his plea to Achilles, from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century, and in films and series such as Troy (2004), where Peter O'Toole played him. Berlioz's opera Les Troyens includes him as a minor role.
Ancient sources: Homer's Iliad recounts his plea to Achilles, Virgil's Aeneid describes his death, and Apollodorus and Hyginus record his genealogy and end.
In art
Music, opera and dance
- Les Troyens · Hector Berlioz, 1863
- King Priam · Michael Tippett, 1962
Film and television
- Troy · Wolfgang Petersen, 2004
- L'Odissea · Franco Rossi
- Hamlet · Patrick Doyle, 1996
- Helen of Troy · Robert Wise, 1956
- The Odyssey · Eduard Artemyev, 1997
- Troy: Fall of a City · Owen Harris
- The Trojan Horse · Giovanni Fusco, 1961
- Helen of Troy · John Kent Harrison, 2003
- The Fury of Achilles · Carlo Savina, 1962
Literature and theatre
- Iliad · Homer
- Aeneid · Virgil
- Cassandra · Christa Wolf, 1984
- The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys