POLYDORUS (Trojan prince)

To protect Polydorus from the ravages of the conflict, Priam secretly sent him to Polymestor in Thrace, a region described as the home of steeds.^4,2,3 Polydorus brought this gold from Troy to Polymestor's house, longing to steal away and visit his mother Hecuba during his captivity.⁵ He was received by Polymestor from Hecuba and his father.⁵

Accounts differ regarding the manner of his death, with some sources claiming Achilles killed him with a spear that pierced his back and exited near his navel.^6,1 Other traditions state that Polymestor killed Polydorus by stabbing him in the throat with a sword, intending to prevent him from becoming an enemy of the Greeks.^7,8 In the most common narrative, Polymestor murdered the boy to steal the gold his father had sent, mangled his flesh, and slashed his limbs with a sword.^4,2,9 After the killing, Polymestor threw the lifeless body from a rock into the water, where it was washed ashore on the sea-shore by the waves.^2,9,8 The body drifted unburied on the shore and in the sea.²

Polydorus's tomb is located in the free town of Ænos, beneath a mound where myrtle trees grow.^10,11 The Trojans performed solemn funeral rites for him, including wailing women, pouring milk and blood, and building a high earthen mound with a perpetual altar.⁴ They laid his ghost to rest in a tomb with a farewell song, honoring the boy who had been pierced with iron spears on a Thracian shore.^4,10

As a disembodied spirit, Polydorus hovered over his mother Hecuba for three days after her arrival, causing her to doubt whether he was still alive.^2,3 From the grave, his ghost spoke to Aeneas to warn him and urged him to flee the greedy land where he was murdered.¹⁰ In a final act of filial devotion, Polydorus promised to close Hecuba's eyes after her death, binding their fates in the realm of the dead.³