Priam

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Infobox deity

In Greek mythology, Priam (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) was the legendary and last<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> king of Troy during the Trojan War. He was the son of Laomedon. His many children included notable characters such as Hector, Paris, and Cassandra.

EtymologyEdit

Most scholars take the etymology of the name from the Luwian 𒉺𒊑𒀀𒈬𒀀 (Pa-ri-a-mu-a-, or “exceptionally courageous”),<ref>Frank Starke, “Troia im Kontext des historisch-politischen und sprachlichen Umfeldes Kleinasiens im 2. Jahrtausend”, Studia Troica 7 (1997), 458, n. 114, referring to the author's previous work, Untersuchungen zur Stammbildung des keilschrift-luwischen Nomens (1990), 455, n. 1645: “Priya-muwa- ‘der hervorragenden, vortrefflichen Mut hat’”.</ref><ref>Haas, Die hethitische Literatur: Texte, Stilistik, Motive (2006), 5.</ref> attested as the name of a man from Zazlippa, in Kizzuwatna. A similar form is attested transcribed in Greek as Paramoas near Kaisareia in Cappadocia.<ref>Calvert Watkins, "The Language of the Trojans", Troy and the Trojan War: A Symposium Held at Bryn Mawr College, October 1984, ed. Machteld Johanna Mellink (Bryn Mawr, Penn: Bryn Mawr Commentaries, 1986), 57, citing L. Zgusta, Kleinasiatische Personennamen (Prague 1964), 417:1203-1 and Anatolische Personennamensippen I (Prague 1964), 157.</ref> Some have identified Priam with the historical figure of Piyama-Radu, a warlord active in the vicinity of Wilusa.<ref>S.P. Morris, "A Tale of Two Cities", American Journal of Archaeology 93 (1989), p. 532.</ref> However, this identification is disputed, and is highly unlikely, given that he was known in Hittite records as being an ally of the Ahhiyawa against Wilusa.

A popular folk etymology derives the name from the Greek verb Template:Transliteration, meaning 'to buy'. This in turn gives rise to a story of Priam's sister Hesione ransoming his freedom with a veil, from Heracles, thereby 'buying' him.<ref>Jenny March, The Penguin Book of Classical Myths (London: Penguin Books, 2008), p. 300</ref> This story is attested in the Bibliotheca and in other influential mythographical works dated to the first and second centuries AD.<ref>Apollodorus, 2.6, f.n. 15</ref> These sources are, however, dated much later than the first attestations of the name Priamos or Pariya-muwas, and thus are more problematic.Template:Citation needed

DescriptionEdit

Priam was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the Chronography as "tall for the age, big, good, ruddy-colored, light-eyed, long-nosed, eyebrows meeting, keen-eyed, gray, restrained."<ref>Malalas, Chronography 5.105</ref> Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, he was illustrated as ". . .had a handsome face and a pleasant voice. He was large and swarthy."<ref>Dares Phrygius, History of the Fall of Troy 12</ref>

Marriage and childrenEdit

See List of children of Priam

Priam is said to have fathered fifty sons and many daughters, with his chief wife Hecuba, daughter of the Phrygian king Dymas and many other wives and concubines. These children include famous mythological figures such as Hector, Paris, Helenus, Cassandra, Deiphobus, Troilus, Laodice, Polyxena, Creusa, and Polydorus. Priam was killed when he was around 80 years old by Achilles' son Neoptolemus.

File:Amphora death Priam Louvre F222.jpg

Priam killed by Neoptolemus, detail of an Attic black-figure amphora, ca. 520–510 BC

LifeEdit

In Book 3 of Homer's Iliad, Priam tells Helen of Troy that he once helped King Mygdon of Phrygia in a battle against the Amazons.

