Cassandra | The De Morgan Foundation The De Morgan Foundation Museum Number: P_EDM_0022 Dimensions: H 38.5", W 19" Keywords: Evelyn De Morgan, mythological painting, Greek legend, Cassandra, King Priam, Troy, Greek mythology, prophecy, predictions, prophet of doom, Apollo, burning city, Trojan horse Dates: 1898 Marks / Inscriptions: Signature, painted, lower right: "EDeM 1898" Description: In Greek legend, Cassandra (the daughter of King Priam, the King of Troy) was passionately loved by Apollo. He promised to grant her whatever she asked, if she loved him in return. Cassandra asked for the gift of prophecy, however once she received her powers she refused to keep her part of the bargain. Angry, Apollo wetted her lips with his tongue, ensuring that no-one would believe her predictions – although they were invariably correct. Cassandra was looked upon by the Trojans as insane and was confined. Her name has become synonymous the prophet of doom. In Virgil’s Aeneid, she prophesied the fall of Troy through a wooden horse, but was not believed.

In the picture she is seen tearing her hair because what she has foretold has come true. Troy is shown burning in the background. To the left is the wooden horse in which the Greeks by trickery entered the city and the flowers on the ground are blood red. Object Location: De Morgan Collection Storage © 2016 De Morgan Foundation, Curator's House, Watts Gallery Artists Village, Down Lane, Compton, Guildford, Surrey GU3 1DQ Tel: 01483 600 823 Email: info@demorgan.org.uk Charity No. 310004. Registered in England CHAPTER XXVIII. The Fall Of Troy- Return Of The Greeks- Agamemnon, Orestes And Electra. THE FALL OF TROY- RETURN OF THE GREEKS- AGAMEMNON, ORESTES AND ELECTRA. THE FALL OF TROY. THE story of the Iliad ends with the death of Hector, and it is from the Odyssey and later poems that we learn the fate of the other heroes. After the death of Hector, Troy did not immediately fall, but receiving aid from new allies still continued its resistance.

One of these allies was Memnon, the AEthiopian prince, whose story we have already told. Another was Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, who came with a band of female warriors. All the authorities attest their valour and the fearful effect of their war cry. Penthesilea slew many of the bravest warriors, but was at last slain by Achilles. But when the hero bent over his fallen foe, and contemplated her beauty, youth and valour, he bitterly regretted his victory. Thersites, an insolent brawler and demagogue, ridiculed his grief, and was in consequence slain by the hero. Achilles by chance had seen Polyxena, daughter of King Priam, perhaps on occasion of the truce which was allowed the Trojans for the burial of Hector. He was captivated with her charms, and to win her in marriage agreed to use his influence with the Greeks to grant peace to Troy. While in the temple of Apollo, negotiating the marriage, Paris discharged at him a poisoned arrow, which, guided by Apollo, wounded Achilles in the heel, the only vulnerable part about him.

For Thetis his mother had dipped him when an infant in the river Styx, which made every part of him invulnerable except the heel by which she held him.* * The story of the invulnerability of Achilles is not found in Homer, and is inconsistent with his account. For how could Achilles require the aid of celestial armour if he were invulnerable? The body of Achilles so treacherously slain was rescued by Ajax and Ulysses. Thetis directed the Greeks to bestow her son's armour on the hero who of all the survivors should be judged most deserving of it. Ajax and Ulysses were the only claimants; a select number of the other chiefs were appointed to award the prize. It was awarded to Ulysses, thus placing wisdom before valour, whereupon Ajax slew himself. On the spot where his blood sank into the earth a flower sprang up, called the hyacinth, bearing on its leaves the first two letters of the name of Ajax, Ai, the Greek for "woe." Thus Ajax is a claimant with the boy Hyacinthus for the honour of giving birth to this flower.

There is a species of Larkspur which represents the hyacinth of the poets in preserving the memory of this event, the Delphinium Ajacis- Ajax's Larkspur. It was now discovered that Troy could not be taken but by the aid of the arrows of Hercules. They were in possession of Philoctetes, the friend who had been with Hercules at the last and lighted his funeral pyre. Philoctetes had joined the Grecian expedition against Troy, but had accidentally wounded his foot with one of the poisoned arrows, and the smell from his wound proved so offensive that his companions carried him to the isle of Lemnos and left him there. Diomed was now sent to induce him to rejoin the army. He succeeded. Philoctetes was cured of his wound by Machaon, and Paris was the first victim of the fatal arrows. In his distress Paris bethought him of one whom in his prosperity he had forgotten. This was the nymph OEnone, whom he had married when a youth, and had abandoned for the fatal beauty Helen. OEnone remembering the wrongs she had suffered, refused to heal the wound, and Paris went back to Troy and died.

OEnone quickly repented, and hastened after him with remedies, but came too late, and in her grief hung herself.* * Tennyson has chosen OEnone as the subject of a short poem; but he has omitted the most poetical part of the story, the return of Paris wounded, her cruelty and subsequent repentance. There was in Troy a celebrated statue of Minerva called the Palladium. It was said to have fallen from heaven, and the belief was that the city could not be taken so long as this statue remained within it. Ulysses and Diomed entered the city in disguise and succeeded in obtaining the Palladium, which they carried off to the Grecian camp. But Troy still held out, and the Greeks began to despair of ever subduing it by force, and by advice of Ulysses resolved to resort to stratagem. They pretended to be making preparations to abandon the siege, and a portion of the ships were withdrawn and lay hid behind a neighbouring island. The Greeks then constructed an immense wooden horse, which they gave out was intended as a propitiatory offering to Minerva, but in fact was filled with armed men.

