Editing Protesilaus (section)

==Mythology==
Protesilaus was one of the [[suitors of Helen]].<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''[[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|The Library]]'', 3.10.8; [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]. ''Fabulae'', 97.</ref> He brought forty black ships with him to Troy,<ref>''Iliad'' II; Pseudo-Apollodorus. Epitome of ''The Library'' E.3.14.</ref> drawing his men from "flowering" [[Pyrasus]], coastal Antron and [[Pteleos|Pteleus]], "deep in grass", in addition to his native [[Phylace (Magnesia)|Phylace]]. Protesilaus was the first to land: "the first man who dared to leap ashore when the Greek fleet touched the [[Troad]]", [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] recalled, quoting the author of the epic tale called the ''[[Cypria]]''.<ref>Pausanias, iv.2.5.</ref>  An [[oracle]] by [[Thetis]] had prophesied that the first Greek to walk on the land after stepping off a ship in the [[Trojan War]] would be the first to die,<ref name="Hyginus. Fabulae, 103"/> and so, after killing four men,<ref>Hyginus. ''Fabulae'', 114.</ref> he was himself slain by [[Hector]]. Alternate sources have him slain by either [[Aeneas]], [[Euphorbus]], [[Achates]], or [[Cycnus]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Smyrnaeus|first1=Quintus|title=Fall of Troy|year=1913|url=https://archive.org/details/falloftroywithen00quinuoft}}</ref>  Another legend claims that [[Odysseus]] threw his shield on the beach and jumped upon it. Tricked Protesilaus thinking that Odysseus was the first who stepped on Trojan soil, jumped second and died afterwards {{Citation needed|reason= Couldn't locate any ancient source that describes this trick taking place|date=February 2025}}. After Protesilaus' death, his brother, [[Podarces]], joined the war in his place.<ref>Homer. ''Iliad'', 2.705.</ref> The gods had pity on his widow, [[Laodamia of Phylace|Laodamia]], daughter of [[Acastus]], and brought him up from Hades to see her. She was at first overjoyed, thinking he had returned from Troy, but after the gods returned him to the underworld, she found the loss unbearable.<ref>Pseudo-Apollodorus. Epitome to ''The Library'', E.3.30; Ovid. ''Heroides'', 13.</ref>  She had a bronze statue of her late husband constructed, and devoted herself to it. After her worried father had witnessed her behavior, he had it destroyed; however, Laodamia jumped into the fire with it.<ref>Hyginus. ''Fabulae'', 104.</ref> Another source claims his wife was [[Polydora]], daughter of [[Meleager]].<ref>''The [[Cypria]]'', Fragment 17; cited in [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Description of Greece'', 4. 2. 7</ref>

According to legend, the Nymphs planted [[elm]]s on the tomb, in the [[Thracian Chersonese]], of "great-hearted Protesilaus" («μεγάθυμου Πρωτεσιλάου»), elms that grew to be the tallest in the known world; but when their topmost branches saw far off the ruins of Troy, they immediately withered, so great still was the bitterness of the hero buried below.<ref>[[Quintus Smyrnaeus]], ''Τα μεθ' `Ομηρον'', 7.407-411</ref><ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''Naturalis Historia'', 16.238</ref>  The story is the subject of a poem by [[Antiphilus of Byzantium]] (1st century A.D.) in the [[Palatine Anthology]]:
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: Θεσσαλὲ Πρωτεσίλαε, σὲ μὲν πολὺς ᾄσεται αἰών,
:Tρoίᾳ ὀφειλoμένoυ πτώματος ἀρξάμενoν·
:σᾶμα δὲ τοι πτελέῃσι συνηρεφὲς ἀμφικoμεῦση
:Nύμφαι, ἀπεχθoμένης Ἰλίoυ ἀντιπέρας.
:Δένδρα δὲ δυσμήνιτα, καὶ ἤν ποτε τεῖχoς ἴδωσι
:Tρώϊον, αὐαλέην φυλλοχoεῦντι κόμην.
:ὅσσoς ἐν ἡρώεσσι τότ᾽ ἦν χόλoς, oὗ μέρoς ἀκμὴν
:ἐχθρὸν ἐν ἀψύχoις σώζεται ἀκρέμoσιν.}}<ref>''Anth. Pal.'', VII.141</ref>
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: [:Thessalian Protesilaos, a long age shall sing your praises,
:Of the destined dead at Troy the first;
:Your tomb with thick-foliaged elms they covered,
:The nymphs, across the water from hated Ilion.
:Trees full of anger; and whenever that wall they see,
:Of Troy, the leaves in their upper crown wither and fall.
:So great in the heroes was the bitterness then, some of which still
:Remembers, hostile, in the soulless upper branches.]}}
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