Priam (Podarces)

Being the only son of Laomedon to survive a war against Heracles, Priam (Πρίαμος) was ransomed by his sister Hesione, and he became the new king of Troy. Before the ransom, his name was Podarces.

His first wife was Arisbe, daughter of Merops, king of Percote. They had a son named Aesacus who was a gifted seer. Priam soon married Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, and gave Arisbe to Hyrtacos. With Hecuba, he became father of Hector, Paris, Cassandra, Helenus, Deïphobus, and many other children. Some say that he had as many as fifty children by Hecuba, but Apollodorus said that it was most likely children by some other women as well as Hecuba. Apollodorus only recorded Hecuba being the mother of ten sons, and one of them was said to be a son of Apollo: Troilus (Troilos). Hecuba was the mother of four daughters.

Before Paris was born, Hecuba had a vision, and the seer interpreted that vision, saying that Paris would one day cause the destruction of Troy. Priam had his second son by Hecuba, exposed in the wild.

During his early reign, Priam was an ally of the Mygdonians and fought against the Amazons. The Amazons later became his ally when he purified Penthesileia for killing her sister in a hunting trip. Penthesileia led the Amazons in the last year of the Trojan War, and she was killed at the hands of Achilles.

Years later, Paris returned to Troy and was recognised. Their parents had forgotten the warning by the seer (possibly Aesacus) and welcomeed him home.

When three goddesses asked Paris to judge and award the golden apple to the fairest goddess, he awarded the apple to the goddess of love, Aphrodite. Aphrodite promised him the fairest woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. This would result in the outbreak of war between the Greeks and the Trojans.

Priam would have returned Helen, when the Greek embassy demanded her return to her husband Menelaüs (Menelaus). But Paris prevailed upon his father to refuse. As a result, the war lasted for ten years and all but one son would die in the war.

His son Helenus, also a seer, would be the only son to survive the war. Hecuba and all her daughters became enslaved to the Greek leaders. Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, would kill the aged king (Priam) on the last day of the war.

See also the Trojan War.