The remaining Greeks then betook themselves to their ships and sailed away, as if for a final departure. The Trojans, seeing the encampment broken up and the fleet gone, concluded the enemy to have abandoned the siege. The gates were thrown open, and the whole population issued forth rejoicing at the long-prohibited liberty of passing freely over the scene of the late encampment. The great horse was the chief object of curiosity. All wondered what it could be for. Some recommended to take it into the city as a trophy; others felt afraid of it. While they hesitate, Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, exclaims, "What madness, citizens, is this? Have you not learned enough of Grecian fraud to be on your guard against it? For my part, I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts."* So saying he threw his lance at the horse's side. It struck, and a hollow sound reverberated like a groan. Then perhaps the people might have taken his advice and destroyed the fatal horse and all its contents; but just at that moment a group of people appeared, dragging forward one who seemed a prisoner and a Greek.

Stupefied with terror, he was brought before the chiefs, who reassured him, promising that his life should be spared on condition of his returning true answers to the questions asked him. He informed them that he was a Greek, Sinon by name, and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure. With regard to the wooden horse, he told them that it was a propitiatory offering to Minerva, and made so huge for the express purpose of preventing its being carried within the city; for Calchas the prophet had told them that if the Trojans took possession of it they would assuredly triumph over the Greeks. This language turned the tide of the people's feelings and they began to think how they might best secure the monstrous horse and the favourable auguries connected with it, when suddenly a prodigy occurred which left no room to doubt. There appeared, advancing over the sea, two immense serpents. They came upon the land, and the crowd fled in all directions. The serpents advanced directly to the spot where Laocoon stood with his two sons.

They first attacked the children, winding round their bodies and breathing their pestilential breath in their faces. The father, attempting to rescue them, is next seized and involved in the serpents' coils. He struggles to tear them away, but they overpower all his efforts and strangle him and the children in their poisonous folds. This event was regarded as a clear indication of the displeasure of the gods at Laocoon's irreverent treatment of the wooden horse, which they no longer hesitated to regard as a sacred object, and prepared to introduce with due solemnity into the city. This was done with songs and triumphal acclamations, and the day closed with festivity. In the night the armed men who were enclosed in the body of the horse, being let out by the traitor Sinon, opened the gates of the city to their friends, who had returned under cover of the night. The city was set on fire; the people, overcome with feasting and sleep, put to the sword, and Troy completely subdued. * See Proverbial Expressions, no. 6. One of the most celebrated groups of statuary in existence is that of Laocoon and his children in the embrace of the serpents.

The original is in the Vatican at Rome. The following lines are from the "Childe Harold" of Byron: "Now turning to the Vatican go see Laocoon's torture dignifying pain; A father's love and mortal's agony With an immortal's patience blending;- vain The struggle! vain against the coiling strain And gripe and deepening of the dragon's grasp The old man's clinch; the long envenomed chain Rivets the living links; the enormous asp Enforces pang on pang and stifles gasp on gasp." The comic poets will also occasionally borrow a classical allusion. The following is from Swift's "Description of a City Shower": "Boxed in a chair the beau impatient sits, While spouts run clattering o'er the roof by fits, And ever and anon with frightful din The leather sounds; he trembles from within.

So when Troy chairmen bore the wooden steed Pregnant with Greeks impatient to be freed, (Those bully Greeks, who, as the moderns do, Instead of paying chairmen, run them through); Laocoon struck the outside with a spear, And each imprisoned champion quaked with fear." King Priam lived to see the downfall of his kingdom and was slain at last on the fatal night when the Greeks took the city. He had armed himself and was about to mingle with the combatants, but was prevailed on by Hecuba, his aged queen, to take refuge with herself and his daughters as a suppliant at the altar of Jupiter. While there, his youngest son Polites, pursued by Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, rushed in wounded, and expired at the feet of his father; whereupon Priam, overcome with indignation, hurled his spear with feeble hand against Pyrrhus,* and was forthwith slain by him. * Pyrrhus's exclamation, "Not such aid nor such defenders does the time require," has become proverbial. See Proverbial Expressions, no. 7. Queen Hecuba and her daughter Cassandra were carried captives to Greece.

Cassandra had been loved by Apollo, and he gave her the gift of prophecy; but afterwards offended with her, he rendered the gift unavailing by ordaining that her predictions should never be believed. Polyxena, another daughter, who had been loved by Achilles, was demanded by the ghost of that warrior, and was sacrificed by the Greeks upon his tomb. MENELAUS AND HELEN. Our readers will be anxious to know the fate of Helen, the fair but guilty occasion of so much slaughter. On the fall of Troy Menelaus recovered possession of his wife, who had not ceased to love him, though she had yielded to the might of Venus and deserted him for another. After the death of Paris she aided the Greeks secretly on several occasions, and in particular when Ulysses and Diomed entered the city in disguise to carry off the Palladium. She saw and recognized Ulysses, but kept the secret and even assisted them in obtaining the image. Thus she became reconciled to her husband, and they were among the first to leave the shores of Troy for their native land.

But having incurred the displeasure of the gods they were driven by storms from shore to shore of the Mediterranean, visiting Cyprus, Phoenicia and Egypt. In Egypt they were kindly treated and presented with rich gifts, of which Helen's share was a golden spindle and a basket on wheels. The basket was to hold the wool and spools for the queen's work. Dyer, in his poem of the "Fleece," thus alludes to this incident: "...many yet adhere To the ancient distaff, at the bosom fixed, Casting the whirling spindle as they walk. . . . . . . . . This was of old, in no inglorious days, The mode of spinning, when the Egyptian prince A golden distaff gave that beauteous nymph, Too beauteous Helen; no uncourtly gift." Milton also alludes to a famous recipe for an invigorating draught, called Nepenthe, which the Egyptian queen gave to Helen: "Not that Nepenthes which the wife of Thone In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena, Is of such power to stir up joy as this, To life so friendly or so cool to thirst." Comus.

