Helenus- Greek FigureMortal"Prince of Troy"

Trojan Prince and Prophet

Helenus and Cassandra were twins, born to Priam and Hecuba. As children they fell asleep in Apollo's temple, and serpents came and licked their ears. When they woke, they could understand the speech of birds and foretell what had not yet happened. But Apollo's gifts came with different terms. Cassandra would speak the truth and no one would believe her. Helenus would speak it and be trusted. The Trojans honored him as a seer, and the Greeks, when the time came, would have reason to honor him even more.

Defection and the Fall of Troy

After Paris died, both Helenus and Deiphobus claimed Helen. The Trojans chose Deiphobus. Helenus withdrew to Mount Ida, where Odysseus captured him and brought him to the Greek camp.

Helenus laid his city bare. The Palladium, Athena's sacred image, had to be stolen from its shrine inside the walls. Philoctetes, abandoned years ago on Lemnos, had to return with the bow of Heracles. Helenus named every secret Troy still held. The Greeks fulfilled each condition. Troy burned.

Life After Troy

When Troy fell, Neoptolemus claimed Helenus as a captive. The captive outlasted his captor. Neoptolemus died at Delphi, and Helenus inherited part of his kingdom in Epirus. He married Andromache, Hector's widow, and together they built a new Troy in miniature: walls and gates bearing the old names, a stream they called Simoïs after the river back home. When Aeneas arrived during his wanderings, he found them living in a shadow of the city they had lost. Helenus read the omens for him and told him the way to Italy: avoid Scylla and Charybdis, seek the Sibyl at Cumae.