Helenus and the Fate of Troy
The Trojan seer Helenus reveals the conditions the Greeks must fulfil before the seemingly impregnable city can finally be captured.
The Story
Helenus was a Trojan prince and prophet, a son of Priam and Hecuba.
After Paris died, Helenus became involved in the dispute over Helen.
When Deiphobus was preferred as her new husband, Helenus left Troy.
The Greeks knew that the Trojan seer possessed important knowledge about the city's fate.
Odysseus captured him.
Helenus then revealed conditions that had to be fulfilled before Troy could fall.
The surviving traditions do not agree completely on the list.
Important versions include the need for Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, to join the Greek army.
Other traditions require the bow or arrows of Heracles, held by Philoctetes.
The removal of the Palladium from Troy and the recovery of a relic of Pelops also appear among the conditions.
The prophecies transformed the final stage of the war.
The Greeks stopped merely attacking Troy's walls.
They began collecting the people and sacred objects that fate itself supposedly required.
Helenus, a prince of Troy, therefore became one of the figures whose knowledge helped make the destruction of his own city possible.
Key Figures
Why It Matters
Helenus ties together several late-war episodes including the return of Philoctetes, the arrival of Neoptolemus and the theft of the Palladium.
Traditions & Variations
Ancient sources disagree over how Helenus was captured, whether he cooperated willingly and exactly which conditions for Troy's fall he revealed.