Menelaus and Helen at length arrived in safety at Sparta, resumed their royal dignity, and lived and reigned in splendour; and when Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, in search of his father, arrived at Sparta, he found Menelaus and Helen celebrating the marriage of their daughter Hermione to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. AGAMEMNON, ORESTES AND ELECTRA. Agamemnon, the general-in-chief of the Greeks, the brother of Menelaus, and who had been drawn into the quarrel to avenge his brother's wrongs, not his own, was not so fortunate in the issue. During his absence his wife Clytemnestra had been false to him, and when his return was expected, she with her paramour, AEgisthus, laid a plan for his destruction, and at the banquet given to celebrate his return, murdered him. It was intended by the conspirators to slay his son Orestes also, a lad not yet old enough to be an object of apprehension, but from whom, if he should be suffered to grow up, there might be danger.

Electra, the sister of Orestes, saved her brother's life by sending him secretly away to his uncle Strophius, King of Phocis. In the palace of Strophius Orestes grew up with the king's son Pylades, and formed with him that ardent friendship which bas become proverbial. Electra frequently reminded her brother by messengers of the duty of avenging his father's death, and when grown up he consulted the oracle of Delphi, which confirmed him in his design. He therefore repaired in disguise to Argos, pretending to be a messenger from Strophius, who had come to announce the death of Orestes, and brought the ashes of the deceased in a funeral urn. After visiting his father's tomb and. sacrificing upon it, according to the rites of the ancients he made himself known to his sister Electra, and soon after slew both AEgisthus and Clytemnestra. This revolting act, the slaughter of a mother by her son, though alleviated by the guilt of the victim and the express command of the gods, did not fail to awaken in the breasts of the ancients the same abhorrence that it does in ours.

The Eumenides, avenging deities, seized upon Orestes, and drove him frantic from land to land. Pylades accompanied him in his wanderings and watched over him. At length, in answer to a second appeal to the oracle, he was directed to go to Tauris in Scythia, and to bring thence a statue of Diana which was believed to have fallen from heaven. Accordingly Orestes and Pylades went to Tauris, where the barbarous people were accustomed to sacrifice to the goddess all strangers who fell into their hands. The two friends were seized and carried bound to the temple to be made victims. But the priestess of Diana was no other than Iphigenia, the sister of Orestes, who, our readers will remember, was snatched away by Diana at the moment when she was about to be sacrificed. Ascertaining from the prisoners who they were, Iphigenia disclosed herself to them, and the three made their escape with the statue of the goddess, and returned to Mycenae. But Orestes was not yet relieved from the vengeance of the Erinyes. At length he took refuge with Minerva at Athens.

The goddess afforded him protection, and appointed the court of Areopagus to decide his fate. The Erinyes brought forward their accusation, and Orestes made the command of the Delphic oracle his excuse. When the court voted and the voices were equally divided, Orestes was acquitted by the command of Minerva. Byron, in "Childe Harold," Canto IV., alludes to the story of Orestes: "O thou who never yet of human wrong Left the unbalanced scale, great Nemesis! Thou who didst call the Furies from the abyss, And round Orestes bade them howl and hiss, For that unnatural retribution,-just Had it but been from hands less near,- in this, Thy former realm, I call thee from the dust!" One of the most pathetic scenes in the ancient drama is that in which Sophocles represents the meeting of Orestes and Electra, on his return from Phocis. Orestes, mistaking Electra for one of the domestics, and desirous of keeping his arrival a secret till the hour of vengeance should arrive, produces the urn in which his ashes are supposed to rest.

Electra, believing him to be really dead, takes the urn and, embracing it, pours forth her grief in language full of tenderness and despair. Milton in one of his sonnets, says: "...The repeated air Of sad Electra's poet had the power To save the Athenian walls from ruin bare." This alludes to the story that when, on one occasion, the city of Athens was at the mercy of her Spartan foes, and it was proposed to destroy it, the thought was rejected upon the accidental quotation, by some one, of a chorus of Euripides. TROY. After hearing so much about the city of Troy and its heroes, the reader will perhaps be surprised to learn that the exact site of that famous city is still a matter of dispute. There are some vestiges of tombs on the plain which most nearly answers to the description given by Homer and the ancient geographers, but no other evidence of the former existence of a great city.

Byron thus describes the present appearance of the scene: "The winds are high, and Helle's tide Rolls darkly heaving to the main; And night's descending shadows hide That field with blood bedewed in vain, The desert of old Priam's pride, The tombs, sole relics of his reign. All- save immortal dreams that could beguile The blind old man of Scio's rocky isle." Bride of Abydos. Cassandra in the Classical World Cassandra in the Classical World C assandra (also called Alexandra), in Greek myth, the prophetic daughter of Priam, king of Troy, and Hecuba his wife. For Homer, who knows nothing of her prophetic gifts, she is the most beautiful of Priam's daughters. It was according to a later tradition that she was loved by Apollo and given the gift of prophecy, but when she refused his love he condemned her to the fate of always prophesying truthfully but never being believed. She appears in Greek tragedy in this role, vainly foretelling the fall of Troy.

