Editing Neoptolemus (section)

=== Trojan War ===
The Greeks captured the Trojan seer [[Helenus]] and forced him to tell them under what conditions they could take Troy. Helenus revealed to them that they could defeat Troy if they could acquire the poisonous arrows of [[Heracles]] (then in the possession of [[Philoctetes]]); steal the [[Palladium (mythology) |Palladium]] (which led to the building of the famous wooden [[Trojan Horse|horse of Troy]]); and put Achilles' son in the war.

The Greeks then sent Odysseus to retrieve Neoptolemus, then a mere teenager, from Skyros.  The two then went to [[Lemnos]] to retrieve [[Philoctetes]] (years earlier, on the way to Troy, Philoctetes had been bitten by a snake on [[Chryse Island]]). Agamemnon had advised that he be left behind because the wound was festering and smelled bad. Philoctetes's retrieval is the plot of [[Philoctetes (Sophocles)| ''Philoctetes'']], a play by [[Sophocles]].

Some sources portray Neoptolemus as brutal. He killed at least six on the field of battle<ref>[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]], ''Fabulae'' 114</ref> and several more during the subsequent fall of Troy ([[Priam]], [[Eurypylus (son of Telephus)| Eurypylus]], [[Polyxena]], [[Polites (Prince of Troy)| Polites]] and [[Astyanax]] (Hector and Andromache's infant son) among others). He captured [[Helenus]], and made [[Andromache]] his [[concubine]]. The ghost of Achilles appeared to the survivors of the war, demanding the Trojan princess [[Polyxena]] to be sacrificed before anybody could leave for home; Neoptolemus was the one to carry out the sacrifice. (In scene (ll 566–575) of [[Euripides]]'s play [[Hecuba (play)| ''Hekabe'']] (also known as ''Hecuba'') Neoptolemus is shown as a torn young man who kills [[Polyxena]] in the least painful way possible, contrasting with his usual brutal and uncompassionate image.) With Andromache, Helenus and [[Phoenix (son of Amyntor) |Phoenix]], Neoptolemus then sailed to the [[Epirot Islands]] and became the king of [[Epirus]]. 

By the enslaved [[Andromache]], daughter of [[Cilicia|Cilician]] king [[Eetion|Eëtion]], Neoptolemus was the father of [[Molossus (son of Neoptolemus) |Molossos]] (and, according to the myth, therefore an ancestor of [[Olympias]], the mother of [[Alexander the Great]]), [[Pielus (mythology)|Pielus]], [[Pergamus]]<ref>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], 1.11.1</ref> and [[Amphialus]].<ref name=":0" />

[[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] has a section on Amphialus:

<blockquote>Neoptolemus, son of Achilles and Deidamia, begat Amphialus by captive Andromache, daughter of Ēëtion. But after he heard that Hermione his betrothed had been given to Orestes in marriage, he went to Lacedaemon and demanded her from Menelaus. Menelaus did not wish to go back on his word, and took Hermione from Orestes and gave her to Neoptolemus. Orestes, thus insulted, slew Neoptolemus as he was sacrificing to Delphi, and recovered Hermione. The bones of Neoptolemus were scattered through the land of [[Ambracia]], which is in the district of Epirus.<ref name=":0">Hyginus, ''Fables'' 123</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Guérin Andromaque et Pyrrhus 1810.jpg|thumb|''[[Andromache and Pyrrhus]]'', by [[Pierre-Narcisse Guérin]], 1810]]

By Lanassa, granddaughter of [[Heracles]], he fathered eight children.<ref>Justinus, 17.3</ref>

Like in Euripides's ''Hekabe'', [[Sophocles]]'s ''Philoctetes'' also shows him as a much kinder man, who honours his promises and shows remorse when he is made to trick Philoctetes.