When Hector is killed by Achilles, the Greek warrior treats the body with disrespect and refuses to give it back. According to Homer in book XXIV of the Iliad, Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King Priam, Hector's father and the ruler of Troy, into the Greek camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return Hector's body. He invokes the memory of Achilles' own father, Peleus. Priam begs Achilles to pity him, saying "I have endured what no one on earth has ever done before – I put my lips to the hands of the man who killed my son."<ref>The Iliad, Fagles translation. Penguin Books, 1991, p. 605.</ref> Deeply moved, Achilles relents and returns Hector's corpse to the Trojans. Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Achilles gives Priam leave to hold a proper funeral for Hector, complete with funeral games. He promises that no Greek will engage in combat for at least nine days, but on the twelfth day of peace, the Greeks would all stand once more and the mighty war would continue.

Priam is killed during the Sack of Troy by Achilles' son Neoptolemus (also known as Pyrrhus). His death is graphically related in Book II of Virgil's Aeneid. In Virgil's description, Neoptolemus first kills Priam's son Polites in front of his father as he seeks sanctuary on the altar of Zeus. Priam rebukes Neoptolemus, throwing a spear at him, harmlessly hitting his shield. Neoptolemus then drags Priam to the altar and there kills him too. Priam's death is alternatively depicted in some Greek vases. In this version, Neoptolemus clubs Priam to death with the corpse of the latter's baby grandson, Astyanax.<ref>Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae II.2.684–85</ref>

GalleryEdit

The Death of Priam (SM 1945).png

The Death of Priam by Johann Andreas Herrlein
Vincenzo Camuccini & Tommaso Piroli - The Death of Priam, 1794-95.jpg

The Death of Priam by Vincenzo Camuccini
Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798) - Priam Pleading with Achilles for the Body of Hector - T00864 - Tate.jpg

Priam Pleading with Achilles for the Body of Hector by Gavin Hamilton (1775)
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Priam asks Achilles to return Hector's body by Alexander Ivanov
Langlois Priam aux pieds d'Achille.JPG

Priam at the feet of Achilles by Jérôme-Martin Langlois
Eugène Carrière Priam.jpg

Priam at the feet of Achilles by Eugène Carrière (1876)
Lefebvre La mort de Priam.JPG

The Death of Priamos by Jules Lefebvre
Pierre Narcisse Guérin - The Death of Priam, 1817.jpg

The Death of Priam by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin
Jean Baptiste Regnault - The Death of Priam, 1785.jpg

The Death of Priam by Jean-Baptiste Regnault
Priam holding the golden urn with the remains of Hector MET 225139.jpg

Priam holding the golden urn with the remains of Hector by Giovanni Maria Benzoni
Priam Ransoming Hector's Body MET 225137.jpg

Priam Ransoming Hector's Body by Giovanni Maria Benzoni
Priam Supplicating Achilles for the Body of Hector MET SF40 20 40.jpg

Priam Supplicating Achilles for the Body of Hector by Giuseppe Girometti
Helen and Priam at the Scaen Gate.jpg

Helen and Priam at the Scaen Gate by Richard Cook
Wencker Priam aux pieds d'Achille.JPG

Priam at the feet of Achilles by Joseph Wencker
Théobald Chartran - Priam demandant à Achille le corps d'Hector - PPP4985 - Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris.jpg

Priam demandant à Achille le corps d'Hector by Théobald Chartran
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The Death of Priam by François-Marie Firmin-Girard (1861)
Leloir, Mort de Priam, 1861.jpg

The Death of Priam by Alexandre-Louis Leloir (1861)
Luigi Schiavonetti - Priam Begs the Body of Hector, 1805.jpg

Priam Begs the Body of Hector by Henry Fuseli
The Sack of Troy- Pyrrhus Killing Priam MET DP803390.jpg

The Sack of Troy: Pyrrhus Killing Priam by Franz Cleyn
Achilles and Priam, in conversation outside of Troy MET DP878758.jpg

Achilles and Priam, in conversation outside of Troy by Lucas Vorsterman II