When Troy was captured, Ajax the Locrian, son of Oileus, found her in the temple of Athena clinging to the sacred statue of the goddess (the Palladium), dragged her away, and raped her. To expiate this sacrilege the Locrians were obliged to send two maidens to Troy every year for a thousand years to serve as slaves in Athena's temple; if they were caught by the inhabitants before reaching the temple they were executed. This obligation continued into the second century BC. After the sack of Troy Cassandra was awarded to the Greek commander Agamemnon as his concubine, but on their return to Mycenae she was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. From The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Ed. M.C. Howatson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Copyright � 1989 by Oxford University Press. Robert E. Bell Cassandra was a daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was also called Alexandra. She was very beautiful, but her family and the people of Troy considered her a little unbalanced. This came about because of her gift of prophecy.

When she was a child, she and her brother Helenus were left overnight in the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo. No reason has been advanced for this night in the temple; perhaps it was a ritual routinely performed by everyone. When their parents looked in on them the next morning, the children were entwined with serpents, which flicked their tongues into the children's ears. This enabled Cassandra and Helenus to divine the future. After Cassandra grew up, she again spent a night in the temple. This time the god appeared and tried to get her to yield to his desire, but she refused. For this affront to him he punished her by causing her prophecies, though true, to be disbelieved. This curse failed to be effective on only one occasion. When Paris appeared as an adult at the court of Priam, Cassandra declared him her brother. It had been accepted by everyone that he had died in infancy from being exposed. After the war began, Cassandra continued to predict the calamities in store for the Trojans. Nobody believed her but, perhaps deciding she was bad for the war effort, Priam concealed her in a locked chamber, where she was guarded like a madwoman.

Mad though she might have been considered, she was still highly regarded for her beauty. During the war, both Othryoneus of Cabesus and Coroebus, son of Mydon, asked for her hand, but both were killed in the war. When Telephus reinforced the Trojans with an army of Mysians, Priam betrothed Cassandra to his son Eurypylus. He was also killed. Cassandras curse of not being heeded came to a climax when she announced there were men in the wooden horse. Only Laocoon believed her, but he was soon silenced, and this seemed to confirm that Cassandra was merely raving again. It probably would not have mattered whether or not she was married to one of her unfortunate suitors, as things turned out. At the taking of Troy, she fled to the temple of Athena and embraced the statue of the goddess as a suppliant. The Lesser Ajax found her there and, violating one of the most powerful interdicts in ancient religion, dragged her from the temple. Some said he raped her in the sanctuary. She never learned that he paid the supreme price for his great violence and short pleasure.

When the spoils of Troy were allotted, Cassandra was given to Agamemnon. Some said he had spread the report that Ajax had raped her so he could have her to himself Others say he tried to save Polyxena from being sacrificed on Achilles' grave, again to ingratiate himself with Cassandra. He carried her with him to Mycenae, but she was scarcely in his hands before he forced her into sexual relations. As a result of this union she became pregnant and bore twins--Teledamus and Pelops. This poses a question. The trip to Mycenae could not in Agamemnon's case have taken a great deal of time since, unlike several of the other Greeks, he had no difficulties in reaching home. Therefore, he must have stayed in Troy for a few more months--as leader of the Greek army of occupation. [. . . .] There is the possibility that the twins were born on shipboard or even after arrival in Mycenae, but all accounts seem to suggest that Cassandra arrived with the babies. Agamemnon, expecting to arrive home in glory, was murdered by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, shortly after his arrival.

Cassandra was murdered by Clytemnestra, and the twins were killed by Aegisthus. Agamemnon's bringing Cassandra back with him is repeated often as a principal motive for the slaughter, but Clytemnestra had reasons enough without Cassandra. Some say that the murders took place at Amyclae, although nobody gives a reason. This claim allowed the Amyclaeans to say that Cassandra was buried there. She also had a statue at Amyclae and at Leuctra in Laconia. Mycenae, however, had the best reason for saying her tomb was there, and Schliemann, the archaeologist, was certain of this when he found the remains of a woman and two infants in one of the circle graves at Mycenae. The story of Cassandra is one of the most poignant of all the stories of women in the Trojan War. Possessing the divine gift of prophecy carried with it an obligation, and the principal responsibility would have been the protection of homeland and the whole Trojan race. Not being taken seriously would have been frustrating and heartbreaking enough under any circumstances, but with the safety of a whole nation at stake, Cassandra must occasionally have approached the borders of the insanity with which she was labeled.

It is not difficult to think of her as a beautiful but disheveled young woman, wild-eyed and shrill. It is not too much of an exaggeration to compare her with modern-day fanatics who claim the world is ending on such and such a day. We cannot be sure that, along with everything else, she might not have developed a reputation for being obnoxious with her superior knowledge. The tendency is to regard her as a victim of circumstances, someone severely wronged by men and gods alike. Her tragedy was knowing the unhappy truth and revealing it, something highly unwelcome then as now. From Women of Classical Mythology: A Biographical Dictionary. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. Copyright � 1991 by Robert E. Bell. Visual Representations of Cassandra King Priam of Troy: Mythology, Kingdom & Death | Study.com King Priam of Troy: Mythology, Kingdom & Death Watch short & fun videos Start Your Free Trial Today Instructor: Jennifer Williams Jennifer has taught various courses in U.S. Government, Criminal Law, Business, Public Administration and Ethics and has an MPA and a JD. Add to Add to Add to Want to watch this again later?

