Editing Priam (section)

== Life ==
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 &ndash; 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>