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Premium Edition: You can share your Custom Course by copying and pasting the course URL. Only Study.com members will be able to access the entire course. Like this lesson Share In this lesson we will learn who King Priam of Troy was. Together, we will take a closer look at his history, his personal life and his legacy. We will analyze his role in the Trojan War and how his decisions may have resulted in his death. Background King Priam was the King of Troy during the Trojan War. It was originally believed that Troy was a fictional kingdom that existed only in ancient literature. However, it is now believed that there may be a historical basis for believing Troy and King Priam, also believed to be King Piyama-Radu, existed based on letters and ancient documents that have been discovered. King Priam was the last king of Troy. History King Priam was originally named Podarces. His sister, Hesione, later changed his name to Priam. Priam was the son of King Laomedon. All of Priam's brothers were killed by Hercules when Troy was first attacked. The second attack - known as the Torjan War - later resulted in Priam's death.

Priam had many wives and over fifty sons and daughters throughout his lifetime. Priam reigned as king during the ten years of the Trojan War. His daughter, Cassandra, was able to see into the future and warned of the destruction of Troy. Priam ignored this warning. His eldest son, Arisbe, died before the Trojan War started. Hector, his second son, was therefore the next in line for the throne and Hector's brother, Paris, was the cause of the Trojan War. Trojan War Hercules, a Greek, had kidnapped Priam's sister Hesione and brought her to Greece. Priam sent his son, Paris, to rescue her. Instead of rescuing her, he brought back Helen who was the wife of the Greek king of Sparta. This greatly angered the Greece and thus began the Trojan War. Priam's son Hector was killed during the Trojan War by Achilles, the Greek warrior. Achilles treated Hector's body badly by dragging it in circles in front of the city. Priam secretly entered the Greek camp to plead with Achilles to return the body. The Greeks and Trojans agreed to a temporary truce in order to allow Priam to bury Hector with an appropriate funeral.

After this brief funeral truce, the war resumed. After some time, the Trojans thought they had won and began celebrations. They then discovered that the Greeks had seemingly fled Troy and left behind a large wooden horse outside of the city gates. Trojan authorities debated whether there were Greek troops hidden inside or whether it was a relic of Athena left behind. Cassandra agreed with the theory of the hidden troops and warned again about destruction of Troy she was seeing in her dreams. The relic theory won and the Trojans brought the large object into the city walls. During the night, the Greeks snuck out of the horse and opened up the Trojan gate for more Greek troops to enter. The Greeks burned Troy to the ground and Priam was murdered on the altar of Zeus in the middle of the city by Achilles' son Neoptolemus. × 1000+ images about Cassandra on Pinterest | Legends, The gift of prophecy and Goddesses Learn more at preraphaelitepaintings.blogspot.com Pre Raphaelite Art: Cassandra, Evelyn de Morgan (1898, London); Cassandra in front of the burning city of Troy at the peak of her insanity. Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy.

She had the power of prophecy and the curse of never being believed. Evelyn De Morgan (nee Pickering; 30 Aug 1855–2 May 1919) was an English Pre-Raphaelite painter. She was married to the ceramicist William de Morgan. She did many beautiful paintings of classical and mythological figures. More Greek & Roman Mythology - Tools PRIAM 100.00% Son of Laomedon and Strymo, brother of Tithonus and Hesione, the last king of Troy. Originally his name was Podarces (the swift-footed); the name Priamus, which is interpreted to mean "ransomed," is supposed to have been given to him after the first sacking of Troy by Heracles. Heracles allowed Hesione to select one of the prisoners, and when she decided in favour of her sole surviving brother, she was permitted to ransom him with her veil. Legends represented him as rich alike in treasures and in children. He had fifty sons and fifty daughters by different wives; by his second wife, Hecuba (Gr.

Hekabe) alone, nineteen sons; among them Hector, Paris, Deiphobus, Helenus, Polydorus, Troilus; by his first, Arisbe, Aesacus. Among his daughters were Creusa, the wife of Aeneas, Cassandra, and Polyxena. In his young days he was a migbty warrior, as in the conflict with the Amazons; but at the outbreak of the Trojan War, he was so old and feeble that he took no part in the combat, and only twice left the city to conclude the compact for the duel between Paris and Menelaus, and to beg the dead body of Hector from Achilles. He met his death in the sack of the city by the band of Neoptolemus, at his family altar, whither he bad fled with Hecuba and his daughter. The name of Priam (q.v.) in his youth. POLYDORUS 34.98% Youngest son of Priam and of Laothoe, his father's favourite son. He was killed while yet a boy by Achilles.

The tragedians make him the son of Priam and Hecuba, who, before the fall of Troy, committed him with many treasures to the care of their guest-friend, the Thracian king Polymestor (or Polymnestor). After the capture of Troy Polymestor puts the boy to death, in order to get possession of the gold, and throws the body into the sea. The waves cast it up on the Trojan shore, and here Hecuba finds it, just as Polyxena is on the point of being sacrificed. Out of revenge she, with the help of the captive Trojan women, kills the two children of the murderer, and blinds Polymestor himself. According to another version, Ilione, Priam's daughter and Polymestor's wife, brings up the brother, who has been committed to her charge, as her own son, while she gives up her child Delphilus (or Delpylus) instead of Polydorus. The Greeks, who wish to exterminate the race of Priam, win over Polymestor by promising him the hand of Electra and a large present of money in return for the murder of Polydorns.

Polymestor then murders his own son, and is blinded and killed by Ilione. POLYMESTOR 31.65% A Thracian king. He murdered Polydorus, the son of Priam, who had been entrusted to his protection, and was blinded by Hecuba and the captive Trojan women. (Cp. POLYDORUS POLYXENA 26.86% Daughter of Priam and Hecuba, the betrothed of Achilles, who, at his wedding with her in the temple of the Thymbraean Apollo, was killed by Paris. After the fall of Troy the shade of Achilles demanded the expiation of his death with her blood, and she was sacrificed on his funeral pyre. LAOMEDON 25.61% Son of Ilus and Eurydice, father of Priam, Tithonus, and Hesione, and king of Ilium. Apollo and Poseidon served him for wages, the former pasturing his flock on Mount Ida, while the latter, either alone or with the help of Apollo and Aeacus (q.v.), built the walls of the town.

But Laomedon defrauded the gods of the payment that had been agreed upon. Apollo therefore visited the land with a plague, and Poseidon sent a sea-monster, to whom the king was forced to offer his daughter Hesione. Heracles, on his way back from the Amazons, found the maiden chained to a rock in the sea, and he offered to kill the monster if he were given the magic horses which Zeus had bestowed on Tros in exchange for Ganymede, whom be had carried off. Laomedon agreed to this, but again broke his promise. Accordingly Heracles (q.v.) subsequently waged war against him, and after capturing the city, slew him and all his sons, except Priam. EURYPYLUS 22.14% Son of Telephus and Astyoche. Astyoche, bribed by her brother Priam with the present of a golden vine, persuaded Eurypylus to bring the last succour to the Trojans shortly before the fall of the city. After performing deeds of bravery, he fell at the hand of Neoptolemus.

DEIPHOBUS 22.04% Son of Priam and Hecuba, and one of the chief Trojan heroes, next to, Hector, after whose death he was the leader of the Trojan army. It was he and Paris who were said to have slain Achilles. In the later story he is the husband of Helen, after Paris' death, and is betrayed by her to Menelaus n the taking of Troy. According to Homer's account he was surprised by Odysseus and Menelaus in his own house, and overcome only after a hard struggle. ACAMAS 20.84% Son of Theseus and Phaedra, was brought up with his brother Demophoon by Elephenor, king of Eubcea, and sent with Diomedes as ambassador to Troy, to persuade Priam to send Helen back in peace. After the fall of Troy, in which he took a prominent part as one of the heroes concealed in the wooden horse, he with his brother recovered his father's sovereignty over Attica, and then led a colony from Athens to Cyprus, where he died. (Comp.

DEMOPHOÖN, RHESUS 19.46% Son of Eioneus, or Strymon, and one of the Muses, king of the Thracians. He came to help Priam, but, in the very night after his arrival before Troy, was surprised by Diomedes and Odysseus, and slain by the former, together with twelve of his companions, while Odysseus took away his swif horses of glistening whiteness. It had been prophesied that, if these fed on Trojan fodder, or drank of the Xanthus before Troy, the town could not be taken. RHESUS 19.46% Son of Eioneus, or Strymon, and one of the Muses, king of the Thracians. He came to help Priam, but, in the very night after his arrival before Troy, was surprised by Diomedes and Odysseus, and slain by the former, together with twelve of his companions, while Odysseus took away his swif horses of glistening whiteness.

It had been prophesied that, if these fed on Trojan fodder, or drank of the Xanthus before Troy, the town could not be taken. TROILUS 19.39% A younger son of Priam and Hecuba, who was slain by Achilles. According to the later legend, Achilles lay in wait for the boy when he was exercising his horse near a well in front of the city, and slew him as he fled to the temple of Thymbraean Apollo, just by the altar of the god, at the very spot where he himself was destined afterwards to meet his fate. According to another account, Troilus ventured to meet Achilles in open conflict, but was dragged to death by his own horses. (See VASES , fig. 10.) AESACUS 19.32% Son of Priam by Arisbe, who had learnt the art of interpreting dreams from his maternal grandfather Merops, and being consulted by his father as to Hecuba's bad dreams before the birth of Paris, advised him to expose a child so clearly doomed to be the destruction of Troy.

In despair at having caused the death of his wife Asterope (or Hesperia) he threw himself into the sea, and was changed into a bird, the diver. HECUBA 19.10% The daughter of the Phrygian Dymas, or, according to another story, of Cisseus, and wife of Priam. (See PRIAMUS .) After the fall of Troy she was made a slave, and fell to the lot of Odysseus. Her son Polymestor had been slain by Polymestor, king of Thrace, on whom she took vengeance by putting out his eyes on the Thracian coast. On this she was changed into a dog, and threw herself into the sea. Her tomb served as a landmark for sailors. PARIS 18.32% The second son of Priam and Hecuba. His mother having dreamt before this birth that she had brought forth a firebrand, which set all Troy in flames, Priam had the new-born babe exposed on Mount Ida by the advice of his son Aesacus.

Here a she-bear suckled the babe for five days; then a shepherd found him, and reared him with his own children. Paris won the name of Alexandros ("protector of men") by his bravery as a shepherd, defending herdsmen and cattle. On Mount Ida he married (Enone, daughter of the river-god Cebren. He decided the strife of the goddesses Hera. Aphrodite, and Athene for the golden apple of Eris (see PELEUS , having been appointed arbiter by Hermes at the command of Zeus. Paris preferred the possession of the fairest woman, promised him by Aphrodite, to power and riches, or wisdom and fame, promised by Hera and Athene respectively. He therefore awarded to Aphrodite the prize of beauty, but drew upon himself and his fatherland the irreconcilable hatred of the goddesses whom he had passed over. When Priam was once celebrating funeral games in memory of his lost son, and commanded the finest bull in all the herds grazing on the mountain to be brought as a prize, Paris came to Troy as its driver. He took part in the contests, and vanquished his brothers, even Hector.

Seized with envy, they wished to kill him; but Cassandra recognised him, and he was joyfully received by his parents. In spite of the warning of the forsaken (Enone, who still loved him tenderly, Paris set out on a voyage to Sparta, at the instigation of Aphrodite. Here he carried off Helen, the wife of Menelaus, whom the goddess herself had quickly inspired with love for the handsome stranger. With her he carried away the treasures of his host, and brought her through Egypt and Phoenicia to Troy. In the war that arose from his deed, Paris showed himself, according to Homer, sometimes valiant and courageous, especially as an archer, but chiefly only at the persuasion of others; at other times cowardly and effeminate. The Trojans detested him as the cause of the disastrous war. After he had treacherously slain Achilles (q.v.), he himself was fatally wounded by an arrow of Heracles, while in single combat with Philoctetes. His corpse was dishonoured by Menelaus, but yet was afterwards given to the Trojans for burial.

According to another account, when he knew his death was near, he asked to be carried to (Enone. When they had parted, she had bidden him come to her, if he should ever be mortally wounded; but now, mindful of the sorrow she had endured, (Enone rejected him, and he died soon after his return to Troy. When (Enone, repenting of her cruelty, hastened with the remedy, and found him already dead, she hanged herself. In sculpture Paris is represented as a beautiful beardless youth with a Phrygian cap. ILIONE 17.57% Daughter of Priam and Hecuba, and wife of the Thracian prince Polymestor. Her youngest brother Polydorus was entrusted to her care by her parents, and she brought him up as her own son, while she gave out that her own son Deiphilus or Deipylus was Polydorus. When Polymestor (who was bribed by the Greeks) murdered the supposed Polydorus, Ilione blinded and killed him.

TITHONUS 17.13% Son of Laomedon of Troy, brother of Priam, carried off by Eos on account of his beauty. She obtained for him from Zeus the gift of immortality, but forgot at the same time to ask for eternal youth. When he afterwards became completely wrinkled and bent by age, and was powerless to move without assistance, and merely chirped like a cicada, she shut him up in a solitary chamber. According to another version, Eos changed him into a cicada. His sons were Emathion and Memnon (q.v.). HELENUS 15.96% The son of Priam and Hecuba, who, like his sister Cassandra, was endowed with the gift of prophecy. When Deiphobus, after the death of Paris, took Helena to wife, Helenus went over to the Greeks; or (as another story has it) was caught by Odysseus in an ambush. He revealed to the enemy the fact that Troy could not be taken without the aid of Neoptolemus and Philoctetes; and he is also said to have suggested the plan of out-witting the Trojans by means of the wooden horse.

After the fall of Troy he was carried away by Neoptolemus, and advised him to settle in Epirus. After his death Helenus took Andromache to wife, and became king of the Chaonians. AMAZONS 15.82% A mythical nation of women-warriors, whose headquarters are placed by early Greek legend in Themiscyra, on the Thermodon, on the southern shore of the Euxine. In later accounts they also appear on the Caucasus and on the Don, where the nation called Sauromatae was supposed to have sprung from their union with the Scythians. They suffered no men among them; the sons born of their intercourse with neighbouring nations they either killed or sent back to their fathers; the girls they brought up to be warriors, burning the right breast off for the better handling of the bow. Their chief deities were said to be Ares and the Taurian Artemis. Even in Homer they are represented as making long marches into Asiatic territory; an army of them invading Lycia is cut to pieces by Bellerophon; Priam, then in his youth, hastens to help the Phrygians against them.

They gained a firm footing in Greek song and story through Arctinus of Miletus, in whose poem their queen Penthesileia, daughter of Ares, as Priam's ally, presses hard on the Greeks, till she is slain by Achilles. After that they became a favourite subject with poets and artists, and a new crop of fable sprang up: Heracles wars against them, to win the girdle of their queen, Hippolyte; Theseus carries off her sister Antiope, they in revenge burst into Attica, encamp on the Areopagus of Athens, and are pacified by Antiope's mediation, or, according to another version, beaten in a great battle. Grave-mounds supposed to cover the bones of Amazons were shown near Megara, and in Euboea and Thessaly.

In works of art the Amazons were represented as martial maids, though always with two breasts, and usually on horseback; sometimes in Scythian dress (a tight fur tunic, with a cloak of many folds over it, and a kind of Phrygian cap), sometimes in Grecian (a Dorian tunic tucked up and the right shoulder bare), armed with a half-moon shield, two-edged axe, spear, bow, and quiver, etc. The most famous statues of them in antiquity were those by Phidias, Polyclitus, and Cresilas, to one or other of which, as types, existing specimens are traceable. (See cut.) Among the surviving sculptures representing an Amazonian contest should be especially mentioned the reliefs from the frieze of Apollo's temple at Bassae in Arcadia (in the British Museum, London). NEOPTOLEMUS 15.70% Son of Achilles and Deidamia. He was brought up by his grandfather Lycomedes in Scyros.

After Achilles' death, however, he was taken by Odysseus to Troy, since, according to the prophecy of Helenus, that town could be taken only by a descendant of Aeacus. Here, like his father, he distinguished himself above all by a courage which none could withstand. He slew Eurypylus, son of Telephus, and was one of the heroes in the Wooden Horse, where he alone remained undaunted. Later legend depicted him as fierce and cruel: at the, taking of Troy he killed the aged Priam at the altar of Zeus, hurled Hector's son. Astyanax, down from the walls, and offered up Polyxena, upon his father's tomb. In Homer he arrives safely with much booty at Phthia, his father's home, and weds Menelaus' daughter Hermione, who was promised him during the siege of Troy [Od. iv 5]. Later legend represents him as accompanied by Andromache, Hector's wife, who is allotted him as part of his booty, and Helenus, and then, on the strength of a prophecy of Helenus, as going to Epirus and settling there.

It was to a son of his by Lanassa, granddaughter of Heracles, that the later kings of Epirus traced back their descent, and accordingly styled themselves Aeacidoe, while from his son by Andromache, Molossus, the district of Molossia was said to derive its name. He afterwards went to Phthia, to reinstate his grandfather Peleus in his kingdom (whence he had been expelled by Acastus), and wedded Hermione. He soon, however, met his death at Delphi, whither, according to one story, he had gone with dedicatory offerings, or, according to another, to plunder the temple of Apollo in revenge for his father's death. The accounts of his death vary, some attributing it to Orestes, the earlier lover of Hermione; others to the Delphians, at the instance of the Pythian priestess; others again to a quarrel about the meat-offerings. The scene of his death was the altar, a coincidence which was regarded as a judgment for his murder of Priam.

His tomb was within the precincts of the Delphic temple, and in later times he was worshipped as a hero with annual sacrifices by the Delphians, as he was said to have vouchsafed valuable assistance against the Gauls when they threatened the sacred spot [B.C. 279; Pausanias, x 23]. Cassandra Priams beautiful daughter who prophesied Troys fall - ENGL - 104 View Full Document Cassandra, Priam’s beautiful daughter who prophesied Troy’s fall. Nestor, a Greek elder who helped the Greeks with his wisdom, eloquence and bravery. Lysander, was the commander of the Spartan fleet. And Ajax, who believed that he should have received Achilles’ armor when he is killed, instead of Odysseus. Ajax attempted to kill the Greek leaders, but is stopped by Athena, who drives him crazy and makes him commit suicide. (Ancient Coins “Ajax”) These characters This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version. View Full Document along with the intervention of the gods, are what sparked the ten year war between the Trojan’s and the Greeks.

(Hunter “Apollo” “Nestor” “Lysander” “Aeneas” “Cassandra”) According to Homer’s tale, Thetis, one of the Nereid’s, was greatly loved by Zeus. Upon revealing that she would bare a son much powerful than his father, Zues allows Peleus to marry her. (Hunter “Thetis”) At the wedding all gods attended, except Eris, goddess of strife. Angered and humiliated, Eris places a golden apple on the table. (Hunter “Eris”) This leads to an element of rising action. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claim the apple, because it is destined “To the fairest” (Martin “Paris”). Later, Zeus sends them to king Priam’s youngest son, Paris, because he does not want to mix in their argument. The goddesses then bribe Paris in an attempt to get chosen. Hera offered him power all over Asia, Athena offered victory in battle and great wisdom, and Aphrodite offered to give him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world.

Paris chooses Aphrodite and immediately she sends him to Sparta, in search of Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda. Helen’s marriage to Menelaus does not seem to bother him, so he abducts her This is the end of the preview. Sign up to access the rest of the document. TERM Cassandra | Greek mythology | Britannica.com Greek mythology Athena Cassandra, in Greek mythology , the daughter of Priam , the last king of Troy , and his wife Hecuba . In Homer’s Iliad, she is the most beautiful of Priam’s daughters, but not a prophetess. According to Aeschylus’s tragedy Agamemnon, Cassandra was loved by the god Apollo , who promised her the power of prophecy if she would comply with his desires. Cassandra accepted the proposal, received the gift, and then refused the god her favours. Apollo revenged himself by ordaining that her prophecies should never be believed. She accurately predicted such events as the fall of Troy and the death of Agamemnon, but her warnings went unheeded. During the sack of Troy, Ajax the Lesser dragged Cassandra from the altar of Athena and raped her.

For this impiety, Athena sent a storm that sank most of the Greek fleet as it returned home. The rape of Cassandra by Ajax was a favourite scene in Greek art. In the distribution of the spoils after the capture of Troy, Cassandra fell to Agamemnon and was later murdered with him. She was worshiped, as Alexandra, with Agamemnon . Cassandra, statue at the Flower Garden of Kroměříž, Cz.Rep. Pernak Apollo (Greek mythology) in Greek religion, a deity of manifold function and meaning, after Zeus perhaps the most widely revered and influential of all the Greek gods. Though his original nature is obscure, from the time of Homer onward he was the god of divine distance, who sent or threatened from afar; the god who made... Agamemnon (Greek mythology) in Greek legend, king of Mycenae or Argos. He was the son (or grandson) of Atreus, king of Mycenae, and his wife Aërope and was the brother of Menelaus.

After Atreus was murdered by his nephew Aegisthus (son of Thyestes), Agamemnon and Menelaus took refuge with Tyndareus, king of Sparta,... 1 Reference found in Britannica Articles Assorted Reference role in Agamemnon legend (in Agamemnon (Greek mythology) ) External Links Cassandra - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) In the mythology and religion of ancient Greece, Cassandra was a prophetess whose fate was to foretell future events correctly but never to be heeded or believed. She was the daughter of Priam, Troy’s last king, and his wife Hecuba. The god Apollo fell in love with Cassandra and offered her the gift of foretelling the future in return for her love. Cassandra agreed to the bargain and received Apollo’s gift but then refused to keep her word. In retaliation, Apollo cursed her so that her prophecies would never be believed. Indeed, she correctly prophesied events such as the fall of her own city, Troy, in the Trojan War (the war related in Homer’s Iliad) and the death of Agamemnon, but no one heeded her.

After Troy was captured by the Greeks, Cassandra became one of the spoils of war and was taken by Agamemnon. She was murdered with him when he returned to Greece. Article History Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution!

Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Date Published: May 12, 2010 URL: Access Date: January 10, 2017 Share

Question: Which daughter of King Priam prophesied the fall of Troy, but was not believed?
Answer: CASSANDRA